Come to the AERO CONFERENCE
August 1-5, Portland, Oregon!
With the success of the various Occupy events around the world, we feel that this is the time for the education revolution, to empower all students, to make learner-centered education possible everywhere.
AERO was founded in 1989 and this will be our 9th consecutive conference after hosting the International Democratic Education Conference in 2003. AERO networks all forms of learner-centered educational alternatives. The AERO conference is unlike any other conference you are likely to attend in the USA. Many attendees have described the conference as life-changing.
Conference Dates
The 2012 AERO conference will run from August 1-5, 2012.
Registration
$50 deposit will hold a place for you at the conference
$300 per adult
$200 per student/youth/presenters
Special group rates for more than 6 attendees can be arranged by contacting the AERO office at info@educationrevolution.org. AERO members can use their member coupon code to get a 10% discount of AERO conference registrations. If you do not have the member coupon code and are a current AERO member, please write to info@educationrevolution.org to request the code.
Register now!Keynote speakers
AERO is proud to present the following line-up of keynote speakers for this year’s AERO conference: Finding the Catalyst for the Education Revolution. More keynotes will be announced in the next few months as we approach the conference!
- Sir Ken Robinson, PhD is an internationally recognized leader in the development of education, creativity and innovation. He is also one of the world’s leading speakers with a profound impact on audiences everywhere. The videos of his famous 2006 and 2010 talks to the prestigious TED Conference have been seen by an estimated 200 million people in over 150 countries. He works with governments in Europe, Asia and the USA, with international agencies, Fortune 500 companies and some of the world’s leading cultural organizations. Sir Ken will share his thoughts on shifting the paradigm that many education systems still manifest around the world.
- Naomi Aldort is an international expert on parenting and parent/child relationships and author of the book Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves. Naomi is an expert on raising powerful and peaceful people through attachment parenting and by protecting their innate freedom to be themselves. Her parenting advice columns have been internationally published covering all responsive parenting issues from babies through adults with focus on raising self-reliant, autonomous, powerful, and peaceful people. For her keynote she will be talking about raising self-directed and powerful children who act and learn from their inner passion without coercion or manipulation.
- Occupy Portland’s Our School project will present a panel sharing practical ways that individuals and groups can organize the education revolution in their own communities. AERO’s Director, Jerry Mintz, will introduce the panel by outlining AERO’s new international representative program. Their panel will end with a group discussion and visioning session to help focus and spur on the education revolution beyond the conference.
- Yaacov Hecht (pictured above) is the founder of the Democratic School of Hadera in Israel, the first to call itself a democratic school. He is also the founder and former head of the Institute for Democratic Education. He currently the founder and CEO of the Education Cities organization which helps transform entire cities’ education systems.
Workshops and presentations
Online AERO Conference Program (updated regularly)
Aside from the keynote speakers at the AERO conference, there are dozens of other workshops, presentations, and discussions that will occur on a great variety of issues related to educational alternatives.
If you are interested in presenting a workshop, organizing a discussion or other activity at the upcoming AERO conference, please send us your proposal by February 29th. You can start by sending a paragraph about your proposed presentation. This year we plan to have fewer planned presentations and presenters at the conference so we can have more spontaneous presentations, so send your proposals as soon as possible. Enter your proposal information here into this Word document and email the saved file to info@educationrevolution.org.
We will have a small number of display tables for individuals and organization with resources useful to AERO members. If interested write to info@educationrevolution.org.
AERO state and local representatives
AERO has always had an informal network of representatives. When someone needs a contact in a certain city, state or country, we know who to refer them to. Now, with the new AERO website and many new programs we have decided to formalize that network. We will be directly contacting some people to see if they would like to be our official AERO representative for their area. Some representatives may be requested to do consultations. They will also be organizing local events. For example, we would like to see fairs highlighting public and private educational alternatives in their areas to let parents, teachers and students know what their educational choices are.
At the upcoming AERO conference next August, again in Portland, Oregon, this will culminate in a series of informational and training sessions for our representatives to give them the resources necessary to do this work This will also be an opportunity to share resources with each other.
To summarize, representatives will:
- Post events and news about educational alternatives taking place in their state on the AERO website.
- Be available as a contact person for those in their state looking for alternatives or other help.
- Keep track of state laws effecting educational alternatives.
- Help organize events and gatherings that share information and network local educational alternatives.
- Refer people to the AERO office as appropriate and help promote the AERO annual conference.
Representatives get exclusive benefits such as:
- Community organizing training and guidance from the AERO team.
- Network and learn what works with fellow representatives around the world.
- Free AERO membership!
- Discount to the AERO conference!
- Access to AERO databases to use for their service.
- Possible local consultations
If you are interested in being an AERO international, state or local representative, write to info@educationrevolution.org.
AERO conference documentary (2010):
What is the AERO conference?
The most important activity at AERO conferences is the networking. There have been some very powerful and inspirational keynote speakers such as John Gatto, Riane Eisler, Alfie Kohn, Herb Kohl and Patch Adams. The workshops, presentations and panels are often done by people who would have been keynotes at other conferences, but are also done by grassroots people, who are simple practitioners in educational alternatives, including homeschooling parents. Furthermore, unlike most conferences, AERO always reserves space in every time session for spontaneous workshops that are posted daily.
Who should go to the AERO conference?
Our attendees are from an amazingly wide spectrum. We have had people from every state and dozens of countries. We had 500 attendees last year.
Our conference has always been friendly to students and children, usually including presentations by and for children and students. Therefore many attendees bring their children and teachers bring groups of their students. Student and children’s rates are discounted. We also have very reasonably priced child-care.
There will be daycare throughout the conference at a total cost of only $100 for the whole conference, half price for a second child for children age 3 through 12.
Attendees have been:
- Teachers, administrators, parents and students from public and private alternatives
- People from Democratic, Montessori, Waldorf, higher education alternatives and charter schools
- Homeschooling families
- Researchers
- Mainstream public school personnel interested in change
- Media
- Education writers
Hotel, meals, & transportation
The conference will begin with pre-conference events on the evening of Wednesday, the 1st of August. It will end after lunch on Sunday the 5th.
It will be held at the Red Lion Hotel on the River, In Portland, Oregon. You can see the map of the location here. The hotel provides free transportation from the nearby airport. You should lock in your room right now at the low conference rate. Some sections are limited, such as on the club level which includes breakfast and vouchers for happy hour (only 40). Later on rooms at the hotel may not be available at the best rate, $103 a night.
Book online by clicking the button. When you put in your arrival and departure dates along with number of guests, it will pull up rates and you can follow prompts to book reservation. Use booking code ALTED12.
Reserve your hotel room!If anyone is looking to cut costs by sharing a hotel room with another conference attendee, we can help arrange this if you write to info@educationrevolution.org.
Meal tickets for 6 buffet lunches or dinners can be purchased in advance of the conference to save $10. We are encouraging conference attendees to plan to eat lunch and dinners at the hotel and buy their ticket in advance so we can alert the hotel how many to expect. Meal tickets will also be available to purchase at the first meal.
Order your meal ticketChild care
We will be providing childcare each day of the conference (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and half of Sunday) for children ages 3-11. Click the button to pay for and arrange this.
Reserve child careVolunteers
We are looking for a handful of superstar volunteers to help out at the conference. This might involve sitting at the registration/conference info table or the bookstore, helping put up signs, childcare, audio/visual, putting together conference packets (info about the hotel, Portland info, brief schedule). If interested, write to info@educationrevolution.org Volunteers will get a conference discount.
To whom it may concern,
My name is Mickel Zuidhoek and I had hoped to go to the 2011 conference but was unable to.
I would like to start my own school in Vermont and feel that this conference could help further my goal.
Do you already have a list of worshops or are they still being organized?
Regards
Mickel
We’re putting together our schedule of keynote speeches, presentations, and workshops now. We are taking presentation and workshop proposals at info@educationrevolution.org.
I am so excited that Yaccov Hecht is going to do the keynote. There are no democratic schools larger than his. It is always enlightening to talk with him–he has so much experience that his answers bring unexpected insight.
Loving the info on this site, you might have done excellent job on the content .
I am looking forward to meeting everyone in Portland in August. I would like to ask those who are considering attending my workshop, TEACHING TO DIVERSITY, to contact me so you I can let you know the novel we will be using as an example. My email is vera@readingwings.com