On Saturday, February 22nd, I will be speaking on a panel at the 2013 L.E.A.R.N. Conference, hosted at UPenn and organized by a few of their graduate schools (including the education school.)

According to the write up, the “View from Inside the Classroom” panel acknowledges that, “The voices of students, parents, and teachers are all too often not heard in policy changes for education reform.”

If you look closely, you might notice that, as of this writing, I’m the only person appearing on my panel. This is because they only recently created said panel. Neither parents, nor teachers, nor students are represented in any other section of the conference. (Okay, a school band is playing during lunch.) Our session is during the lunch slot, and by necessity of the schedule, 15 minutes shorter than any other panel.

Here’s the write-up of the organizing group, from their front page:

LEARN is the hub for those interested in improving the education sector.  Active projects include policy research, pro bono initiatives, and career development.  Our goal is to harness the expertise of today’s education experts to empower the education leaders, entrepreneurs, and policymakers of tomorrow.

I bristle at some of that language.

However, I’m excited to participate and push against the notions of some of the attendees (and expecting that they will also push against mine.)

Plus, I get to see Diana Laufenberg talk about technology.