TIER Calls for Education Reforms
Students Must Be Prepared For Higher Education And 21st Century Workforce

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 21, 2006

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Steve Ray,  (512) 803-0029

ARLINGTON, TX – One of the state’s top education reform advocates told educators and businessmen Thursday that they should work to build on the education reforms of the 1990s to ensure that every child in Texas will graduate from high school prepared for higher education and the 21st century workforce.

Jim Windham, president of the Texas Institute for Education Reform (TIER), was one of the featured speakers at the inaugural K-16 Leadership Conference on September 21 at the University of Texas – Arlington. The conference was sponsored by the university’s College of Education as well as the DFW Regional Workforce Leadership Council, the Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington Chambers of Commerce and the three regional workforce development boards.

Windham, a Houston businessman and leader in education reform, told community leaders and educators that despite progress in education more needs to be done.

“We must develop a long term plan for moving to the next phase of public education reform so that our students can begin to immediately accelerate their preparation for success,” Windham said. To do that Windham recommended that those attending join TIER in advocating for enhanced educator effectiveness, higher standards and accountability  for both students and teachers, and value-added evaluations for academic performance that would be linked to college and workplace readiness.

Among those attending the conference were community and university officials and education faculty, local chamber of commerce members and business leaders, members of the area workforce development boards and local foundations and nonprofits with an interest in promoting K-16 education.

TIER is a 501©(3) non-profit, non-partisan organization of community and business leaders throughout the state who have organized themselves to raise public awareness and educate Texas opinion leadership on the current status of public education in Texas, the progress of our standards and accountability based reforms to date, the prognosis for achieving the essential universal educational proficiency of the children of Texas, and the daunting challenges that we face in doing so.

Through its leaders and advisors, TIER has access to the nation’s leading education policy expertise, the best minds in the country, and will use these resources to bring to bear on the Texas reform effort the best available research-based strategies, benchmarked practices, and policy innovations