2007 Day 1 Breakout Session Resources
Breakout Sessions 1
Breakout Sessions 2
Breakout Sessions 3
Breakout Sessions 4
Breakout Sessions 1
School Leadership Makes a Difference
Gene Hall, Professor, Educational Leadership, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
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[Presentation Slides] Over the last 30 years, an international network of researchers has been studying change processes in schools and other types of organizations. One key component of the research has examined the different Change Facilitator Styles of school principals. This session will examine the research findings, which show that the extent of teacher success in implementing new practices is highly correlated with how the principal facilitates change. In addition, the most recent research findings that document clear relationships between principal leadership and student test scores will be discussed.
Voices of Students on Engagement: Findings from the 2006 High School Survey of Student Engagement (HSSSE)
Ethan Yazzie-Mintz, Project Director, HSSSE, Indiana University
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[Presentation Slides] In what ways and to what degree do students engage in the life and work of our high schools? What beliefs, attitudes and perceptions do students hold about their high school experience? How can we make effective use of what students tell us in our efforts to create engaging, high-performing, world-class high schools for the 21st century? In this session, we will explore important findings from the 2006 HSSSE, a national survey of high school students on issues of engagement.
On the Horizon: The Outlook University Independent School Network
Tarrence Banks, School Change Facilitator, Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning, University of Indianapolis
Willie Killins, Jr., Small School Development Coach, Outlook University Independent School Network
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[Presentation Slides] Outlook University Independent School Network (OUISN) is a nonprofit organization that creates schools directly partnered with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). OUISN uses an authentic early college/dual enrollment methodology through a project-based curriculum that creates a personalized education plan for each student. The philosophy that guides this model of education is rooted in the need to produce more students of color in the fields of engineering, teacher education, medicine, and business. This presentation will focus on the need for early college and dual enrollment options to promote educational opportunities for minority students. Also addressed will be the importance and potential for partnerships between HBCUs and Indiana school districts with significant populations of minority students.
High Leverage, Equity-Based Leadership Practices that Result in 21st-Century Readiness for All Students
June Rimmer, Program Manager, Stupski Foundation
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[Presentation Slides] There are compelling reasons to ensure that all students, particularly students of color and students living in poverty, acquire the cognitive skills and the character, conscience, civility, citizenship, and social responsibility essential for success in their future. Our country's global status and economy will be impacted by the degree to which students acquire these skills. Our students' capacity to navigate and help shape their complex world will impact the quality of their lives. This session focuses on those essential, high-leverage leadership practices that lead to these transformative skills for all students.
Students as Partners: Exploring Roles for Students in School Improvement
Adam Fletcher, Executive Director, CommonAction
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[Presentation Slides] Research has shown that the achievement gap is mirrored by an apparent "engagement gap." Simultaneously, more young people are becoming deeply engaged in collaborative online environments, and the marketplace rapidly responds to every desire of youth today. How can educators transform learning to meet student needs rather than insisting students meet school needs? Participants will explore research, practice and personal reflection focused on different ways students can become partners in school improvement from the local classroom to the state school board.
Engaging Digital-Age Learners: Preparing All Students for a Lifetime of Learning
Don Knezek, CEO, International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)
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[Presentation Slides] As the learning landscape and society in general become increasingly digital, the challenge of engaging students in meaningful learning becomes more complex. Also, equity now is more dependent than ever before on a foundation of student information and technology skills because increasingly a digital divide translates directly into a learning divide. Explore ISTE's recently revised national student technology standards which provide an organizing framework for addressing engagement and equity issues related to fluency with information, communication and learning technologies.
Talking About Equity in Schools
Daniel Baron, Senior Fellow, National School Reform Faculty
Mark Cosand, High School Conversion Coordinator, Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning, University of Indianapolis
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[Presentation Slides] Constructivist Listening utilizes support structures that allow participants to gain clarity and construct new understandings while building trust and reflecting on painful emotions that can arise while having equity discussions. Learn the steps of Constructivist Listening and discover the importance of equity-based discussions in your school.
Breakout Sessions 2
Service-Learning = A Solution to Equity, Engagement and Education
Karlo Leonor, Member, Youth Advisory Board, State Farm
Patrick McAllister, Member, Youth Advisory Board, State Farm
Joel Rogers, Education Leadership, State Farm
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[Presentation Slides] State Farm's Education Leadership Unit is charged with improving public education through policy, youth programming and partnership initiatives. These initiatives specifically focus on systemic improvement, teacher excellence and K-12 service-learning. Service-learning allows students the opportunity to enhance their educational experience, become civic advocates for systemic change and allows students, regardless of socioeconomic status, to play a role in improving their communities. Two members of the State Farm Youth Advisory Board will share how their $5 million per year service-learning initiative helps students become more engaged in their academic work and more effective advocates for change.
Important, But Not for Me: How Parents See Math and Science Education in the Public Schools
Jonathan Rochkind, Research Manager, Public Agenda
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[Presentation Slides] This presentation will share findings noted in Public Agenda's report funded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. The report is part of a multi-year project on math and science education. One finding documents that just 25 percent of parents in Kansas and Missouri think their children should be studying more math and science; 70 percent think things "are fine as they are now." Why are they so complacent and what might build more interest? What are the implications of other findings related to high schools?
Ensuring All Students Succeed: Latino Students Share Their Challenges and Experiences
Angela Adams, Attorney, Lewis & Kappes Law Firm (Moderator)
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How do Latino students view their school experiences? What challenges have they faced, and how did they overcome them? Listen to Latino students from different schools and backgrounds share their experiences and opinions about what it will take to increase the high school graduation rate of Latino students and ways to ensure their success in postsecondary education.
Equity and Engagement: An Indiana Update
Cheryl Orr, Associate Commissioner for Communications & P-16 Programs & Planning, Indiana Commission for Higher Education
Terri Schulz, Leader of Program Innovation, Indiana Department of Workforce Development
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[Presentation Slides 1] [Presentation Slides 2] Hear about some key state initiatives focused at increasing relevance, rigor and clear pathways and opportunities to postsecondary education. The presenters will share the latest on strategies aimed at getting more Indiana students through high school, on to college and to degree completion. Topics will include the KnowHow2GoIndiana campaign, College Access and Success Coalition, Indiana e-Transcript, Core Transfer Library, the Department of Workforce Development's Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Programs of Study, Career Academies, and Project Lead the Way Pre-engineering and Biomedical Sciences. The session will include a quick look at what is next on the agenda for Indiana's Education Roundtable.
Indiana Education Policy Fellowship Program
Douglas M. Brattebo, Director, Education Policy Fellowship Program, Institute for Educational Leadership
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[Presentation Slides] The Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP) operates in 15 states through the Institute for Educational Leadership in Washington, D.C. and soon will be offered to educators, civic leaders and business professionals in the fall of 2008 through the Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning. This session will describe EPFP in detail as an opportunity for individuals interested in developing leadership skills while examining educational policy through networking activities. Included will be details on tuition, sponsorships, scholarships, and program details.
Every Child Matters: School Transformation Strategies from Across the Pond
Jamyce Banks, Coordinator of Secondary Education, Department of Teacher Education, University of Indianapolis
John Somers, Associate Professor of Teacher Education; Director of Graduate Programs, Department of Teacher Education, University of Indianapolis
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[Presentation Slides] A group of Indiana educators visited British schools that have made a systemic transition from underperforming to high performing and talked with British educators about their processes. Members of the group will share strategies from this experience including student engagement, professional development, teacher empowerment, capacity building, and creating a culture for success. The session also will include a discussion of how these strategies can be translated to U.S. education.
Breakout Sessions 3
The World in Indiana: Leadership Initiatives
Caterina Blitzer, Coordinator of International Education, Indiana Department of Education
Ralph Taylor, Grants Officer, Central Indiana Community Foundation
Michael Twyman, Director of Grants Programs-Indiana, Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust
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[Presentation Slides] To succeed in a diverse, changing world, all Indiana students must have the skills and experiences to become active and engaged citizens in both the local and global environment. This session will identify the necessary skills and knowledge students need and will discuss the value employers place on global competencies for successful work in Indiana and around the world. To build understanding across cultures, presenters will identify resources and discuss the Indiana Leadership Summit for International Education and other related initiatives.
Preparing ALL Students for Success in High School Math: The Middle Level Mathematics Initiative
Signe Kastberg, Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education, Indiana University Purdue University–Indianapolis
Andrew Tyminski, Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education, Purdue University
Bill Walker, Executive Director, I-STEM Resource Network
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[Presentation Slides] Students often come to high school unprepared for the rigors of secondary mathematics, causing them to lag behind their better-prepared peers. In an effort to improve the quality of instruction at the middle level, the I-STEM Resource Network worked with mathematics educators to design a professional development initiative for teachers of mathematics. A sequence of four courses have been designed to address mathematics content and instructional strategies that prepare students to study secondary mathematics. The courses are Algebra and Functions, Geometry and Measurement, Data Analysis and Probability, and Numbers and Operations. Presenters will share progress of the Middle Level Mathematics Initiative, provide testimonials and discuss possible linkages to the high school mathematics curriculum.
Words as Reflections of Reality: Embracing the Power of Student Voice to Improve Schools
Adam Fletcher, Executive Director, CommonAction
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[Presentation Slides] Parents, community members and local businesses have each been brought into the school reform conversation as partners. However, there are missing links in the majority of America's school improvement dialogues today, and they are the students themselves. A growing body of research has identified students as the foremost stakeholders in education reform. This workshop will explore students' perceptions of school improvement activities from across the nation. Workshop participants will learn about barriers to student voice, as well as different strategies educators can use to authentically and meaningfully solicit and employ student voice in school improvement.
Indiana is Positioned for an Economic Miracle—Starting in High School Algebra Classrooms
Leslie Gardner, Professor of Mathematics, University of Indianapolis
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[Presentation Slides] Supply chain management is a cutting-edge business strategy that integrates internal and external logistics across many manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, retailers, and transportation providers to obtain a competitive advantage for all parties involved. Indiana has unique advantages for becoming the headquarters of many supply chains because of its manufacturing base, its growing warehousing and distribution industry, its central location, and its convenient access to various modes of transportation. This presentation describes a project to add rigor and relevance to mathematics education while introducing high school students and teachers to high paying careers in the diverse field of supply chain management.
Breakout Sessions 4
The I-STEM Resource Network: Promoting STEM Education in Indiana
Bill Walker, Executive Director, I-STEM Resource Network
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[Presentation Slides] The I-STEM Resource Network supports K-12 education toward science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) literacy for all students. Participants will learn about the development of the I-STEM Resource Network, progress on initial activities and how the I-STEM Resource Network supports teaching, learning, applied research, community partnerships, and network development.
Seek First to Understand
Mark Bryson, Principal, Bryson & Associates
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[Presentation Slides] This session intends to raise awareness regarding cross-cultural communication dynamics and to provide information that will support individual and organizational cultural competency. Participants will gain a better understanding of cross-cultural communication and ways to improve communication processing, feedback and community building skills.
Our Story: The Transformation of Rochester High School
Debra Howe, Superintendent, Rochester Community School Corporation
Eileen Hsu, Parent/Community Representative, Rochester Community School Corporation
Dan McCarthy, Teacher, Zebra New Tech High School, Rochester Community School Corporation
Don Meyer, School Board President, Rochester Community School Corporation
Dan Ronk, Principal, Zebra New Tech High School, Rochester Community School Corporation
Theresa Shafer, Technology Coordinator, Rochester Community School Corporation
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[Presentation Slides] Rochester Community Schools will share its journey of transforming a traditional high school to a New Tech model. A panel consisting of the board president, superintendent, principal, teacher, and parent/community representative will share the steps and experiences as they answer the questions: Why should we change? What does the community want for the high school and of graduates? Why New Tech? Who should be involved in the transformation process? How do we proceed? What challenges and successes have we faced, and what is yet to come?
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