HispanicBusiness

Public schools will change dramatically in the near future, and an internationally-recognized education leader will speak in Tupelo this month to provide perspective about the coming shift.

Bill Daggett, founder and chairman of the International Center for Leadership in Education, will be the keynote at the Forum on the Future of Education to be held on Oct. 30 at BancorpSouth Arena from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The program will begin with introductory remarks from Mississippi Interim State Superintendent of Education Lynn House.

Daggett's appearance is funded by CREATE Foundation's Toyota Education Enhancement Endowment Fund. Organizers are hoping the forum attracts not only educators, but also parents, community leaders and others in Northeast Mississippi interested in public education. It is free and open to the public.

"What we're trying to do is provide the latest information on what Common Core will mean to all of our school districts," said CREATE Foundation President Mike Clayborne. "He is someone who is at the leading edge of the national conversation on Common Core, and we think it is extremely important not only that educators understand the major changes that are coming but also that the broader community does too."

Daggett will speak about schools' upcoming move to the Common Core State Standards, a much more rigorous and in-depth curriculum that was developed by the National Governors Association and Council of Chief State School Officers. Forty six states, including Mississippi, have agreed to use the standards.

He will specifically address the new state tests that will result and how they will force schools to fundamentally shift what and how they teach. He will look at why these changes are being made and the impact they will have.

A former teacher and administrator at the secondary and post-secondary levels, Daggett has assisted a number of states and hundreds of school districts with school improvement initiatives. He has also collaborated with education ministries in several countries.

Last summer, the Toyota endowment paid to send several area educators to the annual Model Schools Conference in Orlando, Fla., where Daggett spoke. Hearing him inspired Clayborne and others to bring him to Northeast Mississippi

"We believe he is one of the leading authorities on educational change in America and one of the most effective communicators we've seen about what is coming with the Common Core State Standards," Clayborne said.