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 D

DE1

Building SLCs at the Middle School through Vertical Teams
Charlene Hirotsu, Principal; Mark Jolley, Assistant Principal, T. S. King Middle School, Local District 4, LAUSD

Participants will learn how to build SLCs at the middle school level through vertical teams using seven characteristics of a SLC over four days of professional development. Procedures, templates, and protocols will be shared with and experienced by workshop participants. Throughout this Day 1 experience, participants will also build working agendas for Professional Development Days 2, 3, and 4.

Implementation Level Middle School
Strands: Collaboration, NEW!

DE2

So You Want to Start an SLC? Everything You Wanted to Know about Starting an SLC House or Academy
Georgette Phillips, SLC Coordinator; Terry Colvin, Principal; Tracy Marsh, Principal, Silverado High School, Victor Valley Union HSD

One school’s story about how SLCs were incorporated into the schoolwide plan. Video clips and PowerPoint® will be used to present SLC structures, including freshman houses, academies, Link Crew, and business advisory communities. Learn how SLCs encourage a college-going culture through project-based instruction and internships. Here are the nuts and bolts of starting your SLC. Quick-start handbook and handouts will be provided.

Implementation Level 1
Strands: Collaboration

D3

Building Student Strengths: Leveraging Cultural Literacy to Increase Academic Performance
Lucinda Kramer, Ph. D., Assistant Professor, National University

All students possess the knowledge and skills to participate competently in their specific cultural context. Often cultural literacy is addressed in education only in relation to how it might impede a student’s academic progress. The “other side” of cultural literacy is how it can be leveraged to increase a student’s ability to acquire new learning and participate more competently in the classroom. Specific instructional strategies for identifying and leveraging a student’s cultural literacy will be shared.

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

DE4

Changing Attitudes, Changing Lives: Motivating Students for Higher Academic Achievement
Mindy Bingham, Author, Academic Innovations

Making a successful transition from middle school to high school is critical to a student’s lifelong success. Mindy Bingham, author of the award-winning Career Choices, explores how schools across the country integrate comprehensive guidance into the eighth and ninth grade without sacrificing achievement, academic rigor, or content standards. She’ll discuss and distribute the NEW Course Standards for Freshman Transition Classes from George Washington University—an invaluable planning resource for your high school redesign efforts.

Implementation Level 1, 2 & 3
Strands: Support for Teaching and Learning

D5

From Good to Great to Excellent
Mehran Akhtarkhavari, Principal, and Team from Rialto High School, Rialto USD

Rialto High School is in its third year of implementation of the SLC model. Rialto has transformed its overcrowded urban campus of over 3,500 multiethnic students into four smaller learning academies. This session will concentrate on the structure and organization of SLCs with an emphasis on the career pathways in the Blue and Silver academies, which house both juniors and seniors. Learn how Rialto High School brought purpose and a sense of belonging to many disenfranchised students. There will be time for questions, and handouts will be provided.

Implementation Level 1, 2 & 3
Strands: Support for Teaching and Learning

DE6

Successful Practices of Professional Learning Teams and Small Learning Communities
Erin McGary-Hamilton, Senior Program Advisor, Recreating Secondary Schools, Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory; Lee Mongrue, Staff Developer/Teacher, Hoover High/City Heights Ed. Collaborative, San Diego USD/CSU San Diego

Is your SLC or school implementing Professional Learning Teams (PLTs) and in need of effective tools to help staff learn together? Come hear concrete examples from a school practitioner on how their PLTs are supporting professional development & SLC transformation. In this session participants will:

Utilize effective tools for PLTs
Learn from and interact with a PD Coordinator who assists staff to improve instructional practices
Learn about how to promote & sustain teams and develop leadership capacity

Implementation Level 1, 2 & 3
Strands: Support for Teaching and Learning, NEW!

DE7

Support for Teaching and Learning: Creating a Critical Friends Group
Sean Delgado, Assistant Principal, Chino Hills High School, Chino Valley USD; Cuahutemoc Arroyo, Categorical Program Coordinator, LAUSD Categorical Programs, Los Angeles USD

One essential component in the success of an SLC is the ability of a team of educators to collaborate and plan for learning and instruction. In this session, participants will learn how to use protocols to look at student work as a way of improving instruction and developing collegiality. After learning of the purpose and protocols within Critical Friends Groups, participants will engage in a mock protocol to look at authentic student work. Participants will then debrief about the process and leave with a variety of different protocols to use for Critical Friends Groups at their own site.

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

DE8

Practical Guide to SLC Implementation and Sustainability
Mary Holden, Resource Teacher; David Holden, Instructional Coach, Consultants & Co-Founders, Mar Vista HS/American Alliance for Innovative Schools; team from American Alliance for Innovative Schools, Sweetwater Union HSD

This session will provide attendees with practical guidance for effective SLC implementation and maintenance. Some of the topics to be addressed are:

Getting teachers’ buy-in
Developing teams
Flexible scheduling
Inclusion of Special Education and English Learners
Analyzing data
Meeting protocols
Sustainability

This session is not a prescription for SLC implementation; rather, attendees will receive practical information, tools, and insight that will facilitate SLC implementation and sustainability.

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

D9

Small Learning Communities
Cathy Armstrong, SLC Advisor; Albert Castillo, Director, Secondary School Services; Pat Moretta, Jesus Angulo, Principals, Southgate High School, LAUSD Local District 6, LAUSD

“You can’t motivate someone you don’t know . . . the heart of schooling is the relationship between the teacher, student and ideas. ” Ted Sizer

This session will explore SLCs and how they benefit our students, teachers, and communities in Local District 6 high schools of the Los Angeles USD. Participants will explore research on SLCs, examine how Local District 6 has transformed its large, comprehensive high schools into small, heterogeneous communities of learning built on high-quality curriculum and instruction, and discuss with a panel of principals how to manage some of the predicaments that arise from redesigning schools into SLCs as policies, programs, initiatives, and people work together.

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

DE11

Framework for Understanding Poverty
Kathy Estes, Coordinator, Health, San Bernardino Co. Superintendent of Schools, Joelle Hood, Assistant Principal, Mojave Continuation High School, Hesperia Unified School District

This workshop is based on the research done by Dr. Ruby Payne, a noted educator from Houston, Texas. The premise of the presentation is to identify how children of poverty learn differently from those who come from the middle class or wealth. The learning style is different, not necessarily inferior. This is a highly interactive workshop allowing participants to analyze their own orientation and practice new strategies in engaging students of poverty. We will cover the twelve key points of Dr. Payne’s research and behavioral and learning strategies that are effective in engaging students and their families in the academic process.

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

D12

High School Advisory: How It Works!
Karen Myers, Gale George, SLC Coordinators/Teachers, Serrano High School, Snowline Joint USD

Come and see how you can integrate an advisory program into your school. Learn the process to make the curriculum specific to your site and how to involve teachers and students in the development of advisory curriculum. Discover ways to incorporate other school-related issues into the advisory program to relieve core subjects from the impact of outside activities. Develop a lesson that will be effective at your site.

Implementation Level 1 & 2
Strands: Personalization

DE13

Supporting High Expectations, Academic Monitoring, Cultural Development, and Personalization through Advisory
John Spiegel, Principal, Crawford IDEA High School, San Diego USD

The Invention and Design Educational Academy (IDEA High) is one of four small schools at the Crawford Educational Complex. In its third year of implementation, IDEA is a theme-based school with an engineering and architecture career focus. Advisory is a critical part of a student’s educational program, meeting with an advisor four days a week. Students are connected to an adult who helps them monitor their academic progress, complete an individualized learning plan, accomplish grade level requirements, set goals for themselves, and organize a culminating portfolio. The advisory program at IDEA was designed around five essential questions, which will be discussed during the presentation:

What are our purposes and goals for advisory?
How do we organize an advisory program to support our students?
What is the substance/content of our advisory program?
How do we assess the quality of our advisory program?
How do we hold students and advisors accountable for the work that needs to be accomplished in advisory?

Participants will be provided with samples of the documents that organize and define the advisory experience for students in IDEA. A historical perspective will be discussed on how the advisory program has been modified and changed each year. In addition, advisors will participate in a panel question/answer session to discuss the rewards and struggles of working in their advisory role.

Implementation Level 1, 2 & 3
Strands: Personalization