MPS hosts 58th Council of Great City Schools conference in Milwaukee

This week, the Council of the Great City Schools hosts its 58th annual fall conference in Milwaukee, hosted by MPS, and some big names in the world of education and beyond will be on hand for the event, which runs Oct. 22-26.

The conference — “Fresh Water, Fresh Thinking in Urban Education” — takes place at the Wisconsin Center, and will bring about 1,000 school superintendents to Milwaukee.

Among the speakers are College Board President David Coleman, Girl Scouts of America CEO Anna Maria Chavez and astrophysicist/TV science commentator Neil deGrasse Tyson. NPR’s Claudio Sanchez will moderate a town hall discussion on Oct. 24.

Those events may be the bread and butter, but the meat of the conference are the roughly 80 discussion sessions that crack open opinion, expertise and knowledge sharing on topics like teacher effectiveness and evaluation, implementation of the Common Core State Standards at the district and school level, deferred maintenance on school buildings and more.

On Thursday, the conference will also name its “Urban Educator of the Year.”

I’m hoping to check out the resources displays and sit in on a few discussions. I’ll report back afterward.

“This conference is an opportunity for urban school leaders from around the country to see some of our success stories and it’s one way for us to see what’s working in other communities,” MPS Superintendent Dr. Darienne Driver said in a statement. “Exchanging best practices is a great way to drive innovation in education.”

You can find out more about the conference, its agenda and events here.

All public education eyes will be on Milwaukee this week. Follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #cgcs14.