2010 National Urban League Centennial

WHO:

• Esther L. Bush, President and CEO, Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh

• Geoffrey Canada, President and CEO, Harlem Children's Zone

• Marian Wright Edelman, President, Childrens' Defense Fund

• Ernest G. Green, Managing Director of Public Finance, Lehman Brothers

• The Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, U.S. Congresswoman, Texas's 18^thcongressional district

• Elaine R. Jones, Civil Rights Attorney and Activist, University of Virginia School of Law

• The Honorable Ronnie Musgrove, former Governor of Mississippi and chairman of the NAEP 12^th Grade Preparedness Commission

• Reverend Al Sharpton, President, National Action Network

• Dr. Cornel West, Professor of Religion and African-American Studies, Princeton University

WHAT:
Addressed 12^th Graders' Readiness for College or Workplace Training

WHERE:
National Urban League Centennial Town Hall on Education
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Part of the National Urban League's Centennial Conference and Celebration
Washington, D.C.
www.nul.org

WHY:
Appointed by the National Assessment Governing Board, www.nagb.org, the NAEP 12^th Grade Preparedness Commission's goal is to increase awareness of the importance of preparing students academically for postsecondary education and training, as measured by NAEP.

BACKGROUND:
The Education Town Hall addressed the importance of ensuring that minority and disadvantaged students receive a rigorous curriculum and perform to high standards.

For more than 40 years, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), commonly known as The Nation's Report Card has been the only source of national and state data on student achievement in Grades 4, 8 and 12. NAEP tracks trends in achievement over time and gaps in achievement by race, ethnicity, gender, and income, and for students with disabilities and students who are English language learners.