Building Bridges to College — Portland, OR

Lessons from TurnAround Schools: Strategies for Making Good Elementary Schools Great

What do high-achieving, high-poverty schools do differently? Can these practices be replicated? In a very engaging presentation, principals Jeff King and Damen Lopez share the 6 practical and straightforward strategies that enable students at these extraordinary schools to beat the odds and become academically proficient.

No Excuses University — Bringing Together Cultures of Universal Achievement and Exceptional Systems

This keynote is designed to shape the lessons learned during this Institute into one clear model that supports college readiness for all. Attendees will be inspired by the stories of parents, students, and staff who work within a No Excuses University environment. Today’s presentation will offer strategies and next steps for developing a No Excuses University at your own site.

Making Time to Lead

Let’s face it – principals need more time to lead, but the reality is that there are more demands on their time than there are hours in the day.

In this session, Jeff will share 2 strategies that have the potential to fundamentally change the workflow patterns of hard-working principals. After attending this session, principals will find they can focus less on managing and more on leading, and that significant amounts of time will be freed up for them to lead their learning revolutions.

This session is most appropriate for principals.

Maverick Leadership — Creating a Culture of Universal Achievement

It is one thing to hope for miracles; it is another thing entirely to understand how to lead an extraordinary shift in culture. Jeff will detail 5 specific strategies that principals and school leaders can use to create cultures of universal achievement at their schools.

After attending this breakout session, the process of creating a culture of universal achievement at your school can begin the next day! This session is most appropriate for teacher-leaders, and site and district administrators.

Building School Success Through Effective Collaboration

Many sites take on considerable school wide endeavors without developing an exceptional system for the way they collaborate effectively. Because of this, their efforts tend to produce lackluster results. This session will share how Three Tiered Collaboration can instill a model of collaboration that expands the effectiveness and efficiency of your teams. Learn strategies that will help you organize your collaborative efforts in a way that increases standards alignment, supports ongoing professional growth, and ensures balanced responsibility by all team members.

Utilizing Student Success Teams to Support RTI

Do you currently serve on a Student Assistance Team? Does attending numerous meetings and spending hours on questionable documentation frustrate you? If so, this session will present a streamlined and effective model for supporting at-risk students by developing individual action plans in a simple and efficient manner. This model builds on the strengths of team members, dividing the workload between them and fostering shared responsibility. Attendees will leave this session inspired by this alternative and eager to make changes at their school sites.

Getting Up to Speed: Strategies for Building Reading Fluency

This presentation will highlight the key role of reading fluency and its relationship to comprehension. Participants will learn how to implement a daily six-minute instructional model designed to significantly increase reading fluency in all students. Participants will be introduced to a novel partner routine that can be used as an effective alternative to silent sustained reading.

Effective Vocabulary Instruction: Research-Validated Practices for Increasing Student Achievement

The link between vocabulary, reading comprehension and overall school achievement is well documented in research studies. This presentation will highlight the critical connection between vocabulary and student success. Participants will learn research-validated procedures for selecting and teaching vocabulary words as well as strategies for ensuring active student participation.

Bridging the Gap Between Grade Level Content and English Learners

The number of English learners in our classrooms is rising every year. For English learners to succeed they need to have access to subject area content. Participants will learn effective strategies for scaffolding grade level content. Teachers will leave this session with ready-to-use strategies that will engage their English learners and enable them to succeed.

Teaching Math with Meaning

Jaime Escalante once said, “Math does not have to be made easy. It is easy.” If this is the case, why do so many students struggle with Math? Is it because we do not teach students to learn Math concepts in a way that they truly understand? Sometimes we may actually get in the way of this understanding by using questionable techniques and practices.

This presentation will focus on how to know if you are teaching “Math with Meaning.” Several resources will be made available to help you accomplish this.

Transforming to a Culture of Universal Achievement: Six Steps to Take Along the Way

In developing a Culture of Universal Achievement through the creation of Exceptional Systems, there is no script to follow that provides the answers for your school. However, there are numerous examples of schools that are traveling the same path. What are important steps that must occur?

This presentation will explore these steps and provide practical suggestions for administrators and teachers as to what must be addressed in developing the Exceptional Systems that are necessary to create this culture.

Follow the Teacher: The Five Talents of Exceptional Teachers

kills can be taught. Talents cannot. This session will address the five talents of exceptional teachers. Not all teachers possess these talents, but the great ones have instinctively learned how to hone these five talents to reach their full potential day after day and year after year.

Do you ever feel isolated as a teacher? What can you do about it? How important are relationships and teamwork to the work you do everyday in the classroom? Why should you care when no one else does? What is the difference between teaching and learning? These questions and many more will be answered in this interactive session. Arrive inquisitive with a willingness to engage and leave inspired to be the best teacher you can be!

Getting Results through Radical School Improvement

Come to this session and learn about schools and districts that have gotten results by departing from tradition. You will learn about the importance of using data to transform the instructional learning of your students, school, and district. You will also discover the necessity of pursuing targets of opportunity when they are presented in order to achieve the greatest results for your school through the Priority Leadership Framework.

Whether you are a teacher, principal, or district office administrator, you will leave this session with an assessment of your leadership skills, practical tools, practitioner stories, and an opportunity to network with your peers around innovative and effective academic and behavior interventions occurring at a variety of schools across the country.

Promoting a Climate of Success for Schools

Learn how to create a school climate that supports success for all students. With character education at the hub, teachers and administrators will learn how to construct a common language that permeates the classroom, playground, and home. School rules, discipline, rewards, and classroom management will be linked together to create a single, focused school culture.

Increasing Parent Involvement Through Differentiated Parenting Strategies

Involved, supportive parents enhance student success. Yet involving all parents can often be extremely challenging. How does one connect with that hard-to-reach parent? How do teachers support families that have extraordinary needs? How can the school remove barriers to learning so that a culture of universal achievement is achieved? Schools practice differentiated instruction for students. In a similar manner, learn to support all parents through the development of "Differentiated Parent Involvement".

Retention is Not an Intervention! Developing an exceptional intervention

In this session, participants will discover how to create a school-wide reading intervention program that uses the following essential components:

• School culture that encourages reading success
• Assessments that guide instruction
• Guidelines for effectively grouping students
• Intervention curriculum that gets results
• Techniques for encouraging student motivation

How Can I Manage Small Group Instruction in the Primary Grades?

During this session, participants will learn how to create uninterrupted time for small group instruction and assessment by developing and effectively managing literacy centers. Teachers will return to their classrooms with practical and meaningful center ideas that both promote literacy skills and meet state academic standards.

Using Class Goals and Student Goals to Focus Learning

Antoine de Saint-Exupery once said, A goal without a plan is just a wish.

Using carefully selected class and student goals has proven to be a very effective means for focusing student learning on exactly what is valued by the teacher. Increased student achievement becomes inevitable. Participants in this breakout session will receive a step-by-step format for creating goals, a peek into a “real” class goal setting session, ideas on how to use goals to drive instruction, and tips for overcoming the obstacle of time when setting goals. Since time during this session will be provided for brainstorming and discussion, participants are encouraged to attend with teammates.

Classrooms & Universities: Partnering for Success

Success often comes in the form of solid partnerships. College readiness is no exception. In this session, participants will learn how to effectively use college partnerships to create a strong community of learners, increase student motivation, and promote college readiness. Teachers will leave the session having seen several examples of college partnerships, and will receive resources to assist them in creating their own partnerships.

Building a High Performing School from the Ground Up

In this session, we will examine the important elements of building a middle school that truly serves the interest of every student. We will bridge the gap between theory and practice and examine the strategies that made Levey Middle School in Southfield, Michigan a model PLC and a National Exemplary School. When participants leave this session they will have concrete strategies in the areas of developing a shared mission and vision, institutionalizing ongoing professional development, and how to develop a collaborative culture.

Exceptional Systems at Work: Intervention and Enrichment Block

This session will discuss the critical role that Intervention and Enrichment Blocks have played in improving student achievement at the No Excuses University at Anne Fox School. Participants will examine how changes in an elementary school’s master schedule can accommodate collaborative planning efforts and enable teachers to create powerful Intervention and Enrichment opportunities for all student learners. A careful examination of the role of formative assessment, individual student goal setting, data-driven intervention, collaboration, and celebration will provide participants with a wide array of practical strategies to take back to their own school sights.

Adopting the No Excuses University Framework: A Transformational Process

This session will discuss the transformational process that took place at Anne Fox Elementary School as a result of adopting the No Excuses University framework. Anne Fox School is a low-income, demographically diverse school in Schaumburg Township School District 54. For years, Fox ranked 21st out of 21 schools in the district in terms of student achievement. In the fall of 2006, the faculty rolled out the No Excuses University framework and has seen dramatic gains in academic achievement across all grade levels. Participants will explore how a focus on belief and commitment, academic results, conversation, powerful symbolism, and a maverick spirit have forever changed The No Excuses University at Anne Fox School. Practical applications for teachers and school administrators will be shared.

Building Exceptional Assessment and Accountability Systems for Language Education Programs

In the era of NCLB, schools struggle to show accountability through achievement tests and yet remain focused on student’s leaning. How can assessment for English language learners answer accountability demands and remain faithful to best instructional practices? How can we, as teachers, be smart about using the right type of data to help us make decisions that benefit our students? The answer lies in designing an exceptional assessment system that balances the use of both summative and formative data, centered on students’ learning. In this interactive session, Diep shares the BASIC Model: an exceptional assessment system for second language learners that was developed and used in Schaumburg School District 54, Illinois. Participants will also receive useful handouts that help them build a solid assessment and accountability system for all students in their local schools.

Using Flexible Groups to Differentiate Instruction for Students during Guided Reading

Are you an experienced reading teacher looking for some new fresh, ideas to break up your usual routines during Guided Reading time? Are you a novice teacher looking for ways to better meet the needs of each of your students during Guided Reading? In this interactive session, we will explore: 1) the purpose of Guided Reading in helping our students become fluent readers; 2) the role of flexible grouping in differentiated instruction; and 3) how we can blend these two instructional approaches to create optimal learning opportunities for our students during Guided Reading.

Creating a Culture of Success in the Classroom

Respect, responsibility and accountability. These are three key components to creating a classroom culture where every child experiences success. How do we effectively implement strategies that address the needs of students? This session will introduce a variety of classroom techniques to engage students, hold them accountable and create a culture of success.

Making Every Minute Count: Practical Classroom Strategies for Effective Learning in Math

Which effective strategies help students succeed in math? How can a teacher encourage children to love math? This breakout session will present practical approaches to teaching math in the elementary classroom that encourage willing participation and mastery of every concept. Help students and teachers make every minute count in math!

Leadership for the Differentiated Classroom: Creating and Supporting Responsive Teaching for All Students

High academic achievement for all students can only be accomplished through differentiating our instructional practices to meet diverse student learning needs. In schools where instructional differentiation is effective, the leaders themselves have made it a priority, are knowledgeable of its principles, and are skilled at coaching teachers in modifying instruction for varied learners. By the end of this session, you will be able to explain the key concepts and principles of differentiated instruction, identify key features of an effectively differentiated classroom, and target ways to improve differentiated learning opportunities for students in your school. Join Candy as she shares her experiences, both humorous and poignant, in creating responsive learning environments for all students.

Program Improved! The Leader's Role in Reforming Program Improvement Schools

Strong instructional leadership is essential to developing and sustaining excellent schools and creating a culture of universal achievement for all. In Program Improvement schools, leaders must be the educational and symbolic force that creates the environment and systems necessary to increase academic achievement for ALL students. In this session, you will learn about the exceptional systems and strategies being implemented by bold school leaders to transform a once under-achieving, high minority-high poverty school into one of the most respected and rapidly improving schools in their district and county. Participants should be prepared to leave this session inspired to create these changes in their own schools! This session is most appropriate for teacher-leaders, and site and district administrators.

Making Every Minute Count: Practical Classroom Strategies for Effective Learning in Literacy — Grades 3-5

Learn practical strategies for reading and writing that will help close the achievement gap and promote literacy success for all students. Participants will learn how to skillfully use the following practices to maximize student learning:

• sound teaching practices that raise expectations for optimal learning
• use of standards and assessment that guide instructional planning and purposeful grouping
• scaffolding instruction
• explicit instruction
• guided reading
• designing reading and writing schedules that complement each other

Participants will leave with handouts and ideas that will enhance the quality of their literacy instruction!

Targeted Instruction Through Standards Alignment

Let's face it, the work of standards alignment can be a tedious and often exhausting task. It is without question the blue collar work of an educator. Because of this, many are reluctant to roll up their sleeves and get to work in this area. This session will inspire you by sharing simple and enjoyable ways to work with your staff and/or team as you plan all instruction around standards. No matter your state or grade level, the strategies and ideas learned in this session will set you on the path to creating an exceptional system for standards alignment.

Literacy for Life

This session is ideal for educators interested in gaining an in-depth understanding of the critical role literacy plays in determining quality of life. Participants can expect to:

• Develop a thorough understanding of the urgent need for educators to effectively address literacy for America’s students.
• Have the opportunity to develop and assess philosophical beliefs about best practices in literacy instruction.
• Engage in activities designed to identify and recognize literacy patterns that thread throughout all content areas.
• Begin the planning processes involved in identifying appropriate next steps for your classroom and school.

School Cultures that Work: Strategies for Increasing the Reading Achievement Levels of Students from Diverse Cultural and Ethnic Backgrounds

The goal of this session is to develop culturally competent teachers and administrators, and create common understandings regarding the role of the school in providing students with the cultural capital needed to experience reading success in school. As a result of your involvement in this workshop you will:

• Gain common understandings regarding the nature of the schooling experience from the perspectives of students from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
• Obtain strategies specific to maintaining high expectations for student achievement by differentiating instruction in order to provide culturally relevant learning experiences for students.
• Be provided practical strategies for successfully engaging parents in the goal of increasing reading achievement.
• Begin initial planning stages for the continuous development of culturally competent teachers and administrators.