The Conference on Public Service and the Law

at the University of Virginia School of Law

Education Panel

No Child Left Behind: One Year Later
This panel will examine both real and potential consequences of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), a landmark piece of legislation signed into law just over two years ago. An overarching theme of the panel will be the expanding role of the federal government in K-12 education, and the challenges inherent in overlaying the national student achievement standards of the NCLB with pre-existing standards set by states. What sort of incentives, both positive and negative, are provided by the NCLB from the perspective of states, school districts, teachers, and parents? Two years after its implementation, what effects of the NCLB are being felt ?on the ground,? at individual schools and school districts?

Jim Ryan, Moderator
Professor of Law, University of Virginia
Jim Ryan joined the faculty in 1998, after completing a two-year Gibbons Fellowship in Public Interest and Constitutional Law working on pro bono cases and projects in the areas of constitutional and civil rights law. His scholarship focuses primarily on law and educational opportunity, and he has authored or co-authored articles on school finance, school desegregation, school choice, and the political history of the Establishment Clause. Ryan attended the Law School, during which time he served on the managing board of the Virginia Law Review, was a volunteer for the Legal Assistance Society's Migrant Farm Workers Project, and was a founding member of Students United to Promote Racial Awareness. His awards include the Law School Alumni Award for Academic Excellence, the Traynor Award, the Thomas Marshall Miller Prize, and the Hardy Cross Dillard Scholarship. He also was elected to the Order of the Coif, and the ODK and Raven honor societies. After graduating in 1992, Ryan clerked for the Honorable J. Clifford Wallace, Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He then clerked for the Honorable William H. Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the United States.

John DiPaolo
Executive Director for Partnership Schools of Temple University
John K. DiPaolo directs Temple University's initiative to create a small, university-connected K-12 school system within the School District of Philadelphia. TempleÕs goal is to dramatically improve student achievement through its leadership of the six high-poverty, low-performing schools surrounding the university. Prior to coming to Temple in 2002, Mr. DiPaolo worked in Boston and New York, managing the creation of a public arts high school, directing policy at Boston's local education fund, and teaching public high school math. He has also practiced corporate and education law.

Frederick M. Quayle
State Senator, Member of the Senate Committee on Education and Health
Frederick M. Quayle represents the 13th District in the Virginia State Senate. Senator Quayle attended the University of Virginia and the T.C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond, which awarded him an LLB degree in 1966. He has practiced law in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Chesapeake since 1966. In addition to his law practice, Mr. Quayle has served in the State Senate since 1992. Senator Quayle has taught as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Government and Public Affairs at Christopher Newport University and as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Old Dominion University. Senator Quayle seves on the SenateÕs Committee on Education and Health, the Committee on Finance, the Committee for Courts of Justice, the Committee on Rules and he is the chairman of the Committee on Local Government.

Kent Talbert
Deputy General Counsel for Departmental and Legislative Services, U.S. Department of Education
Since August 2001, Kent D. Talbert has served as the Deputy General Counsel for the Division of Business and Administrative Law and the Division of Legislative Counsel. He oversees the provision of legal counsel to the Department on all matters affecting employment, contracts, appropriations, privacy, advisory committees, federal surplus property, tort liability, and labor/management relations. He also oversees management of the Department's Division of Legislative Counsel, including bill drafting, legal review of testimony for presentation to Congress, and related matters. Mr. Talbert was born in Greenwood, South Carolina and graduated from its public schools in 1978. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Erskine College (1982) and a graduate of the University of South Carolina School of Law (1985), where he served on the International Moot Court team. Prior to coming to the Department, Mr. Talbert served on the staff of the Committee on Education and the Workforce in the United States House of Representatives, the Committee on Health Education Labor and Pensions in the United States Senate, and the staff of U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond (R-SC). He also practiced law in Columbia, South Carolina.

Stewart D. Robinson
Superintendant, Hannover County (Virginia) Public Schools
Dr. Roberson received a B.S. in History, an M.Ed in Administration and Supervision, and Ed.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from the University of Virginia. He has served in several capacities as an educator since beginning his career as a middle school teacher of math, science, social studies, and debate in 1977. He was appointed superintendent of Falls Church (VA) Public Schools in August 1991. In May 1995, he was named superintendent of Hanover County (VA) Public Schools. Dr. Roberson is also an instructor of school finance, school law, school facilities and design, leadership development, school/community relations, and human resources administration at the University of Virginia. Dr. Roberson currently serves as President of the Urban Superintendents Association of America. The U. S. Department of Education has identified eight of HanoverÕs twenty-one schools as U.S. Blue Ribbon Schools. The school systemÕs record of student achievement places it in the top 5% in Virginia with costs per pupil averaging in the lowest 5% of Virginia school districts. In 2002, the Hanover school district shared highest performer honors among Virginia school districts with 15,000 or more students, and was the leader among metro Richmond school districts. In the 2003-2004 academic year, the school district was one of only eighteen and the largest in Virginia to make Adequate Yearly Progress under the No Child Left Behind Act. Dr. Roberson's doctoral dissertation, "The Relationships Among Influences Upon Legislative Decision-Making and Educational Issues in the Virginia General Assembly," as well as his numerous other publications, have been the basis of several subsequent studies.