The opening plenary session will take place on Thursday, October 24 and feature a Policy Talks @ the Ford School lecture with Roberto RodrÃguez, special assistant to the president for education policy. Click here to read more about the plenary session with Roberto RodrÃguez. About the conference: This topic has received extensive popular media coverage, but there has been a paucity of rigorous research, and what little there is has been isolated. The goal of the conference is twofold.