Session Descriptions

Strands

Friday, February 19, 2010

Select day:  Friday  |  Saturday |  Sunday
 

"what it takes to leave no child behind"

DR. PEDRO NOGUERA, Executive Director, Metropolitan Center for Urban Education and Co-Director, Institute for the Study of Globalization and Education in Metropolitan Settings (IGEMS)

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Keynote, Friday, 1:00 - 2:00 pm

While the movement for standards and accountability has largely succeeded in bringing greater attention to the issues surrounding student achievement, surprisingly little attention has been given to what it takes to create conditions in schools that will make achievement more likely. Missing from much of the policy debate related to achievement is how to support and cultivate effective teaching in schools. This presentation will describe strategies that have proven effective elsewhere at supporting teaching and learning. It will also explore how schools can develop effective partnerships with parents to further efforts to raise achievement and how data can be used to develop school reforms that lead to transformations in the culture and structure of schools.

"what it takes to leave no child behind (CONT'd)"

DR. PEDRO NOGUERA, Executive Director, Metropolitan Center for Urban Education and Co-Director, Institute for the Study of Globalization and Education in Metropolitan Settings (IGEMS)

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Breakout, Friday, 2:15 - 4:00 pm

While the movement for standards and accountability has largely succeeded in bringing greater attention to the issues surrounding student achievement, surprisingly little attention has been given to what it takes to create conditions in schools that will make achievement more likely. Missing from much of the policy debate related to achievement is how to support and cultivate effective teaching in schools. This presentation continues the discussion in the keynote and will describe strategies that have proven effective elsewhere at supporting teaching and learning. It will also explore how schools can develop effective partnerships with parents to further efforts to raise achievement and how data can be used to develop school reforms that lead to transformations in the culture and structure of schools.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

"Successful schools - from research to action"

DR. WILLARD DAGGETT, President, International Center for Leadership in Education

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Keynote, Saturday, 8:00 - 9:00 am

Working in partnership with the Council of Chief State School Officers and with financial support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the International Center for Leadership in Education has identified 1) the nation’s highest performing high schools with challenging demographics and 2) the nation’s most rapidly improving schools. Dr. Willard R. Daggett and his staff have been studying these schools to determine what they are doing differently from other schools. In this session, Dr. Daggett will lay out what this research has discovered and provide a series of recommended actions for participants to implement in their schools.

"technology, work work and our growing skills gap"

DR. WILLARD DAGGETT, President, International Center for Leadership in Education

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Saturday, 9:15 - 11:45 am

Saturdady, 1:15 - 3:45 pm

The world in which today’s students will live and work is being changed dramatically by four mega trends. Those mega trends are new and emerging technology, globalization, changing demographics, and new generations of young people in our classrooms. Vivid examples of changes occurring in each of these areas will be provided. The presentation will then focus on the skills and knowledge students will need to succeed in this changing world and workplace.

"closing the achievement gap with high quality instruction"

DR. RONALD FERGUSON, Faculty Co-Chair and Director, Achievement Gap Initiative (AGI)

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Saturday, 11:15 - 9:45am

Saturday, 1:15 - 3:45 pm

Dr. Ferguson’s presentation will focus on important findings from several years of surveying students and teachers in public school as part of the Tripod Project for school improvement. In addition, he will draw upon findings from his study of the YouthBuild program, which serves 16-to-24 year old high school dropouts. The findings indicate ways that instruction affects student engagement and ways that high quality instruction can help raise achievement for all students while narrowing gaps between groups. Dr. Ferguson uses evidence from surveys to explore how school-level conditions among the adults affect classroom practices, how classroom practices affect student engagement, and how student engagement leads to learning. He has also written a collection of poems for educators and will recite several poems from that collection.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

"TEACHING THROUGH ADVERSITY - FACING CHALLENGES AND MAKING A DIFFERENCE"

RON CLARK, Bestselling Author and Founder, The Ron Clark Academy

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Keynote, Sunday, 8:00 - 9:30 am

Ron Clark will share his journey from teaching in a low-wealth rural area in North Carolina to the inner-city streets of Harlem in New York City. Along the way, Mr. Clark will share inspirational stories of how his students made outstanding growth in test scores, conducted projects that garnered worldwide attention, and were invited to the White House three separate years to be honor by the President. Mr. Clark was the 2000 Disney American Teacher of the Year, and he has been featured on the Rosie O'Donnell Show and also the Oprah Winfrey Show where Oprah dubbed him her first "Phenomenal Man." Mr. Clark has written two books about his teaching practices, "The 55 Essentials - Life Lessons for Teachers, Parents, Students and the Rest of Us" and “The Excellent Eleven” which outlines qualities and characteristics parents and teachers should have to instill success in their children and students.