"Saturdays at ETS" Symposium to Focus on the Changing Higher Education Landscape and its Impact on Underserved Students

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• Latin America - español

PRINCETON, N.J., Sept. 16, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In its ongoing "Saturdays at ETS" symposiums, leading educators and public policy experts from across the nation will gather September 20, to explore and discuss the lifelong benefits of postsecondary education, especially for underserved students. The symposium is being held in cooperation with the National Urban League.

The theme of the symposium is, "Postsecondary Success for All: Building Support for Lifelong Achievement Through Education." It will take place Saturday, September 20, 2014, from 8:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. at the Chauncey Conference Center in Princeton, N.J.

Speakers include:

• James Applegate, Illinois Board of Higher Education
• Lezli Baskerville, The National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education
• Sandy Baum, Urban Institute
• Wayne Frederick, Howard University
• Marybeth Gasman, University of Pennsylvania
• John Harmon, The African-American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey
• Richard Kahlenberg, Century Foundation
• Walt MacDonald, ETS
• Michael Nettles, ETS
• Hal Smith, National Urban League
• H.James Williams, Fisk University
• Raymond Yannuzzi, Camden County College

"For the past half century, postsecondary education has grown steadily in value and this trend continues as postsecondary institutions and offerings become increasingly diverse and access and opportunity also expand," explains co-host Michael Nettles, Senior Vice President, of ETS's Policy Evaluation & Research Center. "People who attain high quality postsecondary education and degrees increase their likelihood of also achieving higher personal careers and lifetime earnings, greater community value, and a higher quality of life."

"This symposium will focus on understanding the growing variety of ways that people are pursuing postsecondary education and credentials, the growing variety of people who are participating and the public policy and community investments required to achieve success," he adds.  "We'll examine strategies being employed to increase persistence and attainment and promising practices to achieve educational opportunity and postsecondary success for all students, regardless of their demographic characteristics or their family's tradition of participation in postsecondary education."

"The goal of the symposium is to increase knowledge and understanding about the changing landscape of higher education access and completion and to involve stakeholders in building support for greater success of underserved students and their postsecondary institutions," says Hal Smith, NUL Senior Vice President for Education and Youth Development. "We invite people to join us for a look at the challenges of pursing equity in higher education, utilizing minority serving institutions as routes to success, and building support for underserved students."

For additional information, visit www.ets.org/achievementgap. Persons interested in attending should register for the free event by September 18, 2014.

About ETS

At ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals, educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized solutions for teacher certification, English language learning, and elementary, secondary and postsecondary education, and by conducting education research, analysis and policy studies. Founded as a nonprofit in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores more than 50 million tests annually — including the TOEFL^® and TOEIC ^® tests, the GRE ^® tests and The Praxis Series ^® assessments — in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide.

www.ets.org

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SOURCE Educational Testing Service