Conference Objectives and Topic Areas

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Before deciding on any education conference, you want to know what the conference is about. 

With the Making Schools Work Conference, we make it easy by providing you with our conference objectives and sample topic areas so that you can see what you will get out of our conference.

Conference Objectives

Each of our nearly 400 sessions throughout the conference focuses on one of five focus areas:

  1. Engaging Instruction – Engage each student in every classroom through high-quality instruction that incorporates powerful literacy and mathematics practices and project-based assignments.

  2. Aligned Curriculum – Ensure each student has equitable access to challenging academic and technical curricula that align instruction, assignments and assessments with grade-level readiness standards.

  3. Career Pathways – Offer each student access to career pathways and programs of study that align with workforce needs and include opportunities to earn industry or postsecondary credentials and participate in work-based learning.

  4. Systems of Support – Provide each student with the personalized career guidance, advisement, social and emotional supports, and extra help and accelerated learning opportunities needed to graduate ready for college and careers.

  5. Leadership for Continuous Improvement – Engage the whole school community in promoting a culture of high expectations and continuously using data to identify problems of practice and develop action plans to solve those problems.

Conference Topics

Our presenters are made up of educators and experts from across the country. We offer around 400 sessions each year. What this means is that we cover a lot of topics throughout the week.

Here is an idea of just some of the topics you will see at the conference, but there are many more beyond just these:

Sample Conference Topics
Achievement Educator effectiveness Poverty
Artificial Intelligence Elementary schools Principal preparation and support
Business partnerships Engagement and motivation Professional learning communities
Career academies English/language arts Programs of study
CTE and career pathways English learners Project- and problem-based learning
Classroom management Evaluation and research Rural educational issues
Coaching Feedback and observations School improvement
College and career readiness Formative assessments School culture and climate
Community partnerships High schools Science
Comprehensive school reform Improving instruction Social studies
Continuous improvement Instructional leadership Special education
Counseling and advisement Leadership development STEM
Culturally responsive pedagogy Literacy Student voice and choice
Data-driven decision making Mathematics Teacher induction and peer mentoring
Deeper learning Middle grades schools Teacher preparation
Discipline and behavioral issues Networked improvement communities Technology centers
Dual enrollment/dual credit Online, blended and hybrid instructional strategies Title I
Early college high schools Parent engagement Trauma
Education policy Personalized learning Urban educational issues
Educational technology Postsecondary access and success Worked-based learning

Are you an expert on one of these topics or another educational topic you think we should include? Consider being a presenter!