Forum 2005 Round Up
Educators from around the country and beyond descended on New York City October 29 - November 1 for the College Board's annual Forum. The city welcomed them with balmy weather and festive Halloween spirit. Approximately 2,800 educators participated in over 160 different sessions, workshops, and meetings during four, busy days. The Forum has become a unique place at which colleagues from all corners of education—from teachers, counselors, and admissions and financial aid officers, to enrollment managers, senior administrators, and principals—come together to trade ideas and best practices, as well as to challenge their own thinking on important issues. Plenary speakers and presenters alike answered questions about the future of institutions and the mandate of educators: How can we best prepare our schools, colleges, and universities for the future, and how can we guide all students, regardless of their background and economic resources, to achieve excellence?
Opening Plenary Sets the Stage
At Sunday's opening plenary, Pennsylvania State University President Graham B. Spanier delivered the annual keynote address. Spanier spoke of how changing demographics and privatization will shape our institutions, recruiting practices, and public policy in the coming decades. (Visit www.collegeboard.com/forum05/spanier for the transcript and presentation and www.collegeboard.com/demographics for more information on our changing student population.)
Colloquia Debut at Forum
On Sunday and Monday, panelists in the Colloquia series tackled the question of exactly what our students need to know to be good citizens and capable, accomplished people. These three conversations offered a chance to reflect on the mission of the Advanced Placement Program, which celebrates its Fiftieth Anniversary this year. Young people today enter a world very different from the one their parents once knew: Academic skills once thought of as specialties or elite know-how have become an essential part of a full education. Strong writing skills and wide-ranging knowledge of history, global cultures and languages, religion, and science are all necessary in the modern workplace.
In "The Art of the Liberal Arts," author and director of NYU's New York Institute for the Humanities Lawrence Weschler led a discussion on the importance of the arts and humanities in the lives of students. Panelists David Byrne, a musician and author; Sarah Vowell, a humorist and writer; and Thelma Golden, curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, spoke about their own experiences as students developing an interest in the arts and the influences that nurtured their curiosity and creativity. Read more.
On Monday morning, Vishakha Desai, president of the Asia Society, led a thought-provoking conversation on "Education for a Global Age". The panelists all agreed that a global curriculum is critical to ensuring success of our students and nation in the future. Yvonne Chan, member of the California State Board of Education and principal of a charter school, and Marty Abbott, director of education at the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), advocated models and strategies for teaching world languages and cultures. Coit D. Blacker, director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, urged colleges to "globalize" the undergraduate experience and challenged them to rethink traditional boundaries between disciplines as well. Read more.
Concurrently, New York Times Science Writer Cornelia Dean led a distinguished panel on the importance of Scientific Literacy. MIT Professor Richard Lester, San Francisco State University Biologist Leticia Marquez-Magana, and Northwestern University's Jon D. Miller, an expert on scientific knowledge among students in the United States, discussed the growing challenge of ensuring that all Americans possess enough scientific knowledge to make informed decisions in the voting booth and throughout their day-to-day lives. Their lively conversation ranged from the best way to recruit young people from traditionally underserved backgrounds into careers in the sciences, to whether external pressures—from fast-developing nations like China and India—or internal challenges to the scientific community pose a graver threat to America's status as a leader of scientific and technological innovation. Read more.
Final Plenary and Sessions Challenge All Educators
On the Forum's final day, Tuesday, November 1, Columbia University Professor and UN Advisor Jeffrey Sachs addressed the question of global poverty. He urged his audience to engage their families, friends, colleagues, and students in the important fight against the disease, famine, and suffering that persists today and has engulfed of the global south and Sub-Saharan Africa in particular. Sachs also advocated that educators ensure students are well trained in geography, languages, and basic math and science. There could be no more important message for Members to take with them into the College Board's Annual Meeting, which followed immediately, and then home to their communities.
In break-out sessions at the Forum, attendees discussed pressing issues in counseling, admissions, financial aid, teaching and learning, and school administration. Popular topics included: the admissions process, demographic trends, SAT topics, updates to the AP Program, access for low-income students, opportunities for African American students, aid for undocumented students, and tuition discounting. Off-site activities offered further professional growth. On Saturday, more than 600 teachers attended AP workshops in their subject areas at nearby Martin Luther King, Jr. High School; and on Tuesday, Forum attendees visited six New York City high schools for a rare chance to see ideas in action and to meet with school leaders about challenges they face.
Attendees Renew Ties and Meet New Colleagues
Within the packed days, there were also moments to relax and socialize with colleagues. At Sunday's evening at MoMA, 1,500 attendees savored hors d'oeuvres and wandered through the magnificent galleries of the newly renovated temple to twentieth-century art. Graduate students of the arts were available to answer questions and new friends and colleagues had four floors of galleries through which to wander.
On Monday, the Forum's final evening, attendees at a reception in honor of AP's Fiftieth Anniversary had a final chance to mingle as they enjoyed the Marriott's breathtaking view of Times Square.
Volunteers Make It All Possible
This year's Forum was only possible because of the strong counsel and commitment of many volunteers. The 24 members of the Program Planning Committee worked hard to identify topics and speakers to address the most important challenges that we all face as an education community. The 36 Local Arrangements Committee members worked together to plan the Evening at MoMA and the college fair, to raise scholarship funds, and to help spread word about the Forum. They even recruited additional volunteers who worked alongside them at the Hospitality Table to help attendees from out of town.
Next year, new vistas—and new questions—will open up in San Diego at Forum 2006.
