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James H. Shelton III
Assistant Deputy Secretary, Innovation and Improvement
U.S. Department of Education
Keynote Address: “Technological Innovation for a World-Class Education”
Monday, November 16, 2009, 8:30 a.m.
Jim Shelton will discuss his perspective on the implications for schools to better prepare students for college and workforce-readiness through the movement for fewer, clearer, internationally-benchmarked, national academic standards. Can we move fast enough to improve education for our students who are lagging internationally to prepare them for future success in a global economy? He will share what technological innovations are providing solutions for maximizing our strengths, improving teacher distribution in areas of need and increasing educational opportunities from a state, national and global context. What are the opportunities for online learning in the context of the federal reauthorization of No Child Left Behind and the stimulus funding? What are the areas of research the federal government is interested in funding or currently funding related to innovation, virtual schools and K-12 online learning?
Jim is the Assistant Deputy Secretary responsible for Innovation, managing a portfolio that includes most of the Department’s competitive teacher quality, school choice and learning technology programs. Previously, he served as a program director for the education division of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, managing the foundation’s national programs and work in the northeast region. Immediately prior, Mr. Shelton was a partner and the East Coast lead for NewSchools Venture Fund. Before joining NewSchools, Mr. Shelton also co-founded LearnNow, a school management company that later was acquired by Edison Schools. He spent over four years as a senior management consultant with McKinsey & Company. During that time, he advised CEOs and other executives on issues related to corporate strategy, business development, organizational design, and operational effectiveness. Upon leaving McKinsey, he joined Knowledge Universe, Inc., where he launched, acquired, and operated education-related businesses. Mr. Shelton holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Atlanta’s Morehouse College, as well as master’s degrees in business administration and education from Stanford University.
Terry M. Moe
Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution
Professor, Stanford University
Member, Koret Task Force on K–12 Education
Keynote Address: “Liberating Learning: Technology, Politics, and the Future of American Education”
Tuesday, November 17, 2009, 8:00 – 9:00 AM
Terry Moe, professor at Stanford University and co-author of the new book, Liberating Learning: Technology, Politics, and the Future of American Education (2009), will be a keynote speaker for the Virtual School Symposium on Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 8:00 a.m.
Liberating Learning maps out a dynamic vision of the nation's educational future, showing how the ideas and innovations of virtual schools will ultimately transform public education to the great benefit of the nation and its children. Liberating Learning also points out solutions, challenges and opportunities through online learning, with special emphasis on the political forces that resist change and how technology can help overcome the limitations in our current system by providing a new delivery model.
Terry Moe is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, a member of the Institution's Koret Task Force on K–12 education, and the William Bennett Munro Professor of political science at Stanford University. He is an expert on educational policy, U.S. political institutions, and organization theory. His current research projects are concerned with school choice, public bureaucracy, and the presidency. Moe has written extensively on educational issues. In 2005, Moe received the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation Prize for Excellence in Education. In addition to his positions at Stanford and Hoover, Moe has served as a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute in Washington, DC.
Susan Patrick
President & CEO, iNACOL
Welcome & Opening
Monday, November 16, 2009, 8:00 a.m.
Susan Patrick is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning, or iNACOL (formerly the North American Council for Online Learning). iNACOL represents the interests of practitioners, providers and students involved in online learning worldwide.
She is the former Director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education. As Director, she published the U.S. National Education Technology Plan for Congress and managed research and technical assistance programs on educational technology. In addition, she co-chaired the federal government’s Advanced Technologies Working Group for Education and Training; and served as a member of the Secretary’s Rural Education Task Force.
In 2008, Susan Patrick was named by eSchool News, a leading national education technology journal, as one of the top 10 national education leaders who “have had a profound impact on educational technology” in the past decade for her work at iNACOL and at the U.S. Department of Education.
Prior, Patrick worked in Arizona on government technology policy and legislation under Governor Jane Dee Hull. She received the 2001 Governor’s Spirit of Excellence Award.
She is a former Site Director for Old Dominion University’s TELETECHNET distance learning program.
Patrick holds a master’s degree from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication in Los Angeles and a bachelor’s degree from the Colorado College.
Patrick was the first woman to play in the men’s intramural football league at the Colorado College.
Susan Patrick has published articles and appeared in a variety of national news media such as CNN, Newsweek, USA Today, ABC News, NBC, CBS, US News and World Report, Christian Science Monitor, CSPAN, Computerworld, Forbes, National Public Radio, Education Week, New York Times, London Times, eSchool News, Converge, and numerous other publications.