Achievement gap forums in Texas

"Too Many Children Left Behind" is the theme for a series of forums this fall on closing the achievement gap in Central Texas. Taylor Willingham helped lead a moderator training session Saturday at Round Rock High School and wrote this on the Texas Forums blog:

We had fifteen people - about half students. Yeah! I can’t believe how much material we covered in five hours, AND they got a chance to practice. In fact, the role playing received the highest marks on the evaluation. I think the reason we managed to cover so much territory is that we modeled parts of the dialog, stopped for a debrief and then broke them into small groups of five where they continued the dialogs themselves taking turns practicing moderating and recording.

Another training session is set from 6 to 8:30 p.m., Monday, September 24 and Wednesday, September 26, tentatively at the United Way Capital Area, 2000 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Austin. A third session will take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, September 29,  in the Maloney Room (top floor, main building) at St. Edward's University, 3001 S. Congress Ave., Austin.

Click here for more information on becoming a moderator, and for dates and times of the fall forums, which will take place in Austin, Bastrop,  Eanes, Manor, Round Rock, and San Marcos. The forums are a joint project of Texas Forums, Austin Voices, and the E3 Alliance. Plans call for more than 600 people to take part in discussions on how to close the achievement gap, followed by a mid-November action forum at the  LBJ Library to develop a region-wide strategy to be sure all youth have the opportunity to thrive in Central Texas.

For more information on the Central Texas forums, email Taylor. Or click here to learn more about helping every student succeed in your community.