Local Award-Winning Educator Makes National Impact

Online, June 19, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Ms. Bettye Stevens Coney, MS, CPC, Ed.L, (Author, Senior Equity, Cultural Proficiency and Educational Consultant) of Leesburg, Florida, was recently a guest of renowned civil rights organization, the National Council on Educating Black Children (NCEBC) at the 2011 Annual National Convention and 25th Anniversary celebration in Las Vegas, NV. Among the small group of presenters selected from this year's national call for proposals, Coney was invited to share an excerpt from her full curriculum and recently published workbook "Getting Black Males Graduated from High School (and enrolled in college or vocational school)". The workshop served as an introduction to her research and strategy to assist educators in reducing the dropout rate and closing the achievement gap of demographically identifiable subgroups, particularly Black males.

When asked about her participation in the conference and the impact of her workshop, Coney remarked, "I am honored to have been selected to share my work with the NCEBC and its conference attendees. In line with the conference objectives, I found it fitting to call attention to the necessary and, often overlooked, prerequisites that 1) increase the basic understanding of sociology impacting perspectives, and 2) when introduced appropriately, make a world of difference between 'well-intentioned' culturally responsive teaching and 'effective' culturally responsive teaching. Participants responded well to this 'foundation first' approach which speaks to my goal to remove educators from the 'quick-sand' mindset highlighting the difference between that which is true and that which is not, related to pre-judgment, stereotypes, biases and other factors impacting educational outcomes."

Coney's curriculum stresses three R's of educational reform: (R)elevance (R)igor and (R)elationships. Endorsers of the training, including Mr. Al Larry, Principal, Eustis High School (Eustis, FL), share great appreciation for the teacher friendly format of Ms. Coney's presentations, the workbook and training modules, and the activities which are designed to meet help educators meet their teaching and learning goals.

Coney is available to private and public educators across the country and will be in the Nashville, TN area on October 8-11, 2011 as a featured presenter for the National Black Child Development Institute, Inc. conference "Essentials for the Journey of our Children: Keep the Cultural Fire Burning." Contact her today to schedule a special workshop for your parents and teachers or to set-up a meet with your district office. You may also register for the NBCDI conference here. After you register, be sure to contact Ms. Coney, so that a special information kit may be available for you when you visit her workshop session on October 9, 2011 2:00-3:30pm.

For more information on this historically-tuned, yet ground breaking educational resource and training, please contact Ms. Coney via email at Bettye@BettyeConey.com.

Bettye Stevens Coney is a former Award Winning School Teacher. She has experience training superintendents, school board members, teachers, principals, administrators, bus drivers, clerical, and support personnel in the area of cultural proficiency, educational equity, and diversity.

The National Council on Educating Black Children convention continues to be among the top choices of educational stakeholders as a conference that openly discusses and candidly addresses issues in education. NCEBC is known to provide attendees with stellar line ups of guest speakers and workshop offerings by respected and forward-thinking education researchers and practitioners across the country.