Gain in-depth knowledge from the experts, practical ideas to implement, and answers to your questions by attending a pre-Convention workshop. The individual fee to attend a pre-Convention workshop is noted with each session listing. The workshop fee does not include lunch. Pre-Convention workshop fees are in addition to the NASSP Convention registration fee and must be paid at the same time. You will not be able to register for a pre-Convention workshop on-site.
To register for a pre-Convention workshop of your choice, simply complete the appropriate information included on the Registration and Ticketed Events Payment Form.
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- How the Brain Learns: Translating Brain Research into Classroom Practice
Date: Friday, March 1
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Location: Georgia World Congress Center
Rooms: 214 & 215
Fee: $190.00
Come to the cutting edge! In this workshop participants will review some of the fascinating new research about how students learn. The workshop includes such topics as the brain's "windows of opportunity," what today's students expect in school, students' changing sensory preferences, the effects of emotions on learning, and some new insights into learning "disorders." The workshop will update the participants' awareness of brain research so that they can consider which classroom strategies and techniques are more likely to result in successful learning. This new research on the brain debunks some of the common and persistent myths about learners and learning. There definitely will be some surprises!
Workshop Presenter
David A. Sousa
Educational Consultant
Palm Beach, FL
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- The Principal As Mentor: Developing Teacher Leaders
Date: Friday, March 1
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Location: Georgia World Congress Center
Rooms: 216 & 217
Fee: $170.00
(Handouts will include related Mentoring and Coaching materials.)
In their work with a wide variety of individuals, principals occasionally take on the role of mentor and work directly with others in a focused effort to develop leadership abilities. A mentor is an experienced role model who guides the professional development of a less experienced protégé through coaching. Both the mentor and the protégé learn about themselves, improve their skills, and grow professionally.
Highly effective principals foster the development of other leaders in their schools-teachers, assistant principals, and students. Participants in this session will practice effective coaching and mentoring processes that they will use to assist protégés in enhancing their leadership capability.
Through active involvement with colleagues, session participants will engage in practice to develop higher levels of effectiveness in the following areas:
- Observing and recording behavior
- Giving feedback and asking questions that enhance protégé reflection
- Listening purposefully
- Analyzing behavior as it relates to professional skills and knowledge
- Assisting a protégé in taking responsibility for his or her own professional growth through individualized professional development planning.
In addition to developing the skills essential to effectively serve as a mentor, participants will have opportunities to explore current effective practice and to reflect on their own skills and practices as school leaders.
Workshop Presenter
Kermit G. Buckner
Associate Professor and Chair
Department of Educational Leadership
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC
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- High School Curriculum and Instruction Matters: What Principals Do To Lead Change in What Students Are Taught, How They Are Taught, and What Is Expected of Them
Date: Friday, March 1
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Location: Georgia World Congress Center
Rooms: 304 & 305
Fee: $170.00
(Handouts will include a benchmarking document sent in advance for completion by participants.)
How have successful school leaders changed their school's curriculum, instruction, and overall attitude about what students can do in order to improve student achievement? Gene Bottoms, founding director of the Southern Regional Education Board's (SREB) High Schools That Work (HSTW), will draw from the lessons learned over the past 15 years with the HSTW network to present the most effective strategies in improving high school students' achievement. HSTW, one of the nation's largest secondary school reform efforts, teaches to all students what historically has been offered only to the "best" students.
Bottoms will then be joined by school administrators from four successful high schools in a panel discussion about their schools and what they did to lead their high school improvement efforts.
Panelists may include:
- John Bennett
Principal
Gilmer County High School
Glenville, WV
- Sherryl Loya
Principal
Los Fresnos High School
Los Fresnos, TX
- Peter Rickard
Principal
Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School
Franklin, MA
- Sheridan Hamilton
Principal
Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School
and Orangeburg Consolidated Five Technology Center
Orangeburg, SC
In the afternoon, Kathy O'Neill, director, SREB Leadership Initiative, will lead a discussion about what tomorrow's principals need to know and be able to do to improve achievement for all students. The discussion will be based on the morning panel discussion and recent research collected by SREB.
Registered participants will receive a benchmarking document before the workshop so they may collect the necessary data from their high schools. Participants will use this information to establish baseline data on key indicators regarding curriculum and instruction and student expectations. In the afternoon, participants will break into small groups to discuss each indicator and specific targets for change on which to focus for the next three to four years. They will identify actions they can take with their faculties to change what students are taught, how they are taught, and what is expected of them.
Workshop Facilitators
Gene Bottoms
Senior Vice President
Southern Regional Education Board
Atlanta, GA
Kathy O'Neill
Director
Leadership Initiative
Southern Regional Education Board
Atlanta, GA
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Breaking Ranks Leadership Team Development: Strategies for Principals
Date: Friday, March 1
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Location: Georgia World Congress Center
Room: 205
Fee: $170.00
(Handouts will include related Breaking Ranks materials.)
Breaking Ranks: Changing an American Institution, a report from NASSP and the Carnegie Corporation, has generated a great deal of discussion about high school reform. This workshop provides participants with strategies and approaches to effectively implement Breaking Ranks recommendations in their schools.
Activities will demonstrate strategies for building new teams and developing the strength of existing teams. Participants will learn how to involve their entire staff in analyzing the strengths and needs of their schools.
The workshop will enhance participants' knowledge of the Breaking Ranks' recommendations and provide strategies for analyzing schools' progress in implementing the recommendations. Strategies to develop networks for schools to support one another in their efforts to implement Breaking Ranks initiatives will be discussed.
During this program, participants will:
- Develop an increased awareness and knowledge of how the themes and recommendations presented in Breaking Ranks: Changing an American Institution affect learning communities
- Have opportunities to connect Breaking Ranks initiatives with the purpose and mission of their own schools
- Develop increased understanding of the change process
- Develop a better understanding of teamwork and its importance in effectively implementing school improvements
- Learn strategies to enhance the strength of the school leadership team
- Develop a better understanding of the importance of personal professional development planning in bringing about significant school change
- Establish networking and follow-up strategies with teams from other schools to help provide support for school transformation initiatives.
Workshop Presenters
Dorothy Hardin
Principal
Pikesville High School
Reisterstown, MD
Robert Kemmery
Principal
Eastern Technical High School
Baltimore, MD
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- The Breaking Ranks Model: A Data-Driven Comprehensive School Renewal Process
Date: Friday, March 1
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Location: Georgia World Congress Center
Rooms: 218 & 219
Fee: $170.00
(Handouts will include related Breaking Ranks materials.)
A team from the Northeast & Islands Regional Educational Laboratory, a program of the Education Alliance at Brown University (LAB), will demonstrate the major components of the Breaking Ranks Model. In this interactive session, participants will learn about methods, tools, and technology that 19 high schools have been using to plan and implement changes based on Breaking Ranks. Participants will become familiar with a relational data base that allows schools to examine both their progress in implementing the Breaking Ranks Model and the improvements in student performance that result.
In the workshop, participants will:
- Become familiar with the key elements of the Breaking Ranks Model
- Engage in an activity using a Breaking Ranks Faculty Profile to guide a school's planning and development of a Breaking Ranks Implementation Plan
- Interactively learn about methods and technology that can be used to examine multiple aspects of student performance and program effectiveness
- Discuss strategies to encourage student and other voices in the Breaking Ranks planning process
- Examine techniques that schools have used to personalize learning
- Explore how standards-based learning defines the instructional focus
- Interact with principals who have developed and implemented the Breaking Ranks Model within their schools.
Workshop Presenters
A. Thomas Billings
Secondary Education Professor
Salem State College
Salem, MA
Martha Cray-Andrews
Senior Associate
Center for Resource Management, Inc.
South Hampton, NH
Joseph A. DiMartino
Director for Student Centered Learning
Education Alliance
LAB at Brown University
Providence, RI
Mary Ann Lachat
Program Leader Teaching and Learning
Center for Resource Management, Inc.
South Hampton, NH
Nancy Mullen
Principal
Mount Pleasant High School
Providence, RI
Ann Papagiotas
Principal
North Reading High School
North Reading, MA
Jeff Park
Program Planning Specialist
Education Alliance
LAB at Brown University
Providence, RI
Patti Smith
Research and Evaluation Specialist
Education Alliance
LAB at Brown University
Providence, RI
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- Middle Level Long Conference
Using Data To Improve Student Performance
Date: Friday, March 1
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Location: Georgia World Congress Center
Rooms: 306 & 307
Fee: $125.00
This session will teach principals and their teams how to use data to improve student performance. Schools have access to many different types of data, including student achievement data. Unfortunately, very few schools have the time or expertise to deeply examine and make use of their data for student or school improvement. In this interactive session, participants will receive a brief introduction to using data before moving into a workshop setting where they will engage in a series of hands-on exercises to learn about different methods of using data. Using fictitious data, participants will learn various approaches to data analysis and how to apply those approaches to analyses of both student and school-level data. In addition, this session will assist principals in learning how to better integrate data analysis into school improvement planning.
Session participants will:
- Use student and school-level data to analyze data, set priorities, identify goals, and assess results
- Learn data analysis methods that can be used to examine multiple aspects of student performance and school effectiveness
- Interact with facilitators and other principals while using data to clarify problems, choose appropriate strategies, and manage change.
Workshop Presenters
Steven B. Mertens
Senior Research Scientist
Institute of Government and Public Affairs
University of Illinois
Champaign, IL
Lani Seikaly
Project Director Maryland Business Roundtable;
and Consultant Maryland State Department of Education
McLean, VA
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