| Presenter | Session Title | Description | Strand | Session Length |
| Nadia Lopez | Disrupting the School to Prison Pipeline | Our kids are our future, and it's crucial they believe it themselves. This is why Dr. Nadia Lopez opened a revolutionary middle school in Brownsville, one of the most underserved and violent neighborhoods in all of New York City. In her keynote, Dr. Lopez will talk about her unwavering belief that every child is brilliant and has capabilities no matter the zip code and how we can turn schools into transformative educational spaces that disrupt systems that hinder our children's overall growth. | Opening Keynote-Day 1 | 60 Minutes |
| Robert Marzano and Melissa Bloom | The Transformational Role of Competency Based Education | Join Dr. Robert Marzano as he considers the future of education. Competency-based instruction is focused on students demonstrating mastery at their own pace by applying knowledge and concepts in authentic ways. Learn how equity can be enhanced, students and teachers can foster stronger awareness of individual student needs, and how students can demonstrate their passions in ways that extend beyond traditional assessment | Featured Session- Day 2 | 60 Minutes |
| Michael Toth | Why Instructional Systems Dampen Life Chances for Black and Brown Students | Do race and family income determine a child’s life chances? Too often, students of color and those from low socioeconomic backgrounds stay disadvantaged as they move through schools built on legacy instructional systems that deny them academic rigor and student agency. In this breakout session, Michael D. Toth – founder and CEO of Learning Sciences International, multi-award-winning education author, and leader of LSI’s Applied Research Center – will reveal the invisible and inequitable instructional systems at the root of every district. Participants will learn the key systems that can shift schools from low-rigor, low-agency classrooms to authentic, culturally responsive, empowering learning environments where every student thrives. | Keynote-Day 2 | 60 Minutes |
| Kwame Alexander | Say Yes | Kwame shares stories from overcoming the NOs—winning the most prestigious children’s book award in America after five years of rejections from publishers—to dreaming the impossible—building a library and health clinic in Ghana, and everything in between—all by saying YES, to himself. | Closing Keynote - Day 3 | 60 Minutes |
| Mindy Province and Liz Buzzanca | Getting Started with a Student-Centered Classroom | Do you want students to take ownership of their learning, but are not sure how to get started? Building a learning environment for students to share, collaborate and learn from one another can happen quickly when the proper structures are in place. In this session, participants will learn foundational structures and routines that allow students the opportunity to begin having productive academic conversations, while taking ownership of their learning. | Core Instruction and Curriculum | 180 Minutes |
| Kirstie Lickliter | FL BEST PD: Digging into Florida BEST Standards – ELA K-5 | Engage in hands-on activities that delve into what the Florida BEST standards require students to know and be able to do in ELA at each grade level. Explore the implications for K-5 planning by examining how standards evolve across prior and subsequent grade levels. | Core Instruction and Curriculum | 180 Minutes |
| Mtetwa Ramdoo | FL BEST PD: Digging into Florida BEST Standards – ELA 6-12 | Engage in hands-on activities that delve into what the Florida BEST standards require students to know and be able to do in ELA at each grade level in middle and high school. Explore the implications for grades 6-12 planning by examining how standards evolve across prior and subsequent grade levels. | Core Instruction and Curriculum | 180 Minutes |
| Jennifer Watson | FL BEST PD: Digging into Florida BEST Standards – Math K-5 | Engage in hands-on activities that delve into what the Florida BEST standards require students to know and be able to do in math at each grade level. Explore the implications for K-5 planning by examining how standards evolve across prior and subsequent grade levels. | Core Instruction and Curriculum | 180 Minutes |
| Bindu Sunil | FL BEST PD: Digging into Florida BEST Standards – Math 6-12 | Engage in hands-on activities that delve into what the Florida BEST standards require students to know and be able to do in math within each grade level/course in middle and high school. Explore the implications for grades 6-12 planning by examining how standards evolve across prior and subsequent grade levels. | Core Instruction and Curriculum | 180 Minutes |
| Ron Nash | The Power of We | First presented at BE2018, this highly interactive session models practical strategies for sparking student engagement. A high percentage of companies today seek and value employees who can communicate clearly (orally and in writing) and collaborate effectively. By contrast, as a new teacher in the industrial age, I was known to exhort my students to “Do your own work!” regularly. Such communication as there was in many, perhaps most, classrooms in the mid to late 20th century, was between the teacher and a handful of students. Kids gotta move and kids gotta talk; in this session Ron will model engagement strategies such as standing pair share, pairs squared, paired verbal fluency, and give one/get one. Wear some comfortable shoes; you’ll be up, moving, pairing, sharing, laughing, and learning in this fast-paced breakout. | Conditions for Equity | 90 Minutes |
| Ron Nash | In Praise of Foibles | Winston Churchill often said that failure is not fatal and success is not final. Every basketball coach would agree; mistakes and unforced errors are teachable moments. Today’s companies want employees to take appropriate risks in the pursuit of organizational goals. Teachers should not be afraid to take risks on behalf of students; a former principal and superintendent told me he encouraged his teachers to go out on a limb and take risks. If the limb breaks, he would say, get up, dust yourself off, and find a new limb. In this breakout session, we’ll look at the impact of fear on continuous improvement. Feedback is the lifeblood of continuous improvement, and the kind of feedback students receive should close the gap between where the student is and where he wants to be. In this highly interactive and fast-paced session, we’ll look at the impact on classrooms of foibles, gaffes, miscues, errors, slip ups, and boo-boos. | Conditions for Equity | 90 Minutes |
| Ron Nash | Big Little Things: Putting the Process Horse in Front of the Content Cart | Ron Nash has had the pleasure of observing and coaching in hundreds of K-12 classrooms over the past 13 years. The difference between a successful and dynamic lesson often lies in the little things related to process that help things run smoothly and keep kids engaged. The basis for this session is Ron’s LSI book, Big Little Things: 40 Tools for Building a Better Classroom. We’ll explore the importance of effective visuals, teacher voice, listening and speaking skills, the use of music, priming, and many other “big little things” that make classrooms work. This session will be loaded with examples from K-12 classrooms around the country. Grab a notebook and a writing instrument and get ready to rock; Ron doesn’t believe in ’sit and git’ breakouts. | Core Instruction and Curriculum | 90 Minutes |
| Sarah Ottow | Conditions for a Professional Learning Culture & Schoolwide Equity for ELL and ALL Learners | Our multilingual learners, also known as English Language Learners (ELLs) or English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students, present incredible opportunities to make our schools more inclusive and more equitable. Discover how all educators can engage in schoolwide visioning and steps towards a schoolwide transformation that celebrates and capitalizes on diversity. Analyze ways that instructional leaders and teacher teams can make professional learning culture more responsive, teacher-driven, and student-centered. Plan for ways to help your teams in designing learning around students historically at the margins so that both ELL and ALL learners can feel included in the learning environment and succeed to their potential. | Conditions for Equity | 90 Minutes |
| Deb Friedman | What's the Secret to Closing the Daily Equity Gap? Implement your FTEM SEL Strategies! | What's the quickest, easiest way to start closing the equity gap in your classroom? Implement the FTEM Conditions for Equity and SEL strategies! Join me as we focus on easily implemented strategies to help you close the equity gap while increasing Social Emotional Learning every day. Not only will you connect with WHY these elements foster Equity and SEL, you'll take-away ideas to start making it happen now AND align yourself to score in the Applying and Innovating range on your next observation! | Conditions for Equity | 90 Minutes |
| Dodi Davenport | Unleashing the Collective Power of Teachers | According to research conducted by John Hattie (2019), Collective Teacher Efficacy is the most highly impactful and positive influence on student achievement. Collective Teacher Efficacy refers to a staff's shared belief that through their collective action they can positively influence student outcomes, including those of students who are disengaged and/or disadvantaged. (Hite and Donahoo, 2021). Participants of this session will learn about why Collective Teacher Efficacy is so powerful, along with practical next steps to take in building it at their schools. | Conditions for Equity | 90 Minutes |
| Sue Schilsky | Driving Teacher-Student Performance Through the Me and We of Efficacy (Adult SEL as a Precursor to Collective Efficacy) | A focus on Adult SEL develops teacher self-efficacy which is the building block of collective efficacy. Learn more about the why behind this research and how school leaders can lay a solid foundation for cultivating a culture of collective efficacy that will drive teacher and student performance. | Conditions for Equity | 90 Minutes |
| Camile Earle-Dennis | Equity in Action: Driving Sustainable Change with SEL | When we view equity as a progression that is driven by action, we begin to see sustainable change. Through an SEL lens, participants will receive an overview of the progression of equity and learn strategies to ensure that they are creating a culture where academic equity can thrive | Conditions for Equity | 90 Minutes |
| Deana Senn and Bindu Sunil | How to Create a Culturally Sustaining Classroom Through Student-led Teams | Equity of voice in our classrooms is an integral focus of equitable formative assessment. A classroom environment where students routinely collaborate with peers on rigorous standard-based tasks provides the space for all learners to have equity of voice. When we focus on student strengths, along with structures and supports, deeper learning connections are made. This session focuses on how Academic Teaming can be the pathway to build equity of voice and understanding in a culturally sustaining classroom. | Core Instruction and Curriculum | 90 Minutes |
| Ericka Polanco and Liz Buzzanca | How to Create a Classroom Where ELL Students Thrive | English language learners bring with them rich, cultural life experiences and knowledge. How can we leverage these strengths to create an environment where our learners will thrive? Teachers looking to support English Language Learners will benefit from this session. Participants will learn strategies to create a classroom environment that is inclusive, accessible, and culturally responsive for all students. | Core Instruction and Curriculum | 90 Minutes |
| Shakira Fetherolf and Mindy Province | Instructional Strategies for Creating Academic Equity | What does Academic Equity look like when you have a diverse student population? The children sitting in your classrooms have various ways that they think, learn and "show what they know". Often these are based on cultural norms. Many times, we notice one subgroup responding to instruction, but what about the others? In this session, learn how to consider all students in order to plan instruction that empowers, is culturally responsive, and increases efficacies for all! | Core Instruction and Curriculum | 90 Minutes |
| Gwen Bryant | Why Evaluating Teachers Shouldn’t be the Main Goal of Your Evaluation Model | Imagine administrators and educators working together to implement an instructional framework, collaborating on student outcomes, engaging in constructive feedback, and focusing on deliberate practice and growth instead of a summative, end of year score. Join us to discuss what you are measuring and how that determines your focus and goals. | Core Instruction and Curriculum | 90 Minutes |
| Kathy Marx | The Secret of How to Use Cognitively Complex Tasks | Educators across the nation are seeking the answer to the mystery of Rigor. What is it? How can teachers increase student ownership of their learning and challenge them to think beyond the basics? In this session, participants will solve the puzzle and be prepared to facilitate rigorous classrooms that consistently incorporate cognitively complex tasks requiring students to solve problems, make decisions, investigate and experiment with their learning. | Core Instruction and Curriculum | 90 Minutes |
| Diane Stultz | Is This Task Really Analysis? | It is very difficult for students to engage in a Productive Struggle if the task is below the Analysis level of the Taxonomy. So, what does a task at the Analysis Level look and sound like? We know that the following words are often associated with the Analysis Level of the Marzano Taxonomy: Matching, Classifying, Analyzing Errors, Generalizing, and Specifying, but what do those verbs really mean? Is thinking occurring “in the student’s head”? In this session we will define Productive Struggle and clarify tasks at the analysis level. | Core Instruction and Curriculum | 90 Minutes |
| Tracey Waters | Impacting Daily Core Instruction Starts With A Data Driven Culture | A data-driven culture drives school success. But what does that look like? How do we get there? What will it take to stay there? In this session we’ll explore how to create and advance your school’s data driven culture—one where leading data sources propel practice and improve student achievement. We’ll examine key actions and habits that build this culture and consider the essential roles of each school stakeholder. You’ll be equipped with practical next steps, professional development pathways, and an annotated bibliography to help you re-envision how a data-driven school culture can become a foundational bridge to academic achievement. | Data and Assessment | 90 Minutes |
| Deana Senn and Shakira Fetherolf | What Does Formative Assessment Look Like in a Culturally Sustaining Classroom? | Ensuring formative assessment practices contribute toward equitable student outcomes is a crucial step in creating culturally sustaining classrooms. This session centers on how to create more equitable student outcomes through formative assessments by focusing on supporting student ownership and equity of voice. We will also examine how formative assessments can make room for student voice and agency when they understand students’ deep cultural beliefs and norms. | Data and Assessment | 90 Minutes |
| Jody Honaker and Jennifer Ward | Empowering Diverse Learners with Student-led Formative Assessment | Researchers have found that when students are actively involved in formatively assessing their learning, academic achievement is boosted, especially for students who do not have extra support for learning at home. How do we easily support ALL students with this empowering process? See how LSI’s innovative technology platform, the Student Evidence Tracker, can support the simple, yet highly engaging routine for student-led formative assessments. | Data and Assessment | 90 Minutes |
| Melissa Bloom | The Top Five Reasons You Should be Using Evaluation Data (and it isn’t to measure teachers) | Does your district regularly look at evaluation data to identify trends and patterns in instructional strategies, inner-rater reliability across observers, levels of instructional rigor, and implementation of instructional goals? We will look at simple ways to use your iObservation reports to provide your teams the data needed to inform critical instructional decisions to propel your district to intentional growth. | Data and Assessment | 90 Minutes |
| Lorah Neville | Harness the Power of iObservation to Achieve Focus and Results | Participants will learn how to leverage the power of iObservation data reports to set and monitor goals as well as improve instruction systematically. They will learn how to move from pockets of excellence to a system of excellence by using the actionable insights the iObservation reports provide. | Data and Assessment | 90 Minutes |
| Tracy Bollinger and Leslie Frick | A Research-based Approach to High Performing Leadership Teams | Is your team making magic happen when it comes to meeting expected outcomes? Does your team utilize highly effective practices to reach team goals? Do you need to build leadership capacity in your school or district? In this session you will learn how to implement conditions that catapult your co-acting group into a high performing team and build the capacity of team members to lead and implement best practices. Participants will be introduced to research-based team conditions, a metric for diagnosing the strengths and weaknesses of a team and how team coaching through LSI's Instructional Leadership Institute will support your team in continuous improvement. | Leading Academic Equity | 90 Minutes |
| Molly Watson | Building Strong Instructional Leadership Pipelines | From teacher leaders to Cabinet leaders, the impact of leadership is critical for providing equitable learning experiences. In this session, participants will explore strategies for identifying, developing, and selecting leadership talent. Learn how to develop succession plans and fill leadership vacancies with internal talent. | Leading Academic Equity | 90 Minutes |
| Kara Bentley and Debra Hudson | Turning it Around: How McLaughlin Middle Exited State Oversight and Achieved its Best Grade in 7 Years | Participants will engage in conversation with Dr. Debra Wright Hudson, MBD, Ed.S., E.d.D., Principal of McLaughlin Middle School as she describes McLaughlin's partnership with Learning Sciences International and the journey that is school turnaround. Be ready to learn about LSI research-based metrics and results-backed methodology, celebrate the successes, and reflect on the changes at McLaughlin Middle School and Fine Arts Academy. | Leading Academic Equity | 90 Minutes |
| Maura Hobson, Monserrat Randolph | Oklahoma City District-managed Turnaround Schools' Transformation Journey | Join us in exploring the journey of how the partnership between Oklahoma City Public Schools and LSI has helped to enhance instructional practices in their designated turnaround schools through research-based and results-backed strategies. We will highlight how creating rigorous tasks aligned to standards, Academic Teaming, coaching, and creating a culture that all students can succeed has contributed to the increase in overall proficiency and growth scores from students. Hear testimonials from administrators, teachers, and students about their own journey through this instructional model and how it allowed for student autonomy, student engagement, and increased rigor in daily tasks. This session will focus on the use of Academic Teaming, Leadership, and Faculty coaching, and the importance of using data to support the needs of the students. We will explore how the partnership began, the successes and challenges along the way, and where we see OKCPS in the future. | Leading Academic Equity | 90 Minutes |
| Penny Sell, Lela Majstorovic, Yvette Gonzalez-Collins, and Rebecca Lunak | Aligning Systems of Instruction from District Cabinet to the Classroom | Have you experienced the pendulum swing of multiple change initiatives with minimal lasting result? Leading sustainable change is a challenge in any educational setting, however research supports techniques that can focus your efforts for meaningful and impactful results. In this session you will learn how School District U-46 is using their vision for instruction to drive and align their work for academic equity in every classroom. | Leading Academic Equity | 90 Minutes |
| Gary Hess | Leading Equity by Example – What Every School Leader Should Know About Modeling Instructional Equity through FTEM Alignment | What are examples of academic equity that school leaders identify when using the Focused Teacher Evaluation Model? How can these examples be used by leaders and educators as part of an instructional model to ensures learning by every student, every day, demonstrated by the evidence of their learning? | Leading Academic Equity | 90 Minutes |
| Melissa Bloom | Refresh for Next Year: Align and Drive Leadership Practices with Marzano Evaluation Models | Does your administrative team need the opportunity to regroup and refresh around relevant leadership practices? Is your team exhausted from restarts and reworks? If so, join us as we look at how the Marzano Evaluation Models support teachers and leaders in collective growth without adding another program. | Leading Academic Equity | 90 Minutes |
| Michael Toth | The Science of Creating a High-Functioning Senior Leadership Team | School and district leaders are only as effective as their leadership teams. A proactive leader invests in their team and uses the science of effective team design. In this session, author, executive coach, and CEO Michael D. Toth will present research and practical examples for setting your senior leadership team up for success. Michael will share his experience coaching superintendents and cabinet teams of diverse districts to lead with a vision of ensuring all students are engaged in rigorous learning, receive quality core instruction, and can develop the skills they need for better life chances and opportunities. Participants will learn how to communicate a clear vision and moral imperative and empower their senior leadership team to engage in self-managed, goal-directed work. If you care about preparing all students from every background to thrive in the new economy, and if you want to strengthen your senior leadership team to achieve that vision, this session is for you. | Leading Academic Equity | 180 Minutes |
| Theresa Staley, Leslie Miller and Conner Mowers | Myth Busting: The Mindset of Change to Influence the Shift to Future-Ready Learning | What are the “look fors” moving towards sustaining 2nd order change? What characteristics upset the equilibrium of a teacher’s mindset to propel the shift to second order change? How does a different mental make-up counterbalance new thoughts and ideas that move change forward? Within this session, we will attend to examples and conversations that evoke and honor this transformative process. We will examine current beliefs and practices that shift teachers from asking “why” to “how can I do it better?” We will dispel the myths behind resistance to change and celebrate how small steps of reflection and intention lead to willingness to try something outside of our comfort zone, referencing thoughts and actions that move along the continuum of readiness. Teachers become agents of vision and empowerment that will bring radical changes to student agency and autonomy in their classrooms, leaving our session with techniques and tools to shift their students into future-ready scholars. | Core Instruction and Curriculum | 90 Minutes |
| Mario Andrade | How To Strategically Use Influence to Cultivate Second Order Change | What’s the secret to successfully and systematically implementing new knowledge and skills? Even before COVID-19, professional development initiatives have often failed to gain traction despite skillful planning and follow through. Why? Many instructional practices fail to be implemented because they conflict with powerful, tacit mental models or neglect to address second order change. Second order change requires teachers to become learners, to think deeply about their practice, and to adopt new and often challenging ideas about their role in the classroom. This session will examine the how leadership can harness the power of influence to lead second order change, increase student achievement, teacher capacity, and organizational learning and accelerate growth throughout the school organization. | Leading Academic Equity | 90 Minutes |
| Dodi Davenport | Providing Truly Equitable Educational Opportunities for All Students | Despite spending years and significant funding on efforts to close achievement gaps, most schools and districts have met with little-to-no success. If you have ever wondered how so many students can be “successful” in their day-to-day classroom activities but not on state tests or in their post-graduate experiences, this session will provide valuable insights. How have we, in education, created an “Opportunity Myth” for students despite our best intentions? Participants will learn how the findings of a ground-breaking study correlate to ELA and Mathematics Core Actions and how to begin implementing meaningful and sustainable change in classrooms, schools, and districts. | Leading Academic Equity | 90 Minutes |
| Rick Surrency Star Connor and Jonathan Hinke | Transforming Turnaround Schools: Community Engagement, School Culture & Core Instruction | A superintendent from a Florida school district describes how his district improved the student achievement in schools that were considered in turnaround status with the State of Florida. The Putnam County School District in 2017 had 11 of 18 schools that were considered traditionally failing schools according the state's grading system. The superintendent along with 2 other district staff members highlight the change in district and school culture, community engagement, and the improvement in core instruction in all 11 schools. By 2019, no schools remained in turnaround due to the transformation of the schools. Brief video clips of principal interviews and classroom instruction will be provided. Presenters will engage the audience in conversations about how this approach could be expanded to other school districts. | Leading Academic Equity | 90 Minutes |
| LSI Staff Moderator | PreK-2 Literacy: Alignment Between Adopted/Beloved Literacy Materials and Science of Reading | Join your peers to discuss what happens when adopted or favorite ELA curriculum resources do not align with current research on the science of reading. Bring your challenges and solutions to this interactive round-table discussion. | Round Table 1 | 90 Minutes |
| LSI Staff Moderator | Innovative Staffing and Scheduling Models that Maximize Personnel | Join educators and leaders from around the country to discuss innovative staffing and scheduling models that help maximize personnel. Come with problems and leave with great ideas. | Round Table 2 | 90 Minutes |
| LSI Staff Moderator | You’ve Got to Read This Book! | Join your colleagues to discuss education-related books that have impacted your mindset and/or practices. We’ll start off by talking about Zaretta Hammond's “Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain” and Amanda Lewis and John Diamond’s, “Despite the Best Intentions” before turning it over to attendees to share titles they wish to discuss. | Round Table 3 | 90 Minutes |
| LSI Staff Moderator | Navigating the Funding Cliff – Maintaining Momentum When the Money Runs Out | Explore ways to maximize new funding sources and hear your colleagues’ innovative ideas for sustaining the momentum once the funding source dries up. | Round Table 4 | 90 Minutes |
| LSI Staff Moderator | Coaching and Teaching Problems of Practice | Join your peers to share challenges you've encountered in the classroom and hear how others have successfully navigated similar situations. | Round Table 5 | 90 Minutes |
