AFC Announces School Choice Research Panel for 2012 National Policy Summit

Nation's leading experts on private school choice programs to participate in third annual National Policy Summit

WASHINGTON, April 25, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Federation for Children, the nation's voice for school choice, today announced a panel of the nation's leading school choice researchers who will speak about the latest data and trends in school choice at the third annual AFC National Policy Summit, to be held May 3-4 in Jersey City, New Jersey.

The panel, moderated by Dr. Marc Holley of the Walton Family Foundation, will feature the following experts:

• Dr. Patrick Wolf, a professor and 21st Century Chair in School Choice at the University of Arkansas.  Wolf served as the principal researcher of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program evaluation by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences.  He has also led a national research team on a multi-year, independent evaluation of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program.
• Dr. John Witte, who specializes in research on charter schools, open enrollment, and the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program. His research interests include policy analysis and democratic theory, with specialties in education and tax policy and politics.  He has authored or co-authored eight books and more than 75 articles, book chapters, and reports.
• Dr. Paul Peterson, the Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Government and Director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University.  Peterson is also a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and editor of Education Next, a journal of school choice opinions and research.

AFC's National Policy Summit will also feature keynote addresses from Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, and national news commentator Juan Williams.

"Over the last 10 years there have been numerous gold-standard studies showing the positive impact of school choice programs for participating children," said Betsy DeVos, chairman of the American Federation for Children.  "We're thrilled to feature this group of national experts who will dig into the data and illustrate the clear results from several programs around the country."

The American Federation for Children's National Policy Summit, School Choice Now: Breakthrough Victories for Children, will be held at the Westin Jersey City Newport Hotel in Jersey City on Thursday, May 3 and Friday, May 4, 2012.  To register or learn more, visit www.AFCPolicySummit.com.

SOURCE American Federation for Children