Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Two Represent Nevada School At Education Symposium

On May 1 and 2 the Arkansas Education Association hosted an educational symposium at the Excelsior Hotel in Little Rock. The aim of the sumposium was to ascertain how teaching and learning could be reformed in Arkansas.

All phases of educational personnel were represented (administrators, teachers, school board members, state board members, employees of the Arkansas Department of Education and business leaders). There was time provided for all these guests to mingle and share ideas for improving education in Arkansas.

Keynote speakers included Dr. Arthur Wise, president of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education; Dr. Richard Wisniewski, director of the Institute for Educational Innovation, University of Tennessee at Knoxville; Kate Haycock, director of the Education Trust Inc. of Washington, D.C.; Dr. Mary Gunter, director of Governor's Partnership Council for Children and families; and the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE).

Haycock presented the statistics showing that schools across the country that are made up primarily of minority groups receive a substandard degree of education as compared with campuses whose population is not minority- based. She emphasised that the Education Trust is endeavoring to correct this situation.

The spokespeople from ADE touched on new evalulation instruments for teachers, new licensure procedures for teachers and a mentoring program for beginning teachers.

All speakers and guests agreed that educators in Arkansas need to be more communicative with the people and speak as one voice for the benefit of Arkansas' young people.

The Nevada Education Association was represented at the symposium by Mary Hendrix and Patricia Stewart.