LSS Cosponsors Washington Area Education Council
Deans and Superintendents Fall Meeting

The Laboratory for Student Success (LSS) at Temple University Center for Research in Human Development and Education (CRHDE), the Mid-Atlantic Deans and Superintendents Network, and the Howard University School of Education cosponsored the Washington Area Education Council Deans and Superintendents Fall Meeting in Washington, DC on December 7, 2001.

The meeting began with opening remarks from Vinetta Jones, Dean of the Howard University School of Education. Howard University is a historically Black urban institution strategically located within the boundaries of the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS). Dr. Jones shared the mission and a brief history of the university's School of Education, where the conceptual framework of the teacher education programs centers around "The Educator/Practitioner as a Facilitator of Change, Reflective Professional, and Scholarly Researcher." She said the school focuses on recruiting and retaining teachers as well as teacher preparation.

Roy Dawson, a Senior Research Associate at LSS, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Educational Laboratory, shared the mission ands priority areas of LSS. He also focused on the Mid-Atlantic Deans and Superintendents Network (MDSN), including its goals and mission. The MDSN serves as a catalyst for making connections among key people in preK–12 and higher education institutions across regional, state, and local levels. Its mission is to provide guidance and support for preK–16 collaborative projects that are designed to improve the quality of the teacher workforce, transform low-performing schools into high-performing learning communities, and improve student learning and academic achievement. Dr. Dawson ended by inviting all of the members of the Washington Council to the MDSN conference on May 1–3, 2002.

Jacob Collins and James Williams then elaborated on the shared work of two Washington Area Education Council (WAEC) task forces. Dr. Collins, an Associate Professor at Howard University, spoke on the work of the Teacher Quality/Teacher Shortage Task Force, and Dr. Williams, the Montgomery County Deputy Superintendent of Schools, covered the work of the Preparation of Teachers, Administrators, and Counselors for Diverse Student Populations Task Force.