Distinguished speakers at the PEN National Conference are outstanding education leaders and thinkers from foundations, states, institutions of higher education, non-profits, and research and advocacy organizations. Through keynotes, group discussion, and problem solving sessions, distinguished speakers will share insights, best practices, and success models on diverse topics about the significance, equity, and economics of college and career readiness for all students. They will explore the following five key essential questions:

• How does this revolution-college and career readiness (C&CR) for all—differ from past reforms? How can we as stakeholders in the education landscape make it different?
• Why is the need to improve postsecondary preparation and success compelling to policymakers, advocates, philanthropic and business leaders alike?
• How do the recognized long-term benefits of a better educated society compare and contrast with the more immediate realities of the political and fiscal landscape?
• Can we really build the political will to achieve C&CR for all in our lifetimes?
• What cultural and systemic civic barriers—opportunity/access, structural, legal—are we as a nation willing to eradicate and transform in order to give every child a quality public education?

Featured speakers include:

Michael Yudin Acting Assistant Secretary, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education U.S. Department of Education	John Jackson President and CEO The Schott Foundation
Vicki Phillips Director of Education, College Ready Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation	Ralph Smith Executive Vice President Annie E. Casey Foundation
S. Paul Reville Massachusetts Secretary of Education	Carol Gilligan University Professor New York University
Pedro Noguera Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education New York University	James R. Horney Vice President for Federal Fiscal Policy Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Governor Robert Wise President Alliance for Excellent Education	Bob Herbert Fellow DEMOS