FYI.



>Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2005 12:24:19 -0800 (PST)

>From: Richard Kazis <newswire at jff.org>

>Subject: Announcing Achieving the Dream State Policy Forum

>Original-recipient: rfc822;djgbrian at mail.utk.edu

>

>

>Announcement

>

>Achieving the Dream State Policy Forum to Address Key Community College 

>Issues:

>Balancing Accountability and Privacy; and Access for Undocumented Immigrants

>Washington DC    Sunday, February 13, 2005

>

>

>We are pleased to announce the first annual Achieving the Dream State 

>Policy Forum, to be held Sunday, February 13th, in Washington DC. The 

>policy forum is being organized by Jobs for the Future (JFF) as part of 

>the Achieving the Dream Initiative, a 5-state, 27-college effort to 

>increase the success of community college students, particularly those in 

>groups that have been underserved in higher education . It is co-sponsored 

>by the Academy for Educational Development.

>

>This one day, no-cost state policy forum will begin at 10:00 a.m. and end 

>at 3:30 p.m. at the Conference Center of the Academy for Educational 

>Development, located at 1825 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Suite 800. (Across the 

>street from the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Ave., and just north of 

>the Dupont Circle stop on the Red Line of the Metro).

>

>The forum has been designed for national, state and institution-level 

>policymakers, college administrators and trustees interested in issues of 

>state policy. While there is no charge for the forum, pre-registration is 

>required. Keynote speaker at the Forum's lunch will be Dr. Belle Wheelan, 

>Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Virginia.

>

>Session topics are:

>

>Balancing Privacy with Accountability: The Case for Strong Institutional 

>and State Data Systems in a Privacy-Conscious World. Colleges are caught 

>between competing social policy forces. On the one hand policymakers and 

>the public demand greater accountability and proof of student outcomes, 

>but the student records that allow institutions to track and report on 

>student progress are protected by federal FERPA regulations and a myriad 

>of state level privacy statutes fueled by the growing public concern over 

>prgivacy. Further complicating efforts to establish benchmark performance 

>data is the reality that higher education systems differ widely in even 

>the most basic student data definitions. Despite these limitations, some 

>states have established effective unit record systems that allow for the 

>tracking and reporting of students from grade school into the workforce. 

>The session will also assess the status and implications of new efforts at 

>the federal level to change IPEDS reporting requirements. This two hour 

>segssion will explore both the challenges and opportunities faced by 

>states and institutions struggling with improving data systems. It will 

>also alert participants to a new community college data systems initiative 

>involving ten states associated with the Lumina-Foundation funded 

>Achieving the Dream and Ford Foundation-funded Bridges to Opportunity 

>initiatives.

>

>Moderator for the session will be Peter Ewell, Vice President of NCHEMS, a 

>nationally recognized expert on data and accountability systems. Other 

>panelists include: Jay Pfeiffer, Director of the Florida Office of K-20 

>Education Information and Accountability; Jan Greenberg, General Counsel, 

>Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board; Earl Hale, Executive Director, 

>Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges; and John 

>Milam, of HigherEd.Org, a consultant to the National Center for Education 

>Sgtatistics.

>

>

>Is the Community College Open Door Closed to New Immigrants? This session 

>will explore how different states are approaching the hot button topic of 

>providing postsecondary educational opportunities to undocumented aliens. 

>States are choosing very different approaches to this controversial issue. 

>Some states like Texas have adopted guidelines that allow undocumented 

>students to pay in-state tuition and qualify for financial aid, provided 

>they have resided in Texas for three or more years, are graduates of 

>Tgexas high schools or have GEDs issued in Texas and sign an affidavit 

>promising to file an application to legalize their status. In contrast, 

>voters in Arizona just passed Proposition 200, or Protect Arizona Now, 

>that requires Arizonans to provide proof of citizenship and legal 

>residency in order to vote and receive state or local public services, 

>including enrolling in higher education. The initiative makes it a crime 

>for state and local government employees to fail to report suspected 

>illegal immigrants sgeeking public services. The session will also explore 

>the current status of proposed federal initiatives such as the DREAM Act, 

>which provides for undocumented minors who arrived in the U.S. before the 

>age of 16 and have lived in the U.S. for at least five years to be 

>eligible to earn their conditional resident status upon acceptance by an 

>institution of higher learning or upon graduation from high school.

>

>Moderator will be Russell Hamm, a nationally recognized consultant on 

>workforce development issues and a former official with the U.S. 

>Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration. Other 

>participants include: Rey Garcia, Executive Director of the Texas 

>Association of Community Colleges; Hortense Hinton (invited), Provost, 

>Northern Virginia Community College, Manassas, VA; and a staff 

>representative from the United States Senate, who will address issues 

>related to the proposed DREAM Act.

>

>

>For further information and to get a copy of the fax-back registration 

>form, contact: Radha Roy Biswas, Jobs for the Future, 88 Broad St. Boston, 

>MA 02110, (617) 728-4446 #108, or by email: rrbiswas at jff.org. Conference 

>registrations must be received by Monday, February 7, 2005.

>

>Please forward this message to others on your staff or in your 

>organization you think might be interested in participating. Thank you. We 

>look forward to seeing many of you at this forum.

>

>

>Katherine Boswell and Richard Kazis

>Jobs for the Future----------------------------------------

>

>Our postal address is

>88 Broad St

>8th Floor

>Boston, Massachusetts 02110

>United States