Symposium to Focus on Bridging the Achievement Gap for Underserved Students

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Registration remains open for the third annual Bridging the Gap Symposium, a day-long opportunity for educators, community leaders and policy makers to come together to find solutions to the achievement gap of underserved students. The symposium will be from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Thursday, June 12, in the Jones Center for Families, Springdale.

This year’s keynote speakers are Keith Jackson, former NFL athlete and founder of the P.A.R.K. Program, and Gary Ritter, director of the Office for Education Policy in the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas. Jackson will address how his program has assisted underserved students in Central Arkansas; Ritter will discuss his office’s new report, “Performance of All Student Subgroups in Arkansas: Moving Beyond Achievement Gaps.”

This year’s event has three breakout sessions to address “Teaching for Success of Underserved Students,” “Effective Programs for the Success of Underserved Students,” and “College and Career Programs for Underserved Students.” Panels for each session will include educators, policy makers, parents and community organizations.

Panelists will include state Sen. Joyce Elliot; Sherece West-Scantlebury, president and CEO of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation; Bill Kopsky, executive director of the Arkansas Public Policy Panel; Michael Poore, superintendent of Bentonville public schools; Scott Shirey, superintendent of KIPP Delta Public Charter School; and Javier Reyes, vice provost for distance education at the University of Arkansas.

Symposium participants can receive six hours of professional development credits. Participants can register online or at the site on the day of the event. The fee is $50 for regular registration, $15 for students.

The symposium is sponsored by the Arkansas Department of Education Commission on Closing the Achievement Gap, in partnership with the University of Arkansas. Co-sponsors include La Oficina Latina, the diversity affairs office, the College of Education and Health Professions, the office of admissions, and the Walton College of Business office of diversity and inclusion.

The Commission on Closing the Academic Achievement Gap was created to ensure that all children have an opportunity for an education that will focus on equity as a means to achieve a closure in scores between and among diverse learning communities of students.