Update on the 22^nd Annual High Schools That Work Staff Development Conference

 

e're only a few weeks away from the 22nd Annual High Schools That Work Summer Conference, set for July 9 - 12 in Nashville, Tennessee. This year's theme - Skills for Success in the 21st Century - promises to address many of the key challenges today's high school and middle grades students will face during their working lives. These students will shoulder the responsibility of leading our nation in meeting the exciting challenges of the 21st century. Is your school up to the task of preparing them to meet these challenges?

I would like to give you an update on this year's conference and on the opportunities that await you in Nashville. In support of our conference theme, we have an excellent slate of invited guest speakers scheduled to present. These individuals are uniquely qualified to guide teachers, principals and district leaders in ensuring our schools are preparing 21st-century leaders.

A special Thursday morning session will feature Edward Gordon, president, Imperial Consulting Corporation. His presentation, “The 2010 Crossroad: Preventing a Workforce Meltdown,” will focus on the increasing need for an educated and prepared workforce even as the number of workers qualified for 21st-century careers declines.

As in recent summer conferences, sessions focusing on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) will be highlighted on Friday. Our featured speaker will be Raymond Simon, deputy secretary, U.S. Department of Education. He and other members of the President's National Mathematics Advisory Panel will share findings and recommendations for improving mathematics achievement and for getting students to make the effort required to achieve at higher levels. His two conference presentations are “Foundations for Success: The Report of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel,” and “The Findings and Recommendations of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel: An In-Depth Discussion.”

Our Saturday keynote session will feature Leonard Sax, executive director of the National Association for Single Sex Public Education (NASSPE). His presentation is entitled “Boys Adrift: What Schools Can Do to Increase Motivation and Achievement.”

The heart and soul of the summer conference has always been the participation of presenters from HSTW/MMGW network schools and districts and the teams of educators attending the conference. We will have more than 500 sessions this year, and we expect some 8,000 educators from across the United States to be in attendance in Nashville. A few outstanding programs are described below.

If you have not already registered for the summer conference, I urge you to do so. Our featured presenters, along with presentations from schools in our network that have make school improvement work, can help ensure your school is preparing students for the rigors of the 21st century. I look forward to seeing you in Nashville in July.

Gene Bottoms

SREB Senior Vice President

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• Lynn Canady, a professor emeritus at the University of Virginia, will present three programs: “Building Schedules for Grades Nine and 10 That Increase the Odds for Student Success,” “Building Middle School Schedules That Provide Extended Learning Time (ELT) for Reading/Language Arts/Mathematics and an Intervention/Enrichment (EEE period) for Selected Students,” and “School Policies and Grading Practices that Increase the Odds for Student Success and/or Failure.”
   
• Thomas Tretter, assistant professor of science education at the University of Louisville, will present on “Ten Strategies Career/Technical Teachers Can Use to Teach Science Content Embedded in Assignments.”
   
• Travis Park, an assistant professor at Cornell University specializing in agricultural science education, will present on “Career/Technical Teachers Can Advance Students' Reading Achievement and Mastery of Technical Content and Skills.”
   
• James Keefe, president, Learning Environments Consortium International, will present “What is Personalization? What Are School and Classroom Practices That Advance It?”
   
• David Shepard of The Middle Matters will present three sessions in Nashville: “Rules of Engagement: Winning the War against Student Apathy,” “Why SLCs,” and “Dealing Parents In: A Full Deck of Cards.”
   
• Bert Simmons of Simmons Associates will present two programs: “High Expectations Resulting in Greater Academic Success for All Students,” and “The Home/School Connection - Working with Parents Toward Successful Academic Goals.”
   
• Penny Jadwin with Performance Learning Systems will give three programs in Nashville: “Successful Reading Strategies for All Content-Area Classrooms,” “Building a Community of Learners: Differentiated Instruction for Today's Classrooms,” and “Teaching through Sensory and Learning Styles: Meeting the Needs of All Learners.”
   
• Mark Thompson, also with Performance Learning Systems, will give three programs: “Peer Coaching: Teachers Learning Together and Pushing Student Achievement Higher,” “H.O.T Teaching! Using Higher-Order Thinking in the Classroom,” and “Sustaining Academy and Small Learning Communities (SLCs) Success.”
   
• Bart Aslin, director, SME Education Foundation, will present on “Taking STEPS into the Engineering Pipeline.”
   
• Jeanette Hodges, education consultant, will present three sessions: “Real- World Writing for the Real-World Learning,” “Implementing the 'Big Ten' Essential Reading Skills,” and “Infusing Literacy Strategies across the Curriculum to Develop Rigorous Assignments.”
   
• Jan Struebing, district teachers as advisory coordinator, Springdale Public Schools, Arkansas. Ms. Struebing's sessions will be “The Worker of the 21st Century: Are We Preparing Our Students?,” “The Advanced Teachers as Advisers Program: What New Techniques are Being Used?,” and “Raising Expectations Using Literacy Strategies in the CTE Classroom.”
   
• Chad Foster, an author and speaker with Rising Books, and Mike Hall, deputy superintendent, Glynn County Schools, Georgia, will present “High School 101 - 21st Century Skills and High School Transition.”
   
• Heather Zavadsky, director of policy and communication of the Institute for Public School Initiatives, the University of Texas System, will present on “Giving All Students the Keys to College and Skilled Careers: One District's Approach.”
   
• C. Deanna Lewis, manager for career services, Home Builders Institute, Washington, D.C., will present on “Building a Partnership with Industry: One Step at a Time.”
   
• Pat Savini, superintendent, Sussex Technical School District, Delaware, will present on “Converting a Shared-Time Vocational/Technical Center into a Full-Time Comprehensive Technical High School.”

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For more information, e-mail SummerStaffDev@sreb.org.