Achievement Consortium Holds Conference Entitled
"No Excuses: We Can Teach ALL Students"

The Achievement Consortium held a two-day conference entitled "No Excuses: We Can Teach ALL Students" on October 18–19, 2001 in Charlotte, NC. The Achievement Consortium— a consortium of school districts in the mid-Atlantic area that are interested in collaborating to focus on substantially improving student achievement —was established by the Educational Research Service under contract with the Laboratory for Student Success (LSS) at Temple University Center for Research in Human Development and Education (CRHDE). The goal of the Achievement Consortium is to expose participating schools district leaders to people from high-performing districts to help them learn successful approaches they have taken to narrow or eliminate the gap in student achievement. From this knowledge, the schools district leaders will develop or revise existing plans to boost current levels of achievement and focus on eliminating the gaps that currently exist in achievement levels between various categories of students.

Two of the top presenters at the conference were Dr. Gerald Anderson, former Superintendent of the Brazosport Independent School District in Freeport, TX, and Patricia Davenport, former Assistant Superintendent of the Brazosport Independent School District, who talked about their work in the 1990s that resulted in eliminating the achievement gap between White students and other groups, such as Hispanic, African American, and disadvantaged students. Other presenters were from other school districts around the country that have used quality tools to improve student achievement.

Presentations at the conference, and those making the presentations, included:

• "Welcome" – Dr. C. Jackson Grayson, Jr.

• "Keynote Presentation" – Dr. Frances Haithcock

• "Closing the Achievement Gap for All Students" – Dr. Gerald Anderson

• "Achieve Equality and Excellence for ALL" – Dr. Gerald Anderson

• "The Knowledge Sharing Network for Education (KSNE)" – Jack Grayson & Linda Muchisky

• "Making Meetings Work in Education" – Marina Ballantyne

• "Planning for Success: A School District Check-Up" – Laura Longmire

• "Implementing Data Disaggregation Tools" – David Sanchez

• "The PDCA Instructional Cycle" – Patricia Davenport

• "Closing the Gap at Allentown School District" – Dr. Diane Scott & Rita Perez Deal

• "Strategies to Close the Gap" – Olivea Suazo

• "I Believe I Can Fly at Willis High School" – Ben Cooper

• "Charting Your Course" – Dr. John G. Conyers

• "Navigating the A–B–Seas with the 8-Step Process—The Teacher's Perspective" – Ashley Sanders & Mary Leveron

• "Tools and Techniques of Benchmarking in Education" – Laura Longmire

• "Beaufort County School District" – Herman Gaither

• "Wood Improvement Plan" – Nancy Haugen, Wendy Taylor, & Threna Schumac

• "Driving Performance Excellence" – Dr. John G. Conyers & Robert Ewy

• "The A+ Plan, The Charlotte Meckleburg Story" – Beverly Moore & Gail Daves

• "Question and Answer Forum" – Conference Speakers