School reform expert to talk on engaged learning Feb. 27

The head of a nonprofit corporation that focuses on school reform visits Elon University this week for a presentation on engaged learning.

Phillip Schlechty, president and CEO of the Center for Leadership in School Reform, will talk at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 27 in Whitley Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

In 1988, Schlechty launched the Center for Leadership in School Reform as a means to provide high-quality and responsive support to those who are leading school reform efforts across the nation, according to the center web site. A private nonprofit corporation with headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky, the Schlechty Center, as it is now named, works with public school districts and their leaders to transform the existing system of rules, roles, and relationships that govern the way resources are used in schools to a system that is focused on the quality of work provided to students.

Schlechty spent the early part of his career teaching in schools, colleges and universities, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He helped create the Metrolina Teacher Education Consortium and assisted in early implementation of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Teacher Career Development Program.

The presentation is titled “The Power of Engaged Learning” and is sponsored by the Elon Teaching Fellows, the Alamance-Burlington School System and ACE.

Schlechty has written several books, including Inventing Better Schools: An Action Plan for Educational Reform and Schools for the 21st Century: Leadership Imperatives for Educational Reform. Another book, Leading Change in Schools, is in progress.

For more information on Schlechty, visit his web site by clicking the link below.