This call focused on facilitating dialogue with U.S. Department of Education officials, legal counsel, and staff on issues related to implementing 21st CCLC and SES programs. Department representatives included Morgan Brown, Assistant Deputy Secretary, Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII); Stacy Kreppel, Senior Policy Advisor to the Assistant Deputy Secretary, OII; Kelly Rhoads, Management and Program Specialist, OII; Judith Becker, Attorney, Title I; Kay Rigling, Attorney, Title I; Shawn Stelow, 21st CCLC Team Leader, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE); and Pete Eldridge, Senior Education Program Specialist, OESE.
The call provided an opportunity for SEAs to ask questions and raise concerns to the department related to implementing 21st CCLC and SES programs; interpreting guidance and statute; new areas of concern not addressed in the guidance documents; and USDOE efforts related to providing state implementation support. In addition, Morgan Brown shared updates and announcements to SES. He discussed resources available from the Center for Innovation and Improvement and from the department. Shawn Stelow shared 21st CCLC program updates. Pete Eldridge gave reflections from the Summer Institute in Miami.
Please download and access materials and the transcript of the call
Information Sheet on Giving Parent’s Options: Strategies for Informing Parents and Implementing Public School Choice and Supplemental Educational Services Under No Child Left Behind
Center for Innovation and Improvement Brochure of SES activities
Written transcript of the Audioconference
Audio recording of the call
PRESENTER BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Morgan Brown
Morgan Brown was appointed as the Department's assistant deputy secretary for innovation and improvement by Secretary Margaret Spellings on July 6, 2006. In his post, he leads ED's efforts to support innovations in education and make strategic investments in promising education practices, most importantly implementing the public school choice and supplemental educational services provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). He oversees the administration of 28 grant programs related to education improvement, school choice, teacher quality, technology, and arts in education. His office also disseminates information from NCLB about parental options and rights. Finally, he oversees ED's Family Policy Compliance Office and the Office of Non-Public Education—the Department's liaison to the nonpublic education community.
Prior to joining the Department, Brown worked for three years as the director of the Division of School Choice and Innovation for the Minnesota Department of Education. There, he supervised a staff of 20 and oversaw 25 programs related to school choice, charter schools, nonpublic school options, voluntary integration, supplemental educational services, American Indian Education and postsecondary scholarships.
Born in southern California, Brown grew up in Durham, N.H., as his father and mother, both college professors, pursued their careers. He earned his bachelor's degree in political science from Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., in 1991.
After a summer fellowship at the Claremont Institute outside Los Angeles, Brown moved to Washington, D.C., and worked briefly as a research assistant for the National Republican Congressional Committee before landing a job as a legislative assistant for Rep. Jim Ramstad (R-Minn.). He stayed for three years, receiving a promotion to legislative director, before being hired by former Sen. Rod Grams (R-Minn.) to work as a legislative assistant on foreign affairs issues.
In 1997, he received a fellowship from the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota while working for a year as the director of public policy and communications for the Minnesota Family Council in Minneapolis.
In 1998, he became the senior community affairs officer for the Twin Cities Financial (TCF) Foundation, managing the grant review process for a $2 million annual philanthropic budget.
During the next four years, he worked for two different advocacy groups in the Twin Cities area on education reform and school choice issues. From 1999 to 2000, he was the director of the Partnership for Choice in Education, and, from 2001 to 2002, he led the Minnesota Education League. Just prior to serving in the Minnesota Department of Education, Brown became a senior fellow for education policy at the Center of the American Experiment, a Minneapolis think tank.
Brown and his wife, Susan, have three sons who attend public schools in Edina, Minn.
Peter Eldridge
Mr. Peter Eldridge is a Senior Education Program Specialist with the U.S. Department of Education in Washington D.C. where he has been employed for the past 20 years. During that time he has worked on a number of Federal education programs and initiatives. These have included Impact Aid, Eisenhower Professional Development for Mathematics and Science, Women’s Equity Education, Title VI and government contracting. Since October 1999 he has worked on the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program where he administers programs and projects located in the Mid Atlantic and North Central regions.
Prior to coming to the Education Department, in January 1987, Mr. Eldridge taught school in both Accomack County Virginia and later in Front Royal Virginia. He was a formerly a manager for Marriott Hotels. Outside of work Mr. Eldridge has served on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Railroad Passengers, a Washington based lobby group, dealing with rail transportation issues. Mr. Eldridge is currently serving on the Board of Directors for the Radio & Television Museum of Bowie, Maryland.
Mr. Eldridge holds a BA in History from Elon College in North Carolina and is Masters in Secondary Education/Social Studies from George Mason University located in Fairfax, Virginia.
Shawn Stelow
Shawn Stelow joined the Office of Academic Improvement and Teacher Quality at the Department of Education July 23, 2007 as the Team Leader of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant program. Prior to coming to ED, she spent seven years with the Maryland State Department of Education serving initially as the Student Leadership and Outreach Specialist/Executive Director of the Maryland Association of Student Councils before being appointed the Director of Youth Development in the Division of Student, Family, and School Support. As Director, she oversaw Maryland’s Student Service-Learning, Character Education, Student Leadership and Involvement, Extended Learning, 21st CCLC, and numerous other youth-related programs. She worked closely with the Governor’s Office for Children, other state agencies, and youth-serving agencies and advocates to help develop a coordinated statewide view of Youth Development for Maryland. Ms. Stelow has served on a number of non-profit boards working to promote meaningful student involvement in community and state policy decisions as well as active and participatory civic engagement of young people. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish as well as a minor in English and certificate in Latin American Studies from Dickinson College in Pennsylvania and completed her Master of Arts in Leadership in Teaching at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland.
Chiefline
