The Student Success Act: An Historic Investment in Oregon's Children

Location: The Ecotrust Building, 721 NW 9th Ave. 
For information on parking, please visit Ecotrust's website. 

Our first Friday Forum of the 2019-2020 season will focus on the Oregon Student Success Act. We'll hear from education leaders from across the state about the specific provisions that they think will make a big difference for low income and underserved children in Oregon.

Panel 

Parasa Chanramy Parasa is the Policy & Implementation Director at Stand for Children in Oregon. In her role, she manages the Oregon affiliate’s legislative work and collaborates with many different stakeholders to ensure that Measure 98 (AKA “High School Success”) and the Student Success Act are implemented well.

She’s a proud Cambodian American and Oregonian with nearly a decade of experience in education policy in Oregon, Washington and Minnesota. Before working in education policy, she was a kindergarten teacher in north Minneapolis. Her students and their stories continue to motivate her and her commitment to education equity.  

Parasa joined the Stand family in late 2012. She holds a B.A. in International Affairs from Lewis & Clark College.
 

Mark Witty has served in education for the past 34 years as a teacher, coach, guidance counselor, athletic director, principal and superintendent. He has a Master’s Degree in Education from Oregon State University and completed his Administrative Licensor through the University of Oregon. Mark is a recognized leader in Oregon serving as the President of the Secondary Schools Association in 2005-06 and is currently serving as the President-Elect for Oregon Association of School Executives.

He is in his 5th year serving as the Superintendent of Baker School District which supports 1,700 brick and mortar students, 2,500 students statewide through Baker Web Academy and Baker Early College. Baker School District has also created Baker Technical Institute (BTI) which is a non-profit entity that provides technical training for k-12 students as well as adult learners throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Mark has been nominated for Superintendent of the year in 2012, won the President’s Award from COSA in 2017 and serves on numerous state & local committees/boards. He has organized multiple regional Educational Summits in Eastern Oregon to create dialogue between educational organizations and our elected officials. Recently, he was nominated and accepted as an inaugural member of the Future’s Institute along with 49 other superintendents representing 25 states. This organization will act as a “Think Tank” to determine how education can best serve workforce development in a dynamic economic environment.


Miriam Calderon is the Early Learning System Director overseeing the Early Learning Division in Oregon. Before coming to Oregon, Miriam served as the Senior Director of Early Learning at the Bainum Family Foundation, where she shaped a new $10 million dollar investment in a birth to three system for the District of Columbia. She also was a senior fellow with the BUILD Initiative, leading BUILD's work related to dual language learners, and serving as a faculty member for BUILD’s Equity Leaders Action Network.

Previously, Calderon served as a political appointee in the Obama Administration, advising on early learning policy at the Domestic Policy Council at the White House and at the Department of Health and Human Services. She also served as the Director of Early Childhood Education at DC Public Schools, where she oversaw Head Start and pre-kindergarten programs, including helping to implement universal pre-kindergarten in DC. Calderon was also Associate Director of Education Policy at the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic civil rights organization. There she focused specifically on early education policy for Hispanic and dual language learner children. She began her career in early childhood working as a mental health consultant in Head Start programs in Portland, Oregon. She has published several reports on early childhood education. Calderon holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from the University of Delaware and a Master of Social Work degree from Portland State University.