Highlights
Forum 2004 Celebrates Expanding Opportunity
The largest-ever College Board Forum held outside New York City concluded in Chicago on November 1.
More than 2,100 educators came from schools and colleges all across the nation to attend the three-day conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel overlooking the Chicago River. Attendees were heard to call the Forum 2004 "informative," "challenging," and "enlightening." Organizers credited discussions on a profusion of important educational issues, and an agenda full of sessions led by knowledgeable speakers for the strong turnout at this year's Forum.
To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the College Scholarship Service (CSS), a series of activities and sessions were held. Access and choice were the dominant themes in the five plenary and nearly 90 breakout sessions and workshops. Also prominently featured during the event were considerations on the importance of writing, the need to encourage rigor in classrooms, and discussions of the upcoming changes to the SAT and of the ways in which colleges and universities will use the new writing section. All told, more than 200 presenters brought the issues facing the education community in the twenty-first century alive. With all of the choices available to Forum attendees, the professional interests of College Board members were well covered. Topics included counseling, financial aid, admission and enrollment policies, and teaching and learning, to name a few.
In the first of the five plenary sessions, College Board President Gaston Caperton moderated an hour-long discussion titled "Writing in a Democracy: A Conversation" with panelists Bob Herbert, the New York Times op-ed page columnist; New Yorker magazine writer Adam Gopnik; and journalism professor and author Susan E. Tifft. The group discussed how writing has influenced the course of U.S. history and the role it played in this election season. The authors began their conversation with a discussion of moments in American history when writing has played a pivotal role. Herbert offered the Federalist papers, and Gopnik added that the Declaration of Independence was a moment when editing transformed the landscape. He also noted that Lincoln's skills as a writer had been crucial to his leadership. Tifft named the recent 9/11 Commission report as an example of a compelling narrative that became a powerful tool for instigating change. Read a more detailed summary of this conversation.
A short film, "Breaking Down Barriers, Renewing our Commitment" which was commissioned for the CSS fiftieth anniversary, led off a Saturday afternoon plenary session. It featured interviews with pioneers of need-based financial aid, who recalled the difficulties and rewards of developing an equitable system for distributing financial aid. Then the session, "Remembering the Past, Imagining the Future: A Panel Discussion," turned to the future. The College Board's Andre Bell, vice president for enrollment solutions, and the Spencer Foundation's Mike McPherson, Harvey Mudd College's Youlanda Copeland-Morgan, and NASFAA's Dallas Martin discussed the future of access to higher education. All of the panelists were concerned with the number of poor students versus the number of affluent students who go on to college and finding ways to demonstrate the benefit of broadening access. Of the challenges facing the financial aid community, Youlonda Copeland-Morgan said: "A lot of people say it's all about the money and the problem is money. But the problem is our collective will and our commitment. How committed are we to ensuring that these limited resources are really going to those students who need them the most? We have to make the hard decisions." Read a more detailed summary at this discussion.
On Sunday, Haitian-born author Edwidge Danticat, whose short stories have appeared in numerous periodicals and whose novels have been translated into a variety of languages, spoke of her own experience with poverty and a lack of resources. Danticat was the guest speaker at the Inspiration Awards Luncheon, which has quickly become a highlight of national Forums. Honored at the luncheon were the schools that won the College Board's 2004 Inspiration Awards: Florida's Miami Senior High, California's Santa Maria High, and Edinburg North High in Texas, The award recognizes the most-improved high schools in America. In a discussion with Danticat, six Latino students from these schools told of their struggles and dreams and recalled the adults who helped and inspired them.
The College Board's three constituent assemblies- the Guidance and Admission Assembly, the Academic Assembly, and the CSS Assembly - held meetings leading up to the Annual Meeting of Members, which was on Sunday afternoon. Three hundred fifty-one new member institutions were selected to join the College Board, bringing the association's total membership to a record high 4,770. During the CSS Assembly, two new awards were presented, the John Monro Memorial Award and the CSS Hall of Fame Awards. CSS Council also presented its Distinguished Service Award. Learn more about the CSS Fiftieth Anniversary Awards.
In addition, Georgette R. DeVeres, associate vice president, admissions and financial aid at California's Claremont McKenna College, was elected chair of the Board of Trustees, replacing Eric J. Smith, superintendent of Anne Arundel County Public Schools in Maryland. Gretchen M. Bataille, senior vice president for academic affairs at the University of North Carolina, succeeded Blenda J. Wilson, president and CEO of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, as vice chair. A handful of Trustee elections also took place to keep the total at 31. The membership meeting was followed by a performance by jazz saxophonist James McBride, author of the memoir The Color of Water, and his band, helping to end the day on a mellow note.
On Monday morning, Harvard President Lawrence Summers, the former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury under President Bill Clinton, delivered the insightful Forum 2004 keynote, titled "Every Child Getting Ahead: The Role of Education." In his remarks, Summers called on the United States to restore "education to its proper role as a pathway to equal opportunity and excellence in our society."
Another well-attended session on Monday was How Colleges Plan to Use the New SAT Writing Scores. Four admissions professionals from public and private colleges discussed the ways in which their diverse institutions viewed the essay that will become part of the SAT in March 2005.
Just before the Summers speech on Monday morning, "Coffee with the Colleges"-the first-ever national college fair at a national Forum-brought together 184 colleges, universities, and higher-education systems to greet counselors and tell their stories.
In the exhibit hall decorated with the College Board's distinctive cyan-blue and new logo, attendees could participate in hands-on demonstrations of two exciting new College Board programs-the SAT Readiness Program and SpringBoard, a comprehensive Web-based program that is designed to engage all students in the sixth through twelfth grades and that is based on a rigorous set of College Board Standards for College Success. SpringBoard combines professional development, diagnostic assessments, instructional resources, and model instructional units. Conference attendees could also stop by the Internet Caf?? to read their e-mails and the news about the race for the U.S. presidency. In addition, a special display, funded by the College Board and developed by the University of Michigan, vividly told the story of how race became a factor in creating a diverse student population at the University of Michigan and how that in turn led to the landmark Supreme Court decisions of June 2003.
Of particular note this year were the 84 Forum scholarships awarded to high school counselors who would otherwise not be able to come to Chicago, 23 more scholarships than last year. Thirty-seven colleges, universities, and education organizations sponsored the scholarships.
Rounding out their visit to Chicago, some conference-goers took one of the four walking tours that celebrated the city's unique architectural heritage. Sunday evening's trip by trolley to the Windy City's famed Art Institute was also a fruitful and rewarding Forum 2004 event. Forum attendees had the Museum to themselves as they wandered through galleries where antiquities and Impressionist masterpieces were on display. The Halloween celebration also featured dinner in the Chicago Stock Exchange Trading room and dancing to the music of a swing band.
