Chicago, Here We Come
ASCD will host its 61st Annual Conference and Exhibit Show at Lakeside Center at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois, April 1–3, 2006. The theme is “Constructing the Future, Challenging the Past: Excellence in Learning, Teaching, and Leadership.”
More than 13,000 educators are expected to attend the three-day event, which will feature more than 550 sessions presented by nationally known consultants and educators. General session speakers include physician and education expert Mel Levine, leadership coach Bonnie St. John, and historian and psychologist Neil Howe.
The Annual Conference will kick off at 5 p.m. on March 31, 2006, with Books & All That Jazz, a celebration sponsored by Pearson Education and the Fischler School of Education and Human Services at Nova Southeastern University to support literacy in Chicago Title I schools.
Announcing the Fall OYEA Finalists
A panel of diverse education professionals from ASCD has named Juan Castro of Maryland and Edward Wang of New York as fall finalists for the 2005 Outstanding Young Educator Award (OYEA). Castro is the chair of the art department at Towson High School in Towson, Maryland. Wang is the lead science teacher at the Thurgood Marshall Academy for Learning and Social Change in Harlem, New York. Castro and Wang will each receive a check for $1,000 and an ASCD Institutional Membership for their schools.
Castro and Wang join spring finalists Charles Coleman of British Columbia and Michael Powell of Maryland in vying for the 2005 Outstanding Young Educator Award. The winner will be announced at the 2006 ASCD Annual Conference and Exhibit Show in Chicago, Illinois.
ASCD Releases New Research
In a study conducted between 2004 and 2005, ASCD found that its Building Academic Vocabulary program enhances students' ability to read and understand subject-matter content and helps students build a store of academic background knowledge that raises their academic achievement. Robert J. Marzano, author of Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement, created the vocabulary program.
In both written and multiple-choice assessments, students who participated in the Building Academic Vocabulary program showed greater mean scores on the comprehension of new reading material than did control groups. The findings were particularly encouraging for two subgroups: English language learners, whose expected passing rates exceeded those of the control groups by an average of 16.5 percent, and students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, whose expected passing rates exceeded those of the control groups by an average of 8.9 percent. The study evaluated experimental and control groups that included 118 teachers and 2,683 students from 11 schools in five U.S. school districts. To view the full report, go to www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/Building%20Academic%20Vocabulary%20Report.pdf.
