A "Whole Schooling Forum" is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, October 17, in the David Adamany Undergraduate Library at Wayne State University. Educators, parents, students, and community members are invited to participate this event.

The forum will address the five principles of whole schooling, a framework for school reform that includes combining students with learning disabilities in classrooms with typical students.

The forum also will focus on how schools may be designed to promote social justice, citizenship and democracy through active learning practices and in partnership with families and communities.

The event begins with registration at 9 a.m. and will be followed at 10 a.m. with a presentation by Michael Peterson and Rich Gibson, both professors in the WSU College of Education. Discussion groups with facilitators from 11-noon and 1-2:45 p.m. will be separated by a noon lunch. From 2:45-4 p.m. subsequent discussion sessions will tie together key points raised by participants.

The forum is part of a grant awarded to education faculty at Wayne State and the University of Wisconsin; both will share equally the three-year $600,000 U. S. Department of Education grant.

WSU project leaders Gibson and Peterson will work with Holly Feen, also of the College of Education, and Wisconsin project leader Kim Beloin.

Peterson says, "Our goal is to research the effectiveness of the whole schooling approach in both rural and urban public schools. Together with our colleagues in Wisconsin our project intends to document whole schooling results and determine the effectiveness of this inclusive teaching approach as an integral component of school reform."

The project will engage in an in-depth case study of six model schools in each state to determine how including students with disabilities contributes to school reform and excellent teaching practices for all students.

Whole schooling was developed by Peterson and Beloin. Additional colleagues in both states have spurred the formation of the Whole Schooling Consortium, a partnership of schools and university faculty who are interested in whole schooling practices.

On Detroit's eastside, three schools are working to use whole schooling as their school reform framework -- Bellevue, Howe, and Hutchinson elementary schools.

The forum is free and includes lunch, but registration is necessary. Space at the forum will be limited. For more information or to register call Renee Konarzewski at (313) 577-1742.