Live blog: Wake Education Partnership 2011 Education Summit

Panelists from left to right: Jim Goodnight, Randy Woodson, Brooks Raiford (moderator),
David Young and Tony Tata

9:15 am - Wrap-up 
Themes emerged in the panel discussion:

• Get kids excited about one or more aspects of STEM because it is the gateway to jobs and economic development
• Nurture teachers’ professional development
• Bring back good ideas, globally or locally, and use them in the classroom
• Create opportunities for teachers to share and learn best practices

Hopefully, those themes will become action items. The Education Summit showed me that education is not always revolutionary, but evolutionary, and that it takes a village to collectively take a breath and examine the existing education system and find ways to make it better.

9:00 am
Tony Tata said that he was 17 when attended the very first STEM academy, and that academy is West Point. That personal experience gave him perspective on the significance of STEM.  He also acknowledged Wake County’s population growth by adding 10 schools from last budget, but needing to add 20 schools in the next budget. 

8:45 am 
Randy Woodson spoke next, and said that “we need another Sputnik,” explaining that the space race was a catalyst to enhance interest in science and math. “We need to get people excited about science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).” 

David Young, who helped lead his company to be the largest international teacher program of the U.S. Department of State expressed his thoughts. “Global initiatives need to begin with teachers learning abroad. We need to have students that understand what’s going on in the world to be able to solve world problems.” Young added, “with 160+ schools in Wake County, how do we extend what works in some schools, to all schools?”  

8:30 am
Brooks Raiford moderated a panel to discuss the topic Creating Opportunities to Close the Global Achievement Gap. The panelists were:

• Jim Goodnight, CEO, SAS
• Randy Woodson, Chancellor, NC State University
• David Young, CEO, VIF International Education
• Tony Tata, Wake County Public School System Superintendent

Raiford, President & CEO of NC Technology Association, said that natural ties between education and technology can create opportunities to close this global achievement gap. He gave each panelist a few minutes to give his point of view. Raiford asked Jim Goodnight to share his thoughts first.

Goodnight said, “SAS depends a great deal on math. We analyze huge amounts of data and pull diverse sources of it together, and develop analytics to help forecast what’s going to happen in the future. Almost every oil rig in the North Sea uses predictive asset maintenance to forecast when the pumps will fail. It takes a lot of highly educated people to do this stuff."

Goodnight noted extreme differences in unemployment rates for those who have a high school diploma or less (+14 percent), versus a bachelor’s level degree (4.2 percent). “It all starts in K-12, though. It all starts by making sure kids don’t drop out of high school, and that they develop skills in math and science.”

8:15 am

Jim Beck, Chair, Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce (President & CEO, TrustAtlantic Bank) presented the 2011 Vernon Malone Friend of Education Award with Vernon’s daughter, Susan, to Marion B. Robinson. Vernon Malone was a member of the NC Senate, whose constituents were in Wake County, and he was a school board chair in Wake County. He passed away in 2009, and was highly respected by the community. I met him several times, and I would describe him as a strong leader with quiet conviction.

Rev. Robinson, the recipient of the Friend of Education Award, was honored in a video in which several people gave heartfelt testimonials.In the video, Virginia Parker, Wake Technical Community College described Rev. Robinson as “genuine and authentic, who has a belief that all children should have a great learning experience.”

Wake County Public School System Superintendent Tony Tata expressed that "Rev. Robinson is deserving [of the award] because he is an integral part of the community…. I’m a better superintendent because of Rev. Robinson.”

Rev. Robinson stepped up to the podium and waited for a standing ovation to end before saying these words: “Protocol having been established, it is an honor to accept the Vernon Malone Friend of Education Award in the hopes that I can continue, by the grace of God, to make learning enjoyable.”

8:00 am

Jim Brown, Chair, Board of Directors Wake Education Partnership (RBC Bank), welcomed the group of 400 + local business leaders, elected officials and educators. Frank Daniels, retired president and publisher of the Raleigh N & O is the Annual Campaign Chair made his fundraising pitch for the Partnership.

7:45 am

This morning, a ballroom at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Cary, NC buzzes with activity as the Wake Education Partnership 2011 Education Summit convenes.

Change charges the air, a phenomenon that often comes after an election day. The results: Wake County School Board’s Chair, Ron Margiotta has been ousted for Democrat newcomer Susan Evans. Margiotta and his conservative majority created dissonance with Wake County parents and school age children by moving from a socio-economic diversity model of student school assignment to neighborhood school assignments. In doing so, Wake County made national headlines, and the conservative majority of the school board has been skewered by Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central’s the Colbert Report.

As of this morning, there are four Republicans, four Democrats and what looks like what will be a run-off between a Democrat and a Republican. This stuff matters to folks in the Wake Education Partnership, because they promote better schools and best practices for K-12 education in Wake County. The atmosphere is a hopeful one. Overheard: “I’d rather have someone I didn’t even know replace that Tea-Party Republican.”