Session Descriptions
All 2010 Fall Conference on Teaching & Learning—Closing the Learning Gap, Once and For All sessions are ticketed (with the exception of Networking Breakfasts, General Sessions, and Debriefing Sessions), and only participants with the correct tickets will be admitted. Sessions fill up quickly, so preregister to reserve your spot today!
Conference Sessions for Friday, October 29
Friday Morning Networking Breakfast and Discussions, 7:30–8:15 a.m.
What Data Do We Use and How Do We Use Them?
Thomas Hoerr, New City School, St. Louis, Mo.
Explore valid measures of student achievement, other than standardized tests, and how to use these measures to support student learning and teacher evaluation.
Opening General Session, 8:15–9:30 a.m.
A Bolder Approach to Reform: Understanding and Responding to the Achievement Gap
Pedro A. Noguera, Ph.D. Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education, New York University, N.Y.
A renowned education thought leader explains why raising test scores isn’t enough. Learn why disparities in student achievement are typically caused by inequalities in opportunities, inside and outside of school, and access to resources. Explore the need for a more holistic approach to educating children that creates conditions that promote child development and raise achievement.
Morning Sessions, 10:00 a.m.–12:00 noon
NEW, REVISED SESSION!
1101T Fair and Meaningful Grades for Exceptional Learners
Thomas Guskey and Lee Ann Jung, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky.
Participants will learn about a five-step model for grading and reporting achievement of struggling students, including students with disabilities, English language learners, and those receiving intensive intervention in an RTI model.
Repeated Session: 1201T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
1102T The Power of Using Data to Improve Student Achievement and Learning
Mary McDonough, Educational Consultant, Centerville, Mass.
Because the power of data for student learning rests on just a few key factors, attend this session to learn effective practices for using data, reflect your current practices, and consider next steps for using data for student achievement and learning.
Repeated Session: 1202T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
1103T Rigor and Excellence: Building Relationships That Promote High Expectations in Every Classroom
Tom Roy, Educational Consultant, Plymouth, Wis.
Attend this session to explore the research that links positive student-teacher relationships to high achievement. Discover strategies for establishing and maintaining positive student-teaching relationships and practical ways to raise expectancy levels for all students.
Repeated Session: 1203T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
1104T An Informal Conversation with Pedro Noguera
Pedro A. Noguera, Ph.D., Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education, New York University, N.Y.
Join our opening keynote speaker Pedro Noguera as he continues the conversation as to why raising test scores isn’t enough and why a more holistic approach to educating children is needed.
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
1105T Strategies to Deal with Second Order Change in Education: Moving Outside the Known and Familiar
Phyllis Pajardo, Fairfax County Public Schools, Va.
In this session participants will examine the educational research on change, review the difference between first- and second order changes, and discuss best practices and strategies related to dealing with and managing second-order change.
Repeated Session: 1205T
Level of Session: Beginner | Audience: Central Office Staff/School-based Administrators/Teacher Leaders | Focus: All
1106T Accountability and the Six Facets of Understanding: Promoting Student Transfer Through Authentic Assessment
Donnell Gregory, University of Dayton, Ohio
Come to this session to discover how using the Six Facets of Understanding in the classroom promotes deeper understanding of units and content. Learn strategies for using the Six Facets while fostering understanding through acquisition, meaning making, and transfer.
Repeated Session: 1206T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
1107T Standards-Based Grading and Assessment
Tim Westerberg, Educational Consultant, Dillon, Colo.
Explore research-based strategies for standards-based grading developed by Robert Marzano. Learn how this approach capitalizes on the power of formative assessment. Practice designing classroom assessments using a scale (rubric) that measures learning over time, encourages learning, and leads to grading that is consistent and fair.
Repeated Session: 1207T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
1108T Leading Data-Driven School Improvement Planning
Vera Blake, Educational Consultant, Dumfries, Va.
Data-driven decision making can give your school the power to know about student achievement and the instructional practices that promote learning. Attend this session to learn about data- driven improvement planning and the leadership process that is key to implementing changes for growth and improvements.
Repeated Session: 1208T
Level of Session: Secondary | Audience: School-based Administrators/Teacher Leaders/Teachers | Focus: Beginner/Experienced
1109T Accountability and School Leadership: Promising Programs and Practices
Thomas Hoerr, New City School, St. Louis, Mo.
What are the skills that school leaders most need? What do you need in your leadership tool chest in order to support or lead staff in your efforts to close the learning gap? Come to this session to answer these questions and share and glean leadership strategies that work.
Repeated Session: 1209T
Level of Session: All | Audience: School-based Administrators | Focus: All
1110T Never Work Harder Than Your Students
Robyn R. Jackson, Educational Consultant, Washington, D.C.
Do you feel like you are dragging your students through the curriculum? Do you wish that they took more ownership over their own learning? Attend this session to learn how to differentiate between your work and their work and how to support your students so that they can do the work of learning for themselves.
Repeated Session: 1210T
Level of Session: Secondary | Audience: All | Focus: All
1111T Equity and Excellence: Preparing All Students for Success in the 21st Century
Edwin Javius, Educational Consultant, Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Learn how to incorporate culturally conscious strategies into your daily classroom practices. Explore planning and instructional techniques that maximize content access for English Language Learners and African American Learners. This session provides you with 12 instructional strategies and a lesson design template to support immediate use and implementation.
Repeated Session: 1211T
Level of Session: All | Audience: School-based Administrators/Teacher Leaders/Teachers | Focus: All
1112T Leadership for Creating and Sustaining High Performing Schools
Karen Dyer, Educational Consultant, Greensboro, N.C.
Explore sixteen characteristics that contribute to individual leadership success. Identify effective strategies for building and maintaining relationships. And examine ways to positively use power and position to influence others.
Repeated Session: 1212T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
1113T Build Consensus About What All Students Should Know, Understand, and Do
Ann Cunningham-Morris, ASCD, Alexandria, Va.
How do you build consensus on what students should know, understand, and do within your district or school after state or national standards adoption? Attend this session to focus on both the processes of developing consensus around standards and on unpacking standards as related to classroom curriculum and instruction.
CANCELED —Repeated Session: 1213T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: Beginner/Experienced
1114T The Strategic Teacher
Harvey Silver, Educational Consultant, Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J.
Drawing from the ASCD best-selling book The Strategic Teacher, a renowned consultant provides you with a repertoire of reliable and flexible strategies you can use to meet today’s standards and reach all the different learners in their classrooms. Find out how Strategic Dashboards can improve your instructional decision making and help you pick the best strategy for any lesson.
Repeated Session: 1214T
Level of Session: All | Audience: School-based Administrators/Teacher Leaders/Teachers | Focus: All
CANCELED - 1115T Curriculum, Collaboration, and Connections
Lucy Beckham, Wando High School, Mount Pleasant, S.C.
The 2010 MetLife/NASSP National High School Principal of the Year shares lessons in leadership of a high-performing high school which meets the needs of its 3,300 students by incorporating smaller learning communities, challenging curriculum, career majors, and individual graduation plans.
Repeated Session: 1215T
Level of Session: Secondary | Audience: All | Focus: All
1116T Voices of the Children Left Behind
Molly McCloskey, ASCD, Alexandria, Va.
Join this presenter as she shares the individual stories of students who have left Alabama schools and their reasons for leaving. What emerges from their stories are obstacles to our education system, not unique to Alabama, which can be resolved through innovative educators who have the passion to create learning environments where all student voices are heard and valued.
Repeated Session: 1216T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
1117T Action Research That Closes the Achievement Gap
Patricia Reynolds, Intermediate School 73, New York, N.Y.
This session provides strategies for engaging teachers in action research that supports student learning and closes the achievement gap. Learn how to promote research in the classroom that leads to developing data-based practices that can increase the achievement of all students.
Repeated Session: 1217T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
Afternoon Sessions, 1:30–3:30 p.m.
NEW, REVISED SESSION!
1201T Fair and Meaningful Grades for Exceptional Learners
Thomas Guskey and Lee Ann Jung, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky.
Participants will learn about a five-step model for grading and reporting achievement of struggling students, including students with disabilities, English language learners, and those receiving intensive intervention in an RTI model.
Repeated Session: 1101T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
1202T The Power of Using Data to Improve Student Achievement and Learning
Mary McDonough, Educational Consultant, Centerville, Mass.
Because the power of data for student learning rests on just a few key factors, attend this session to learn effective practices for using data, reflect your current practices, and consider next steps for using data for student achievement and learning.
Repeated Session: 1102T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
1203T Rigor and Excellence: Building Relationships That Promote High Expectations in Every Classroom
Tom Roy, Educational Consultant, Plymouth, Wis.
Attend this session to explore the research that links positive student-teacher relationships to high achievement. Discover strategies for establishing and maintaining positive student-teaching relationships and practical ways to raise expectancy levels for all students.
Repeated Session: 1103T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
1204T Capacity Building Professional Development and Closing the Achievement Gap: What’s the Connection?
Ann Cunningham-Morris, ASCD, Alexandria, Va.
What capacity building professional development models should you have in place to ensure that professional learning translates to the classroom? Join the presenter in examining the various models for capacity building professional development and the different levels of evaluation that should be included in your professional development plan.
Level of Session: All | Audience: School-based Administrators/Teacher Leaders | Focus: All
1205T Strategies to Deal with Second Order Change in Education: Moving Outside the Known and Familiar
Phyllis Pajardo, Fairfax County Public Schools, Va.
In this session participants will examine the educational research on change, review the difference between first- and second order changes, and discuss best practices and strategies related to dealing with and managing second-order change.
Repeated Session: 1105T
Level of Session: Beginner | Audience: Central Office Staff/School-based Administrators/Teacher Leaders | Focus: All
1106T Accountability and the Six Facets of Understanding: Promoting Student Transfer Through Authentic Assessment
Donnell Gregory, University of Dayton, Ohio
Come to this session to discover how using the Six Facets of Understanding in the classroom promotes deeper understanding of units and content. Learn strategies for using the Six Facets while fostering understanding through acquisition, meaning making, and transfer.
Repeated Session: 1206T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
1207T Standards-Based Grading and Assessment
Tim Westerberg, Educational Consultant, Dillon, Colo.
Explore research-based strategies for standards-based grading developed by Robert Marzano. Learn how this approach capitalizes on the power of formative assessment. Practice designing classroom assessments using a scale (rubric) that measures learning over time, encourages learning, and leads to grading that is consistent and fair.
Repeated Session: 1107T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
1108T Leading Data-Driven School Improvement Planning
Vera Blake, Educational Consultant, Dumfries, Va.
Data-driven decision making can give your school the power to know about student achievement and the instructional practices that promote learning. Attend this session to learn about data- driven improvement planning and the leadership process that is key to implementing changes for growth and improvements.
Repeated Session: 1208T
Level of Session: Secondary | Audience: School-based Administrators/Teacher Leaders/Teachers | Focus: Beginner/Experienced
1209T Accountability and School Leadership: Promising Programs and Practices
Thomas Hoerr, New City School, St. Louis, Mo.
What are the skills that school leaders most need? What do you need in your leadership tool chest in order to support or lead staff in your efforts to close the learning gap? Come to this session to answer these questions and share and glean leadership strategies that work.
Repeated Session: 1109T
Level of Session: All | Audience: School-based Administrators | Focus: All
1210T Never Work Harder Than Your Students
Robyn R. Jackson, Educational Consultant, Washington, D.C.
Do you feel like you are dragging your students through the curriculum? Do you wish that they took more ownership over their own learning? Attend this session to learn how to differentiate between your work and their work and how to support your students so that they can do the work of learning for themselves.
Repeated Session: 1110T
Level of Session: Secondary | Audience: All | Focus: All
1211T Equity and Excellence: Preparing All Students for Success in the 21st Century
Edwin Javius, Educational Consultant, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.
Learn how to incorporate culturally conscious strategies into your daily classroom practices. Explore planning and instructional techniques that maximize content access for English Language Learners and African American Learners. This session provides you with 12 instructional strategies and a lesson design template to support immediate use and implementation.
Repeated Session: 1111T
Level of Session: All | Audience: School-based Administrators/Teacher Leaders/Teachers | Focus: All
1212T Leadership for Creating and Sustaining High Performing Schools
Karen Dyer, Educational Consultant, Greensboro, N..C
Explore sixteen characteristics that contribute to individual leadership success. Identify effective strategies for building and maintaining relationships. And examine ways to positively use power and position to influence others.
Repeated Session: 1112T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
CANCELED - 1213T Build Consensus About What All Students Should Know, Understand, and Do
Janie Ray Smith, Educational Consultant, Alexandria, Va.
1214T The Strategic Teacher
Harvey Silver, Educational Consultant, Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J.
Drawing from the ASCD best-selling book The Strategic Teacher, a renowned consultant provides you with a repertoire of reliable and flexible strategies you can use to meet today’s standards and reach all the different learners in their classrooms. Find out how Strategic Dashboards can improve your instructional decision making and help you pick the best strategy for any lesson.
Repeated Session: 1114T
Level of Session: All | Audience: School-based Administrators/Teacher Leaders/Teachers | Focus: All
CANCELED -1215T Curriculum, Collaboration, and Connections
Lucy Beckham, Wando High School, Mount Pleasant, S.C.
The 2010 MetLife/NASSP National High School Principal of the Year shares lessons in leadership of a high-performing high school which meets the needs of its 3,300 students by incorporating smaller learning communities, challenging curriculum, career majors, and individual graduation plans.
Repeated Session: 1115T
Level of Session: Secondary | Audience: All | Focus: All
1216T Voices of the Children Left Behind
Molly McCloskey, ASCD, Alexandria, Va.
Join this presenter as she shares the individual stories of students who have left Alabama schools and their reasons for leaving. What emerges from their stories are obstacles to our education system, not unique to Alabama, which can be resolved through innovative educators who have the passion to create learning environments where all student voices are heard and valued.
Repeated Session: 1116T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
1217T Action Research That Closes the Achievement Gap
Patricia Reynolds, Intermediate School 73, New York, N.Y.
This session provides strategies for engaging teachers in action research that supports student learning and closes the achievement gap. Learn how to promote research in the classroom that leads to developing data-based practices that can increase the achievement of all students.
Repeated Session: 1117T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
Friday Debriefing & Reflection Session, 3:45–4:30 p.m.
Mary McDonough, Educational Consultant, Centerville, Mass.
If you've ever had difficulties remembering what you learned at a meeting and how you were planning to use it, then our Debriefing and Reflection Sessions are the perfect solution. Each Debriefing and Reflection Session is facilitated by experienced consultants who are experts on learning transfer into the job world.
No advance reservation required.
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Conference Sessions for Saturday, October 30
Saturday Morning Networking Breakfast and Discussions, 7:30–8:15 a.m.
Overcoming Roadblocks to Data Use
Jennifer Morrison, Educational Consultant, White Rock, S.C.
Discuss the roadblocks to effective data use in schools, including educator anxiety, distrust of current measures, lack of data literacy, and political and cultural pressures.
Morning Breakout Sessions, 8:30–11:30 a.m.
2101T Observing in a Differentiated Classroom to Support Teacher and Student Success
Marcia Imbeau, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Ark.
What do you look for in a differentiated classroom? What behaviors and actions are common in classrooms where differentiation is common practice? Through narrative and video examples, this session answers these and other questions about how the principles of differentiation are being implemented in a classroom.
Repeated Session: 2201T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
2102T The Many Meanings of Multiple Measures
Sue Brookhart, Educational Consultant, Helena, Mont.
Multiple measures has become a key determinant in evaluating student learning and teacher performance. Attend this session to fully understand multiple measures, how they can be used in all kinds of contexts, and how to use multiple measures in your decision making.
Repeated Session: 2202T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
2103T Response to Intervention (RTI): Making it More Than an Acronym
Pat Addison, Educational Consultant, Fairfax, Va.
What is response to intervention (RTI) and why has it become such an important topic? Explore answers to these questions and others during this interactive session highlighting strategies for providing a comprehensive intervention system that addresses the needs of all students.
Repeated Session: 2203T
Level of Session: All | Audience: Elementary/Middle/Secondary | Focus: All
2104T ESL WISE! Closing the Achievement Gap for English Learners
Virginia Rojas, Educational Consultant, Brunswick, N.J.
A leading authority on teaching English language learners explains why and how to shift the paradigm of ESL practices away from a remedial model, in which English learners are seen as a problem which needs to be fixed, to a model focused on building their academic competence through intellectually challenging, grade-level curriculum, and shared ownership of students.
Repeated Session: 2204T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
2105T Data Literacy
Jennifer Morrison, Educational Consultant, White Rock, S.C.
At your school and in your district, do teachers use data or do data use them? Discover how data literacy gives teachers a way to inform and improve practice and gives schools a way to develop deep, sustained change and educational improvement. This session reviews current uses of school and classroom data and helps you understand and apply the principles of data literacy to your own goals and needs.
Repeated Session: 2205T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
CANCELLED - 2106T The Next Generation of Testing
Bill Tucker, Educational Consultant, Washington, D.C.
2107T Developing and Designing Your Professional Development Tool Box
Karen Dyer, Educational Consultant, Greensboro, N.C.
Instead of relying on a one-size-fits-all model to professional development, learn how a differentiated approach can result in teachers and leaders attaining the repertoire of knowledge, skills, and perspectives they need to bring about improved student success. Discover ideas, strategies, and tools that support powerful professional learning.
Repeated Session: 2207T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
2108T Feed-Up, Feedback, and Feed-Forward
Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey, San Diego State University, Calif.
There’s more information about individual students at teachers’ fingertips than could be imagined a decade ago. But what should school systems do with it? Attend this session to learn how to create a system of data collection, analysis, and impact that result in higher levels of student achievement.
Repeated Session: 2208T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
2109T The 21st Century Instructional and Teacher Leader
Bobb Darnell, Educational Consultant, Lake Zurich, Ill.
Discover the knowledge and skills 21st century leaders need to create manageable, research-based processes and learning environments that will increase student achievement, prepare students with 21st century skills and knowledge, and increase teacher effectiveness and satisfaction.
Repeated Session: 2209T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: Middle/Secondary
2110T The Whole Child in a Small School System: Lessons Learned
Deborah Wortham, Educational Consultant, Harrisburg, Pa.
Implementing the Whole Child Initiative can transform or maintain a school district’s excellence. This session presents lessons learned and successes in implementing the Whole Child Initiative in a small school system.
Repeated Session: 2210T
Level of Session: All | Audience: Superintendents/Central Office Staff/School-based Administrators | Focus: Elementary/Middle/Secondary
2111T What If Faculty Meetings Were Voluntary?
Thomas Hoerr, New City School, St. Louis, Mo.
Who would attend if your school’s faculty meetings were voluntary? Would you go to them? An experienced school leader explains how thinking about faculty meetings as voluntary activities can change what happens at these meetings and support teacher growth and self-actualization which lead to increased student achievement.
Repeated Session: 2211T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
2112T Instructional Rounds and Walkthroughs: What Data Are You Collecting, What Do You Do With It?
Deborah Childs-Bowen, Samford University, Birmingham, Ala.
What are walkthroughs and instructional rounds? Who does them, how are they done, and what difference do they make? This session answers these questions and provides exemplars of practice related to Robert Marzano’s framework for Supervision of the Art and Science of Teaching.
Repeated Session: 2212T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: Beginner
2113T Principal as Learner and Collaborator: A Different Perspective
Phyllis Pajardo, Fairfax County Public Schools, Va.
Attend this session to hear how a cluster of principals within a large, suburban school district collaborated in K–12 teams, set goals, and focused on results, while planning and facilitating their own professional development.
Repeated Session: 2213T
Level of Session: Experienced | Audience: Superintendents/Central Office Staff/School-based Administrators | Focus: All
2114T Unpacking State Standards to Create Effective Transfer Tasks
Grant Wiggins, ASCD Author and Educational Consultant, Hopewell, N.J.
Just like building codes in home building, state standards must be met but they are not the purpose. And while state tests audit performance, local assessments have to measure key goals. Attend this session to hear an acknowledged authority explain how to unpack standards and build high-quality, standards-based assessments that achieve the goal of transfer.
Repeated Session: 2214T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
2115T Motivating Black Males to Achieve in School and in Life
Baruti Kafele, Newark Tech High School, Jersey City, N.J.
The author of ASCD’s best-selling book Motivating Black Males to Achieve in School and in Life analyzes the challenges that African American males pose for educators at all levels and relates specific strategies that you can use immediately to effectively meet the classroom needs of these learners and increase their level of achievement.
Repeated Session: 2215T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
2116T Designing Discipline-Based Performance Tasks to Improve Coherence and Meaning of Curriculum
Allison Zmuda, Educational Consultant, Virginia Beach, Va.
Performance tasks provide students with rich opportunities to engage in rigorous, real-world tasks that measure transfer of learning. Instead of designing these tasks one unit at a time, this session reveals how to do it one subject area at a time by making performance tasks the foundation of each subject area.
Repeated Session: 2216T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
2117T Poverty and Underachievement: How Schools/Districts Lead Students to Success
William Parrett and Kathleen Budge, Boise State University, Idaho
Examine recent research on high-performing, high-poverty schools. Learn how these schools-urban, suburban, and rural-create safe, supportive, and healthy learning environments built on caring relationships, high expectations, and a commitment to action.
Repeated Session: 2217T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
2118T Leading Professional Development That Makes a Difference
Thomas Guskey, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky.
How do you determine if professional development affects the practices of teachers and, ultimately, the performance of students? Through a variety of learning activities, this session explores the leadership, design, and implementation factors that contribute to effective professional learning. Plus, learn how to gather quantitative and qualitative evidence on effects and present that evidence in convincing ways.
Repeated Session: 2218T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
Afternoon Breakout Sessions, 1:30–3:30 p.m.
2201T Observing in a Differentiated Classroom to Support Teacher and Student Success
Marcia Imbeau, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Ark.
What do you look for in a differentiated classroom? What behaviors and actions are common in classrooms where differentiation is common practice? Through narrative and video examples, this session answers these and other questions about how the principles of differentiation are being implemented in a classroom.
Repeated Session: 2101T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
2202T The Many Meanings of Multiple Measures
Sue Brookhart, Educational Consultant, Helena, Mont.
Multiple measures has become a key determinant in evaluating student learning and teacher performance. Attend this session to fully understand multiple measures, how they can be used in all kinds of contexts, and how to use multiple measures in your decision making.
Repeated Session: 2102T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
2203T Response to Intervention (RTI): Making it More Than an Acronym
Pat Addison, Educational Consultant, Fairfax, Va.
What is response to intervention (RTI) and why has it become such an important topic? Explore answers to these questions and others during this interactive session highlighting strategies for providing a comprehensive intervention system that addresses the needs of all students.
Repeated Session: 2103T
Level of Session: All | Audience: Elementary/Middle/Secondary | Focus: All
2204T ESL WISE! Closing the Achievement Gap for English Learners
Virginia Rojas, Educational Consultant, Brunswick, N.J.
A leading authority on teaching English language learners explains why and how to shift the paradigm of ESL practices away from a remedial model, in which English learners are seen as a problem which needs to be fixed, to a model focused on building their academic competence through intellectually challenging, grade-level curriculum, and shared ownership of students.
Repeated Session: 2104T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
2205T Data Literacy
Jennifer Morrison, Educational Consultant, White Rock, S.C.
At your school and in your district, do teachers use data or do data use them? Discover how data literacy gives teachers a way to inform and improve practice and gives schools a way to develop deep, sustained change and educational improvement. This session reviews current uses of school and classroom data and helps you understand and apply the principles of data literacy to your own goals and needs.
Repeated Session: 2105T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
CANCELLED - 2206T The Next Generation of Testing
Bill Tucker, Educational Consultant, Washington, D.C.
2207T Developing and Designing Your Professional Development Tool Box
Karen Dyer, Educational Consultant, Greensboro, N.C.
Instead of relying on a one-size-fits-all model to professional development, learn how a differentiated approach can result in teachers and leaders attaining the repertoire of knowledge, skills, and perspectives they need to bring about improved student success. Discover ideas, strategies, and tools that support powerful professional learning.
Repeated Session: 2107T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
2208T Feed-Up, Feedback, and Feed-Forward
Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey, San Diego State University, Calif.
There’s more information about individual students at teachers’ fingertips than could be imagined a decade ago. But what should school systems do with it? Attend this session to learn how to create a system of data collection, analysis, and impact that result in higher levels of student achievement.
Repeated Session: 2108T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
2209T The 21st Century Instructional and Teacher Leader
Bobb Darnell, Educational Consultant, Lake Zurich, Ill.
Discover the knowledge and skills 21st century leaders need to create manageable, research-based processes and learning environments that will increase student achievement, prepare students with 21st century skills and knowledge, and increase teacher effectiveness and satisfaction.
Repeated Session: 2109T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: Middle/Secondary
2210T The Whole Child in a Small School System: Lessons Learned
Deborah Wortham, Educational Consultant, Harrisburg, Pa.
Implementing the Whole Child Initiative can transform or maintain a school district’s excellence. This session presents lessons learned and successes in implementing the Whole Child Initiative in a small school system.
Repeated Session: 2110T
Level of Session: All | Audience: Superintendents/Central Office Staff/School-based Administrators | Focus: Elementary/Middle/Secondary
2211T What If Faculty Meetings Were Voluntary?
Thomas Hoerr, New City School, St. Louis, Mo.
Who would attend if your school’s faculty meetings were voluntary? Would you go to them? An experienced school leader explains how thinking about faculty meetings as voluntary activities can change what happens at these meetings and support teacher growth and self-actualization which lead to increased student achievement.
Repeated Session: 2111T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
2212T Instructional Rounds and Walkthroughs: What Data Are You Collecting, What Do You Do With It?
Deborah Childs-Bowen, Samford University, Birmingham, Ala.
What are walkthroughs and instructional rounds? Who does them, how are they done, and what difference do they make? This session answers these questions and provides exemplars of practice related to Robert Marzano’s framework for Supervision of the Art and Science of Teaching.
Repeated Session: 2112T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: Beginner
2213T Principal as Learner and Collaborator: A Different Perspective
Phyllis Pajardo, Fairfax County Public Schools, Va.
Attend this session to hear how a cluster of principals within a large, suburban school district collaborated in K–12 teams, set goals, and focused on results, while planning and facilitating their own professional development.
Repeated Session: 2113T
Level of Session: Experienced | Audience: Superintendents/Central Office Staff/School-based Administrators | Focus: All
2214T Unpacking State Standards to Create Effective Transfer Tasks
Grant Wiggins, ASCD Author and Educational Consultant, Hopewell, N.J.
Just like building codes in home building, state standards must be met but they are not the purpose. And while state tests audit performance, local assessments have to measure key goals. Attend this session to hear an acknowledged authority explain how to unpack standards and build high-quality, standards-based assessments that achieve the goal of transfer.
Repeated Session: 2114T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
2215T Motivating Black Males to Achieve in School and in Life
Baruti Kafele, Newark Tech High School, Jersey City, N.J.
The author of ASCD's best-selling book Motivating Black Males to Achieve in School and in Life analyzes the challenges that African American males pose for educators at all levels and relates specific strategies that you can use immediately to effectively meet the classroom needs of these learners and increase their level of achievement.
Repeated Session: 2115T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
2216T Designing Discipline-Based Performance Tasks to Improve Coherence and Meaning of Curriculum
Allison Zmuda, Educational Consultant, Virginia Beach, Va.
Performance tasks provide students with rich opportunities to engage in rigorous, real-world tasks that measure transfer of learning. Instead of designing these tasks one unit at a time, this session reveals how to do it one subject area at a time by making performance tasks the foundation of each subject area.
Repeated Session: 2116T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
2217T Poverty and Underachievement: How Schools/Districts Lead Students to Success
William Parrett and Kathleen Budge, Boise State University, Idaho
Examine recent research on high-performing, high-poverty schools. Learn how these schools-urban, suburban, and rural-create safe, supportive, and healthy learning environments built on caring relationships, high expectations, and a commitment to action.
Repeated Session: 2117T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
2218T Leading Professional Development That Makes a Difference
Thomas Guskey, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky.
How do you determine if professional development affects the practices of teachers and, ultimately, the performance of students? Through a variety of learning activities, this session explores the leadership, design, and implementation factors that contribute to effective professional learning. Plus, learn how to gather quantitative and qualitative evidence on effects and present that evidence in convincing ways.
Repeated Session: 2118T
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
Saturday Debriefing & Reflection Session, 4:15–5:00 p.m.
Phyllis Pajardo, Fairfax County Public Schools, Va.
If you've ever had difficulties remembering what you learned at a meeting and how you were planning to use it, then our Debriefing and Reflection Sessions are the perfect solution. Each Debriefing and Reflection Session is facilitated by experienced consultants who are experts on learning transfer into the job world. No advance reservation required.
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Conference Sessions for Sunday, October 31
Morning Breakout Sessions, 8:30–10:30 a.m.
3101T The Power of Data Teams
Jennifer Morrison, Educational Consultant, White Rock, S.C.
Data teams are the cornerstone of a high-performing data culture. Find out how to use data teams to identify problem areas, implement action plans, develop shared leadership, and involve faculty and others in collaborations that lead to deep professional growth and shifts in school culture.
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
3102T What Do Good Schools Do When Kids Fail?
Bobb Darnell, Educational Consultant, Lake Zurich, Ill.
Discover how to bring energy, passion, and positive attitude back to students who fail and to their teachers. A prominent consultant explains how to identify contributing factors related to failure, how to plan, design, and implement a failure reduction program, and how to use research-supported best practices for addressing struggling, defiant, and disinterested learners.
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: Middle/Secondary
3103T Assessing Teacher Quality: Building a Teacher Evaluation System From the Ground Up
James Stronge, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va.
Based on the best-selling ASCD book Qualities of Effective Teachers, this session gives you what you need to design and implement a research-based performance evaluation system for teachers that respond to the evaluation focus in the U.S. Department of Education’s Race to the Top.
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
3104T Facilitating Effective Data-Gathering in Professional Learning Communities
Lois Easton, Educational Consultant, Boulder, Colo.
Make data collection and analysis essential functions of your professional learning community (PLC) by following the advice and strategies from this session. Learn how to use activities-such as protocol, lesson study, and classroom learning walks-to collect data and focus your PLC on success for all students.
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: Beginner
3105T Response to Intervention: What Every Leader Needs to Know
Margaret Searle, Educational Consultant, Perrysburg, Ohio
Discover how to use Response to Intervention (RTI) to address the achievement gap by systematically refining your assessment system and building a full spectrum of interventions. This session provides practical strategies for successfully implementing a comprehensive RTI system that helps teachers design a database of specific research-based interventions.
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
3106T Out of the Box and Into the King-dom: A Look at Educating the Whole Child Through Relationships, Relevance, and Rigor
Craig King, Whittaker Elementary School, Orangeburg, S.C.
Attend this interactive session to learn about The King-dom, a learning community that addresses achievement gaps by building relationships, creating relevance to standards, and providing rigor for all students. This approach involves you in assessment design, rubric creation, and multimedia resources.
Level of Session: All | Audience: School-based Administrators/Teachers/Teacher Leaders | Focus: Elementary
3107T The Leaders’ Role in Implementing Professional Learning Communities
Deborah Wortham, Educational Consultant, Harrisburg, Pa.
What role does leadership play in helping a school become an effective learning organization? Which leadership behaviors serve as the framework for improved student achievement? Attend this session to answer those questions and explore research- and practitioner-based strategies for leaders of elementary, middle, or high schools.
Level of Session: All | Audience: Superintendents/Central Office Staff/School-based Administrators | Focus: Elementary/Middle/Secondary
3108T Better Learning Through Structured Teaching
Doug Fisher, San Diego State University, Calif.
Based on his best-seller ASCD book, Better Learning Through Structured Teaching, author Doug Fisher introduces you to the Gradual Release of Responsibility and explains how this instructional framework ensures student success by establishing purpose, modeling thinking, guiding instruction, creating productive group work, and using independent learning tasks.
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
3109T Effective Instructional Leadership for Closing the Achievement Gap Within Your School and School District
Baruti Kafele, Newark Tech High School, Jersey City, N.J.
This empowering session for building-level and central office administrators introduces you to strategies for turning low-performing schools into schools where all students can excel. Discover leadership strategies that move schools toward closing achievement gaps and build productive collegial relationships between administrators and teachers.
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
3110T Using Learner Profile Data to Inform Instruction
Marcia Imbeau, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Ark.
Addressing students’ learning profile is one of the traits that teachers consider in meeting the needs of their students in a differentiated classroom. Several practical examples for assessing learner profile and then using that data to design instruction will be the focus of this session. Examples of lessons will be examined for different grade levels and for different content areas with tips on how teachers might design learner profile lessons for use in their classrooms.
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
3111T Reconceiving the Gap: Focusing on the Whole Child
Stephanie Nixon and Debra Ward, Thomas Carr Howe Community High School, Indianapolis, Ind.
Relive one school’s journey towards reconceiving the achievement gap. Using ASCD’s Healthy School Report Card to guide systemic, data-driven changes, learn how focusing on the whole child through the development of a Healthy School Community fosters sustainable change.
Level of Session: Beginner | Audience: Superintendents/School-based Administrators/Teacher Leaders | Focus: Secondary
3112T Closing the Achievement and Opportunity Gap Using Differentiated Instruction at the Secondary Level: One District’s Bold Steps
Laurence Binder and Glenda Horner, Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District, Houston, Tex.
Get an up close and personal look at how a large district supports teachers and administrators in learning and implementing differentiated instruction practices aimed at closing the opportunity gap. Explore an instructional framework, policies, leadership practices, and evidence that determine whether differentiated instruction is being implemented.
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: Secondary
3113T Graduation Pathways
Paige Ponder, Chicago Public Schools, Ill.
Find out how Chicago Public Schools use Quarterly Learning Targets to describe what students should know and be able to do during each quarter, in English/language arts, mathematics, science, and social science, grades K–12. Learn how using these targets enables teachers to make the right choices regarding instructional tasks that will help students achieve the overall learning expectations for the year.
Level of Session: All | Audience: All | Focus: All
Closing General Session, 11:00 a.m.–12 noon
A Broader Approach to Accountability
Richard Rothstein, Economic Policy Institute, Washington, D.C.
Although some learning gaps can be closed by better instruction and school practices, schools alone cannot be accountable for addressing all of problems. Attend this closing general session to discover how schools can work with other public institutions to improve children’s health, intellectual culture, and preparation for school.
No advance ticket required.
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