The Salzburg Global Seminar (SGS) is an independent, non-governmental organization with a Board of Directors drawn from diverse regions, backgrounds and fields of expertise. It seeks in its faculty, fellows and staff, people of the highest intellectual and leadership capacity from around the world and from all sectors of society, and attempts to benefit from their breadth of experience and perspective across the full range of its work.

In December of 2011, SGS and ETS convened a seminar titled Optimizing Talent: Closing Educational and Social Mobility Gaps Worldwide. The purpose of this seminar was to identify where educational and social mobility gaps exist, what effect they have, why they persist and what can be done to eliminate them. This 2011 session focused on education up to age 18, and will be followed by an October 2012 session which will address the same key issues in connection with post-secondary education and the transition to the workplace and lifelong learning.

www.salzburgglobal.org

The Education Law Center (ELC), founded in 1973, serves as the leading voice for New Jersey's public school children and has become one of the most effective advocates for equal educational opportunity and education justice in the United States. Widely recognized for groundbreaking court rulings on behalf of at-risk students, ELC also promotes educational equity through coalition building, litigation support, policy development, communications and action-focused research in New Jersey, in other states and at the federal level.

ETS and ELC collaborate on "Addressing Achievement Gaps" symposia, which bring together leading educators, researchers and policymakers to examine the links between academic achievement and student background, and discuss ways to narrow gaps.

www.edlawcenter.org

The Children's Defense Fund (CDF) is a national nonprofit child advocacy organization that works to level the playing field for all children.

CDF's 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 a successful transition 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, especially 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. Founded in 1973, CDF is supported by foundation and corporate grants and individual donations.

ETS is collaborating with Communities In Schools of New Jersey (CISNJ) on a CDF Freedom Schools^® program in Newark, New Jersey. This unique program, underwritten by a $77,000 grant from ETS, is designed specifically for Black boys in grades three to eight.

www.childrensdefense.org

The Council for Opportunity in Education (COE) is a nonprofit organization, established in 1981, that expands college opportunities for low-income, first-generation students and students with disabilities throughout the United States.

COE members include more than 1,000 colleges and agencies. Through its numerous membership services, the Council works in conjunction with colleges, universities and agencies that host TRIO programs, including Talent Search, Upward Bound and Educational Opportunity Centers, to specifically help low-income students enter college and graduate. More than one million low-income and disabled students each year receive college access and retention services through member colleges and agencies.

ETS and COE collaborate on "Addressing Achievement Gaps" symposia, which bring together leading educators, researchers and policymakers to examine the links between academic achievement and student background, and discuss ways to narrow gaps. ETS is also conducting an evaluation of a college access program created by COE.

www.coenet.us

The National Urban League (NUL) is a historic civil rights organization dedicated to economic empowerment in order to elevate the standard of living in historically underserved urban communities.

Founded in 1910 and headquartered in New York City, NUL spearheads the efforts of its local affiliates through the development of programs, public policy research and advocacy. Today, there are more than 100 local affiliates in 36 states and the District of Columbia, providing direct services that impact and improve the lives of more than two million people nationwide.

ETS and NUL collaborate on "Addressing Achievement Gaps" symposia, which bring together leading educators, researchers and policymakers to examine the links between academic achievement and student background, and discuss ways to narrow gaps.

www.nul.org