SESSION TYPE: Plenary SESSION TITLE: tbd STRAND: Whole School Issues DAY: Saturday TIME: 1:00 - 2:15 pm LOCATION: tbd

Latifah has had amazing success in Hollywood in recent years, and became the first hip hop artist to be crowned with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on January 4, 2006. She received rave reviews, an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, a Golden Globe nomination and a SAG Award nomination for her portrayal as Mama Morton in Miramax’s Chicago. Following Chicago, Latifah starred in Disney’s box office hit Bringing Down the House, on which she also acted as executive producer.

Her latest TV Movie, Life Support, in which she was both the star and executive producer, is a true-life drama, in which she plays a mother who overcomes an addiction to crack and becomes a positive role model and an AIDS activist in the black community. This aired on HBO on March 10th and Latifah received rave reviews as well as an Emmy nomination, a Golden Globe win and a SAG Award win. In July she starred in Neil Meron and Craig Zadan’s Hairspray playing Motormouth Maybelle and was recently seen in the film Mad Money starring alongside Diane Keaton and Katie Holmes.

In her latest film, Fox Searchlight’s The Secret Life of Bees, Latifah stars alongside Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys and Dakota Fannning. Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, The Secret Life of Bees won the Hollywood Film Award at the Hollywood Film Festival.

Latifah was seen in Wayne Wang’s The Last Holiday, and starred in MGM’s Beauty Shop (a spin-off of the hit Barbershop), which she also produced. She also appeared in Marc Forster’s Stranger Than Fiction, playing opposite Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman and was the voice of the Wooly Mammoth in Ice Age 2.

To most people releasing multiple movies would be enough, but Queen Latifah wasn’t satisfied. On September 25th, 2007 Latifah released her new album titled Trav’lin Light in which she was nominated for a Grammy. Co-produced by three time Grammy winner, Tommy LiPuma, this album is the long awaited follow up to Latifah’s highly received and Grammy nominated The Dana Owens Album. The platinum-selling album was a collection of timeless classics chosen and covered by the Queen herself. As Latifah demonstrated both in Living Out Loud (1998) and her Oscar-nominated performance in Chicago (2002), her vocal talent is as impressive as her acting.

Queen Latifah is also one of music’s most well respected rappers. From her ground breaking 1989 debut All Hail the Queen, which set the visual and contextual standard for female rappers, to her bold foray into R&B, Latifah continues to define what a woman in the music industry should be. She has earned four Grammy nominations as well as a Grammy Award for Best Solo Rap Performance in 1994. Latifah toured the U.S. as part of The Sugar Water Festival with fellow soul sisters, Erykah Badu and Jill Scott.

And then there’s Flavor Unit Entertainment, a production company owned and operated by Queen Latifah and her partner, Shakim Compere. The company, based in New Jersey, is quickly establishing itself as one of the most important production companies in the film industry. They began by executive producing the box office hit Bringing Down the House and then continued with Beauty Shop for MGM. They are also co-producing the action-comedy Bad Girls at Paramount with Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Overbrook. They have also produced The Cookout with Lion’s Gate.

Latifah is also not a stranger to the small screen. Her first television series, Living Single, was a huge success and is currently in syndication. From the small screen, Latifah made a leap to film and her acting skills have earned her the status of leading lady.

Since her screen debut in Spike Lee’s 1991 film Jungle Fever, her film career has taken off. She starred in Set it Off, which earned her a nomination for a Spirit Award in the Best Actress category and co-starred with Holly Hunter and Danny DeVito in the critically acclaimed Living Out Loud. In 1999, she was seen in Universal’s The Bone Collector directed by Philip Noyce starring Denzel Washington.

In addition to music, film and television, Queen Latifah has also written a book on self-esteem entitled Ladies First: Revelations of a Strong Woman.

Queen Latifah is diligent in her pursuit of excellence, as is evident by the awards she has received for her work in film and music. Her sincere concern for others is revealed by the generous amount of time and money that she donates to worthwhile charitable organizations. Every year, Queen Latifah serves as co-chairman for the Lancelot H. Owens Scholarship Foundation, Inc. Established by her mother, Rita Owens, to perpetuate the memory of a loving son and brother, the foundations provides scholarships to students who excel scholastically, but are limited in financial resources.

Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education—Biography

Arne Duncan was nominated to be secretary of education by President-elect Barack Obama and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2009.

In his confirmation hearings, Duncan called education “the most pressing issue facing America,” adding that “preparing young people for success in life is not just a moral obligation of society” but also an “economic imperative.” “Education is also the civil rights issue of our generation,” he said, “the only sure path out of poverty and the only way to achieve a more equal and just society.” Duncan expressed his commitment to work under the leadership of President Obama and with all those involved in education “to enhance education in America, to lift our children and families out of poverty, to help our students learn to contribute to the civility of our great American democracy, and to strengthen our economy by producing a workforce that can make us as competitive as possible.”

Prior to his appointment as secretary of education, Duncan served as the chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools, a position to which he was appointed by Mayor Richard M. Daley, from June 2001 through December 2008, becoming the longest-serving big-city education superintendent in the country.

As CEO, Duncan’s mandate was to raise education standards and performance, improve teacher and principal quality, and increase learning options. In seven and a half years, he united education reformers, teachers, principals and business stakeholders behind an aggressive education reform agenda that included opening over 100 new schools, expanding after-school and summer learning programs, closing down underperforming schools, increasing early childhood and college access, dramatically boosting the caliber of teachers, and building public-private partnerships around a variety of education initiatives.

Among his most significant accomplishments during his tenure as CEO, an all-time high of 66.7 percent of the district’s elementary school students met or exceeded state reading standards, and their math scores also reached a record high, with 70.6 percent meeting or exceeding the state’s standards. At high schools, Chicago Public School students posted gains on the ACT at three times the rate of national gains and nearly twice that of the state’s. Also, the number of CPS high school students taking Advanced Placement courses tripled and the number of students passing AP classes more than doubled. Duncan has increased graduation rates and boosted the total number of college scholarships secured by CPS students to $157 million.

A study released in June 2008 by the Illinois Education Research Council lauded the Chicago Public Schools for its efforts to bring top teaching talent into the city’s classrooms, where the number of teachers applying for positions almost tripled since 2003, from about 8,600 to more than 21,000, or about 10 applicants per teaching position. The number of teachers achieving National Board Certification—the highest education credential available to teachers—increased from 11 in 1999 to 1,191 in 2008, making Chicago the fastest-growing urban district in this area of achievement.

Prior to joining the Chicago Public Schools, Duncan ran the non-profit education foundation Ariel Education Initiative (1992-1998), which helped fund a college education for a class of inner-city children under the I Have A Dream program. He was part of a team that later started a new public elementary school built around a financial literacy curriculum, the Ariel Community Academy, which today ranks among the top elementary schools in Chicago.

Duncan formerly served on the boards of the Ariel Education Initiative, Chicago Cares, the Children’s Center, the Golden Apple Foundation, the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, Jobs for America’s Graduates, Junior Achievement, the Dean’s Advisory Board of the Kellogg School of Management, the National Association of Basketball Coaches’ Foundation, Renaissance Schools Fund, Scholarship Chicago and the South Side YMCA. He also served on the Board of Overseers for Harvard College and the Visiting Committees for Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education and the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration.

Last year, he was honored by the Civic Federation of Chicago and the Anti-Defamation League. In 2007, he received the Niagara Foundation’s Education Award, the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship Enterprising Educator Award and the University High School Distinguished Alumni Award. He also received honorary degrees from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Lake Forest College and National-Louis University. In 2006, the City Club of Chicago named him Citizen of the Year. He was a member of the Aspen Institute’s Henry Crown Fellowship Program, class of 2002, and a fellow in the Leadership Greater Chicago’s class of 1995.

From 1987 to 1991, Duncan played professional basketball in Australia, where he also worked with children who were wards of the state.

Duncan graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1987, majoring in sociology. He was co-captain of Harvard’s basketball team and was named a first team Academic All-American. He credits basketball with his team-oriented and highly disciplined work ethic.

His late father was a professor at the University of Chicago and his mother has run a South Side tutoring program for inner-city children since 1961. As a student in Chicago, Duncan spent afternoons in his mother’s tutoring program and also worked there during a year off from college. He credits this experience with shaping his understanding of the challenges of urban education.

Duncan is married to Karen Duncan and has two children, daughter Clare, 7, and son Ryan, 4.

Sid the Science Kid to Explain Vaccinations on Oct. 26
Animation Magazine
October 12, 2009

Lisa Henson is quoted in an article highlighting a special episode of Sid the Science Kid on vaccinations.

Read more.

Henson’s ‘Kid’ Recruited for Flu Fight
Variety
By DAVID S. COHEN
October 9, 2009

Lisa Henson is quoted in an article on Sid the Science Kid’s special vaccination-themed episode, funded by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Read more.

New York City Private Sector Leads Charge to Transform Public Schools
CSRwire
October 15, 2009

CSRwire features an article on PENCIL’s annual Principal for A Day event.

Read more.

What’s College for Anyway?
Newsweek
October 17, 2009

Diane Ravitch is quoted in a debate over the role of higher education in America.

Read more.

Has the Public Been Lied to on School Test Scores?
NBCNews
By GABE PRESSMAN
October 15, 2009

Diane Ravitch is quoted in an article on the lack of notable progress in federal math exam scores.

Read more.

NY’s Testing Mess
New York Post
By DIANE RAVITCH
October 15, 2009

Diane Ravitch writes on the misleading nature of the reports on the New York State exam scores.

Read more.

Professors of Summer
Stanford Summer
By Kathleen Chaykowski
October 20, 2009

Keith Devlin is a featured professor in an article discussing his research on game technology and math education, among others. The article discusses his role as the Director of the H-STAR Institute and mentions his role as NPR’s “The Math Guy”.

Read more.

Ravitch: Old Ideas, New School ‘Innovation’
The Daily News Tribune
By Diane Ravitch, Guest Columnist
October 25, 2009

The latest fad to sweep K-12 education is called “21st-Century Skills.” States - including Massachusetts - are adding them to their learning standards, with the expectation that students will master skills such as cooperative learning and critical thinking and therefore be better able to compete for jobs in the global economy. But putting a priority on skills inevitably pushes other subjects; including history, literature, and the arts; to the margins and skill-centered, knowledge-free education has never worked.

Read more.

Hofstra University offers small classes, dedicated faculty and a beautiful, energized campus, plus all the opportunities of New York City within easy reach. 150 undergraduate and about 160 graduate programs are offered in Liberal Arts and Sciences, Business, Communication, Education, Health and Human Services and Honors studies, as well as a School of Law. The student-faculty ratio is 14 to 1.

A diverse mix of cultural, social, athletic and recreational activities delivers the full college experience. Hofstra offers students the opportunity to live and learn on our beautiful, 240-acre campus on Long Island and have easy access to the academic, cultural and career opportunities in the New York City metropolitan area.

There are 1,185 faculty members of whom 551 are full-time. Ninety percent of full-time faculty hold the highest degree in their fields. Full-time undergraduate enrollment is 7,631. Total University enrollment, including part-time undergraduate, graduate and School of Law, is about 12,400. Male-female ratio is 44 to 56.

Hofstra: Hofstra.edu

School of Education, Health and Human Services: Hofstra.edu/soehhs

More info coming soon!

More info coming soon!

More info coming soon!

More info coming soon!

More info coming soon!