Keynote speaker: Da Chen, award-winning author and musician

The College Board Middle States Regional Forum 2009 will take place in Baltimore, Md., Feb. 10-12. This three-day event features an impressive lineup of more than 60 thought-provoking sessions specifically designed to help academic, admissions, financial aid, guidance and community college professionals become more successful in their jobs helping students prepare for and achieve college success. Special events include a town hall meeting with College Board President Gaston Caperton and a keynote address by Da Chen, an award-winning author, musician and lawyer whose works are used in textbooks for secondary and higher education.

Among the many opportunities to interact with colleagues from around the Middle States region, both familiar and new, are the preforum sessions Tuesday, Feb. 10, 8 a.m.-noon, and the conference pep rally reception with the Morgan State University Pep Band, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 5-7 p.m.

Special sessions were prepared to address the burning issues in education today, with content that can be taken back to schools and effect change:

• Preforum sessions on connecting with students using new technology, economics for enrollment professionals and workshops for test center supervisors and AP® Coordinators
• "Changing the Culture of a School Through an Advanced Placement® Incentive Program" — for educators and administrators
• "Improving Student Academic Profile and Increasing Net Revenue Through Enrollment Marketing" — for admissions/enrollment professionals
• "You Decide: How Do Colleges Read Applications?" — for school counselors
• "Grant Writing at Community Colleges" — for community college professionals
• Many others for every facet of education

For more information on the sessions, click here.

The College Board invites you to register now (via fax, mail or online) to participate in one of the most respected, best-attended meetings of education professionals in our region. For those unable to attend the entire three-day forum, a special one-day rate of $150 (for member institutions) is also available. Come and join the conversations.

AAC Chair Maghan Keita is professor of history and director of the Institute for Global Interdisciplinary Studies at Villanova University.

The teaching profession and its future led the agenda for the Academic Assembly Council meeting in December in New York. The council also discussed ways to nurture its ongoing work with College Board staff and ways to increase the number of Advanced Placement® teachers across the country.

The Academic Assembly Council leads the assembly’s work in addressing issues related to curriculum, assessment and professional development. It includes representation from each of the College Board regions and academic units.
“We see ourselves as the guarantor of the intellectual integrity of College Board products,” said Maghan Keita, the council’s chair and professor of history and director of the Institute for Global Interdisciplinary Studies at Villanova University. “We have a nationwide collection of experts that, through hands-on work with the staff, see to it that these products are of the best and highest quality.”

One of the council’s top priorities is making teaching
a preferred profession in America, Keita said, and having the College Board be a strong advocate toward that goal. “In all aspects that affect our national interest, education is at the forefront. And teachers are the ones
in the trenches.”

Additionally, council members talked about the need to find and groom new AP® teachers, he said. The pool of teachers is dwindling, and as the College Board and others try to increase access to the rigorous course work of the AP Program, developing new teachers is essential. One idea that has been discussed is working with university schools of education to find ways to introduce AP teaching techniques and methodologies as part of the curriculum.

As the council considers national and global issues in education, members also are dedicated to maintaining strong regional representation, despite the troubled economy, and continuity in the council’s work with College Board staff.

The overarching aim, Keita said, is to join and lead the overall effort of the College Board to think about the future of American education. “The model (of education) that we are using now, if it isn’t already outdated, will be. We’re thinking more about the future of American education and its place in a global setting,” he said.

Keita is in his second and final year as chair of the council. He said that in his many years of work with the College Board, he’s enjoyed gathering some of the brightest minds in America dedicated to this mission of improving education and opportunities for students.

“It’s very exciting at this moment in time, in terms of the possibilities,” he said. “The Board is in a position to make real, meaningful interventions in American education as a whole, and I believe that is because of Gaston Caperton’s leadership. He realizes that the College Board is not simply an organization about testing, but it’s an institution that focuses fundamentally on improving the education of all students.”

Interim VP Bob Alig

The Middle States Regional Forum will soon be upon us, and all indications are that it will be a spectacular event. Even in these times of economic turmoil, the forum provides a needed opportunity for us to come together, support each other and consider new ways to best prepare our students for college success. Many more students in the coming years will need our help getting there. Counselors, teachers, test administrators, community college administrators, financial aid professionals — all of you who work with students or school districts can benefit from the workshop sessions targeted to the particular concerns and issues you face, then take answers back with you to work and effect change. College Board President Gaston Caperton will be there to meet with education leaders from our region. Come prepared to share your ideas and insights with him; he's looking forward to hearing from all of you about how the College Board can be more responsive to our member institutions. Featured speakers will include Da Chen, who has written extensively about growing up in China during the Cultural Revolution, and Clifford Adelman, who wrote the background study on which the "A Nation at Risk" report was based its high school curriculum recommendations. A few preforum sessions will offer expert advice on the use of new technology, economics for enrollment professionals, and workshops for test center supervisors and AP Coordinators. If you can't join us for the full forum, consider joining us for one day. We've lowered our one-day rate to enable more school professionals to participate. Please come and join the conversations.

Click here to see events and workshops in the Middle States Region.