22^nd Annual HSTW Staff Development Conference

Conference Objectives

1. Increase success for all students by having high expectations for what students know (content) and can do (performance).
    
2. Increase success by creating multiple program of study pathways that connect career/technical studies to high school reform, academic studies, postsecondary studies, and workplace requirements and opportunities.
    
3. Increase success for all groups of students in rigorous academic courses by creating classroom conditions that enable students to meet content and performance standards.
    
4. Increase success by using technology and instructional strategies that engage students in learning and using rigorous academic and technical content in a variety of meaningful ways.
    
5. Increase student achievement, high school graduation rates, and successful transitions to postsecondary studies and careers by creating school and classroom practices that encourage students to make the effort to perform at high levels.
    
6. Increase success by creating guidance, advisement and support systems that enable at least 90 percent of students to graduate from high school and succeed in postsecondary studies and in the 21st-century workplace.
    
7. Increase success by supporting school and teacher leaders to use data and input from students, parents and teachers to continuously improve the learning environment.
    
8. Increase success by incorporating 21st-century skills into assignments that engage students in meeting academic and technical content and performance standards.

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1. Increase success for all students by having high expectations for what students know (content) and can do (performance).

1. Assist teachers to set performance standards for defining A, B and C grades that are aligned to college and career readiness.
2. Implement the Power of I or other grading strategies to motivate students to redo work until it meets grade-level content and performance standards.
3. Teach and assess students’ mastery of 21st-century skills.
4. Create common understanding among teachers, school leaders, parents and students about what grade-level work looks like.

2. Increase success by creating multiple program of study pathways that connect career/technical studies to high school reform, academic studies, postsecondary studies, and workplace requirements and opportunities.

1. Learn how to create and implement model  programs of study, beginning in the middle grades and high school, for high-demand, high-skill, high-wage fields that require certification, an associate’s degree, and/or a bachelor’s degree or higher.
2. Teach the reading, mathematics and science content and skills embedded in career/technical curriculum by having students apply academic knowledge to complete class projects.
3. Create school organizational structures and schedules that enable academic, career/technical and exploratory teachers in middle grades and high school to plan integrated learning activities and projects that increase students’ academic and technical achievement.
4. Examine specific practices that the Technology Centers That Work design uses to improve graduation rates, enhance academic achievement and provide students with recognized employer certification.
5. Implement successful programs to connect high school career/technical studies to postsecondary studies and employment opportunities.

3. Increase success for all groups of students in rigorous academic courses by creating classroom conditions that enable students to meet content and performance standards.

1. Increase the number of middle grades students completing Algebra I and challenging language arts/reading and lab-based science courses aligned to high school readiness standards.
2. Increase annually the percentage of high school graduates completing four college-preparatory English courses, four mathematics courses (Algebra I and higher), three lab-based college-preparatory science courses and three social studies courses in an academic and/or career concentration.
3. Align middle grades and high school core academic courses, teacher assignments, classroom assessments and student work to high school, college- and career-readiness standards.
4. Examine successful practices at middle grades and high schools that are getting more students to achieve at or above grade level in reading, mathematics and science.
5. Support schoolwide literacy and study skills initiatives in middle grades and high school.

4. Increase success by using technology and instructional strategies that engage students in learning and using rigorous academic and technical content in a variety of meaningful ways.

1. Integrate technology into all classes as a tool to advance achievement, research and problem solving; to assess and analyze information; and to improve oral and written communication.
2. Learn how to advance achievement in all courses by addressing six reading performance standards.
3. Create common language and instructional planning templates that will result in greater student engagement and learning.
4. Understand what good project- and problem- based  learning looks like in middle grades and high school.
5. Support teachers to make greater use of research-based instructional practices, including independent study, cooperative learning teams, senior projects, community-based learning and differentiated instruction.

5. Increase student achievement, high school graduation rates, and successful transitions to postsecondary studies and careers by creating school and classroom practices that encourage students to make the effort to perform at high levels.

1. Examine effective school and classroom practices in schools in which success is based on effort.
2. Consider how adult and student behaviors and beliefs differ in an effort-based versus an ability-based school.
3. Assess 11th-grade students’ readiness for postsecondary studies and careers and use the senior year to get unprepared students ready for college, give prepared students a jump start on college and help more students earn employer certification.
4. Support teachers to participate in staff development that results in effort-based school and classroom practices.
5. Develop master teachers who can train, mentor and support other teachers to use effort-based practices.

6. Increase success by creating guidance, advisement and support systems that enable at least 90 percent of students to graduate from high school and succeed in postsecondary studies and in the 21st-century workplace.

1. Redesign the transition from middle grades to ninth grade to reduce ninth-grade failure rates, improve achievement, connect each student to an adult and increase graduation rates.
2. Teach at-risk middle grades and high school students the study skills and other habits of success that make independent learners.
3. Establish a guidance and advisement system that involves parents and guardians in supporting students to plan and complete a goal-focused program of study beginning in the middle grades.
4. Create an effective support system including extra help and time and grade- and credit-recovery programs that motivate students to put forth the effort to meet grade-level standards.
5. Design programs of study that enable at-risk students to enroll in one or two career/technical courses in grade nine as part of a coherent sequence leading to employment and further study.

7. Increase success by supporting school and teacher leaders to use data and input from students, parents and teachers to continuously improve the learning environment.

1. Establish focus teams of school and teacher leaders for curriculum, guidance, staff development, use of data and transitions to lead improvement efforts and to guide implementation of MMGW and HSTW Key Practices.
2. Create and maintain small learning communities in middle grades and high schools, organized around integrated themes and with common time for curriculum and instructional planning.
3. Learn what experts and school leaders have to say about leading school change.
4. Gather feedback from students, parents, high school teachers, leaders, postsecondary institutions and employers to improve middle grades and high school practices.
5. Engage school staff in using data to improve school culture, school and classroom practices and individualized work with students.

8. Increase success by incorporating 21st-century skills into assignments that engage students in meeting academic and technical content and performance standards.

1. Incorporate reasoning, analytical thinking and problem-solving skills into assignments to advance reading, mathematics, science and technical achievement.
2. Engage students to assess, analyze and communicate (orally and in writing) information to advance academic and technical achievement.
3. Develop assignments that engage students’ curiosity, imagination and entrepreneurial inclinations to motivate them to make the effort to advance their academic and technical achievement.
4. Study best practices for using 21st-century skills to advance student learning.
5. Develop and implement strategies to educate students and parents about the requirements for success in the flat world of the 21st century.

 

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