education journalist to speak

Thu., Apr 10

Susan Eaton, Ph.D., an award-winning journalist specializing in education, will speak on "The Achievement Gap" on April 10, from 5-7:30 p.m., as part of a speaker series sponsored by the Department of Educational Leadership. Eaton's talk will take place in Engleman Hall A120.

Author of The Children in Room E4, Eaton is the former assistant director of the project on school desegregation at Harvard University, where she received a doctorate in education policy. Her work has appeared in the Nation, the Hartford Courant, and the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine.

With our nation's urban schools growing more segregated every year, Eaton set out to see whether separate can ever really be equal. She spent four years at Simpson-Waverly Elementary School, an all-minority school in Hartford, Conn. Located in the poorest city in the wealthiest state in the nation, it is a glaring example of the great racial and economic divide found in almost every major urban center across the country.

The Children in Room E4 is the compelling story of one student, one classroom, and one indomitable teacher, Ms. Luddy. In the midst of Band-Aid reforms and hotshot superintendents with empty promises, drug dealers, and street gangs, Ms. Luddy's star student, Jeremy, and his fellow classmates face tremendous challenges both inside and outside of a school cut off from mainstream America.

Meanwhile, across town, a team of civil rights lawyers fight an intrepid battle to end the de facto segregation that beleaguers Jeremy's school and hundreds of others across America.

From inside the classroom and the courtroom, Eaton reveals the unsettling truths about an education system that leaves millions of children behind and gives voice to those who strive against overwhelming odds for a better future.

Admission to Eaton's talk is free, and the lecture is open to the public, with no RSVP required. Refreshments will be provided. Engleman Hall is located on Fitch St. in New Haven, directly across from the intersection of Fitch and Pine Rock Ave. Parking is available in Lot 7 on Wintergreen Avenue and Lot 9 on Farnham Avenue. For directions to campus and a campus map, visit http://www.southernct.edu/aboutscsu/map/  

For more information, contact the Educational Leadership office at (203) 392-5341.