Preconference Sessions

Explore ways to develop women leaders within your organization. Examine current research and engage in hands-on activities that inspire women leaders to impact organizational success. Learn strategies for developing a development program for women in leadership with perspectives from leaders representing two Colorado school districts involved this work.

Take a deep dive into what drives student acceleration in literacy, using five research-based “literacy accelerators” that support all students toward college and career readiness, especially those who have been marginalized or underserved in schools. Learn why equity must remain at the center of all literacy efforts, and examine how personalized learning approaches, including culturally relevant teaching, can drive acceleration. Leave with useful tools for evaluating core and supplemental instruction, and learn how you can apply the learning to your own setting.

Learn what current research is saying about the role of the assistant principal, what experiences assistant principals perceive to be missing from their positions, and how you can empower your assistant principal to lead a thriving learning community. Examine the assistant principal’s role in school leadership to understand the opportunities and constraints defining the position and the impact on instructional leadership. Leave with knowledge of current research on the role of an assistant principal, what experiences assistant principals perceive to be missing from their position, and how principals can best support their assistant principals to lead thriving learning communities.

Explore how one district’s professional learning support team initiative and teacher leadership academy are instrumental in developing school-based teacher leaders who support and address all teachers’ needs, from preservice to teacher leadership. Learn how the district implements a cohesive and effective performance-based compensation system that recognizes, develops, supports, and compensates instructional and leadership excellence. Experience a model for developing, implementing, and testing a high-quality, teacher-directed professional learning program that empowers and retains a diverse teacher workforce while enhancing instructional practice and increasing student outcomes. Identify next steps for modifying and replicating models to support professional growth and student achievement.

See how one school created a solid foundation in schoolwide climate and culture that led to the development and implementation of a data-driven Tier 2 system of support. Expand your knowledge on how to seamlessly integrate Alternative to Suspension in a Tier 2 system that focuses on behavioral and social-emotional development.

Providing a predictable structure of professional learning (in person or virtual) for instructional coaches fosters adult learning and allows for meaningful planning. Differentiating for coaches with varying levels of expertise and experience can be challenging. Meet your coaches’ learning needs while fostering a positive coaching culture. Experience our predictable structure while reflecting on your process for planning coach professional learning. Collaborate with others as we work through the three components of this structure. Design learning for your coaches using a predictable structure. 

The ultimate purpose of coaching is to impact student performance by changing educator practice. Explore and identify different coaching stances within a learning-focused continuum to promote role release and build sustainable practices. Learn different coaching tools to plan for systematic role release. Examine the process for developing an Innovation Configuration (IC) map and how to use it evaluate impact on educator practices. Develop next steps to apply learning in your context.

Experience key aspects of an intensive video case-based, analysis-of-practice science professional learning program and leadership development program that has been tested in large and small districts and across the K-12 system. Learn about the Science Teachers Learning from Lesson Analysis (STeLLA) professional learning program and our significant impact on teacher practice and student learning as well as how we are sustaining the program through teacher leadership development.

Explore ways to lead a school or district through successful implementation of high-quality instructional materials while building your change management skills. Examine tools to help teachers make and remake their knowledge, stay the course, and reflect on changes to pedagogy while avoiding backsliding to old ways. Investigate how different district leaders supported people and themselves through the uncertainty, and leave with strategies to use student work to support change.

As school and district leaders strive to design and implement improvement strategies to meet the needs of their educators and students, tools steeped in improvement science can prove beneficial to their success. Explore real-time strategies for the effective use of logic models and theories of change to undergird improvement efforts.

See student ownership of learning in action. Learn the replicable collaborative teaming structure that yielded this student agency. Hear site leaders candidly share how they built their own professional capacity to lead and scale this work. Review the steps leaders took to prepare teachers for contributing on professional teams dedicated to increasing student ownership of learning. Replicate the process at your site.

Learn how the Austin ISD’s professional learning team shifted to onboarding new hires in a virtual environment using andragogical best practices. Walk through the professional learning scope and sequence for a new instructional staff member, including a district welcome and multiple professional growth opportunities throughout the year. Leave with examples of tools and protocols that you can personalize for your own district’s use.

Explore the components of the Districts Advancing Racial Equity (DARE) tool, which brings together what is known about district actions that can support racial equity. Practice using the tool to build staff capacity, use data-informed decision-making, and track progress toward more racially equitable opportunities and outcomes. Strengthen capacity to address key areas of district practice to build on the strengths and respond to the needs of students of color.

What if making an intentional shift in the way you lead change in schools could greatly increase the likelihood of success? Learn a simple three-step framework to integrate self and team development in designing your next change effort. Apply this to map out a high-level timeline, begin self-reflection, and sketch out an initial assessment of the situation. Leave energized with a clear road map for productive change.

How can preschool function in an online world? Learn how to create a preschool program that extends into your community in person and online with engaging, culturally sustaining, and research-based methods. Using Zoom, Canvas, and extensive professional learning, this early childhood program has made the leap into virtual learning with online home visits, literacy development, and relationship building while preparing students for kindergarten.

During a year of evolving needs, coaches and mentors provided constant, timely support to strengthen educators’ instructional practices. Learn how a district amplified this precious resource with coach-mentor triads in their new teacher program and applied data-driven practices to illuminate the impact, open dialogue among stakeholders, and respond to ongoing teacher needs. Examine how a coaching program is planned, evaluated, and improved using the Assessing Impact methodology.

As America continues to fracture, the humanities offer the language of shared identity and experiences. Drawing from scholarly and instructional resources developed by the National Humanities Center, this session will explore interdisciplinary approaches to finding common ground through literature, art, and music in the English language arts classroom. From the beautiful vignettes of Whitman, Alabama, to the graffiti of social movements in the Middle East, we will discover and discuss open educational resource best practices in the context of culture, identity, and history.

Accelerate learning in your district by creating systems for connected professional learning communities with a focus on instructional coaching and district leadership. Learn how Santa Fe ISD used a systems approach that incorporated long-range vision, an instructional coaching model, a learner model that developed common language, and instruments for impacting the system, resulting in dynamic growth in teachers and students. Leave with a plan for implementing a system for growth.

Explore the seven factors researchers have identified that must be in place for instructional coaches to flourish. Gain strategies to help coaches understand the complexities of adult learning, create an instructional playbook, examine data, and use video. Learn the essential beliefs and habits of conversation that instructional coaches can internalize and practice. Examine effective leadership qualities and what your system must do to support coaches.

This session will address the importance of transformational leadership. School culture provides the context for all good strategies. A transformational leader understands how to motivate, develop talent, and build consensus. Today’s era of constant change requires leaders who understand the development of human capital. We will examine four leadership competencies: communication, trust building, professional support, and accountability.