May 4, 2010

***May 17 talk sponsored by Rethinking Schools of CSUMB ***

Renowned school reformer Deborah Meier will present a talk at Oasis Charter Public School in Salinas at 6 p.m., May 17. The talk is free and open to the public.

A senior scholar at New York University, she will discuss the current climate of top-down reforms and her vision of democratic progressive education for a pluralistic society.

Meier has spent more than 40 years working for education reform as a teacher, writer and public advocate. A well-respected critic of state-mandated standards and testing, she believes that a strong community of parents, teachers and students is necessary to build effective schools. She founded and served as teacher-director of several innovative public schools that serve predominantly low-income African-American and Latino students. Those schools are considered exemplars of reform nationally.

Her books include The Power of Their Ideas (1995), In Schools We Trust (2002), Keeping School (with Ted and Nancy Sizer, 2004) and Many Children Left Behind (2004).

The talk is sponsored by Rethinking Schools/La Educación Reinventada of California State University, Monterey Bay, a group of educators committed to equity, justice and multiculturalism within the public education system.

Oasis Charter School is located at 1135 Westridge Parkway, Salinas, behind Costco in the Westridge Mall.

More information is available from Nicholas Meier at 582-3536 or Miguel Lopez at 582-3997.