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April 8, 2008
For immediate release

The Joint Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership at UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly will present former California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin at three free public forums on Thursday, April 10 and Friday, April 11. Eastin, the first woman elected State Superintendent (she served from 1995-2003), will present the talk “Education in the 21st Century: Courage, Vision, and Heart” at: a (provide your own) Brown Bag Lunch on Thursday, April 10 at 11:30 am in Phelps 1172 on the UC Santa Barbara campus; on Thursday, April 10 at 4 pm at the Performing Arts Center, Pacifica High School, 600 East Gonzalez Road in Oxnard; and on Friday, April 11 at 4 pm in Adult School Multipurpose Room (J2), San Luis Coastal Unified School District, 1500 Lizzie Street in San Luis Obispo.
Delaine Eastin is currently Distinguished Visiting Professor and Education Special Assistant to the President at Mills College. As State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Eastin made class size reduction her top priority. Her advocacy persuaded then Governor Pete Wilson and the legislature to invest $2.5 billion in cutting class sizes. Today, K-3 class sizes have been cut from 30 to 20 students in over 86,000 classrooms in 98% of all school districts.
In response to declining student performance, Eastin led the adoption of high statewide academic standards in reading and math. High standards in science and social studies are currently being adopted. Eastin also implemented a new statewide test and established a new system to increase the accountability of every school and district in the state. In the fall of 1995, Superintendent Eastin launched the “Challenge Initiative,” a groundbreaking reform effort to raise standards and accountability. Fifty-six school districts, covering nearly 500,000 students, embraced the Challenge and agreed to set high standards for every subject area in all grade levels.
Those with questions or hoping to RSVP for any of the three events should contact Dr. Patrick Faverty, Director of the Joint Doctoral Program, at pfaverty@education.ucsb.edu or 805-893-3301.
[Delaine Eastin is available for interviews; contact George Yatchisin at 805 893 5789]
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