"100 Years of Urban Education," an international symposium in recognition of the centennial of the Pan American Exposition and the inauguration of Buffalo State College's Center for Excellence in Urban and Rural Education, was held May 17-19, 2001.

The opening session featured the college's annual Paul Bulger lecture, this year delivered by Roger Soder, author and co-director of the University of Washington's Center for Educational Renewal and vice president of the Seattle-based Institute for Educational Inquiry. Soder contributed to and edited the well-known book "Democracy, Education and the Schools," which expands the debate over public school quality from its current focus on test scores and academic proficiency to what Soder believes to be the essential function of American public education - educating students for participation in American democratic society. Soder has also co-edited two other very well-known books on public education and teacher education, "The Moral Dimensions of Teaching" and "Places Where Teachers are Taught."

Thursday's conference sessions included:

• Preparing Urban School Leaders: Challenges for the New Millennium

Bernard Oliver, Eugene Eubanks, Donna Davis, Edward Underwood, Sue Thompson, Dianne Smith (University of Missouri, Kansas City)






• Community and Families Together: Building an Effective Family Reaching Program


Catherine Cook-Cottone (D'Youville College), David Nathanson (Buffalo Public Schools), Peg Wantuck (Buffalo West Side Even Start)




• Professional Development District Demonstration Project: The Next 100 Years-Teachers Leading the Way in the 21st Century


Robin Lee Harris, Maureen Milligan (Buffalo State College), Kathaleen Burke, Eileen Breen, Tanya Johnson, Stacey Thomson (Buffalo Public Schools)




• From Isolation to Inclusion: Has Urban Education for Students with Low-Incidence Serious Emotional Disturbance Progressed Over the Past 100 Years?


Gaynell D. Brewer (Georgia College and State University), Melverlene Parker (Chicago Public Schools)




• The Art Partners Program: Preventative Medicine for Urban School Children at Risk


Lucy Andrus (Buffalo State College)




• College as an Urban Home for Low Income, Single Parent Students and Their Children


Cheryl Albers, Tim Ecklund (Buffalo State College)




• Overcoming Urban Issues in the Mathematics Classroom Through Effective Practices


Richard Frazita, Michaelene Meger, Thomas Giambrone (Buffalo State College)




• Principal Development Academy: A Collaborative Effort


Michelle Chaplin Partlow (University of Dayton), Ann Levett-Lowe (Antioch College)




• Issues in Evaluating Program Initiatives in Urban Schools


William F. Wieczorek, Thomas Nochajski, Christopher P. Callahan, Tanya Riley (Buffalo State College)




• Urban Art and Art Education as Renewal


Mary Wyrick (Buffalo State College)




• A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: The Art of Teaching Through Aesthetics in Urban Elementary Schools


Jacob Easley, II (Pennsylvania State University), Iris Simpson (Communities in Schools of Newark)




• Implementing Early Literacy Assessment in an Urban School


Stephen Phelps (Buffalo State College), Kathy Backus, Susan Brown, Jan Fix, Laura Jaynes, Louise Wadsworth (Buffalo Public Schools)




• Using the Principles of Andragogy and Service to Parents as Strategies for Connecting School and Home in Urban Settings


Sheila Taylor-King (D'Youville College)




• Making Literacy Political: Incorporating a Critical Pedagogy in the Facilitation of a Focus Group of Working Class Parents


Gillian Richardson (University nne Smith, Gus Jacobs (University of Missouri, Kansas City)




• White Preservice Teachers, Urban Schools: Addressing Issues of Race, Class and Gender Through Community-Based Initiatives, Partnerships and Popular Culture


Audrey M. Dentith, Sheila Baldwin (Monmouth University)




• Successful Urban Teachers of Racially and Ethnically Diverse Students


Linda Drajem (Buffalo State College)




• Art Education in Urban Settings


Cheryl M. Hamilton, Judith Simpson, John Siskar (Buffalo State College)




• Reflections on Hiring Teachers to Teach in an Urban School District by a Former Director of Personnel and Labor Relations in an Ohio Urban School District


Peter Loehr (Buffalo State College)



Friday's sessions included:


• Teacher as Professional Decision-Maker


Joanne Robertson Bizzaro (Adelphi University)




• Vamos, TOC!


Patricia Ann Brock (Pace University)




• Stepping Out of the Box to Ease White Preservice Teachers' Racial Anxiety Toward Urban Minorities


Kathlyn Wiggins-Jones, Karen Lester (Buffalo State College), Keri Hedges (Sweet Home School District)




• Educational Leadership: The Need to Be a Part of the Neighborhood Community


Kathleen S. Sernak (Rowan University)




• Silence Speaks: Whiteness Revealed Through Its Own Omission/Admission


Lisa A. Mazzei (Ohio Dominican College)




• New Teachers for the Millennium: Perceptions and Demographics of Urban Teachers


Kathryn A. Moran, Elfreda Blue (Buffalo State College)




• The Learning Technology Action Research Process: A Successful Model for Poor Urban School Systems


Harvey Kaye (Mercy College)




• The Academic Alliance: Providing Opportunities for Higher Education


Joseph McSparran (Kutztown University of Pennsylvania)




• Urban Teacher Perceptions of Young Black Male Student Performance: Implications for Best Practices


Awilda Hamilon, Adrella Horton-Wallace (Kent State University)




• Urban Education: Developing Necessary Changes in Attitudes, Theory and Practice for Early Childhood Teacher Preparation Courses


Anne H. O'Neill (Long Island University)




• Children's Literature and Multicultural Teaching: The Role of Teacher Knowledge and Values


Robecca L. Perini (Widener University)




• Implementing Geographic Information Systems Technology into K-12 Education to Facilitate Active Learning


Tao Tang, Kay Johnson-Gentile, Ted Kury (Buffalo State College)




• Increasing Preservice Teachers' Interest to Become Urban Educators


Coralee Smith (Buffalo State College), Rebecca Avery, Elan Badura-Price (Buffalo Public Schools)




• Buffalo's Brain Compatible Project Network and Its Impact on Beginning Reading Instruction


Hank Dowski, Lee Dowski (Buffalo State College), Kathleen Franklin (Buffalo Public Schools)




• Providing High-Powered Instruction: Caveats for Consideration


Warren Gleckel, Wendy Patterson (Buffalo State College)




• An Experiential Curricular Model of Urban Education


Pat Pintar, Sonja Frantz (St. Mary-of-the-Woods College)




• Responsible Discipline for Safe Schools


J. Allen Queen, James Burnham (University of North Carolina Charlotte), Martin A. Eaddy (Lincoln County School District)




• University and Urban School Educational Collaboration (Middle School)


Jackie Jackson (University of Akron), Morgan Green (Akron Public Schools)




• The Urban Fellows Project - From 1987 to the Future: Developing a Twriday, Creative Problem Solving and Learning Styles: Proven Strategies for Enhancing Student Potential, was held. Carolyn Brunner and Gerard Puccio from Buffalo State College, and Karen Burke, from St. Joseph's College, facilitated.
  
  
  
  Saturday's sessions included:
  
  
  
  
• Truth Telling - Schooling Versus Education


Florence Flakes-Rozier, Crystal Barton, Theresa Harris-Tigg (Buffalo Public Schools)




• Managing Students in Urban Classrooms: Teacher's Perspectives


Dave F. Brown (West Chester University)




• The Impact of a Freshman Success Program on a Low-Income Urban Setting: Fostering Academic Improvement and the "Family Phenomenon"


Catherine G. Ansuini, Arleen Behan, Arthur Kelder, Gloria Rapport (Buffalo State College)




• Technology Funding in Urban and Rural Schools: Historical Perspectives, Recent Developments


Dennis Mike (Buffalo State College)




• Education in Havana, Cuba: A Photo Essay


Robert Gamble (D'Youville College), Julia Wilkins (Buffalo Public Schools)




• Chicago's Community-Based Alternative High Schools: Implications for Best Practices and Policy


Meryl Greer (Indiana University at South Bend)




• Teaching Dewey and Philosophy for Children in the Follow-Through Learning Laboratory


James Palermo (Buffalo State College), Catherine D'Erasmo (Buffalo Public Schools)




• The Effects of Current Financial Aid on Urban College Students


Rita Zientek (Buffalo State College)




• What Types of Projects Urban School Teachers and Principals Submitted When Offered a $5,000 Grant to Implement Best Practices in Their Classrooms or Schools


Martha Burich (University of Missouri, St. Louis).