AFT’s QuEST Educational Issues Conference:
Strengthening Public Schools—Our Union’s Work

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Thousands of preK-12th grade teachers will hear lively discussion about how unions, working in partnership with superintendents, political leaders, parents and others, can strengthen public schools, at the American Federation of Teachers’ QuEST educational issues conference in July.

 The 35th anniversary QuEST conference will be held in Washington, D.C., July 12-15, 2007, at the Hilton Washington Hotel.

In addition to the plenary sessions, teachers can get practical guidance at workshops within 14 theme-based tracks: Creating Safe and Orderly Classrooms, Developing Effective Curricula, Effective Early Childhood Education, Educating English Language Learners, Focusing on Teacher Quality, Literacy Instruction, NCLB: Getting It Right, Organizing Around and Negotiating for School Improvement, Redesigning Schools to Raise Achievement, Replicable Features of Nontraditional Public Schools, Smart Testing, Special Education, Strengthening High-Poverty Schools, and Teaching Mathematics for the 21st  Century.

Reporters are invited to attend the plenary sessions and workshops. Also, we can connect you with teachers from a certain city, including those coming as a team with their superintendent and/or other top district officials. To date, teams are coming from Hartford, Conn., East St. Louis, Ill., Champaign, Ill., Watsonville, Calif. (south of San Francisco), Hawaiian Gardens, Calif. (near Los Angeles), and Plattsburgh, N.Y.

Highlights

Thursday, July 12
1 p.m. – 2:15 p.m. Keynote address:  AFT President Edward J. McElroy
2:30 p.m. – 4 p.m.  Press briefing: President McElroy
2:30 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. Workshops
4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.  Plenary session: Turning around low-performing schools through collaboration with the union
- Rudy Crew, superintendent, Miami-Dade County Public Schools
  (President Karen Aronowitz, president, United Teachers of Dade, will respond)   

Friday, July 13
9 a.m.   Release: AFT policy brief on recruiting and retaining teachers in hard-to-staff schools
9 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. Plenary session:
- Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, chair, Education Commission of the States
- Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer, president, U.S. Conference of Mayors
10:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.  Workshops
2 p.m. – 5 p.m.   Workshops

Saturday, July 14
9 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.  Plenary panel: Forging the Teaching Profession
10:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.  Workshops

Sunday, July 15
9 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. Workshops
11 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Plenary session: “Making a Difference” awards event featuring Chris Gardner, author, “Pursuit of Happyness,” and subject of film based on the book
      
For more information, go to the AFT’s QuEST Web site at: www.aft.org/QuEST2007/

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