PHILADELPHIA -- Educators from around the U.S. will meet Oct. 30-31 at the University of Pennsylvania for "From the Ground Up: Building University-Assisted Schools," a conference on creating and managing K-12 public schools.

"School districts across the U.S. are struggling with reform models and with the demands of the No Child Left Behind law," said Nancy Streim, associate dean of Penn's Graduate School of Education, which is sponsoring the conference.  "At this meeting, representatives of universities engaged in school reform through university-assisted neighborhood and charter schools can establish networks that will benefit all involved, especially schoolchildren."

Penn President Judith Rodin's Oct. 31 keynote address, "If 'U' Builds It, They Will Come: Penn and the Making of a University-assisted Neighborhood School," will highlight Penn experience in creating West Philadelphia's Penn Alexander School in partnership with the Philadelphia School District and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.  

Claudio Sanchez, National Public Radio education correspondent, will moderate a panel on partnerships between universities and public schools.  

The panelists will be Susan H. Fuhrman, Penn GSE dean; Paul G. Vallas, Philadelphia School District CEO; Anthony Bryk, director of the University of Chicago's Center for School Improvement; Hugh Mehan, director of the University of California, San Diego's Center for Research on Educational Equity, Assessment and Teaching Excellence; and Robert Weisbuch, Woodrow Wilson Foundation president.