Keynote Speaker – Dr. Rosa Smith
Dr. Rosa A. Smith served as President and CEO of the Schott Foundation for Public Education (June, 2001 - May, 2007). She is currently serving as New Leaders for New Schools’ Regional Education Manger. Prior to joining Schott, Smith served as a school superintendent in Columbus, Ohio and Beloit, Wisconsin. She also served as assistant superintendent, high school principal and teacher in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota and South Bend, Indiana.
Smith received degrees from Indiana State University, her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota and an Honorary Doctorate from Ohio Dominican University. Smith has earned numerous awards, including the Wisconsin Superintendent of the Year, Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award, Sprugeon Award, YWCA Outstanding Achievement Awards, NAACP Service Award, Urban League Living Legend Award, the HOSTS Champion for Children Award and the Fred Rogers Leadership Award in Philanthropy.
Smith’s current civic and professional leadership roles include(d): AVID’s African American Males Initiative Steering Committee, National Advisory Board for the High School Survey of Student Engagement, Massachusetts Child Care Voucher Study Advisory Committee, Associated Grantmakers Policy Committee, Wallace Reader’s Digest Funds/LEADERS Count Advisory Committee, Women and Philanthropy Committee Education Initiative, Harvard’s Urban Superintendents Program Advisory Committee Chairperson, Advisory Board for the Report on the Economic Impact of the Early Education and Care Industry in Massachusetts and The Bessie Tartt Wilson Children Foundation, the The Home for Little Wanderers Board of Directors and the National Center on Family Homelessness Board of Directors. Smith has made numerous presentations and published several articles regarding the intersection of race, class and gender in public education.
Smith’s work has been enhanced by opportunities to participate in several fellowships, think tanks and long-term professional development experiences, including: NEH fellowship, Bush Executive Fellow, Rockefeller Foundation Fellow, Superintendents Prepared and The Danforth Forum for the American Superintendent and The Rockwood Leadership Seminar. Smith has published several articles since 2001 including:
- Doing and leading work that improves the lives and education of children, and especially poor children and children of color, are the core purposes of Rosa’s work and life. Rosa joined Schott on July 1, 2001 to forge its mission “to develop and strengthen the movement for equity in public education and childcare.”
- “Response to Are Boys Making the Grade? Rennie Center Policy Brief” by Rosa A. Smith, Rennie Center E-forum (www.renniecenter.org), February 2007
- Rosa Smith “Race, Poverty and Special Education: Apprenticeships for Prison Work” in “Poverty & Race in America: The Emerging Agendas”, Lexington Books, a division of Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2006, Oxford, UN, pp. 273 – 277
- HBCU’s Models for Success: Supporting Achievement and Retention, Forward by Rosa A. Smith, 2006
- Schott State Report on the “Public Education of Black Male Students”, Forward by Rosa A. Smith, 2004 and 2006
- “Wanted: A New Governor with Imagination” by Rosa A. Smith, Bay State Banner, March 16, 2006
- “Building a Positive Future for Black Boys” by Rosa A. Smith, American School Board Journal, Vol. 192, No. 9, September 2005
- “Fixing Failed Schools” by Rosa A. Smith, the Indianapolis Star, June 2005
- “Saving Black Boys” by Rosa A. Smith, The School Administrator, Vol. 62, No. 3, January 2005, Association of School Administrators
- “Black Boys: The Litmus Test for Public School Education.”(2004) Cambridge, MA: The Schott Foundation for Public Education, by Harris, Gerald; Schooley, Korynn; Smith, Rosa; Washington, Valora
- “A Call for Universal Preschool,” by Rosa A. Smith, Educational Leadership, Vol. 62, No. 3, November 2004, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
- “Saving Black Boys: The Elusive Promises of Public Education” by Rosa A. Smith, The American Prospect, February 2004
- “Race, Poverty, & Special Education,” by Rosa A. Smith, Poverty & Race, November/December 2003
- “Superintendent Leadership in an Audit: Strategies for Loving the Ugly Baby,” by Rosa A. Smith and Meria Carstarphen
- AASA 2003 Monograph, October 31, 2003
- “Taxpayers Should Provide Schools for 3-year-olds” by Rosa A. Smith, Providence Journal, December 30, 2002
- “Black Boys: The Litmus Test for ‘No Child Left Behind,’” by Rosa A. Smith, Ph.D., Education Week, October 30, 2002
- “Business Adds Muscle to Early Education Movement,” by Rosa A. Smith and Doriane Lambelet Coleman. Boston Globe, September 29, 2002
- “Race and Special Education,” by Rosa A. Smith, Ph.D., Providence Journal, August 14, 2002
- “Women Administrators- Is the Price Too High?”, by Rosa A. Smith, NASSP Bulletin 1976; 60; 99
Website:
Email:
rs@schottfoundation.org