Conference Overview

 Schedule

 Read Session Descriptions

Focus On

 Creativity and 21st Century Skills

 Exploring Technology

 From Research to Practice

 Networking Opportunities

 Urban Education

Greg Mortenson

Saturday, March 14, 10:00–11:30 a.m.

Opening General Session

Promoting Peace One School, One Child at a Time

Since a 1993 climb on Pakistan's K2, Greg Mortenson has dedicated his life to promoting community-based education and literacy programs, especially for girls, in remote mountain regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Through his unique perspective on the region's culture, history, and geopolitics, Mortenson will share insightful commentary about his extraordinary journey and efforts to promote peace one school—and one child—at a time.

Eileen Collins

Sunday, March 15, 10:00–11:30 a.m.

Second General Session

Leadership Lessons from Apollo to Discovery

This session will feature discussion about the leadership and personal qualities necessary for success. The presenter will share how her career as an astronaut took shape—from her early years in the U.S. Air Force to becoming the first woman to command a space shuttle mission. She will talk about key factors for successful leadership, focusing on dealing with people, dealing with mistakes, safety, and creative management. Her inspirational story will resonate with participants and show how success results from a team effort.

Sir Ken Robinson

Monday, March 16, 10:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

Closing General Session

Out of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative

National education systems worldwide are being reformed to meet the challenges of the 21st century. As a respected adviser to governments in Europe, Asia, and the United States, the presenter will argue in this powerful presentation that many countries are pushing reforms in the wrong direction. Drawing from his groundbreaking book, Out of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative, he will explain why too many are locked into a model of education shaped by the Industrial Revolution and a narrow idea of academic ability. Urging schools and colleges everywhere to rethink basic assumptions about intelligence and achievement, the presentation will focus on these vital questions: Why is it essential to promote creativity? What's the problem? Why do so many adults think they're not creative? Most children are buzzing with ideas—what happens to them as they grow up? What should be done? Is everyone creative or just a select few? Can creativity be developed? If so, how? In exploring these questions, the presenter will argue for radical changes in how we educate all students to meet the extraordinary challenges of living and working in the 21st century.

Frank Davis

Sunday, March 15, 8:00–9:30 a.m.

Instruct, Illuminate, and Rearrange our Mental Furniture: Learning Beyond Boundaries

How can we judge educational discourse that assumes that quality mathematics and science education can be the norm for all students rather than the exception? This session will focus on design and development work that is beginning to achieve this goal—work that is revealing new ways to think about science and mathematics learning and teaching environments and challenging educators to think in new ways about what all students can achieve. The session will focus particularly on new technologies that create high-quality learning and teaching environments for students from diverse communities by extending their social networks as well as providing new tools for exploring their natural world.

Richard Ingersoll

Sunday, March 15, 1:00–2:30 p.m.

The Mathematics and Science Teacher Shortage: Fact and Myth

Contemporary educational thought holds that one of the pivotal causes of inadequate school performance is the inability of schools to adequately staff classrooms with qualified teachers, especially in fields such as math and science. Shortages of teachers, it is commonly believed, are at the root of these staffing problems, and are, in turn, primarily due to recent increases in teacher retirements and student enrollments. This session will reexamine this view by analyzing nationally representative data on the demand, supply, and turnover of teachers, with particular focus on comparisons between math, science, and social studies teachers.

Yvette Jackson

Saturday, March 14, 8:00–9:30 a.m.

Transforming Urban Classrooms Through Strengths: Making Students Smart Again

What happens when every teacher starts teaching with the students' strength in mind? What effect can it have in eliminating persistent gaps in achievement? This session will engage you in learning how to systematically develop students' cognitive skills, reflective thinking, and high intellectual performance using the framework of culture, language, and cognition. Find out how to reverse underachievement and transform your learning and teaching to make students smart again.

Joseph Murphy

Saturday, March 14, 12:30–2:00 p.m.

Cawelti Leadership Lecture

Leadership Lessons for Closing the Achievement Gap

This presentation will focus on the nature of the achievement gap as well as misunderstandings about gap problems. The presenter will examine the causes of the gap and explore strategies that policymakers and educators can use to help close the gap. The session will feature a strategic approach to addressing the gap problem.

Jay McTighe

Saturday, March 14, 3:30–5:00 p.m.

Schooling by Design

This session will provide an overview of the ASCD book Schooling by Design (2007), exploring the following essential questions: What is the mission of schooling and how should a school's mission guide its work? How should principles of learning influence educational practice? In what ways can "backward design" enhance school improvement planning? What are the 10 components of a robust curriculum and assessment system aimed at student understanding and transfer? How might we use a "photo album" of evidence (not simply a snapshot) to guide school and district improvement efforts? Participants will examine a variety of practical and proven processes, tools, and examples to assist administrators and teacher leaders in leading and sustaining a school or district action or improvement plan reflecting principles and strategies presented in the book.

Charlotte Danielson

Sunday, March 15, 8:00–9:30 a.m.

Twelve Years and Still Talking: Using the Framework for Professional Conversations

Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching (ASCD, 1996, 2007) is used around the world for a range of purposes: teacher preparation, recruitment and hiring, mentoring and induction, professional development, and performance appraisal. But what makes these activities productive and of value to teachers are the professional conversations that accompany them, grounded in self-assessment and reflection on teaching and linked to clear standards of practice. This session will explore the lessons learned since the book's original publication.

Pablo Muñoz

Sunday, March 15, 12:30–2:00 p.m.

Achieve Excellence: Create a High-Performing School System Through Inspiration and Transformation

Imagine having the ability to inspire and transform your professional learning community into one of high performance that achieves excellence and realizes dreams. This session will show you how applying three L's (love, laser-like focus on teaching and learning, and leadership) can mobilize your school system to meet its priorities, attain its mission, and realize its vision.

Douglas Simpson

Sunday, March 15, 3:00–4:30 p.m.

John Dewey Society Memorial Lecture

John Dewey's Vision of Progressive, Laboratorial, and Utopian Schools

The question of what kinds of schools we should nurture has led to an ongoing debate, one that often creates an imbalance among democratic and educational values and an inequity among economic and racial groups. This session will examine three kinds of schools that Dewey commended, in an effort to convey a clearer vision of where the struggle may lead us, especially if it becomes informed by democratic deliberations and values. The presenter will analyze schools and their degrees of desirability for the 21st century, giving attention to Dewey's arguments for schools that promote both scientific inquiry and aesthetic experience.

Judy Willis and Goldie Hawn

Sunday, March 15, 3:00–4:30 p.m.

Positive Influences on the Emotional Components of Learning

This session will describe the benefits of learning "mindfulness" in the classroom, including such techniques as quieting the mind and focusing awareness. The presenters will offer recent feedback from classrooms using the Hawn Foundation's Mindfulness Education program; provide updates on the neuroscience of emotion and learning; and discuss the influence of stress, attentive focus, and personal goal development on memory and higher cognitive functions. The session will also include the neurological basis of strategies to lower stress and increase focus and emotional self-management.

Douglas Reeves

Monday, March 16, 8:00–9:30 a.m.

Change Leadership in Action: How Leaders at Every Level Can Improve Student Results

New international studies—including more than 2,000 schools and 1.5 million students—provide a conclusive case that leadership decisions have an extraordinary effect on student achievement. This session will address the following challenging issues for leaders: how to get buy-in from stakeholders, how to overcome resistance, what to do when people won't change, and what is worth fighting for. With hard-hitting evidence, compelling examples, and insightful analysis, the presenter will help leaders at every level have the maximum impact on student achievement.

Cheryl Lemke

Monday, March 16, 12:30–2:00 p.m.

21st Century Learning: The Differentiators

Today's adolescents are experiencing a coming of age that is wired, highly social, and extremely interactive. To thrive in the 21st century, these students must learn to use these digital innovations to become highly skilled, collaborative, global thinkers and effective problem solvers and communicators. This session will take a look at how 21st century schools use research, digital innovations, and systems thinking to advance literacy, scientific thinking, critical thinking, self-direction, global awareness, and cultural literacy—adding relevancy and authenticity to academic learning.