Topical Program Tracks

Meet the Experts, Share the Success, and Exhibitors Workshop Sessions by Conference Track

Session titles are preliminary and are provided only to give you an idea of the range of programming options available at the Conference. Final program details are subject to change.

Accountability

Holding teachers, administrators, board members, students, parents, and the community responsible for student success.

• Balanced Scorecard — A Peformance Mangement Tool to Improve Academic and Organizational Performance
• Barriers to Effective School Leadership: The Autonomy Gap
• Declining Enrollment — How to Manage It
• Destination Excellence: Innovative High School Redesign Through Career Academies and Small Learning Communities
• Determining What Works — Local Program Evaluation
• From the Boardroom to the Classroom: Aligning Superintendent Evaluation and Board Self-Assessment
• Performance Plan and Review — A Positive Alternative to Superintendent Evaluation
• Student Tracker: A Low-Cost Way to Provide Hard Data on Your Graduates (No Surveys) Showing College and University Enrollment, Persistance, and Graduation
• The School Board's Role in Approving School and District Improvement Plans
• Toward Effective Staffing: How Policies and Rules Can Better Support Districts in Hiring and Keeping High-Quality Teachers
• Transformational Schools: How to Turn Around Underperforming Schools in 2008
• We're In This Together: Collaborative Goal Setting for Superintendent Evaluation

Alignment

Applying resources to the achievement of district standards and priorities.

• Beating the Odds: Raising Student Achievement in the Midst of Ever Changing Demographics
• Closing the Achievement Gap for At-Risk Learners
• Creating a System Where There is Never a Gap to Close: Early Learning Centers for Ages 3 to Kindergarden
• Ethical Literacy: Helping Build School Cultures of Integrity
• Leadership Induction, Teacher Induction: A Formula for Future Success
• Leap Ahead! One District's Steps Toward Full Day Kindergarten
• Quality Math Instruction Begins with Quality Resources: How to Align Textbooks to Your State Curriculum
• Raising Standards on a Shoe-String Budget: Innovative, Cost-Effective Means of Promoting Higher Student Achievement
• Reading to Learn: Eight Ways School Boards Can Promote Literacy in Grades 4-12
• Ready Set Hire — Long Range Staffing Plans for High Performance
• Strategies for Developing Sustainable Funding for After-School Programs
• The Role of School Board Members as Champions for After-School Programs

Climate

Creating an environment for students and adults to optimize learning.

• A Primer on Disaster Recovery: Practical Information for Any School District
• Campus Safety & Security: A Suburban Texas Model
• Creating Healthy Schools — What Role Do You Play?
• Creating Section 504 Experts in Your System
• Dealing with Difficult People
• Encore! Ovations...A Community Stands Up for Arts Education!
• Extreme Makeover: Transforming a High Poverty/Multi- Ethnic School District from Unsatisfactory to Successful in Only Two Years
• How Black Students Experience School: Implications for District Planning and Improvement
• Leadership for the Future: Lessons for Board Chairs, Board Members and Superintendents
• Managing a School Crisis: A Community Approach
• No Child Left Behind Impact On Substitute Teaching and How To Capitalize On It
• Non-defensive Communication to Increase Rapport, Reduce Stress, and Improve Negotiations
• Nurturing the Whole Child to Close the Achievement Gap
• Random Student Drug Testing: Does It Fail or Protect Our Youth?
• Response to Intervention: A Realistic Approach
• Roots of Empathy: Changing the World Classroom by Classroom
• Sharpening the District's Leadership Through An Individual Educational Plan for the School Board and the Leadership Team
• Small Learning Communities: The Pathway to Alignment, Engagement, and Rigor
• Staff Recognition and Appreciation: Beyond the Paycheck-Low Cost Ways to Rrecruit and Keep the Best Staff in Your District
• Step It Up: A District's Committment to Personal Wellness
• The Magic Begins — Marketing Positive Images of Your Schools!
• The Task Force on Safe Schools — Involving Your Community
• Turning Dreams into Reality: How to Put Theory into Practice to Create a Positive Learning Environment
• What Brain Research and Neuroscience Tells Us About Educational Facilities or School Design
• What is a Sustainable Learning Environment? Case Studies of Three High Performance Academic Facilities

Collaboration

Developing long-term, successful relationships inside and outside the system.

• A Gold Medal Partnership-Schools and Parks are Reaching Children
• Aren't We in this Thing Together?
• Bargaining Health Insurance
• Bring Your Community Together to Promote Literacy and Learning
• Building Better Relationships with Your Union
• Creating a Statewide Leadership Alliance
• Drive In Versus Sit Down: Forming an Effective Personnel Cooperative
• Effective Use of Board Committees
• Health Departments: What in the World Do They Do Anyway?
• Involving Parents, Schools, and Community Organizations in Creating a System of Care for Youth
• It Ain't Over Till It's Over
• Leading Change from Good to Great: Board Leadership for Academic Improvement
• Pathway to the Baccalaureate Program: Promoting Transition and Retention of At-Risk Students from High School, through Community College to a Four-Year College
• Successful City and School District Collaboration in Action: Implementing Local Wellness Policies
• Sweetwater's Compact for Success: Effective Collaboration for School Transformation
• Teachers' Contract = Partnership Agreement: A Reality, Not a Pipe Dream
• The Governance Mosaic...How a Highly Effective School Board-Superintendent Relationship Fostered National Recognition and Top Academic Achievement in an Era of No Child Left Behind
• The Journey: Closing the Achievement Gap in an Ethnically Diverse School
• The Lion Tamer: Board Liaison Role in Subduing Egos and Facilating Communication between the Superintendent and Board
• The Power of Partnerships: How an Urban District and a Cultural Organization Partner to Create a Fundable and Inclusive School/Community Program
• Under One Roof — The Power of Collaboration
• Warren Township Kindergarten Transition Initiative: Ready Schools for Ready Kids
• Who's Teaching Who: Matching Struggling Math Students with Pre-Service Education Majors

Community Engagement

Leading the community in setting the mission for your district.

• A Conversation About the School Board's Role During the Superintendent Search Process
• Accountability and Community Engagement: Communicating District Progress and Performance to the Public in a Continuous Improvement Environment
• An "Innovative" Approach to Community Participation in District Planning
• Back to the Future: How We Developed a School of the Future
• Beyond Test Scores: Build Positive Relationships Between Your School and the Community - Show Them How Students Are Learning!
• Blogging School Leaders: Directly Engage Your Community Using the Internet. We'll Show You How!
• Building Community Consensus: An Open Process for Collaboration and Communication
• Can You Hear Me Now? Stay Connected with Your Parents, Staff, Students and Community
• Civic Engagement through Service Learning — Using Community Partnerships to Develop Engaged Citizens
• Community Engagement: A Vital Component to a Successful English Language Learner Program
• Community Engagement: Involving Parents and the Community in Our Schools
• Constituent Services: A Process for Board Member Service to Constituents
• Developing a 20/20 Focus for Your District
• From Controversy to Consensus: A Redistricting Plan that Works
• Getting Your Vision Right — Starting with the Classroom
• Gift of Literacy: Inspiring Young Readers through Partnership
• Grassroots Advocacy: Speak up and Make a Difference
• Healthy Communities Start With Healthy Kids: Innovative Ways to Engage Children, Families and Communities in Play
• How Solid Is Your Foundation? Strategies for Creating District and School Policies that Promote Effective Parental Involvement Efforts
• Improving the Public Image of Your School District
• Is That Actually in My Job Description??! The Real Work of a Public School Board Member
• Make Celebrating Academic Sucesses a Community Effort
• Partnering for Success: School and Community Collaborations for Student, Family, and Community Progress
• School District Communication Plan and Positive Media Relations....A Lagniappe Effort
• School-Community Partnerships: A Model For Building A Healthier Future For Our Students
• Strategic Planning for Increased Student Achievement: A Guide to Increase Community Engagement
• Strategic Planning in a Small Suburban District: Leadership and Communication Techniques Used to Ensure Success
• Successful Careers of Tomorrow Must Be Nurtured Today
• Supplemental Educational Services: Making it Work in a Large Urban District
• Telling Our Story, Then Telling It Again...Again...Again: The Key To Jackson Public Schools' Landmark Bond Victory
• The Parent Chat: How to Hammer Small Town Rumors
• Where is the "Change" in Your Red Couch? Using Youth Engagement and Youth Voice to Create Student Success

Continuous Improvement

Using data to drive decisions and improve quality across the system.

• A Possible Dream: Retaining Covington Teachers So All Students Can Learn
• Back From the Brink: Three Strategies that Restored Our Community's Faith in Its Schools
• Building Better Brains: Developing 41 Cognitive Skills to Boost Performance
• Building Successful Schools in Montgomery County Though Professional Learning Communities
• Classroom to Boardroom: Communication Continuum of Data Dissemination and How to be Successful
• Continuous Improvement Planning: the Big Picture
• Co-Teaching as a School System Strategy for Continuous Improvement and Increased Student Achievement
• Creating a District-Wide Culture of Data Inquiry: A Three Year Longitudinal Study
• Data Makes the Difference: A Streamlined Data-Based Strategic Planning and Goal-Setting Process
• Effective Board Leadership: How Strong Policy Development Yields Academic Success
• Effective Meetings: A Balance of Democracy and Efficiency
• From Dysfunctional Board to Canadian National Award Winner: Case Study of a Turnaround
• Funding Best Practices: Writing Grants to Increase Student Achievement Through Before/After School Programs
• High Performance Schools & the Many Shades of Green
• High School 2020: Preparing for the Future Today
• How Does a School Board, and the District It Governs, Go From Good to GREAT?
• Improving Student Achievement K-12: A Model You Can Copy!
• Increased National Board Certification = Increased Student Achievement
• Instructional Leadership Behaviors of Superintendents: Views from the Principalship
• It Takes a Lawyer? Volunteer Attorneys Making a Difference in the Classroom
• It's Already Happening: Strategies Common to Every High-Achieving, Low-Income Elementary School
• Keeping Ahead of the Adequate Yearly Progress Targets: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Achieving High Test Scores in a Diverse District
• Ossining Creates a Culturally Competent Learning Community: Students Soar
• Performance Excellence in the 21st Century: A Small Suburban School District's Successful Use of the Baldrige Framework
• Putting First Things First: Transforming an Urban School District
• Recognizing Effective School Boards
• Recruiting, Retooling, Responding — Staffing a City School District
• Student Achievement Begins With the Local School Board: Implementing the Effective School Model
• Summer Programs that Close the Achievement Gap
• Teacher Quality: A Tool for Closing the Educational Achievement Gap for Latino Students
• The Kids Left Behind: Catching Up the Underachieving Children of Poverty
• The Multiple Roles of a School Board — What Are They and When Do They Apply?
• Transforming Data into Actions: How to Strategically Use Data to Improve Teacher Effectiveness and Student Performance
• Using the Baldrige Quality Indicators: A New Path to Committed Continuous Improvement
• We Are Readers!
• We're All in This Together: The School Board's Role on Kentucky's Voluntary Partnership Assistant Team

School Law

Preventing litigation and providing updates on legal decisions impacting education.

• A Board Policy Conundrum: Can Board Policy Create Liability?
• Best Practices to Avoid Liability
• Bullying and Harassment in Schools
• Diversity and Integration: Making Student Assignment Plans Work in a Post-Seattle/Louisville World
• Legal Issues Affecting English Language Learners
• Participation in High School Sports, A Privilege, Not a Right
• Public Commentary Going Global: The Good, the Bad and How It Can Get Ugly
• Responding to Immigration Issues in Our Schools
• School Law: Are You Smarter Than A Board President?
• Snowmen, Santa, and Silent Night: A Seasonal Tutorial
• Special Education: What You Need to Know to Avoid Litigation
• Student Free Speech After Morse
• Title IX: Recognizing Problem Areas and Corrective Measures

Standards & Assessment

Establishing standards, measures for gauging progress, and assessments based on those measures

• A System that Works: Improving Student Achievement
• Cecil H. Parker, A High Performing/Gap Closing School
• Curriculum That Works to Raise Student Achievement
• Data, Data, Who Has the Data? Now that We Have It, What are We Going to do With It
• Demystifying State Assessment Systems: Using Data to Inform Teaching Practice
• Developing and Implementing Standards Based Assessment and Grading Policy
• Music Instruction That Tips the Scales In Favor of Student Achievement
• No Excuses
• Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
• Systemic Change and Improvement: The Case for Ongoing Renewal and Reform
• The Fundamental Shift in Teaching Physical Education with Technology
• Transforming the Curriculum Revision Process: Using a Research Design Model to Develop and Implement a High-Quality Science Curriculum that Promotes and Sustains Science Literacy within Students and Teachers
• Using an Unique Scheduling Format for Middle Schools to Drastically Improve all Quantifiable Measurements for Improvement

Technology

Using technology for student achievement, administration, and everyday teaching.

• Automate — Empower your School Board to go Paperless — How to Implement a Fully-Automated Paperless Board Meeting Solution
• Become a Board Secretary of the Future with Electronic Workflow Technology
• Best Practices to Improve Pupil Transportation Operations: Improving Safety, Efficiency and Employee Retention Using Technology
• Bridging Achievement Gaps in Second Language Learners through Technology
• Classroom Amplification Makes an Academic Difference
• Creating a 21st Century High School with 1:1 Laptop Computers
• High Tech Communication Strategies Make the District an Open Book
• Internet Safety in a Web 2.0 World
• Leveraging Technology for Student Achievement
• Protecting Children Online....What Every School District Should Know About Cyberbullying and Other Student Risks Online
• Results Matter! Schools Close Achievement Gaps by Transforming Teaching and Learning with Technology
• Right-Click, Copy, Paste: Copyright and Plagiarism in Schools
• Todays Activity Solutions to Combat Obesity and Inactivity
• Transforming Teaching and Learning Through Technology...Meeting the Needs of 21st Century Learners

Timely Debate

Presenting hot issues, including those related to educational reform.

• Body Mass Index Measurement in Schools
• Building a Global School District: Prepare Your Students for the Global Economy
• Comprehensive Teacher Induction: The Effort Pays Off
• Design, Pilot, and Implementation of an Early College High School
• Implementing Feasible Wellness Programming with Outcomes-Based Healthy Results
• School Board Leadership: What Research Tells Us
• Student Learning: What Does Physical Education Have to Do With It?
• Student's Rights in the 21st Century: Are We Losing Perspective?
• The Alliance for a Healthier Generation School Beverage Guidelines: A Joint Initiative of the William J. Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association
• The Role of the School Board in Implementing Academic Study of the Bible: First Amendment Issues

Session titles are preliminary and are provided only to give you an idea of the range of programming options available at the Conference. Final program details are subject to change.