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Reimagining Education

2019 Policy Panel set for Jan. 23

When legislators return to Jefferson City in January they will have to face a difficult reality — with less than 50 percent of Missouri students scoring proficient in math and only 67 percent scoring proficient in ELA Missouri’s education system is at a crossroads.

Thankfully, CEAM is bringing its annual policy panel to the capitol this year to help highlight how other states are transforming their education systems and provide some insight on how new legislation can do the same in Missouri.

On Jan. 23, CEAM is hosting a dynamic panel of education experts in the heart of Missouri’s political world to examine a variety of innovative education initiatives which could transform the state’s struggling education system. 

Dr. James Shuls, a leading Missouri education expert, will lead a discussion on education policy among a panel composed of both national and state education leaders.

Dr. Shuls is an assistant professor and the graduate program director of educational leadership and policy studies at the University of Missouri – St. Louis.  Prior to joining UMSL, he served as the director of education policy for the Show-Me Institute, where he is currently a distinguished fellow of education policy. Previously, he taught first grade and fifth grade in the Republic, MO R-III School District. Dr. Shuls’ research focuses primarily on teacher labor markets, school finance, and school choice.

State Representative Shamed Dogan will talk about how access to high-quality education transformed his life and inspired his fight for expanded school choice in Missouri.  

Rep. Dogan, a Republican, represents part of St. Louis County (District 98) in the Missouri House of Representatives. Rep. Dogan’s legislative agenda has focused on education reform, ethics reform, and criminal justice reform.
A 1996 graduate of Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School, Rep. Dogan received his bachelor’s degree from Yale University in 2000 in both Political Science and Philosophy. Rep. Dogan lives in Ballwin with his wife Sara and their two children.

Show-Me Institute’s Director of Research and Education Policy Susan Pendergrass will share her perspective on charter schools and other legislative changes that could be made to improve education in Missouri. 

Before joining the Show-Me Institute, Susan Pendergrass was Vice President of Research and Evaluation for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, where she oversaw data collection and analysis and carried out a rigorous research program. Susan earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business, with a concentration in Finance, at the University of Colorado in 1983. She earned her Master’s in Business Administration at George Washington University, with a concentration in Finance (1992) and a doctorate in public policy from George Mason University, with a concentration in social policy (2002). Susan began researching charter schools with her dissertation on the competitive effects of Massachusetts charter schools. Since then, she has conducted numerous studies on the fiscal impact of school choice legislation. Susan has also taught quantitative methods courses at the Paul H. Nitze School for Advanced International Studies, at Johns Hopkins University, and at the School of Public Policy at George Mason University. Prior to coming to the National Alliance, Susan was a senior policy advisor at the U.S. Department of Education during the Bush administration and a senior research scientist at the National Center for Education Statistics during the Obama administration.

Summit Christian Academy K-12 Academic Dean Kimberlee Gill will talk about how public school policy impacts the state’s growing number of private schools. 

Kimberlee Gill is in her 30th year of private education.  She is currently the academic dean of Summit Christian Academy in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, a school of 825 students. She has served as an accreditation commissioner for the Association of Christian Schools International and currently serves on the boards of both the Great Plains Alliance of Christian Schools and St. Louis University’s 1818 Advanced College Credit Program. Kimberlee is finishing her Ed.D. in May and is currently doing her dissertation on educational choice.
The 2019 CEAM Policy Panel will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019 from 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm at Capitol City CORK and Provisions, 124 E High St., Jefferson City. 

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