EDITOR’S NOTE: For more information regarding the Secretary of Education’s visit, you may call the Office of the Secretary’s Public Affairs Office at (202) 401-3026. For additional background on the secretary and the president’s education plan, see <http://www.ed.gov/>.

EUGENE–An address by U.S. Secretary of Education Roderick Paige will highlight the 34th annual Oregon Conference that gets underway March 1 at Eugene’s Valley River Inn.

Paige will speak during the noon-hour luncheon on Friday, March 2, at the Valley River Inn, 1000 Valley River Way. The conference begins at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, March 1, at the same location.

Paige, a Mississippi native who served for 10 years as dean of the College of Education at Texas Southern University and most recently as superintendent of Houston public schools, is expected to discuss President George W. Bush’s education plan, "No Child Left Behind." That plan emphasizes boosting student performance, improving teacher quality, making safer learning environments, reducing bureaucracy and increasing funding flexibility for the nation’s schools.

About 500 teachers, parents, school administrators, education policy makers and others will attend the two-day event, which is sponsored by the University of Oregon College of Education.

Doug Carnine, a UO professor of education and director of the National Center to Improve the Tools of Educators, served as an adviser to the Bush campaign. That connection with the new administration helped bring Paige to the Oregon Conference.

In an earlier keynote speech, special education professor James M. Patton from the College of William and Mary in Virginia will discuss "Expanding Our Views of Self, the ‘Other,’ Families, and Communities: Becoming Culturally and Cross-Culturally Competent." Patton is a former director of teacher education and evaluation for the Commonwealth of Virginia. He speaks at 8:30 a.m. Friday.

Other Oregon Conference topics include technology in the classroom, testing and accommodations, Oregon Certificate of Initial Mastery and Certificate of Advanced Mastery, schoolwide discipline/safe schools, and positive behavioral supports.

Pre-registration is strongly recommended. In addition to regular registration for the full conference, Friday-only attendance is available for $75. Limited seating for the general public may be available for the Friday lunch session with Paige, but advanced reservations are required.

For more information, see <http://brt.uoregon.edu/oc/> or contact conference coordinator Raina Megert, (541) 346-3535; e-mail <rainam@darkwing.uoregon.edu>.

The entire schedule is available on the Internet at <http://brt.uoregon.edu/oc/presenter.html>.

8:30 a.m.—noon Pre-conference workshops

Noon—1 p.m. Lunch

1—5:30 p.m. Oregon Conference sessions

5:50 p.m. Hors d’oeuvres social

8 a.m. Registration and check-in

8:30 a.m. Keynote: "Expanding Our Views of Self, the ‘Other,’ Families and Communities: Becoming Culturally and Cross-Culturally Competent," James M. Patton

9:45 a.m. Oregon Conference sessions

Noon—1 p.m. U.S. Secretary of Education Roderick Paige Address/Lunch

1—2:30 p.m. Oregon Conference sessions

3:45—4:45 p.m. Oregon Conference sessions

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