–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
Educational Testing Service (ETS):

WHAT: Achievement Gaps Symposium ?Educational Testing Service
(ETS) and the Children?s Defense Fund (CDF) will co-sponsor a joint
symposium, A Strong Start: Positioning Young Black Boys for
Educational Success.

ETS and CDF present researchers, policy experts, educators and
practitioners to confront the crisis facing Black boys with today?s
latest research and statistics and tomorrow?s solutions:

• The link between early brain development and later academic
  achievement.
• The success of early childhood home visiting programs.
• Two leading schools with an integrated early learning through
  third-grade program.
• CDF Freedom Schools^? program?s promising results in
  stanching summer learning loss which contributes to the achievement
  gap.

Today, many of the 3.5 million Black boys under the age of nine will not
enter the pipeline to college and successful adulthood. More than 40
percent of Black children are born into poverty. Poor Black children are
behind in cognitive development at nine months and further behind at 24
months. By kindergarten, poor Black children have to beat the odds to
catch up ? and as test results show, many never do.

This critical symposium will focus on how to change those odds and give
young Black boys a strong start for educational and life success.

About ETS

At nonprofit ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people
worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves
individuals, educational institutions and government agencies by
providing customized solutions for teacher certification, English
language learning, and elementary, secondary and post-secondary
education, as well as conducting education research, analysis and policy
studies. Founded in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores more than
50 million tests annually ? including the TOEFL^? and TOEIC^?
tests, the GRE^? tests and The Praxis Series?
assessments ? in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations
worldwide. www.ets.org

About the CDF

The Children?s Defense Fund Leave No Child Behind^? mission is
to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair
Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and
successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and
communities.?CDF provides a strong, effective and independent voice for all
the children of America who cannot vote, lobby or speak for
themselves. We pay particular attention to the needs of poor and
minority children and those with disabilities. CDF educates the nation
about the needs of children and encourages preventive investments before
they get sick, drop out of school, get into trouble or suffer family
breakdown. CDF began in 1973 and is a private, nonprofit organization
supported by foundation and corporate grants and individual donations. www.childrensdefense.org