Midwestern Regional Forum 2008
Keynote Speaker
Arlene Ackerman, Ed.D.
Arlene Ackerman is the Christian A. Johnson Professor of Outstanding Educational Practice at Teachers College, Columbia University. Previously, she served as the superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School District and the superintendent of Washington, D.C., public schools.
She joined the faculty at Teachers College September 2006. Ackerman directs the "Urban Education Leaders Program", the largest doctoral program for public school leaders at the college, as well as the Superintendents and Scholars Symposium.
Ackerman holds a doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is nationally recognized for her successful school leadership. In 2005, San Francisco was one of five finalists for the 2005 Broad Prize for Urban Education, given annually to the best urban districts in the nation.
She was also the 2005-06 chair of the Council of Great City Schools, a coalition of the nation's 65 largest urban school districts, serving 37 million students. Ackerman co-chaired the College Board's Writing Commission. She works closely with the Broad Foundation's Urban Superintendents Academy and was recently named the Broad Superintendent in Residence. Ackerman was awarded the Superintendent of the Year for 2004-05 by the National Association of Black School Educators.
