The Buffalo educational community is taking a long, serious look at the challenges facing urban-education systems during Urban Education Month, a major program of events being held through March 31 and coordinated by the Graduate School of Education (GSE) and its Urban Education Institute.

The month-long project is a result of a UB collaboration with the Buffalo Public Schools, Buffalo Alliance for Education, Buffalo Coalition for Urban Education, WNED-TV, Buffalo Teacher Center, Education Committee of the Buffalo Common Council, Project Respect, Buffalo Board of Education, Canisius College, The Oshei Foundation, The Coalition of Arts Providers for Children, The Western New York Writers Project, the Mayor's Community Schools Project and the YWCA Racial Justice Committee.

Major support was provided by UB's Urban Education Institute, Gail Paradise Kelly Lecture Fund, the Herb and Anita Foster Lecture Fund, Department of Educational Leadership and Policy, and the Critical and Cultural Studies in Information Technologies Group.

Featured events will include a conference on racial justice, a public forum on the state of the Buffalo schools and a series of free public discussions with major American experts in urban education, provocative advocates for fiscal equity and racial equality in school funding, and award-winning authors in the field of education.

All events will be open to the public, although some require pre-registration. They will be free of charge, except where noted. For the full schedule of events, visit the Urban Education Institute's Web site at www.gse.buffalo.edu/dc/urbaned/currentprojects.html.

Thomas Frantz, associate professor and interim dean of the GSE, says the month-long program reflects the university's commitment to urban education and, in particular, working toward the health and well-being of the Buffalo schools.

“We have dozens of projects, programs and research centers at the university that continually, with the City of Buffalo schools, its teachers, students and Superintendent Marion Canedo, work on everything from researching the effects of class size to helping schools and teachers implement educational technologies, foster creativity and independent learning and develop parent leadership," he said.

“But no urban-education initiative, however well-intended, can succeed without a broad base of support, the enthusiasm of teachers, parents and students, and the leadership provided by all of them,” he says. “We have that now in Buffalo, and as an institution that educates teachers, administrators and school counselors, UB has a responsibility to remain involved with the community and its graduates and other stakeholders in the success of the city's public-education system.”

During the month, Canisius College will sponsor the "Young Writers Festival: Celebrating the Power of Words," the Buffalo Public Schools will sponsor "Back to School Day" and "Celebrating Success Week," and UB will present a film festival focused on teaching and learning for diversity-a major issue in education today.

The first event, which was March 1, was a presentation by Dennis Carlson, professor and director of the Center for Education and Cultural Studies at Miami University of Ohio. Carlson, a noted author and speaker, addressed crisis tendencies in urban education, teachers as political actors and cultural workers, and teachers' potential for building a democratic discourse on school reform.

Among the other notable speakers will be Pedro Noguera, Dimon Professor of Communities and Schools in the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, who will give a talk on "The Racial Achievement Gap: How Can We Assure an Equity of Outcomes?" at 4 p.m. tomorrow in the Screening Room in the Center for the Arts on the North Campus. Noguera's research and writing focuses on the way urban schools respond to social and economic forces, issues of youth violence, the crisis of the black male, improving performance of low-performing schools, school vouchers and school choice.

Noguera also will participate in "Coalition for Urban Education Stakeholders Dialogue on Buffalo School Reform," public forum to be held from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday in UB's Educational Opportunity Center, 465 Washington St., Buffalo. At the forum, parents, teachers, students, legislators, school-board members, administrators, education scholars and the general public will discuss the proposal of the Council on Great City Schools to reform the Buffalo Public Schools.

Registration for the forum is required by today by calling 646-6494 or contacting Mary Finn at fin@acsu.buffalo.edu.

On March 27, Greg Farrell, president of Outward Bound/USA Expeditionary Learning Program, will discuss "expeditionary learning" in an alternative school in New York City, where students have learned to work together in teams to rise to seemingly impossible challenges and then use their knowledge in service to the community.

Jeannie Oakes, professor and associate dean of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and author of the influential book "Teaching to Change the World," will be in Buffalo on March 30 to discuss ways to prepare new teachers to provide high-level academic instruction in low-income, urban schools, while promoting social justice.