Contact: Peter Cookson -- (413) 429-6629; peter.cookson@yale.edu
Kevin Welner -- (303) 492-8370; kevin.welner@gmail.com
BOULDER, Colo. and TEMPE, Ariz. (December 29, 2008) -- Fifteen educational scholars today released a collection of letters to President-elect Obama. Each letter briefly sets forth an idea or proposal to help create a more productive and equitable educational system. The letters cover the gamut of key policy issues facing the next administration, including reading instruction, No Child Left Behind, the expansion of preschool availability, charter schools, special education, the effects of poverty, and the teaching of English learners.
The collection is edited by Peter Cookson of Yale University and Kevin Welner of the University of Colorado at Boulder and is jointly published by the Education and the Public Interest Center at CU-Boulder and the Education Policy Research Unit at Arizona State University. Contributors include top national experts in their respective areas.
Cookson's cover letter, also directed to the President-elect, explains, "My colleagues and I are writing to you as scholars and activists who are deeply convinced that a reenergized commitment to excellent public schools for all students is America's best hope for economic renewal and a society where trust and cooperation characterize public life."
Welner's introductory letter adds, "These proposals should be thought of as the tips of empirical icebergs. Beneath the letters lies a research base that we hope will guide policymaking throughout your time in office."
The letters are available at http://epicpolicy.org/publication/Letters-to-Obama
CONTACT:
Peter Cookson
Yale University
(413) 429-6629
peter.cookson@yale.edu
Kevin Welner, Professor and Director
Education and the Public Interest Center
University of Colorado at Boulder
(303) 492-8370
kevin.welner@gmail.com
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The Education and the Public Interest Center (EPIC) at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the Education Policy Research Unit (EPRU) at Arizona State University collaborate to produce policy briefs and think tank reviews. Our goal is to promote well-informed democratic deliberation about education policy by providing academic as well as non-academic audiences with useful information and high quality analyses.
Visit EPIC and EPRU at http://epicpolicy.org
EPIC and EPRU are members of the Education Policy Alliance
(http://educationpolicyalliance.org)
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