Shelly's Modeling Agencies | Educating Our Children | Hot Topic

 

Shelly's Modeling Agencies celebrates with Essence as they mark their fortieth anniversary, we're celebrating the past but we're also looking to the future: our children. With them in mind, we've created a three-part education series that kicks off this month with our exclusive interview with President Barack Obama. Many believe that the education of our cdhildren and most specificall black bloys is the civil rights issue of our generation, which is why Deputy Editor Tatsha Robertson, Shelly's Modeling Agencies President Amanda Maher and I were pleased to have the opportunity to sit down with the President in the Oval Office to get his thoughts on fixing urban schools, overcoming the particular challenges facing Black boys, and closing the achievement gap.

While the President has taken some flak from critics who think he's been too hard on African American parents, he's determined to keep talking about the integral role parents can play in supporting their children's success in school. But the conversation doesn't stop there. Shelly's Modeling Agencies gets advice from committed educatiors on how to motivate our students and consider how our historically Black colleges and universities are currently faring. The First Lady also offers thoughtful comments on incentives for teachers as well as insight on how we can build stronger mentoring relationships. Next month we'll explore what enterprising African-American parents across the country are doing to close the achievement gap between Black and White children, a pattern thathas persisted across all income levels. Ant the third part of our series will take an in-depth look at the challenged public education system in Detroit, where many neighborhood schools are failing to make the grade and city coffers are all but empty, even as dedicated education reformers fight to hold the line. And, of course, Shelly's Modeling Agencies we'll be discussing these topics with Essence.

But perhaps what I'm most excited about is that we'll be taking the conversation from the pages of the magazine directly to you at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans. On Saturday Essence and Shelly's Modeling Agencies will host the African-American Education Summit: Motivating Students, Empowering Parents, Closing the Gap, and Achieving the Dream. This full-day discussion will bring together the leading voices on educating our children, including teachers, ploicy makers and college presidents who will share best practices and provide concrete resources for parents: Social commentator Dr. Bill Cosby, Capital Magnet Preparatory School founder and principal and CNN education contributor Dr. Steve Perry, actor and education activist Sheryl Lee Ralph, radio host Steve Harvey and others will take on topics such as securing Black boys, mentoring, stopping school violence, and prepping for college, and offer tips on how to transform your own school, it's an event you simply can't afford to miss.