Massachusetts Secretary of Education Paul Reville came to the SouthCoast to address the challenges and achievement gaps that persist in urban schools. He described the current educational system as based on an early 20th century model, a time when the country was rapidly becoming industrialized and urbanized. "The kind of jobs people went into then were low-skill, low-knowledge jobs," he said, contrasting that with today's demand for high skill, high knowledge workers. Reveille compared the current system to a 100-yard dash in which students are leaving from different points and different times. "We fire the gun and when they don't finish at the same time in the same place we act surprised," he said. He pointed to the necessity of giving students in cities like Fall River and New Bedford the resources that families are unable to provide. "We're still in a society where zip code matters, and where your socioeconomic status is closely correlated with educational attainment and educational achievements." He plans to build on the success of the landmark 1993 Education Reform Act to continues to construct a system that meets the specific needs of each child. Governor Deval Patrick appointed Reville on September 11th as the Commonwealth’s new Secretary of Education, overseeing the recently created Executive Office of Education. Click here to read the Herald News article about the discussion.

(Top row, left) Ed Lambert welcomes the audience to White's Restaurant for the evening forum. (Top row, center) Ed greets Joanne Medeiros of Bank Five and education professor Cynthia Kruger of UMass-Dartmouth. (Top row, right) Massachusetts Secretary of Education Paul Reville addresses the audience. (Middle row, left) UMass-Dartmouth Chancellor McCormick makes some welcoming remarks. (Middle row, right) MassINC Executive Vice-President John R. Schneider and Stan Vsovicz of Verizon listen intently. (Bottom row, left) Peter Kortright poses a question to Secretary Reville. Joanne Sbrega, Senator Joan Menard and President John Sbrega of Bristol Community College pose for a photo. (Bottom row, right) Jennifer Menard, Executive Director of the Southcoast Development Partnership, talks with New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang.