Lyndon State College's Leahy Center for Rural Students sponsors Education Summit

The Patrick and Marcelle Leahy Center for Rural Students at Lyndon State College will hold a Vermont Education Summit at Lyndon Tuesday, June 18, from 8:30 am to 2:30 pm. Registration is free and is limited to 100. The Center was dedicated to Senator and Mrs Leahy at Lyndon s commencement on May 16, in recognition of the Senator s central role in securing the funding to establish the Center. Its mission is to study rural students to gain a better understanding of how and why they make life choices, especially those regarding higher education and work.
Participants will include principals, superintendents, tech center directors, college presidents, the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation, the State Board of Education, deans of education at Vermont colleges and universities, members of the house and senate education committees, and funders. Economic and community development leaders are also encouraged to attend, as well as those from the private sector.
The conference has been planned in response to developments in the state over the past year. In that time, there have been a number of policy-level discussions about education in Vermont. For example, Vermont s leaders and education officials committed to the Complete College America challenge of increasing the number of residents holding a college degree from 42 to 60 percent by the end of the decade. The Education Transformation Policy Commission also released its report this past year, proposing the creation of a statewide pre-K to 16 council. And most recently, the legislature approved the creation of a statewide pre-K to 16 council. These efforts present opportunities and challenges that education leaders must embrace at both the local and policy levels to ensure a prosperous future for our students.
The Vermont Education Summit is funded by a grant from the AT&T Foundation. The agenda will engage educators and community leaders from across the state in discussions of how we can work together at the local and state levels to help every Vermont student achieve their full potential along the pre-K to 16 spectrum. The Vermont State Colleges are eager to learn from the pre-K to 12 system, reshape teacher-preparation programs in line with pre-K to 12 needs and strengthen community partnerships that help raise the educational expectations of Vermont youth.
Please contact Heather Bouchey, director of the Center for Rural Students at Lyndon, at 802-626-6444 for more information or to register.
Source: Lyndon State College 6.9.10 LYNDON CENTER, VT