Contact: Sammy McDavid
More than 200 state educators will be in Jackson Jan. 27-29 for the fourth annual winter conference of the Program for Research and Evaluation of Public Schools.
"Literacy for the New Century" is the theme for the 1999 gathering at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.
PREPS Inc., the state's oldest and largest educational consortium, is housed in Mississippi State University's College of Education. The organization includes more than 100 school districts throughout the state.
Linda Rief of Durham, N.H., will be the keynote speaker. A language arts teacher, she is co-editor of Voices from the Middle, the journal of National Council of Teachers of English in Middle Schools.
Also an instructor for the University of New Hampshire's Summer Reading and Writing Program, Rief is the author of "Seeking Diversity," an examination of ways the reading/writing process can improve student achievement.
Her presentation at the opening session on the 27th will be followed by more than 15 separate information-sharing sessions throughout the following two days.
"This year's conference will be examining literacy efforts across the curriculum and across all grade levels," said Reuben E. Dilworth, executive director of PREPS and the education college's Center for Educational Partnerships.
At the concluding awards program, 22 school districts will be presented with PREPS Value Added Awards for "doing more with the same or fewer resources," Dilworth said. Twelve districts also will be honored for 100 percent compliance with the state Board of Education's performance and applicable process standards.
Three individual achievement awards also will be presented.
For specific information on the conference schedule, telephone the PREPS office at (601) 325-3720.