Policy expert Linda Darling-Hammond to speak Oct. 16

Darling-Hammond

Linda Darling-Hammond, a nationally prominent education policy expert, will be the Friday keynote speaker at the 2009 Education Minnesota Professional Conference Friday, Oct. 16. Darling-Hammond, who recently received the National Education Association's 2009 Friend of Education award, has been called one of the nation’s 10 most influential people in education policy. She will speak at 8:45 a.m.

The Professional Conference begins Thursday, Oct. 15, at Saint Paul RiverCentre in downtown St. Paul. The two-day event is free and open to the public; no registration is required. The second morning of the conference offers a more in-depth professional development focus, including sessions designed to help teachers fulfill some state requirements for license renewal.

Darling-Hammond is Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education at Stanford University. Her research, teaching, and policy work focus on issues of school restructuring, teacher quality and educational equity.

She served as executive director of the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, a blue-ribbon panel whose 1996 report, “What Matters Most: Teaching for America’s Future,” had a major influence on teaching and teacher education.  She is also a former president of the American Education Research Association and member of the National Academy of Education.

Darling-Hammond has written more than 300 books, articles and other publications. She is co-author of “Preparing Teachers for a Changing World: What Teachers Should Learn and Be Able to Do,” and co-editor of “Teaching as the Learning Profession,” which received an outstanding book award from the National Staff Development Council. 

May 12, 2009