Keynote Presentation: Leading the Charge: How Effective Leadership Serves All Learners
Speaker: Lisa Delpit

Leadership matters. Good teachers, good pedagogy and good schools make a difference no matter what the child’s background or needs. The Leader’s perceptions, aspirations and pedagogical knowledge impact teacher practice and students’ achievement and is imperative to effective leadership. In this opening session of the Institute Lisa will set the foundation for our work together by addressing how leadership style and skills will positively impact student achievement.

Strategic Focus Groups – Daily Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
Groups of three will meet for one hour each day (during the morning on Monday and Tuesday and after the site visit on Wednesday). These triads will work together to help participants identify and solve difficult problems and collaborate to create more successful schools.  Each day one participant will:

• Briefly describe an unresolved leadership challenge s/he is currently experiencing
• Receive feedback, advice and guidance from their triad about strategic and tactical options for managing the situation or problem

Planting the Stake: Start Here for Improving Teaching and Learning
Speaker: Kati Haycock
We as leaders cannot leave teaching and learning to chance. Kati will direct us on using data analysis to determine the path to changing current patterns of student performance. Kati will discuss three essential elements of high performing schools:

• Highly effective teachers
• Providing extra time for children to learn
• Structuring curricular support and coaching for teachers

Tactical Strategies to Ensure Success for All Students: A Focus on English Learners
Speaker: Susana Dutro

The challenge of successfully educating English Learners is a key issue for all of our schools and leaders. Educators have turned to a large body of research which advocates that programs for English Learners must be content and literature based rather than skills based. Leaders will learn how high-quality instruction in language and literacy development empowers English Learners and leads to their academic success. This session will also provide strategies for systematic English Language Development and examples of how leaders have planned and implemented effective EL supports at the school level.

The Seven Standards of Effective District Design, From Theory to Practice?
Speaker: Randolph Ward

Effective school districts purposefully align resources such as governance, finance, teaching and administration to support improved student performance. Dr. Ward will share his experience of radically redesigning districts and schools to support teaching and learning.

 

Getting Results Now
Speaker: Michael Schmoker

In this interactive session with Mike Schmoker, Leaders will identify challenges and create a plan to align beliefs with actions. Schmoker’s book “Results Now” identifies the most important challenge of the decade: to make dramatic improvements in educational achievement and equity. While we know what it takes to make wide-scale improvements, the question is whether we have the political and personal courage to make it happen.

Becoming a Professional Learning Community: Building School Capacity
Speaker: Deborah Beldock and Carol Osborne

Leaders will engage in an adult learning session and reflect on the experience. They will
examine student performance to identify teacher instructional needs and explore how to create a structure and support for ongoing teacher development. Leaders will also determine how to analyze professional learning for the staff and create accountability systems for continuous improvement.

How to Lead with What Works: Becoming a School for All Children
School Visit

Leaders will visit a school and hear from a reflective practitioner who has used his/her leadership voice to enlist organizational support, analyzed data to guide decisions, developed an adult learning organization focused on improved student performance, and aligned resources to support the school's goals. Leaders will visit classrooms and analyze the impact of teacher practices on student learning. They will assess the quality of professional development and adult learning and identify next steps for continued improvement in the school.

Application
Facilitator: Ann Van Sickle and Melinda Martin

This session will take the Institute's powerful themes into action. Leaders will bring current school data and plans to use in this application session. They will strengthen their plans by collaborating with colleagues and brainstorming future actions.