The fourth annual Statewide Education Summit, the state’s major forum for discussing education reform, helped education stakeholders become better decision makers as they develop and refine strategic school improvement plans. The Summit provided a rare opportunity to hear some of the most accomplished and talented persons in the fields of business and education give their view of the state of education and what can be done to improve the delivery of skills and knowledge to the children in our K-12 public schools.

We gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the sponsors who made the Summit possible: Washington Mutual, Houston Endowment Inc., Texas High School Project, Texas Instruments, Verizon, AT&T and Dell.

The audience of more than 800 education stakeholders included the entire school community (superintendents, administrators, principals, teachers, school board members and teacher associations) along with policymakers, business and chamber leaders, workforce development boards, higher education, education service centers, public policy groups, the State Board of Education, the Texas Education Agency, The Higher Education Coordinating Board, foundations, the Texas Workforce Commission, Parent Teacher Association, statewide agencies and organizations and students. Sessions included:

Reinventing Education for the 21st Century
Dr. Rod Paige, fmr U.S. Secy of Education; John Fitzpatrick, Exec. Director, Texas High School Project; Stephen Hensley, President, Texas A&M-Texarkana; Larry Sullivan, Superintendent, Texarkana ISD

Presidents' Panel: Better Preparing Students for College - Alignment, Affordability and Accountability
Larry Faulkner, President, Houston Endowment Inc; Jay Gogue, President, University of Houston;
William Powers, President, The University of Texas at Austin; Jon Whitmore, President, Texas Tech University

Lunch Speakers
Keynote Speaker, Ross Perot, Chairman Emeritus, Perot Systems Corporation
Shirley Neeley, Commissioner, Texas Education Agency

Enhancing Education through Technology
Michael Dell, Chairman and CEO, Dell
Steve Jobs, CEO, Apple

Connecting Education to Workforce Needs Panel
Patrick Gaston, President, Verizon Foundation;
Ronald Girotto, President & CEO, The Methodist Hospital System,
John Montford, Senior Vice President, AT&T, Philip Ritter, Senior Vice President, Texas Instruments

No Child Left Behind
Ray Simon, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education

Early Childhood Education
Donna Blevins, CEO & Founder, Be Smart Kids and Terry Ford, Exec. Director, East Dallas Community Schools

Photo Gallery and Audio Coverage

Vidal Martinez, TPERF Chairman, introduces U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison for her presentation,
followed by Q&A.
Click to hear Senator Hutchison's speech

Michael Dell and Steve Jobs discuss enhancing education through technology.
Click to hear Dell's speech
Clickto view Dell's speech
Click to hear Job's speech
Click to hear Q&A

Ross Perot discusses education reform.
Click to hear Perot's speech
Click to view Perot's speech

Click to hear business leaders' panel
Click to download Gaston's Powerpoint presentation

Panel, L to R: Philip Ritter, Texas Instruments; Jon Fleming, TPERF vice chair; Ronald Girotto, The Methodist Hospital System; Patrick Gaston, Verizon Foundation; John Montford, AT&T

Click to hear Reinventing Education Panel
Click to download Fitzpatrick's PowerPoint presentation
Click to download Sullivan's PowerPoint presentation

Reinventing Education Panel, L to R: John Fitzpatrick, Texas High School Project; Rod Paige, Chartwell Educ Group; Vidal Martinez at podium; Larry Sullivan, Texarkana ISD; Stephen Hensley, Texas A&M-Texarkana	Rod Paige, fmr U.S. Secy of Educ.

Presidents' Panel
The audio of the Presidents’ panel is not available due to technical difficulties.

Presidents' Panel, L to R: Larry Faulkner, Houston Endowment; William Powers, The University of Texas at Austin; Jon Whitmore, Texas Tech University; Jay Gogue, University of Houston System

Ray Simon, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education, discusses No Child Left Behind.
Simon with staff of Blue Ribbon and Title I schools.
Click to hear Simon's speech

Early Childhood Education Panel with Donna Blevins,
Be Smart Kids and Terry Ford, East Dallas Community Schools.
Click to hear audio

Shirley Neeley, Texas Education Agency	Sen. Royce West, Rep. Rob Eissler, Rep. Geanie Morrison, Larry Faulkner

More than 800 stakeholders attended the 2007 Summit, standing room only