Public education advocate speaks at UGA Chapel

A leading advocate and author for public education will speak on the University of Georgia campus next month to address national educational policies and their effects on local schools.

Anthony Cody, co-founder of the Network for Public Education and the author of "The Educator and The Oligarch: A Teacher Challenges the Gates Foundation," will speak at 5:15 p.m. Feb. 4 at the UGA Chapel. The event is free and open to the public, and will be followed by a free reception in Demosthenian Hall. Cody's talk, "Local Schools, National Policies: Who's Listening?" is presented by the UGA College of Education and the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts. This lecture is part of an ongoing public conversation about education.

Cody spent 24 years teaching in Oakland, Calif., and during that time the rise of the Common Core, test-based teacher evaluation systems other national educational policy initiatives sparked Cody into action. His blog, "Living in Dialogue," first appeared on Education Week in 2008 but became independent of the magazine this past August, just before the publication of his first book. In 2011, he helped organize the Save Our Schools March in Washington, D.C., and today he coaches teachers across the country.

"Anthony Cody poses tough questions to everyone who is interested in public education," said Jack Parish, the UGA College of Education's dean of outreach, who is involved with programs such as the college's Professional Development School District and its Early Career Principal Residency program. "Anthony Cody's visit is a chance to hear his perspective on education and an opportunity to question him and one's own beliefs about national educational policies."