U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to Discuss Technology in Education at Lead Symposium 2012

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and several senior officials from the U.S. Department of Education will be in the area on Tuesday, Sept. 11, to engage in a number of discussions on the role of technology in the classroom and the link between education and the economy.

Secretary Duncan will participate in a conversation about the future of digital learning with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski and CEO of EdSurge Betsy Corcoran at the LEAD Symposium on Technology in Education 2012, in Palo Alto, Calif., at 7 p.m. PT. The symposium was organized by the Leading Education by Advancing Digital (LEAD) Commission, a cohort of education specialists and technology industry leaders who are working together to develop a blueprint on the use of technology as a catalyst to transform and improve American education. Several senior Education Department officials also will be in attendance, including Under Secretary Martha Kanter, Chief of Staff Joanne Weiss, Assistant Secretary Deb Delisle, Assistant Deputy Secretary Jim Shelton and Director of Educational Technology Karen Cator. A question-and-answer session following the dinner will be open to the press.

Secretary Duncan and his senior leaders are crisscrossing the country from Sept. 12-21 for a series of events as part of the third annual back-to-school bus tour reinforcing the message that Education Drives America. In addition to these events, some of the other stops include Redwood City and Sacramento, Calif.; Reno, Nev.; Salt Lake City; Cheyenne, Wyo.; Denver; Topeka, Kan.; Kansas City, Mo.; St. Louis; Evansville, Ind.; Lexington, Ky.; Charleston, W.Va.; Roanoke, Va.; Richmond, Va.; and Washington, D.C.

Earlier in the day on Tuesday, Sept. 11, Under Secretary Martha Kanter will participate in a College Leader Breakfast Roundtable hosted by University of California Santa Cruz and Foothill-DeAnza Community College District in Palo Alto, Calif., at 8 a.m. PT. The event will engage participants in an in-depth discussion about the Administration’s efforts to keep college affordable for every American. Kanter will discuss President Obama’s proposals to reform the higher education system, which are designed to promote shared responsibility and address the college affordability challenge. Audience members will include students, faculty members, community leaders and policymakers from across the region.

Following Kanter’s event, Sue Swenson, deputy assistant secretary for special education and rehabilitative services, and Melody Musgrove, director of special education programs, will visit Ed Roberts Campus in Berkeley at 10 a.m. PT, to highlight the interagency collaboration necessary to achieve college and career outcomes for individuals with disabilities. They will provide information from recent federal and state transition meetings and highlight recent investments that will support the transition of students and adults with disabilities to college and careers. Student speakers also will share their personal success stories.

Later in the afternoon, Swenson and Musgrove will visit Toyon Elementary School in San Jose, Calif., to highlight the benefits of Bookshare for students, families and teachers. Toyon Elementary School is a Title 1 school that is also a turnaround school, and is a leading example of a new approach to reading for students who might fall behind due to learning differences that interfere with reading print. Swenson and Musgrove will provide opening remarks and local students will demonstrate how they use computer and mobile technologies to read eBooks from Bookshare. The Bookshare organization is a Palo Alto-based nonprofit, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, and the largest online library of copyrighted content for people with qualified print disabilities. The audience will include students, teachers, other stakeholders and representatives from Bookshare/Benetech.

For live, up-to-the-minute updates from the road, follow the Education Drives America tour on Twitter using the hashtag #edtour12, or visit the Department’s bus tour blog. To receive media advisories, press releases, notifications about postings to the blog, and other special updates during the tour, subscribe to the Department’s Education Drives America e-mail updates by clicking her.

The 2012 bus tour marks the third consecutive year Secretary Duncan and senior staff have promoted education on a back-to-school bus tour. In 2010, the tour included the Delta region in the South and the Northeast. In 2011, the tour covered the Midwest from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin.

Note: Media should RSVP to Justin Lyons, (202) 295-0159, jlyons@gloverparkgroup.com