Dear Invited Guest:

On behalf of Governor M. Jodi Rell, the Education Commission of the States (ECS) and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), we would like to invite you to the Connecticut Governor's Forum: Linking Ready Kids to Ready Schools. This forum will provide an exciting opportunity for leaders in K-12, early childhood, higher education and key members of the business, philanthropic and legislative communities to learn about “what makes a ready school” from a state and national perspective.

Connecticut’s Forum will be held:

DATE:	Monday, September 22, 2008
TIME:	9:00am to 12:30pm (with Registration, a Continental Breakfast and Networking from 8:00-9:00am)
LOCATION:	Room 2C, Legislative Office Building, Connecticut State Capitol, Hartford, Connecticut.

In addition to Forum sponsorship by the State of Connecticut, the Education Commission of the States and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, other sponsors include the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (CABE), the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents (CAPSS), the American Federation of Teachers Connecticut (AFT), and the Connecticut Education Association (CEA). 

This meeting is part of a series of events that ECS and WKKF are co-convening with leading governors in selected states to explore lessons learned about the importance of strengthening pathways between early learning and the early grades. With their focus on transitions, alignment, and family-school partnerships, these events will bring together key state constituencies to formulate strong and welcoming pathways across our preschool and public schooling systems.

The Connecticut Governor’s Forum will provide participants with the opportunity to explore national and federal trends/research and to learn about community efforts in Connecticut designed to increase early school success among our young children.  The Connecticut Network (CT-N) is expected to tape and rebroadcast the Forum statewide.

Forum speakers include Governor Rell; Sterling Speirn, President and CEO of W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Dr. Mark McQuillan, Commissioner and Secretary to the State Board of Education;  Roger Sampson, President of the Education Commission of the States;  Dr. Robert Pianta, Dean of the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia and Director of its Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning (keynote speaker); Dr. Andrew Lachman, the Director of the Connecticut Center for School Change; Dr. David Title, Superintendent of Schools of the Bloomfield, Connecticut school district; and Fasaha Traylor, Senior Program Officer of the Foundation for Child Development. Click here (or open the attached PDF) to view a tentative agenda.

Public participation is welcomed and will follow a panel discussion moderated by Tony Berkley, Deputy Director at the Kellogg Foundation.  The audience for the Forum will be 150 – 200 education stakeholders, including legislators, educators, school administrators, parents, teachers, principals, early childhood practitioners, business leaders, and policymakers from across the state.

The Forum sponsors have invited United States Senator Christopher Dodd, Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families, and senior Senator from Connecticut, to attend and give us the federal view on policies that can prepare children for school and schools for children. Senator Dodd can offer a unique policy perspective on the power of investments in early learning, and the importance of strong transition policies that align curriculum and practice across the Pre-K to Grade 3 spectrum.

Please RSVP by September 12. To register for the Forum, please sign up at http://www.ccmc.org/spark/forums/ct_rsvp.html.  

We hope that you plan now to join us for the Connecticut Governor’s Forum: Linking Ready Kids to Ready Schools.  For registration and other information, please contact Marcus E. Rivera, Education Consultant at the Office of the Early Childhood Education Cabinet: 860.713.6547 or marcus.rivera@ct.gov.

We look forward to seeing you on September 22.

Sincerely,

Janice M. Gruendel, Ph.D., M.Ed. Governor's Senior Policy Advisor, Children & Youth Co-Chair, Early Childhood Education Cabinet	Roger Sampson, President, Education Commission of the States	Gregory Taylor, Vice President for Programs, W.K. Kellogg Foundation