Last night, the University of Illinois at Chicago hosted a panel discussion on education policy. In front of a packed audience of more than 250, eight professors from area institutions presented their “top ten list of education policy priorities for President-elect Barack Obama.” Instead of listing all the proposals set forth last night, here’s a list of my top ten of everyone’s top tens, in no particular order of importance (responsible professor in parentheses):

-Institute multiple language curriculum in K-12 schools so that all students of American public education can be bi- or trilingual (Carl Grant, UW-Madison; Sumi Cho, Depaul)

-Public officials (i.e. president, members of congress) should send their students to public schools (Sumi Cho, Depaul; Carl Grant, UW-Madison “Public schools will only get better when people stand up and walk the walk…(slight applause)…Yeah, you can go ahead and clap!…(room erupts in applause)”

-Ensure high quality, FREE PK-16 public education for all Americans, including immigrants (Pauline Lipman, UIC; Erica Meiners, NIU)

-Create and provide high quality training for a diverse, national teaching corps that recruits community members to educate students from their own neighborhoods (Pauline Lipman, UIC; Erica Meiners, NIU)

-Extend the school year to 10 months in 2010-2011 and 11 months after that so that arts and humanities are included (Carl Grant, UW-Madison “we are no longer an agrarian society”)

-Replicate model of the Harlem Children’s Zone in cities across the country (Carol Lee, Northwestern)

-Create a “Book a week” program (Obama reads the book too) to inspire all Americans to read more (Haki Madhubuti, CSU)

-Downsize schools and classroom to ensure individual attention (Carl Grant, UW-Madison)

-Involve community members and students in public education through peer juries, the development of culturally relevant curriculum, integration with healthcare, non-military leadership opportunities, etc (in one form or another, every panelist made this suggestion)

-And perhaps the most energizing moment of the evening came from Haki Madhubuti, when he lead a call-and-response with the audience. He spouted off at least ten positive phrases encouraging the use of art in public education, for example, “Keep young people in school and out of prison with…ART!” (Haki Madhubuti, CSU)

William Ayers (UIC) presented last and didn’t really offer a top ten list. Instead, he summarized everyone’s thoughts and spoke about the “full development of all” instead of the individualistic, competitive nature of American public education. As a final point, he suggested that every proposal made tonight is not only directed at Barack Obama and government institutions, but rather American society as a whole. He argued that citizens have tremendous power to change the cultural landscape of public education.

If you were not able to attend, but would like to view clips from this event, visit the UIC College of Education website in the coming days. They will post a video recording of the event on their website.

For those of you in the Chicago area with free time tonight, you should check out a panel at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Professors from UIC’s College of Education will lead a discussion about the education policy priorities for President-elect Barack Obama. Here are the details…

Who: Kevin Kumashiro (moderator), William Ayers, Sumi Cho, Carl Grant, Carol Lee, Pauline Lipman, Haki Madhubuti, Erica Meiners (panelists)

What: Education Policy Priorities for the New President: A Panel of Experts & Their “Top Ten” Lists

When: Thurs., Dec. 4th at 6 PM

Where: The Event Center of the UIC Forum, 725 W. Roosevelt Rd., Chicago, IL, 60607

Parking: Lot #5, 1135 S. Morgan

RSVP is appreciated, but I’m sure they’ll make room for eager attendees.

If you’re not able to attend, don’t worry. I will post a brief summary of the event on Friday. Until then, if you need an Obama education fix, check out District299.com for information about CPS CEO Arne Duncan and USDOE Secretary Maragaret Spellings. Some people think he will be Obama’s Secretary of Education. Thoughts?

I have to say that Obama first entered my field of vision was when I heard a speech of his on the Southside of Chicago, talking in a very real way about the inequity of much urban public education in this country.  And he wasn’t talking about it is a policy-NCLB kind of way, but about real people, real children and real injustices.  I have never heard a political figure at his level talk about educational issues in such a real and moving way.

So what does Obama’s potential candidacy mean for education?  We won’t know for sure until it happens, but here are some glimpses…

Alexander Russo is a very prolific writer who maintains two blogs, one about national issues and one with issues specific to Chicago:

This Week in Education, which is hosted by Scholastic and The Chicago Schools Blog, which is hosted by Catalyst.

Yesterday in ‘This Week in Education’, Russo posted several links to speeches in which Obama talked about his views on education.  Click here for the link to the actual blog post, which is also quoted below.