PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Media Contact: Juliette Bogus, 202.631.9313

Education Institution Partners to Further Student Achievement in Schools
New Partnership Forged to Promote Education as a Civil Right

Syosset, New York -The National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA) and Stanford University’s School Redesign Network (SRN) are joining forces to accelerate education reform in communities across America. SRN was established in 2000 to create, capture and share research-based knowledge about transforming secondary schools and school systems. The principal investigator and co-executive director of SRN is Linda Darling-Hammond, the Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education at Stanford.

NUA’s mission is to close the achievement gap for urban students by working with local school district leadership and classroom teachers to ensure that all students receive high quality instruction every day in all academic subjects.  NUA also works with the districts and with community stakeholders to promote resolute belief in the potential of every student and determination that they will have fair opportunity to realize that potential.  The innovative approaches of NUA recognize that each school community faces distinct challenges, requiring proven models of instruction adapted to meet the needs of students in each city and town.  This understanding enables NUA to be a partner in successful education initiatives of districts across the country, including Albany, New York, Seattle, Birmingham, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Bridgeport and Newark.

“NUA’s partnership with  Dr. Darling-Hammond and the scholar-practitioners of the School Redesign Network, moves the nation’s social justice movement forward on behalf of students and their families,” said NUA Founder and President, Dr. Eric Cooper, “Our reform district-based partners are engaged in systematic and systemic reforms through their focus on structure, instruction, organization and evaluation of both results and how those results were achieved.” The School Redesign Network advocates that every student’s right to learn is a fundamental civil right that requires replacing ineffective schools with smaller schools that maintain a relentless focus on improving the performance of learning and teaching. SRN’s mission is to support and sustain equitable schools that are intellectually rigorous, high performing, and designed to help ALL students master the knowledge and skills needed for success in college, career and citizenship..  To advance this mission, SRN has identified 10 features of an effective school : personalization, continuous relationships, high standards and performance based assessment, authentic curriculum, adaptive pedagogy, multicultural and anti-racist teaching, knowledgeable and skilled teachers, collaborative planning and professional development, family and community connections, and democratic decision-making.  

“It is critical that teachers have the knowledge and skills they need to take advantage of what works in helping students learn at accelerated rates, “ said Darling-Hammond, “A substantial body of research suggests that one of the most important school determinants of student achievement is the quality of teachers.”

“We are partnering with like-minded organizations whose education reform goals are similar to ours and are founded on the belief that quality instruction is key,” said Cooper, “This launches a partnership based on what works across large numbers of school buildings where, in alliance, we build renewed hope for those who labor and advocate mightily in behalf of all students."

Linda Darling-Hammond is a nationally respected education leader and is a featured speaker at NUA’s upcoming “Teaching for Intelligence:Believe to Achieve” conference in Birmingham April 27-29, 2007. She will present a keynote speech on April 27. SRN will conduct workshops entitled, "Principles for Successful High School Redesign" and "Strategies for Helping Struggling Students Complete Schoolwork and Homework."


The National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA) ® was founded in 1989 with a vision of school reform based upon three beliefs:  all children are capable of attaining high educational standards; intelligence is modifiable, not fixed; and all stakeholders in the community must be involved in addressing the social, cultural, and intellectual needs of our youth.