The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans hosted a weeklong series of virtual roundtables November 18th – 22nd, using the Twitter platform to commemorate American Education Week. Executive Director David J. Johns engaged national experts in discussions of key educational issues. The series was designed to increase awareness about the efforts of the President, the US Department of Education, and the Initiative to advance educational excellence for African Americans. It also provided a platform for guests and participants to discuss issues and share or propose solutions. Finally, the series served as an opportunity to test the Initiative’s plans to use social media to increase community engagement in 2014.
Chat Summaries
Monday –
http://storify.com/AfAmEducation/afamedchat-kicks-off-american-education-week
Tuesday –
http://storify.com/AfAmEducation/tuesday-nov-19th-afamedchat-picks-up-steam
Wednesday –
http://storify.com/AfAmEducation/wed-nov-20-afamedchat-on-black-male-achievement
Thursday –
http://storify.com/AfAmEducation/afamedchat-thur-nov-21-2013-those-who-can-teach
Friday –
http://storify.com/AfAmEducation/opportunity-gaps-facts-myths-and-possibilities
The Initiative hosted a special recap to bring together major themes from the previous week and call attention to strategies for moving forward with suggestions from guests and the community.
RECAP (Tuesday, Nov. 26th) – http://storify.com/AfAmEducation/afamedchat-recap-guests-reflect-on-moving-forward
Khalilah Harris is a Fellow with the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African-Americans. She is an education program and policy consultant, attorney and a doctoral student at University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education in Educational Leadership & Organizational Development.