Maryland Institute for Minority Achievement and Urban Education
Presents Annual Colloquia Series beginning Feb. 7

Theme: "Educating Maryland’s African-American Males ~ Issues and Promising Practices"

COLLEGE PARK, MD (February 2007) –The ordeals faced by African- American males have long been a hot topic for discussion, but seemingly even more so of late. In December 2006, the Maryland K-16 Council issued a report written by the Task Force on the Education of Maryland’s African-American males. Included in the report were 18 recommendations on how to tackle specific challenges experienced by this population and enable their achievement in education. Beginning February 7, the College of Education’s Maryland Institute for Minority Achievement and Urban Education (MIMAUE) is focusing its spring colloquia on four of these recommendations: high quality early care, single–sex classes, one-to-one and group mentoring, and increasing the number of African American Males taking PSAT in 10^th grade.

Under the umbrella theme, Educating Maryland's African American Males ~ Issues and Promising Practices, speakers and panels will address one recommendation per colloquium and make connections to the achievement of African American males. "The plight of African American males must be a part of the educational discussion," said Martin L. Johnson, associate dean for Research, Urban and Minority Education, and director of MIMAUE. "The K-16 Task Force Report is emphatic in detailing the work that needs to be done if we are going to provide a quality education for this group of students."

The spring 2007 colloquia dates, topics, and presenters:

• FEBRUARY 7, Prevention and Intervention Services-Brenda Jones-Harden, Associate Professor, Department of Human Development, University of Maryland College of Education; Rolf Grafwallner, Assistant State Superintendent, Early Childhood Development, Maryland State Department of Education; Felicia Dehaney, Senior Program Associate, National Black Child Development Institute


• MARCH 7, In-School Support-Dwayne Ham, Counselor, William Wirt Middle School, Prince George's County Public Schools


• MARCH 28, Family and Community Support-Courtland Lee, Professor, Department of Counseling and Personnel Services, University of Maryland College of Education; Heber Brown, III, Manager, Government and Public Policy Maryland Mentoring Project


• APRIL 18, High Standards and Academic Opportunity-Roni Jolley, College Board Staff Liaison, Division of Instruction, Maryland State Department of Education; James Fey, Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Maryland College of Education

All are invited to attend the spring 2007 series. "This semester we will try to stimulate discussion in the college through the four colloquia sessions," said Johnson. "I would hope that all faculty and students would read the K-16 report and wherever they can enter into the debate or spring into action, they would take that opportunity to do so."

For further information on the MIMAUE colloquium series, contact Associate Dean Martin L. Johnson at 301.405.0246 or email mljohnso@umd.edu.

About the Maryland Institute for Minority Achievement and Urban Education

Founded in 2001, the Maryland Institute for Minority Achievement and Urban Education links the faculty and resources of the nationally ranked College of Education with area school districts to support a unified, research-based approach to working with individual school districts to address the minority achievement gap and issues in urban education. Comprehensive initiatives are developed in partnership with local administrators and teachers to target at real-world problems.

The Institute taps into the extensive intellectual capital of the College of Education and focuses faculty research and outreach to support teachers and administrators. The goals of the Institute are to:

• Develop large-scale research programs to evaluate, implement and improve promising practices for increasing student achievement and improving urban schools
• Provide outreach services to help schools identify, implement and evaluate strategies to improve student achievement
• Disseminate research-proven best practices across the nation
• Provide a structure to involve faculty from other colleges and campuses, including historically black institutions, in research collaboration and coordinated research-based K-12 outreach

Through a process of collaborative school reform, the Institute works with schools and teachers to build robust educational climates that support high achievement. Efforts to date have included programs to develop innovative strategies to increase achievement, along with professional development to improve teachers' knowledge and skills and administrators' school management proficiency.

The Maryland Institute for Minority Achievement and Urban Education is an integral component of the research and outreach mission of the University of Maryland College of Education, which ranks 22nd among the top colleges of education in the most recent survey by U.S. News & World Report for 2006. Offering undergraduate, master's and doctoral degrees, the College of Education provides research- and practice-oriented programs through its six departments: Counseling and Personnel Services, Curriculum and Instruction, Education Policy and Leadership, Human Development, Measurement, Statistics and Evaluation, and Special Education.

Maryland Institute for Minority Achievement and Urban Education
University of Maryland
College of Education
3119 Benjamin Building
College Park, MD 20742

www.education.umd.edu/MIMAUE