Roy Romer, Newt Gingrich to Discuss Danger of Education Crisis to American Economy During Strong American Schools' Blogger Summit

WASHINGTON, May 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As voters continue to worry about their economic future, two former senior party officials, political adversaries and staunch partisan leaders, former Democratic National Committee Chairman Roy Romer and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, will team up to discuss the importance of education reform within the 2008 presidential election. They will also put forth solutions to fix schools that are failing to give students the skills they need to compete in a global economy. ED in 08's Blogger Summit will be held at the Palomar Hotel in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, May 15th.

The nation's students are falling behind their international peers. In a 2006 international assessment America's 15 year-olds ranked 25th in math and 21st in science out of 30 participating countries.

Economists have long linked economy to education, estimating that if America could increase the cognitive skills of its students to the level of the highest performing nations over the next decade, our Gross Domestic Product would grow by an additional 4.5% over the next 25 years, an amount that is equal to what we currently spend on K-12 public education.

Event: Romer and Gingrich Discuss Importance of Education Reform within the 2008 Presidential Election

Date: Thursday, May 15th

Time: 11:45 am EST

Location:

Hotel Palomar

2121 P Street NW

Washington, DC 20037

See below for complete Blogger Summit agenda:

Panels:

9:00 am Opening Session

Featuring: Roy Romer, chairman of Strong American Schools

9:30 am Shaping Education Reform: The Issues Ahead

Featuring: Alexander Russo of This Week in Education

Jay Mathews of The Washington Post

Sara Mead of New America Foundation

John Mitchell of American Federation of Teachers

Richard Whitmire President of Education Writers Association

Amy Wilkins of The Education Trust

11:00 am Keynote Address: Time to Learn

Featuring: Chris Gabrieli of National Center on Time & Learning

11:45 am Luncheon Address

Featuring: Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House

Roy Romer, chairman of Strong American Schools

12:30 pm Q & A

Featuring: Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House

Roy Romer, chairman of Strong American Schools

Chris Gabrieli of National Center on Time & Learning

2:00 pm Blogging the Election: Breaking Through the Noise

Featuring: Marc Lampkin, executive director of Strong American Schools

Chris Cilizza of The Washington Post

Jonathan Martin of Politico

Michele McNeil of Education Week

Ramesh Ponnuru of National Review Online

3:00 pm The Role of Education Blogs at the Grassroots

Featuring: David Ash, former Churchill County school board member

Kenneth Bernstein, Teacher Ken of Daily Kos

Joanne Jacobs author of Our School

Adam Thibault of Strong American Schools

3:00 pm Blogging from the Trenches

Featuring: Will Okun of The New York Times

Kilian Betlach of Teaching in the 408

Dan Brown author of The Great Expectations School: A Rookie Year in the New Blackboard Jungle

Kevin Carey of The Quick and the ED

Holly Zardus of Strong American Schools

Note: To speak with an ED in '08 official please contact the press team at 202.552.4557.