 I want to go right to an introduction of Wade Henderson, who I am so thrilled is here to help us kick off this really important conversation about equitable access to deeper learning opportunities. Wade is the president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the Leadership Conference Education Fund. You undoubtedly, if you're in this town, know that this is a coalition of 200 national organizations pledged to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works towards the goal of a more open and just society. It has become, under Mr. Henderson's leadership, one of the most effective civil rights organizations in the country, and I could go on at some length about, but I won't, because I would rather hear from Wade about the number of advances that have been made and interventions that have occurred because of his leadership. Wade, you may have seen in the newspaper this week just announced his intention to retire in a year, but he has assured me that he intends to flunk retirement. So he, right, just says we're in the same club, and so that's a good, that is good news for all of us, and we'll look forward to seeing in what manner he intends to do that. Mr. Henderson is also the Joseph Ra Professor of Public Interest Law at the Clark School of Law at UDC. He is well known for his expertise on a range of civil rights, civil liberties, and human rights issues. He's widely published in those fields. I want to call on his testimony earlier this year on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and Wade made the following point, which is the theme of this briefing. So you can see why we need him to lead us into this conversation. He said, what is needed at the national level, first and foremost, is a relentless focus on preparing all students for college and career. This means requiring states to set and maintain academic standards for all students that are aligned with what they will need to succeed in post-secondary education and careers that will pay a family-supporting wage. The standards, whether Common Core or other comparable standards, must be implemented as well and as successfully in both high-poverty and low-poverty schools. It is no longer sustainable for our nation or any state to maintain dual systems of public schools, one for the privileged and another vastly inferior for communities of color and the poor. States which under our federal system have primary responsibility under their own constitutions for educating children must be required to meet these obligations by ensuring that all students, regardless of zip code, English proficiency levels, race, gender, or disability have an equal opportunity to meet the standards. Our mission today is to discuss how that might be done and to launch that conversation. I am delighted to introduce an American hero, Mr. Wade Henderson. Thank you. Well, good morning, everyone. Good morning. Good morning. Guys, come on. Wake up. Linda, thank you. That was a very, very generous introduction, and I appreciate it very much. You know, when I was invited by Linda to provide a few opening remarks, you know, to what is a truly distinguished group of advocates and experts in civil and human rights from around the country, you know, all of whom are committed to the same thing that I am and that I think Linda is, which is to try to provide a quality, hey, good morning, education experience for every child in our country, and it's an important goal and we have to achieve it. Now, let me say, before I launch into this, the leadership conference you've heard about, and I want to acknowledge Liz King, my education policy staff person who does such a great job. Liz, thank you. I, you know, she's great, but truly the leadership conference is a very special organization and I'm really honored to head it. It is a coalition of 200 national groups over, and we say our motto is we're building an America as good as its ideals, because we think there is nothing in the world today, in the world of government and politics that's almost more perfect than the U.S. Constitution in its statement of goals for every citizen in the country. I mean, divorce the racial dynamic, the political dynamic that unfortunately engulfs today's debate and just look at the document for what it symbolizes, and it really is a very powerful statement of what democracy is all about, and if we could really just achieve, you know, half the goal of moving our country in that more perfect direction, boy, would this be a great place to live. And I think that that's part of the goal that we are trying to accomplish with the program that you all are looking at today. So I know this room is really filled with some of the brightest, sharpest minds in education policy and practice in America today. So I wanted to take the opportunity to open the discussion by framing our work not just in moral terms, because it does need to be framed in moral terms, but also terms that underscore the rational self-interest that we share in common to achieve, you know, it's critical to achieving any political goal. So I believe, as many of you do, that education is a fundamental human right as recognized by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that our own Eleanor Roosevelt championed at the international level. It is a fundamental human right, and we have an obligation to try to accomplish that result. Now, in the context of our own government structure, we are challenged by a frame of government that traces its roots back to the Civil War itself. You know, it's the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War, and the debate over states' rights and where it stood in the body politic remains as vibrant today as it was when the war began 155 years ago. And I say that without fear of contradiction, because the very question of how states address public education is framed in that state's rights ethos. So we have a super difficult challenge of trying to meet a set of aspirational goals that are sometimes limited by the very nature of government itself. And we've got to think beyond that. So in his classic book, The Soul of Black Folk, W.E.B. Du Bois, the great academic philosopher and civil rights leader, said that, I quote, education among all kinds of men always has had and always will have an element of danger and revolution, of dissatisfaction and discontent. Du Bois was, of course, talking about why our nation viewed educated black people as a threat to the status quo. But he was also saying that education itself must be understood as more than an accumulation of facts and equations. True education opens people up to their full potential, grace, and great capability. At its best, it's an experience that enables us to become full, self-determining, critically thinking adults who have the ability to make our way in the world. Now, education is, as Du Bois understood it, is power with a capital P. And I think all of us here today understand the transformative power of great education. But I think it's worth stating explicitly. We also know that our current system is not structured for this kind of deeper learning to take place. We do not have welcoming, engaging, culturally responsive, well-resourced schools in every neighborhood, schools that are committed every single day to unlocking the amazing and passionate potential that exists within all of our children. So let me tell you briefly about an experience I have right here in D.C., my hometown, with Lafayette Elementary School. Lafayette Elementary School is an upper northwest. And I was invited to come to speak about the March on Washington. I was there. So I was a living relic to the third grade class of Lafayette. So I was speaking to one class, but when I got there, the principal had assembled the entire third grade. These kids were eager. First of all, they had been prepped to understand the sort of context and the history of what the March on Washington was about. They had a vivid sense of where it stood and the progression of civil and human rights. And I'm talking about nine-year-old kids. They were eager. They were inquisitive. It was just a great experience. I said to myself, you know, every school, should be like Lafayette. I mean, why can't every school have that same kind of atmosphere, that same kind of passion for, you know, getting the facts of, I mean, why can't every school be like that? So, you know, at the bottom line, that's just, that's a goal. So, you know, and yet, of course, it's not. So we expend great resources, time, and energy, trying to build public will for something that should be self-evident. A high-quality education for every single child in America is a necessity. And that has never been truer than right now, when an educated workforce is essential to our economic viability as a nation. Our economic self-interest alone should drive us to make the necessary investments that will break the school-to-prison pipeline and ensure that immigrant students, low-income students, students with disabilities, and students that we failed somehow along the way can have access to an education that they deserve and that makes a difference. So, the work that you will do today, let me cut this off, guys. Sorry. The work that you will do together today and the work that the New Learning Policy Institute is spearheading is vital to our collective mission to radically reshape public education. It is, I believe, an extension and a refinement of the debate around standards and goes beyond what has unfortunately become yet another nasty partisan fight that distracts Americans from the seriousness of our need to improve public education. So, my friends, we need a 21st-century education system for a 21st-century economy and a 21st-century world. To do that, we need to double down on building the public and political will to make the necessary investments and resources and deep learning that every child needs. So, here are some of the things that I'd like us to think about as we go through the day and beyond. First, how do we reframe the public debate that will help to build political will that states have to make the investments that are required to ensure that every school in America is like Lafayette Elementary, especially when we know that this will require massive investments to make up for decades of disinvestment in some schools that deserve some of our most vulnerable students? And just one challenge, guys. I mean, how do we push that principle in a state like Kansas, which has its own state constitution that says that equality education is required for every child and where lawyers representing the civil rights community went to court and proved beyond a doubt that Kansas was in violation of its own constitution? And yet its governor has the political power to cut resources from schools in a way that hampers their ability to be effective. Even advocates in his own party have condemned it as a reckless move. Now, I say that not as a political provocation, but as an example of the kinds of challenges that we face and how do you build political will in the face of that kind of obstinance? How do we together rethink the classroom as a place of exploration and excitement and creativity for our children? Oh, I'm done, guys. And recognizes that, okay, great, thanks. The intangibles that make learning, the uniquely powerful pursuit that it is, and that we still have the ability to know how well students are or are not doing. You know, often the civil rights community is sometimes accused of being so rigid on the idea of accountability that we drown out the ability of kids to have an enriched academic experience. And that, you know, you're trying so hard to make sure that kids are exposed to all they need that, you know, teachers complain, or at least in some instances have, that you're killing the very inspiration that you're trying to preserve. Well, obviously we don't want that. Obviously we don't want that. You know, I went to see an old teacher that I had when I was in junior high school. Now, this guy was almost 90. I hadn't seen him since I was in school. Went to see him to say to thank him for the impact that he had on my life. Now, he was totally blown away by that. But the truth is, he did. He taught me how to fold the New York Times using the subway fold. So I could like, he did. He taught me history of the Mediterranean, of Constantinople, and the Peloponnesian War, and blah, blah, blah. And so at least it helped prepare me in ways that I can't begin to tell you have enriched my life. And I'm looking for that kind of experience for every kid. I'm looking for the Lafayette experience. As I said, by the way, when I finished at Lafayette, the kids gave me a standing ovation and then rushed me for autographs. It was the, it was the first time I had ever been rushed for autographs. So, you know, I'm just saying guys, now the one thing, and I'll conclude really in the following way, the one reason I did this is because Linda, I just so admire what you're doing. I really do. Our conversations have really helped me think through some of the difficult challenges that we face as a coalition and trying to advance the interests of improving education and not opening doors unexpectedly to people who want to drive a truck through the accountability system. I mean, everybody's looking for us to blink on the issue of accountability, so they can then say, oh look, we're doing it. When they're in fact are doing nothing. And so, you know, we are fearful about making concessions that create that kind of political will. We need experts like you who are outside of the political fight to give us the analytical and empirical data that enables us to make the argument without giving ground on this question of accountability. Linda has helped me think some of that through. So in spite of the fact that this is a crazy week for me, I really felt it was important to come and salute your work and to salute what I hope of the aspirations and achieved aspirations of this great organization. So as I conclude, ladies and gentlemen, thanks for the invitation to have me here. And I look forward to hearing good things about how the day goes. And if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them for one or two for two seconds. Otherwise, we'll say goodbye. So thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.