CANCUN—What started off in 2014 as a simple idea, has blossomed into a major convening, drawing more than 700 educators from K-12 school districts and colleges and universities together to strategize and share best practices on how to tackle some of the most pressing issues facing urban schools around the globe. 
Dr. Chance W. Lewis
The International Conference on Urban Education (ICUE) has become the sought-after space where ideas are shared, and collaborations are formed. The biennial conference is the brainchild of Dr. Chance W. Lewis, the director of the Urban Education Collaborative and the Carol Grotnes Belk Distinguished Professor in Urban Education at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Tired of simply gathering at conferences to rehash the same problems, Lewis had a vision that he wanted to spearhead a solutions-oriented convening that allowed individuals to put theory into practice, in an effort to yield positive outcomes for students attending schools in urban school districts.
That vision quickly gained traction.
“Too often, nobody has a framing for solutions, it’s not even pushed,” said Lewis. “And that’s what people want. People will travel to hear solutions and then work to implement solutions. It’s a gap we have to fill for people when we come to these types of gatherings so that they can have the information that they need and so that they can be equipped to go forward as well.”
Last week, ICUE kicked off its fifth convening and featured a keynote by Dr. Leslie T. Fenwick, dean emerita of education at Howard University and the author of the Jim Crow’s Pink Slip: The Untold Story of Black Principal and Teacher Leadership. Past keynote speakers have included Drs. Gloria Ladson-Billings, Tyrone Howard, Pedro Noguera, and Sonia Nieto.
Lewis said that too often, conversations about urban education fail to bring practitioners to the table with researchers and policymakers to brainstorm solutions. ICUE, he added, has been intentional about showcasing panel sessions that include a researcher and a practitioner “so that they can hear the solutions and build new collaborations around networking.”
That kind of intentionality makes sense to Dr. LaVar J. Charleston, vice chancellor for inclusive excellence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He participated in two sessions at this year’s convening.
“There’s few professional conferences that engage scholars, researchers, practitioners, activists, community-goers that span the pipeline from K-12 through graduate professional in the academy and beyond,” he said. “And to have such a solutions-oriented conference is refreshing. We come together and the research tells us what the challenges are so our minds are already prepared to engage in critical discourse around how we can solve some of the world’s most challenging problems.”
Charleston said that the attendees arrive to the conference ready to “brain wrestle” and forge innovative solutions. He said that he always leaves the conference inspired—perhaps more this year, given the “tremendous amount of headwinds” that threaten to derail the creation of inclusive working and learning environments.
“It’s an opportunity to fill your cup, to reenergize, and remind you of why we do the work that we do, and to remind us that we are not in it by ourselves and that we have a host of folks from all over the world who are working on creating positive outcomes for those from urban environments regardless of the headwinds and the situations and the challenges that we have faced historically and today,” said Charleston. “That is one of the most ideal aspects of this conference.”
Lewis said that this year’s conference had a specific focus on historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) drawing on the partnership between UNC-Charlotte and North Carolina A&T State University. Such a model, he said, demonstrates how a Predominantly White Institution (PWI) and an HBCU can work together “to make ends meet to provide solutions. But it has to be intentional.”
HBCU students not only attended this year’s conference, but they participated in a service project and built bookshelves and delivered over 450 books to a local elementary school in Cancun that did not have a library until last week.
That local community outreach in the host country of the conference, Lewis added, is critically important.
“We want to leave a lasting impact,” he said. “The issues in the U.S. are very similar to other places around the world.
In the future, Lewis said that he wants ICUE to host more high school and undergraduate students and wants the sessions to share more data on results and implementation.
“What one person experiences in North Carolina is similar to what one experiences in another part of the country, but people need to hear about those things on the ground,” he said. “And a lot of time, we don’t have enough reporting from on the ground on what’s going on in urban education.”
This year, there were over 60 sessions, including a session focused on grant writing and building the pipeline of the African American male from PreK through the college presidency.
“It has exponentially grown in such a way and shows me of the need that’s out there for validating people’s work around urban education, and equity issues that’s going on in many different places,” said Lewis. “I think we’ve found a niche that is important for people.”
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