WEBINAR: Opportunity to Learn, Responsibility to Lead: A Bipartisan Public Education Framework for the Future
On September 19, 2022, the Aspen Institute Education & Society Program convened a distinguished panel of state policymakers to discuss new bipartisan Opportunity to Learn Principles (OTL Principles) for state leadership in education.
Education policy has become polarized, threatening to erode historically broad support across political lines. From January through July 2022, a bipartisan and diverse group of state policymakers – state legislators, state commissioners of education, state board members, and governors’ policy advisors – came together under the auspices of the Aspen Institute to reflect on their visions and values, examine research evidence, and articulate what ought to be true regarding student opportunities in our public schools. The product of that work is a new set of Opportunity to Learn Principles to undergird a new, positive bipartisan agenda for improving public education. These principles cover essential elements of the student experience, the learning conditions schools are responsible for, and the unique role of state leadership in making opportunities real.
Panelists:
- Linda Darling-Hammond, President, California State Board of Education; professor emeritus, Stanford University; founder and President, Learning Policy Institute.
- Angélica Infante-Green, Commissioner of Education, State of Rhode Island; former deputy commissioner in the New York State Education Department; former CEO of English-Language Learner services in New York City Department of Education.
- Amy Sinclair, Majority Whip and Senate Education Committee Chair, Iowa State Senate; former County Commissioner, Wayne County, Iowa.
Each panelist spoke to their experience in developing the OTL Principles and their plans to apply the principles in their policy leadership going forward. The webinar concluded with a Q&A session.