took a professional personal day to attend the 15th Achievement Gaps Symposium, sponsored by ETS and the Children’s Defense Fund. This year’s focus is addressing the challenges and the obstacles that face young black boys in their quest for educational attainment. It’s more of a policy discussion, but it’s great to be a teacher here and become reinvigorated about the work we MUST do to educate and prepare our children not just to enter college and the work force, but to change the socioeconomic, class, gender and racial dynamics that exist today.

As I type these words, the lectures and discussions are rich. This is the mission of educators: To not carry the status quo, but to defy it if it means educating our children, especially young black boys. Good stuff today. I’ll give some notes on what I learned and helpful links to continue the discussion.

When I return to school, I’m curious to know what you all think as students. This conference is really talking about your experiences in the educational system and how you can move forward in successfully achieving a college degree with excellence.

peace.

ms. cooper