Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Anchorage, Alaska (Jan. 24, 2012) Anchorage-area parents, teachers and community activists will discuss closing the achievement gap in education at a special event on Tuesday, Jan. 24, organizers announced today. The event is timed to coincide with National School Choice Week (www.SchoolChoiceWeek.com).

The event, which is planned by Alaska Policy Forum, will take place from 6:30-9 p.m. at the Wilda Marston Theater Loussac Library, located at 3600 Denali St. The featured speaker has a record of transforming failing schools into top-performing charter schools. Dr. Ben Chavis will speak on how to motivate all students to achieve their maximum potential. Chavis will talk about closing the achievement gap, where minority and lower-income students often lag behind white and upper-income students. Attendees can expect a lively discussion with a special question-and-answer session following.

National School Choice Week (Jan. 22-28, 2012) shines a spotlight on the need for effective options for all children, including great public schools, public charter schools, private schools, virtual schools and homeschooling. Planned by a diverse and bipartisan coalition of citizens and organizations from across the country, National School Choice Week will reach hundreds of communities and tens of millions of Americans in 2012. The week was launched last year to highlight the need to enhance educational options for families across the country. Currently, children in 35 other countries outpace U.S. students, and an American student drops out of school once every 26 seconds.

"With this event, Anchorage residents are continuing an important discussion about the benefits of educational freedom for children and families," said Andrew Campanella, vice president of public affairs for National School Choice Week. "To ensure that every child receives an effective, quality education, discussions like these are important for every community across our country, and we are very happy that Anchorage residents are using National School Choice Week to discuss the importance of educational options in Alaska."

Alaska Policy Forum serves Alaska residents and lawmakers by conducting original policy research and by providing free market solutions to local and state policymakers. The organization has a long record of supporting school options for Alaska families.

For more information, please visit www.alaskapolicyforum.org or www.SchoolChoiceWeek.com.