SESSION TYPE: Plenary SESSION TITLE: Moderated by David Gregory, with Vicki Phillips, Dennis Van Roekel and Randi Weingarten STRAND: Whole School Issues DAY: Friday TIME: 4:00 - 5:15pm LOCATION: Chase Center Grand Ballroom, 3rd floor

Research now confirms what most educators have known for a long time: among all of the school-based variables, the quality of the teacher in the classroom is most closely linked to student achievement. If that is true, what does it suggest about the future? What does "teacher quality" mean and how is it measured. And what responsibilities does the profession itself have for creating and supporting policies that help teachers be the best they can be at each stage of their career from pre-service preparation until retirement? This Town Hall meeting will look closely at "teacher quality" not in its simplistic definition, but in its many complexities.

BIOGRAPHY

David Gregory was named Moderator of “Meet the Press” on December 7, 2008. With his commitment to accountability and analysis on the pressing issues of our time, he is carrying on in the “Meet the Press” tradition while bringing new voices into to the Sunday morning conversation. Gregory joined NBC News in 1995, and served as NBC’s Chief White House Correspondent during George W. Bush’s presidency. He regularly substitute anchors for “Today” and “Nightly News with Brian Williams, and he hosted MSNBC’s “Race for the White House,” during the 2008 presidential campaign. Beyond politics, Gregory has covered nearly every major story for the network. A native of Los Angeles, Gregory graduated from The American University in Washington, D.C. with a bachelor’s degree in International Studies. He began his journalism career at the age of 18 as a summer reporter for KGUN-TV in Tucson, Arizona.

Vicki Phillips is Director of Education, College Ready at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Prior to joining the foundation, she was superintendent of Portland (OR) Public Schools and served as Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Education. She has worked at the state level in her home state of Kentucky and at the U.S. Office of Education. She started her career as a middle and high school teacher.

The first in her family to go to college, Phillips earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary and special education and a master’s degree in school psychology from Western Kentucky University. She also holds a doctorate in educational leadership and management from the University of Lincoln in England, and served as a founding member of the governing council for England’s National College for School Leadership.

Jeannie Oakes is Director of Educational Opportunity and Scholarship at the Ford Foundation. Previously, as Presidential Professor in Educational Equity at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, she directed the Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access and the University of California’s All Campus Consortium on Research for Diversity. Her book, Keeping Track: How Schools Structure Inequality (Yale University Press) has been honored as one of the twentieth century’s most influential books on education. A second book, Becoming Good American Schools: The Struggle for Civic Virtue in Education Reform, won the American Educational Research Association’s Outstanding Book Award.

Dennis Van Roekel, a 23-year teaching veteran and longtime activist for children and public education, is president of the 3.2 million-member National Education Association. As NEA president, he leads the nation’s largest labor union and advocate for quality public schools.

Van Roekel is committed to improving student learning and enhancing the professionalism of education employees. And he is guided by his belief in the NEA mission and vision. Consistent with the mission, he is inspired to fulfill the promise of public education and ensure that every child in America, regardless of family income or place of residence, receives a quality education.

Randi Weingarten is president of the 1.4-million-member American Federation of Teachers. From 1998 to 2008, she led the United Federation of Teachers in New York City and, prior to that, served as its legal counsel. Before teaching high school history in Brooklyn, Weingarten worked as a lawyer for a Wall Street firm. She holds degrees from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations and the Cardozo School of Law.