Guest panelists are:

Carol D'Amico
Dr. D'Amico is the United States Department of Education Assistant Secretary for the Office of Vocational and Adult Education and is heading the recently launched Preparing America's Future initiative. Building from No Child Left Behind, this initiative will chart a new course of excellence for youth and adults so that all Americans possess the academic and technical skills required for success in the 21st century. Prior to her appointment, D'Amico served as Dean for Workforce Development at Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana. Focusing on methods to improve public education, D'Amico also worked as a policy and planning specialist for the Indiana Department of Education, and senior program analyst for the Indiana General Assembly.

Lois Mondesire
Ms. Mondesire is the principal of Strawberry Mansion High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. To address issues of low student achievement, rampant school violence, high truancy and dropout rates, Strawberry Mansion adopted the Talent Development High School reform model developed by Johns Hopkins University. The high school model physically redesigns the large high schools in which it operates to establish a separate "Ninth Grade Success Academy" for freshmen to support their transition from middle school. In the upper grades, students chose Career Academies and more specific "pathways" as a way to focus their academic studies. The school has experienced substantial improvements in school climate and impressive academic gains since the reforms were introduced during the 1999-2000 school year.

Jim Connell
Dr. Connell is the president and co-founder of the Institute of Research and Reform in Education and the architect of First Things First - a comprehensive high school reform model. First Things First provides a clear but flexible framework for reform that districts and schools can adapt to their specific needs. Wyandotte High School, in Kansas City, Kansas, is the flagship high school implementation site for First Things First. Jim is a former special education teacher and professor at the University of Rochester, where his research was recognized by major awards from both the American Psychological Association and the W.T. Grant Foundation.

Jesse Register
Dr. Register is the superintendent of Hamilton County Schools in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The district recently received an 8 million dollar grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as part of the Schools For A New Society initiative. The focus of this grant is to promote comprehensive high school reform through extensive use of school and community partnerships. The district plans to overhaul the 16 high schools that serve 12,300 students in urban, suburban and rural communities in Chattanooga and its surrounding county.