MIDDLEBURY — Nationally acclaimed expert Jennifer Siebel Newsom, director and producer of the groundbreaking films “Miss Representation” and “The Mask You Live In,” is the keynote speaker at an upcoming conference at Middlebury College, titled “Boys, Girls and Gender Equity in Education.”
The conference, which is aimed at reducing gender-related educational gaps in preK-12th grades, is on Thursday, Nov. 12, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Newsom will speak at 11:45 a.m.
The conference marks the first time that Vermont policymakers, educators, school administrators, parents, businesspeople, nonprofits and students are being brought together to focus on ways in which boys are disengaging in education, as well as continued areas of girls’ achievement, with an eye to identifying causes and promulgating solutions for each.
“As a state, we’re late in recognizing that gender-related achievement gaps are threatening both girls and boys in Vermont. There’s been an invisible trend of boys falling behind or simply tuning out of education for the last decade,” says Karen Taylor Mitchell of the Governor’s Institutes of Vermont, which is coordinating the conference. “At the same time, despite all of girls’ educational gains, troubling cultural and achievement gaps persist. The goal of this conference is to examine issues and root causes and begin to move the needle on large-scale solutions.”
“These are issues of critical importance in Vermont education,” said Vermont Deputy Secretary of Education Heather Bouchey, who will be speaking at the conference kickoff and presenting later in the day. “The Agency is heartened by the level of interest from the community and we will be listening closely to hear what emerges throughout the day.”
The cost of the conference is $149 per person; register at www.giv.org/conference. People who want to attend only the lunch and keynote address, which costs $45 per person, will be admitted at 11:45 a.m., space permitting.
For more information, contact [email protected].