February 17, 1997

UCSC Education Department hosts talk February 25 by Deborah Meier

By Jennifer McNulty

Deborah Meier, founder of one of the most remarkable public schools in the country, will give a talk at UC Santa Cruz on Tuesday, February 25, at 7:30 p.m. The talk, titled "The Power of Their Ideas," is free and open to the public. It will be held in room B206 of the Earth and Marine Sciences Building.

For 20 years, Meier has helped to revitalize public schools in New York City's East Harlem district. Founder and former director of Central Park East Secondary School in East Harlem, Meier is one of the best-known and most celebrated educators in the country. In a city where the average graduation rate is 50 percent, Central Park East Secondary School boasts a graduation rate of 90 percent--and 90 percent of those graduates go on to college. The author of The Power of Their Ideas: Lessons for America from a Small School in Harlem, Meier is currently leading an effort to create 50 more innovative public schools in New York City.

"Deborah Meier is a champion of innovative public education," says Ellen Moir, director of teacher education at UCSC. "Her work is fueled by creativity and dedication, and she is a powerful role model for anyone involved in education."

Meier is president of the Center for Collaborative Education in New York and is a part-time fellow at the Annenberg National Institute for School Reform at Brown University. She began her teaching career as a kindergarten teacher in Chicago. She now holds honorary degrees from Harvard, Yale, Brown, and Columbia's Teachers College. She received a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship for her work in New York, and she has written for the Nation, Dissent, and many other publications.

Free parking will be available in the Science Library or Applied Sciences lots. The Earth and Marine Sciences Building is located below the parking lots. For more information, call the Education Department at (408) 459-4102.

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