Paving the Way to Student Success: Increasing Your Odds with Reluctant Learners!
Cristal McGill, Ph.D., Education Consultant, ASU Faculty Associate, Teacher Education Programs, CO

Discover how to set the stage to motivate your students and get them charged up for learning. You will also leave with a tool to increase your students' accountability. This session is designed to renew your energy and excitement for teaching while building your repertoire of effective teaching moves in a fun, fast-paced environment. Participants will gain an increased understanding of practices that foster resiliency and mastery in children, youth, and families enduring the effects of multiple risk exposure. We will identify practices that positively alter the social climate of classrooms, which can lead to a reduction in aggressive and violent behavior.

Combining these techniques with teaching practices creates a blast of focused, productive energy, which propels groups quickly and easily towardsachieving the desired objectives. Come expecting to “play to win.”

Strand: NEW!, Engaging At-Risk Students
Grade Level: K–12

Enhance Parents' Spanish Literacy: Start a “Plaza Comunitaria”
Linda Coyne, Principal/Director, Community Education Center, Soledad USD, CA

Many of our Spanish-speaking parents did not finish school in their homeland. This workshop will show you how to start a program to assist parents in acquiring their elementary and secondary education certificates through a collaboration with the government of Mexico.

Strand: NEW!; Family and Community Collaboration; VetORC
Grade Level: K–12

Mission Possible: Making a Dream Come to Fruition
Christine L. Tippett, Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Marriage, Family Therapist, Sacramento, CA

Mission Possible is a School-Based Family Counseling Program operating on middle and high school campuses with high risk students, to facilitate their success academically, socially, behaviorally and emotionally as they progress through the developmental stage of identity discovery. The program brings interns from the University of San Francisco graduate program in Marriage and Family Therapy, under the supervision of a private practitioner and contracts with local school districts to provide mental health services. Participants will learn how to replicate this model in their area, with a lot of effort and little money.

Strand: NEW!, Family and Community; VetORC
Grade Level: K–12

“Power Five”–Habits that Change Behavior
Greg Solomon, Inst. Music Teacher, Vista Heights Middle School, CA

With just five simple habits, you will learn how to change the behavior of disruptive students in your classroom. Understand the power of care and how misbehavior is a good thing. Train yourself and your students to enjoy purposeful change. Teach to your expectations and give consequences for inappropriate behavior. Then step back and watch the learning begin.

Strand: NEW!, Instructional Strategies
Grade Level: K–12

Is it Candy, or Drugs? Substance Abuse Awareness and Over-the-Counter Medicines
Phillip Hubbs, Executive Director, Proactive Network Against Substance Abuse, CA

Is it candy or is it drugs? What household products are abused? Why is the abuse of prescription drugs & OTC medicines on the rise with our teens? How easy is it to buy marijuana in your neighborhood? Come and learn to recognize the signs of drug use, as well as the physical effects, packaging, and slang terms of the latest drugs. This session is for parents, teachers, and administrators interested in the latest news, strategies, solutions, and resources in the fight against substance abuse.

Strand: NEW!; Safety and Violence Prevention; CASCWA; Juvenile Detention
Grade Level: K–12

Substance Abuse Prevention: A Win-Win for Districts, Students, and Families
John Miranda, Regional Coord. LifeSkills Training, Princeton Health Press, CA; Jim Crittenden, SDCOE Student Support Services, CA; Christina Boyd, TUPE Coord./Life Skills, SDUSD: Counseling and Guidance, CA; Pamela J. Werb, U of Min Medical School, Facility Department of Family Practice and Community Health, MN

Alcohol and other drug use results in predictable negative consequences for teens, the classroom, and districts–including absenteeism and related underachievement. Prevention and early intervention services are a cost-effective strategy to move the marker on test scores and improved school attendance.

Strand: NEW!, Safety and Violence Prevention; CASCWA; Foster Youth & Juvenile Detention; VetORC
Grade Level: K–12

Suicide Prevention Strategies–What Every Educator Should Know
Bob Burt, Outreach Coordinator, Riverside COE, Teen Line, CA

This presentation is extremely powerful and includes three content areas:
1. Understanding the causes, signs, and symptoms relating to at-risk students
2. Using outreach techniques that include all school stakeholders in suicide prevention awareness
3. Mandated reporting, education code issues, and resources that all attendees need to know. Also included are several true examples of the aftermath when educators fail to observe or report depressed and possibly suicidal children.

Strand: NEW!; Safety and Violence Prevention
Grade Level: K–12

Freeze on Program Improvement: Maxwell Elementary School
Mary Gonzales, Principal, Maxwell Elementary, CA; Dr. Frank Rodriguez, Consultant, TESS Consulting Group, CA

Maxwell Elementary has made tremendous growth over the last five years (200+ API points) by undertaking a very structured reform effort, similar in nature to the California Department of Education's process for providing assistance to schools. Participants will hear from administration and teachers how cultural and program changes enabled the staff to begin work on curriculum and instruction that directly affected positive student achievement.

“How does a school accept and work effectively with an external support provider?” This is one of the key questions answered by Dr. Frank Rodriguez from TESS Consulting Group. In addition, participants will receive sample copies of the work the Maxwell staff has done in the areas of quality instruction and curriculum alignment to state content standards.

Maxwell teachers will describe the process by which the school has made continuous improvement an institutionalized effort, including data analysis, grade level collaborations, curriculum mapping, and focused walkthroughs.

Strand: NEW!; Increasing Academic Achievement; VetORC
Grade Level: K–6

Inside Secrets of Creating a Responsive Classroom Climate
Cristal McGill, Ph.D., Education Consultant, ASU Faculty Associate, Teacher Education Programs, CO

Participants will leave with one of the biggest secrets to lead any group to the most productive mental viewpoint from which to maximize the learning from that experience. This highly practical session explores a series of seldom-discussed techniques. Each idea can stand alone as a useful tool. This fast-paced, innovative, and dynamic session explains why, while simultaneously demonstrating how to put these ideas into practice.

Walk away with a “neural explosion” of ideas guaranteed to lift any learning activity to an entirely new level.

Come expecting to be physically engaged and mentally stimulated throughout this high-powered session.

Strand: NEW!; Instructional Strategies
Grade Level: K–12

Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
Brian Lee, Deputy Director, Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, CA

California faces a dropout crisis that poses a significant threat to public safety. An estimated one in three California high school students does not graduate from high school on time. High school dropouts are three-and-one-half times more likely than high school graduates to be arrested, and more than eight times as likely to be in jail or prison. Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California is a nonprofit, bipartisan, anti-crime organization led by California's sheriffs, police chiefs, district attorneys, and crime victims dedicated to reducing crime. This session will address their efforts to reduce the dropout rate and its impact on schools and communities.

Strand: NEW!, Safety and Violence Prevention' CASCWA; Foster Youth & Juvenile Detention
Grade Level: K–12

Trickery, Trolling, and Threats: Understanding and Addressing Cyberbullying
Marcie Denberg Serra, Assistant Director of Education, San Diego Anti-Defamation League, CA

For the current generation of teens, e-mailing, instant messaging, text messaging, chatting, and blogging are a vital means of self-expression and a central part of their social lives. This session will look at how some youth are misusing Internet and cell phone technology to bully and harass others, and even to incite violence. The session will provide educators and administrators with strategies to respond effectively to cyberbullying.

The workshop will also provide practical information and opportunities for skill-building that will support school communities in developing comprehensive plans for preventing and taking action against cyberbullying and social cruelty in online forums.

Strand: NEW!; Safety and Violence Prevention; CASCWA
Grade Level: 6–12

Gone With The Wind: A Missed Day of School Can Never Be Replaced
Truancy: Mediation and Prosecution
Lois Baer, Deputy District Attorney, Truancy Program Director, Office of the District Attorney, Santa Clara County, CA

This presentation will outline the programs that a district attorney's office can provide when students are habitually truant from school. The Model Mediation and Prosecution Programs of the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office will be covered. These programs have been successfully used for over 14 years. The D.A. Mediation Program is an intervention that can be presented to families to remedy their students' truant habits short of going to court. The D.A. Prosecution Program covers parents of elementary students who are not taking their children to school as well as truant middle and high school students. The discussion will include applicable charges for truancy and the consequences for each. Participants will leave with an effective strategy for addressing at-risk habitually truant students at the elementary, middle and high school levels.

Strand: NEW!; Family and Community; CASCWA
Grade Level: K–12

Building a Student Assistance Program (SAP)
Portia Lee, Director; Patti Azevedo, MA, MS, MFTI, Mental Health Coord., PUSD: Safe Schools & Health Students Dept., CA

This workshop highlights lessons learned in implementing a Student Assistance Program (SAP) at middle and high school campuses. A discussion of accomplishments, mistakes made, and lessons learned will provide participants with an understanding of how to structure a SAP and a system for implementing referrals, running educational support groups, and effectively establishing links with outside agencies.

Strand: NEW!; Best Practices; CASCWA
Grade Level: 7–12

Dropout Prevention Specialist (DPS) Certification: Program Overview
John Dooley, Vice President, National University Division of Extended Learning, CA

National University's Dropout Prevention Specialist Certification Program complies with the CA Education Code for outreach consultant (ORC) training. This six-course program sequence is taught by very experienced CA ORCs who also serve as adjunct faculty with National University. Classes
meet online for two hours, one evening per week. Program information available at: http://www.nu.edu/Academics/Schools/ExtendedStudies/811-200.html.

Strand: NEW!, Best Practices

Dropout Prevention Specialist (DPS) Certification: Program Overview
John Dooley, Vice President, National University Division of Extended Learning, CA

National University's Dropout Prevention Specialist Certification Program complies with the CA Education Code for outreach consultant (ORC) training. This six-course program sequence is taught by very experienced CA ORCs who also serve as adjunct faculty with National University. Classes
meet online for two hours, one evening per week. Program information available at: http://www.nu.edu/Academics/Schools/ExtendedStudies/811-200.html.

Strand: NEW!, Best Practices

Effectively Engaging the Community in Our School
Norma Gomez, Parent & Family Involvement Coordinator, LRET Division, English Learner & Support Services, San Diego COE, CA

In this workshop you will learn effective strategies to overcome common barriers encountered when engaging the community in the educational system. You will also learn how to develop an action plan by drawing on the expertise of the stakeholders in order to address academic rigor, teacher/school expectations, content standards, educational programs, policies, and accountability via activism and advocacy.

Strand: NEW!; Family and Community Collaboration
Grade Level: K–12

Using Data to Improve Instruction: Building a Culture of Continuous Improvement
Dennis Fox, Ph.D. Consultant, LACOE Division for School Improvement, CA

Skillful data-driven decision-making is especially critical in schools and districts with large numbers of children of color, as well as those struggling with poverty and learning English as a second language. This session will provide user-friendly tools for analyzing California Standards Test data in a systematic manner, drawing valid inferences from data, and using the results to improve the effectiveness of classroom instruction and ultimately produce continuous and significant increases in student learning.

Strand: NEW!; Increasing Academic Achievement
Grade Level: K–12

FERPA: Protecting the Rights of At-Risk Students
LeRoy Rooker, Director, Family Compliance Office, U.S. Department of Ed., DC

Students at risk are impacted in most aspects of their lives–at home, in school, and in the community. As fragile members of the school population, they are frequently bombarded by intrusions into their private lives. School personnel must ensure that these students' rights of confidentiality are not compromised. This interactive session will focus on the federal protections afforded parents and students under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and how school officials, including school law enforcement personnel, can operate under FERPA. Session will include a question and answer time.

Strand: NEW!; Safety and Violence Prevention; CASCWA; Foster Youth & Juvenile Detention; VetORC
Grade Level: K–12

Girls: Risk Factors, Trends, and Strategies
Gabriela Baeza, Project Specialist, San Diego COE, Pupil Services, Safe Schools, CA

This workshop will provide participants with an overview of the latest research relating to females and violence. Trends and research-based strategies will be discussed to provide participants with ideas on how to work with female students effectively. Ideas for how to approach issues such as academic failure, teen pregnancy, gang violence, and other risky behaviors will be explored..

Strand: NEW!, Safety and Violence Prevention; Juvenile Detention; VetORC
Grade Level: 7–12

Suicide Assessment, Response, and Postvention in School-Age Youth
Golnaz Agahi, LCSW, MPH, Crisis Response Network Coord., Division of Instructional Services, Orange County COE, CA

This interactive workshop will provide an opportunity for participants to identify warning signs among youth at risk for suicide. Participants will be introduced to a protocol for assessment and response to suicidal ideations. The workshop will offer a structure for school response to ensure the healthy recovery of students and staff who may be affected by the suicide of a peer.

Strand: NEW!, Safety and Violence Prevention
Grade Level: K–12

The Impact of Violence on a Child's Developing Brain: Implications for Foster Youth
Craig Pierini, MS, Education Programs Assistant, Foster Youth Services Program, CA

Research from Dr. Bruce Perry and others strongly suggests that the brains of children, ages 0–3, who are chronically exposed to violence are organized differently. Basic neuroscience will be explored, along with how these children process information and the types of interventions that are consistent with the science.

Strand: NEW!, Safety and Violence Prevention; Foster Youth
Grade Level: K–12

Meeting the Needs of At-Risk Students through Foster Youth Services Programs (FYS)
Michelle Lustig, MSW, Ed.D., Coordinator, Foster Youth Services, SDCOE Student Support Services, CA; Pamela Hosmer, Program Mgr./Homeless Liaison, San Diego District Office, CA; Jeni Mendel, Child Welfare & Attendance, Educational Services Division, Grossmont UHSD, CA; Karen Alexander, Homeless & Foster Youth Liaison, LMSV District Office, CA

San Diego COE Foster Youth Services Program (FYS) endeavors to respond, assist, and empower all systems that support foster youth achieving academic success. FYS programs are designed to prepare foster youth to become successful, self-sufficient, and independent adults. FYS programs across California, in 57 counties and 6 core school districts, achieve the goal of closing the achievement gap for students in foster care through thoughtful collaboration across systems. Session participants will learn about FYS programs both locally and statewide.

Strand: NEW!; Engaging At-Risk Students; CASCWA; Foster Youth; Juvenile Detention
Grade Level: K–12

Effective Home Visits
Norma Gomez, Parent & Family Involvement Coordinator, LRET Division, English Learner & Support Services, San Diego COE, CA

In this workshop you will learn ways to communicate and collaborate with parents to support student learning during home visits. We will review the goal and reason for visiting the family, what is active listening, how a medium such as body language becomes the message, and how to solve problems with the family to address the child's best interests.

Strand: NEW!; Family and Community Collaboration; VetORC
Grade Level: K–12

How to Support Homeless Students and Foster Youth
Faye Eastman, Coordinator, Foster Youth Services; Brenda Dowdy, Homeless Education Program Specialist, San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools

Participants will learn about the difficulties homeless and foster youth experience. Information will be discussed on a variety of ways participants can help youth to become academically, socially, and behaviorally successful.

Strand: NEW!; Best Practices, Foster Youth
Grade Level: K–12

The Hard Work Model for Closing the Achievement Gap
Ken Sorey, Director of Development, Just for the Kids–California, CA

Learn best practices of high-performing schools as they put data and accountability to work. Interact with a panel of high-performing, high-poverty school principals who will share their proven strategies and evidence of success. You will also learn about a free, online resource, Just for the Kids–California, that uses accountability data to help schools raise academic achievement and close achievement gaps through benchmarking, site visits, and best practices from high-performing schools.

Strand: NEW!, Increasing Academic Achievement
Grade Level: K–12

Teens and Unprotected Sex: Beyond Prevention 101
Ellen Hohenstein, MA, Health Center Director, Hoover High School, CA

With birth control readily available, why do so many teens get pregnant? With the risk of HIV, why would any teen have unprotected sex? Decreasing sexual risk-taking requires implementing a continuum of prevention strategies. This interactive workshop will present a variety of strategies from integrating HIV/STD and teen pregnancy prevention into core subject area curricula to establishing individual behavioral contracts with students most at risk.

Strand: NEW!, Safety and Violence Prevention; VetORC
Grade Level: 9–12

Models of Dropout Prevention
Speakers will include representatives from the Grossmont Union HSD, Vista USD, Chula Vista ESD, and others

Ten school districts have been designated as Models of Dropout Prevention by the State School Attendance Review Board. As Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell stated, “These school districts have taken on that challenge by creating a safety net for students with persistent school attendance or behavior problems.” Superintendent O'Connell presented the districts with their awards at the annual state CASCWA conference in Long Beach in April. These sessions will present the components of these award-winning programs.

Strand: NEW!; Best Practices; CASCWA
Grade Level: K–12

Project Read Report Form: Comprehension Strategies for Nonfiction
Andrew Stetkevich, Staff Development Specialist/CSS Field Colleague, Riverside Staff Development Center, CA

Many students struggle with comprehension in content area subjects. This presentation will provide an overview of Project Read Report Form strategies. These are multisensory strategies designed to teach students how to find the main idea and supporting details, make inferences, and organize content subject matter for retention and retrieval.

Strand: NEW!; Instructional Strategies, Foster Youth
Grade Level: 3–12

Preventing Special Education Through Early Intervention Supplementary Reading
Debra Bradley, Superintendent; Cherisse Baatin, Principal; Gary Klor, Director of Special Education; Kathy Stratton, Resource Specialist, Sausalito Marin City Schools, CA

Preventing Special Education Through Early Intervention describes our district's effort to provide K-2 students with targeted reading intervention based on their assessed needs. We identify the students who may be at risk for reading failure and offer them a supplementary reading program that helps them succeed in their regular education classes. Our panel will provide participants with an overview of our Early Intervention program as well as specific recommendations and suggestions to help them replicate this model.

Strand: NEW!, Best Practices
Grade Level: K–2

Improving Educational Outcomes for Children in Out-of-Home Care: A Collaborative Effort
Dennis Leggett, Ed.D., East Region CWS Educational Liaison, Health and Human Services Agency Child Welfare Services, San Diego COE, CA; Karen Alexander, Homeless & Foster Youth Liaison, LMSV District Office, CA

In San Diego's East County, schools, child welfare, law enforcement, the courts, community collaboratives, and other agencies have collaborated to ensure that all East County children are surrounded by familiar people and places that encourage them to thrive. Efforts have focused on maintaining placement and school stability when child welfare or law enforcement has to intervene to protect a child. East Region's Child Welfare Services and the La Mesa–Spring Valley School District are currently involved with the Casey Family Program-sponsored “Breakthrough Series Collaborative on Improving Educational Continuity and School Stability for Children in Out-of-Home Care.” The presenters will discuss potentially promising strategies for improving practice in their education and child welfare systems that will ultimately support educational continuity and school stability for children in out-of-home care.

Strand: NEW!; Family and Community Collaboration; CASCWA
Grade Level: K–12

Working with English Language Learner Parents: Making a Positive Connection
Laura Guzman, Coordinator; Terry Baron, LRET Division, English Learner & Support Services, San Diego COE, CA

This session will address the specific needs of English learner parents and provide you with practical, proven strategies for making a solid connection with these families. Learn key strategies for supporting ELL parents in staying involved in their child's education. Laura and Terry will provide essential information for you to be aware of as you work with ELL parents and will answer your questions so that you can create a better home and school relationship.

Strand: NEW!; Family and Community Collaboration
Grade Level: K–8

Child Abuse Identification and Reporting
Craig Pierini, Education Programs Assistant, Foster Youth Services Program, CA

This presentation will include both identification of child abuse and neglect, along with reporting requirements of mandated reporters. In part, the information will clarify the reporting of child sexual abuse. Participants will be exposed to slides depicting child abuse victims in order to visually identify those incidents that are abusive, accidental, or the result of certain cultural practices. Participants will also be brought up-to-date on the reporting law.

Strand: NEW!, Safety and Violence Prevention; Foster Youth; Juvenile Detention; VetORC
Grade Level: K–12

They're Here, They're Queer, Now What?
Judy Chiasson, Program Coordinator, Office of Human Relations, Diversity, and Equity, LAUSD, CA

Increased visibility of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals and concerns is causing schools to examine their practices in the nexus of legal, cultural, and community perspectives. School personnel often feel unsure of how to proceed. This workshop will examine the legal, ethical, and practical considerations of addressing sexual orientation and gender identity in public school settings.

Strand: NEW!, Best Practices; CASCWA; VetORC
Grade Level: K–12

Truth or Consequences: Keeping It Real for the At-risk Youth
Scott Charles, Trauma Outreach Coordinator, Temple University Hospital, PA

In many American classrooms, “teaching to the test” has taken priority over the teaching of life's lessons. Few have suffered the consequences of this shift more than the at-risk student. Because there is so little in their lives that can be adequately captured with a #2 pencil and a bubble form, the classroom offers fewer opportunities to use the tools with which they have been equipped as a function of their experiences. This session will suggest opportunities to empower at-risk students–and showcase their gifts–by having them address the real-world/real-life problems that exist in their communities.

Strand: NEW!, Engaging At-Risk Students; VetORC
Grade Level: K–12

Boosting Adolescents' Social Skills, Emotional Management & Academic Motivation
Julea Douglass, Ph.D., Co-Author & Associate Director, School-Connect, MD

Ninth grade is a critical transition year; many students struggle with the personal and academic challenges of high school. This session will focus on strategies for (1) creating a supportive learning community, (2) helping students overcome self-defeating attitudes about schoolwork, and (3) promoting student-driven learning. These strategies can be used in freshman seminars, advisory programs, and school-wide. Special attention will be paid to models that support the needs of incoming freshmen..

Strand: NEW!, Engaging At-Risk Students; Foster Youth
Grade Level: K–12

Girls United to Succeed (GUTS): A Gang Intervention Program
Barbara Rivas, Coord. Violence Prevention/Intervention Unit, Founder, GUTS Program; Cathey Casanova, GUTS Program Lead Facilitator; Reina Morgan, GUTS Program Facilitator; Erika Gonzalez, GUTS Program Facilitator Intern, Student Support Services Dept., San Diego COE, CA

This workshop will describe a gender-specific intervention model for working with highly aggressive and/or gang-affiliated girls and/or parenting teens with high risk factors. Program is geared for schools, agencies, and institutions serving school-aged girls. Data for GUTS pilot program at a middle school in the San Diego area will be shared. Q and A period allowed as part of the session.

Strand: NEW!, Safety and Violence Prevention, CASCWA; Foster Youth & Juvenile Detention; VetORC
Grade Level: 7–12