Conference Sessions

Strands

Thursday, February 8

Preconference 1:00–4:30 PM

Friday, February 9

Session A 9:30–10:45 AM

Session AB 9:30 AM–12:15 PM

Session B 11:00 AM–12:15 PM

Session C 2:15–3:30 PM

Saturday, February 10

Session D 8:00–9:15 AM

Session DE 8:00–10:45 AM

Session E 9:30–10:45 AM

Session A

A1

Bridge Program
Chris Piercy, FOS Mentor Chair/Teacher; Sharon Schlegel, Principal, Serrano High School, Snowline Joint USD

If enrolling every graduate in a postsecondary program is your goal, this is the program for you. Learn how to collaborate with a local community college to make this goal a reality. This is a complete program that takes the student from lessons and activities to the actual enrollment process with applications, financial aid, and placement testing at the high school site. Participants in this workshop will receive a step-by-step plan for implementation.

Implementation Level 1 & 2
Strands: Collaboration, NEW!

AB2

Building an Advisory Program from the Ground Up
Dennis Clancy, Career Technical Education; Beth Winningham, College Counselor/Adjunct Professor CSU, Northridge Monroe High School, Los Angeles USD

Advisory programs allow students and teachers to develop meaningful relationships that facilitate effective teaching and learning. Participants will discover practical strategies to create an advisory program that offers academic, social, and developmental support for students. Learn how advisory can influence schoolwide literacy initiatives, foster college awareness, raise student achievement, and build a collaborative culture at your school. Presenters will demonstrate model lessons that participants can take back and use as advisory curriculum building blocks.

Implementation Level 1 & 2
Strands: Collaboration, NEW!

A3

Rebels with Applause: Brain-Compatible Approaches for Motivating Reluctant Learning
Rick Smith, Author, Trainer, Education Consultant, Conscious Teaching, LLC

What does the current understanding of the brain suggest about our ”rebel” students, who seem to have the hardest time paying attention and getting work done? This lively interactive session will provide K–12 teachers with dozens of practical ”brain-based“ strategies they can use to help get students of varying abilities and learning styles involved and motivated, and help them retain more.

Implementation Level 1 & 2
Strands: Support for Teaching and Learning

AB4

Framework for Instructional Coaching
David Holden, Instructional Coach, Consultant, Co-Founder, Mar Vista HS/American Alliance for Innovative Schools, Sweetwater Union HSD

This session is for teachers and administrators who want either to begin an instructional coaching program or to re-examine their current program. Attendees will learn the practical nuts and bolts regarding an effective instructional coaching program. Some topics to be discussed are:

The skills, knowledge, and personal qualities required to be an effective coach
Working with resistant teachers
Time management

Attendees will receive handouts and create plans to implement/redesign a coaching program.

Implementation Level 2 & 3
Strands: Support for Teaching and Learning, NEW!

AB5

Set-up for Success: 9th Grade Transition, Special Education Inclusion, and Interdisciplinary Teams
Jacqueline Daly Brown, Special Education Teacher; Patrice Zalesky, Assistant Principal, Papillion-La Vista South High School, Papillion-La Vista Public Schools

This session will provide the audience with a myriad of ideas to assist ninth grade students in becoming successful high school students. An intense pyramid of interventions will be provided to assist professionals in meeting the needs of individual students, including Special Education students. Participants will receive handouts that provide the groundwork for developing their own pyramid of interventions for their classroom, team, or school.

Implementation Level 1
Strands: Support for Teaching and Learning

A6

SLC Structures and Strategies
Brooke Harms, President, Strategic Technology & Research; Alan Blanchard, President, Blanchard Educational Services & Technologies

Come and understand the differences among the various SLC structures and strategies and what must be integrated in order to create an effective SLC. Learn how to create your school’s structural chart which you can share with colleagues, inviting discussion on the various structures and strategies available to the school. Audience for this session should be those schools that just received the grant and have not yet implemented structural changes, schools that are curious about SLC and what it constitutes, and finally, schools that need a refresher on structures/strategies and how they work.

Implementation Level 1
Strands: Support for Teaching and Learning, NEW!

AB7

Using PLCs to Build Collaboration and Personalization within SLCs—Are You Driving a 60s Model School Design?
Corine Sayler, Assistant Principal, Davis High School, Davis School District

This active and fast-moving presentation is intended for those interested in using the currently endorsed Professional Learning Communities to further collaborations and identity. The presentation uses the actual experiences involved in a large, very traditional high school’s restructuring into SLCs and the development of a schoolwide vision for personalization. Structures within the SLC that provide teacher leadership and ownership are given as examples. Activities include a PowerPoint presentation, examples of structures that can be put into place, and several activities designed to give participants a model they can take back to work with at their schools. References from current publications used in our restructuring are provided. The goal is to help all recognize their model of leadership or practices and the benefits of newer models.

Implementation Level 2 & 3
Strands: Support for Teaching and Learning

AB8

Redesign for Success!
Sherrie Quach, Catherine “CJ” Foss, Coordinators; Shelley Weston, Assistant Superintendent, Office of School Redesign, Los Angeles USD

Learn how high schools in Los Angeles are making tremendous changes to implement SLCs to better address the needs of high school students. Learn how facilities, instruction, and community partners work together with students, teachers, and administrators to create engaging and motivating learning environments. Hear from students about how these changes are making school relevant and meaningful for them. Learn how the central office can support high schools in becoming places where students are known and successfully engage in their learning and with community partners. Provides insight into the process of how high schools redesign themselves, considering students’ needs and parent input as they design learning communities to meet students’ desires to be better prepared to attend college and work in technically advanced fields.

Implementation Level 1 & 2
Strands: Functional Accountability, NEW!

AB9

Building a Community of Schools: Balancing Autonomy and Flexibility in SLCs
John Spiegel, Principal, Crawford IDEA High School; Chris Hurst, Principal, Crawford CHAMPS High School; Monique Robertson, Principal, Crawford Law & Business High School, San Diego USD

In an effort to build a community of schools, the principals of Crawford Educational Complex have organized a series of retreats involving staff from each school. In such retreats, a complex vision has been developed, goals have been identified, norms for collaboration have been established, and cultural/space agreements have been written. Other structural elements, including a Complex Council, Complex Staff Meetings, and a Parent/Community Engagement Committee, have been established to promote communication and shared decision-making of all staff, parents, and students. Participants of the session will have the opportunity to learn about these structures and documents. They will also be shown the struggles, challenges, and issues of having several SLCs in a complex and how those are being addressed in an ongoing way by school administration/teacher teams.

Implementation Level 1 & 2
Strands: Identity

AB10

Role of Structures in Student Achievement
Mike Neubig, Founder/Co-Founder, Capture Educational Consulting/American Alliance for Innovative Schools

This presentation focuses on creating school day structures that provide flexible blocks of time for personalized programs, while maintaining the positive elements of the existing school structures. The presentation will demonstrate a research-based scheduling system that is proven to enhance the school environment and improve student achievement, specifically at the all-important ninth grade level. We will see the positive effects of using pretests and short-cycle assessments for appropriate placement of students upon entering high school. This schedule provides flexible-extended blocks of time for teams of teachers to instruct heterogeneous, common groups of students, while also offering opportunities for students to transition fluently between courses. Essentially, teams of teachers are responsible for scheduling students within their own time block. Additionally, students have access to academic support throughout the whole day. Most importantly, the schedule allows for complete integration of LEP and Special Education Students into the learning communities. Participants will engage in active discussion about ways to empower teachers to create their own schedules and will be asked to design schedules that they believe may be useful in their own teaching settings.

Implementation Level 1 & 2
Strands: Identity, NEW!

A11

Current Status Inventory: Advisory
Robin Shrode, Owner/Founder/Co-Founder, Impact Educational Consulting/American Alliance for Innovative Schools; Elena Taylor, Counselor, Nimitz High School

This session will discuss the implementation of an advisory program, its successes and failures, as well as a powerful assessment process to ensure continuous improvement. Participants will learn about how one high school implemented an advisory program that is now in its sixth year, and the successes and challenges they experienced. The session will also demonstrate how the program was assessed to ensure student voice through student focus groups and facilitated student and teacher conversations. This process leads to suggestions for program adjustment and improved effectiveness. Protocols will be modeled during the session with attendee participation.

Implementation Level 1 & 2
Strands: Personalization, NEW!

AB12

40 Developmental Assets®
Kathy Estes, Coordinator, San Bernardino Safe & Drug Free Schools, San Bernardino Co. Superintendent of Schools, Joelle Hood, Assistant Principal, Mojave Continuation High School, Hesperia Unified School District

The 40 Developmental Assets® grow out of groundbreaking research on factors that are vital for helping youth succeed in life. The Search Institute demonstrates a powerful correlation between the forty assets and achievement, positive engagement in school and extracurricular activities, positive relationships with peers and adults, and social competence. At every turn the research supports that the more assets a student has in place the more likely they are to be successful. In a time when educators, policy makers, parents, and community members are struggling to address the pressing concerns of youth, the asset-building approach offers renewed hope and energy for a positive future.

Implementation Level 1, 2 & 3
Strands: Personalization

AB13

Creating Great Places to Learn
Clay Roberts, Search Institute Senior Trainer, Search Institute

In this session Clay will continue to focus on how to bring the relationship between staff and students back into schools. With this connection young people develop to their highest levels of academic achievement and performance.

Implementation Level 1, 2 & 3
Strands: Personalization, NEW!