 The 11th Annual Lecture on Multiculturalism
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
7:30pm-9:30pm
Edwards Auditorium, Edwards Hall
URI Press Release | Campus Flyer [pdf]
Howard Fuller (full bio
available from Marquette
University), one of the nation’s
most influential advocates for school choice
and other
educational reforms, will deliver the University
of Rhode Island’s Eleventh Annual Lecture
on Multiculturalism on Tuesday, Mar. 29 at 7:30
p.m. in Edwards Hall, 64 Upper College Road, Kingston
Campus. Originally scheduled for Tuesday, Feb.
8, the talk was postponed because of Dr. Fuller's
leadership in the legislative campaign to raise
the number of low-income students participating
in school choice in Milwaukee. The talk on "The
Impact of School Choice on Student Learning and
Development" is free and open
to the public.
Surviving legal challenges in the state courts
up to the U.S. Supreme Court after its inception
in 1990, Milwaukee's Parental Choice Program,
the nation's oldest and largest public
scholarship
program for low-income families, has established
school choice as an integral part of the institutional
landscape. Last week, thousands of school choice
supporters - including parents, teachers, and
students at several schools - gained a
temporary victory
by rallying at the state Capitol in support of
a bill that would raise the enrollment cap for
Milwaukee's school voucher program for one year.
Raising the enrollment cap would enable about
15, 000 low-income families to send their
children
to private schools using state funds for tuition.
After passing both the Republican-controlled
State Assembly and State Senate, the bill
now heads to
Democrat Governor Jim Doyle, who is expected
to veto it unless agreement is reached
regarding some
of his own educational priorities.
Despite decades of research and analysis, the
impact of school choice on student learning
and development
remains one of the most contentious issues
on the American educational reform agenda.
Supporters
insist that the present educational system
has too often resulted in mediocre learning
outcomes,
especially for students in segregated, low-income
communities, while opponents argue that choice
would devastate public education, helping only
a select few while abandoning those left behind.
Once considered the primary adherents
of school choice, ethnically diverse families,
especially
African-American, Latino, and Asian-Americans living
in urban school districts, have increasingly begun
to explore alternatives to public schools, such
as charter schools, magnet schools, and public
and private voucher plans, in their quest for quality
education. Their decisions have often opposed the
views of organizations and politicians that have
traditionally championed their interests.
A distinguished professor of education
at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
Fuller also
directs the University’s Institute for the
Transformation of Learning, a national research
and policy forum to increase options for parents
in adapting the governance, curricula, and teaching
methods of kindergarten through grade 12 education
to the needs of children.
As superintendent of the Milwaukee Public Schools
from 1991 through 1995, Fuller was one of the earliest
supporters of school choice, receiving national
prominence for his implementation of a variety
of reform measures, including a rigorous curriculum,
decentralized decision-making, site-based budgeting,
immersion academies, voucher plans, and educational
standards for incorporating diversity as well as
accountability
for student performance. The reforms
helped to increase student reading and standardized
test scores and lowered absenteeism. Through his
advocacy, Fuller has assembled a broad based coalition
of elected officials, student, parents, educators,
business leaders, community organizers, church officials,
and philanthropists.
Seeking to expand national awareness of school
choice as a strategy for promoting quality
education, Fuller and his allies founded The
Black Alliance
for Educational Options, which has become the
most visible organization of school choice
activists in the African-American community.
From approximately
50 members in 1999, it now numbers 3,000 members
in 30 cities over 20 states and the District
of Columbia. Recently it was awarded a $4 million
grant from the Gates Foundation to create 15
new schools.
Fuller earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology
from Carroll College, a master’s degree
in social administration from Case Western Reserve
University, and a doctorate degree in education
from Marquette University. From 1995 to 1997,
he
was a senior fellow at the Annenberg Institute
for School Reform, based at Brown University.
Currently, he serves on the boards of the Johnson
Foundation, the Dorothy Danforth Compton Fellowship
Program for Graduate Study, the Crusade to
Save Our Children, and the TransCenter for Youth.
Sponsors of the lecture include
URI’s Multicultural
Center, the Office of the President, the Division
of Student Affairs, the Honors Program, and
the African and Afro-American Studies Program.
More about Dr. Fuller: Last updated:
03/28/2005
|
