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Educators converge on CSULB
By Stephine Michrina
Summer Forty-Niner
Educators from across the United
States gathered at Cal State Long Beach at the K-16 Partnerships
and Student Success conference with the hope of uniting high
schools, community colleges and universities.
"We (at CSU) are joined at the
hip with the community colleges in the area," said David Spence,
vice chancellor of CSU. Spence, along with President Maxson
kicked off the three-day event, which attracted more than
1,000 attendees.
Spence emphasized the goals
of CSU over the next decade, including tailoring the transfer
process for students coming from community colleges.
"We take two transfer students
for every freshman that comes in. Our goal is to counsel the
students so they only have to take the courses they want and
need," Spence said, adding that the average transfer student
takes 80 units before transferring, but only needs to have
56 units for the transfer.
The university is hosting the
conference for its second year and boasts a meaty program
with discussion groups and topics like e-tutoring and using
library resources.
Wednesday's keynote speaker,
Pedro Noguera, the Judith K. Dimon Professor Communities and
Schools at the Harvard Graduate School of Education emphasized
the need to promote equity and access in the school system.
"We live in a state where people
are proud to speak only one language, that's really sad,"
Noguera said.
Stephen Dublin, a teacher from
Millikan High School after hearing Noguera's speech raised
concern over the male students in his classes. "I do see equity
issues, especially with males. We seem to be losing a lot
of our men including Latinos and whites, while we try to retain
more women in the areas of math and science," Dublin said.
After 27 years of teaching, the Long Beach resident said he's
constantly asking himself "What are we doing to help every
kid?"
K-16 Partnerships and Student
Success conference ends Friday with closing remarks from Sen.
Jim Jeffords of Vermont who recently switched his party
affiliation from Republican to Independent, a decision that
gave Democrats control of the Senate.
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