Services

What do students need in order to learn? During this interactive presentation, participants will discover and discuss the factors that must be in place to ensure all students achieve their greatest potential. Designed to be both informative and inspirational, this session will reconnect educators with their purpose, reignite their passion, and renew their power and potential.

In the Wizard of Oz, what did the Wizard really give the Scarecrow, the Tinman and the Lion? All he really gave them was the realization that they already had what they were looking for. If our goal is to reach and teach every student, we must lead our schools in a manner that brings forth the gifts in each and every one of them. During this session, participants will learn specific strategies that can be used to develop the culture, capacity, coherence and courage necessary to make a real and lasting difference in the learning lives of students.

For schools to be safe and successful, we must "listen to, learn from, and lead with" teachers and students. Using the School Voice Report by the Quaglia Institute for School Voice and Aspirations, participants will consider how the Aspirations Framework and School Voice Model may be used to assess, engage and act on teacher and student voice. After a brief overview of the report, participants will work in groups and use the research, results and recommendations to answer two critical questions:
     What is the role of voice in school safety, culture and teacher and student performance?
     How can we use practical strategies to elicit, engage and act on teacher and student voice?
Participants will leave with a clear understanding of the impact of teacher and student voice on the quality, culture, character and safety of schools.

Research suggests assessment is one of the weakest areas in teacher preparation programs. Research also indicates that assessment is one of the most powerful means of improving student achievement. To improve learning, teachers must understand and employ assessment practices that measure, monitor and improve intended outcomes. The purpose of this hands-on workshop is to provide practitioners with the knowledge and skills needed to improve the rigor and alignment of local assessments. Specific activities will include helping teachers understand the principles of assessment literacy, guiding the development of rigorous assessments aligned to the NJSLS, and facilitating the development of common formative, benchmark and summative assessments.

Coherence exists when the entire school community is "pulling on the same rope in the same direction." It occurs when the leader connects people, plans and processes in a way that makes the work more effective and efficient. Coherence requires a collaborative culture, common objectives, collective accountability and individual and organizational capacity. Without coherence, time, energy and resources are wasted on competing priorities and contradictory practices that produce frustration, fragmentation and fatigue. During this workshop, administrators will learn how to integrate their work streams into a coherent school improvement strategy that makes the work of improving student outcomes meaningful, measurable and manageable.

During this interactive session, participants rethink their concept of school culture and reconsider their role in developing the kind of culture that improves how teachers teach and students learn. After examining Hattie's research on teacher efficacy and Fullan's work on collective accountability, participants will explore ways to leverage the power of school-based teams and PLCs (Professional Learning Communities) to improve student outcomes. Particular emphasis will be placed on the leader's role in establishing systems, structures and supports that optimize the productivity of PLCs and produce evidence of their efforts and effectiveness.

What is the role of courage in improving student outcomes? This workshop will address the role of courage in instructional leadership. The content will include the reasons why leaders find it so difficult, what's at stake, and the factors that influence the ability of the leader to engage in what Viviane Robinson calls "constructive problem talk" and what Susan Scott refers to as "fierce conversations." During this workshop, participants will read, discuss and reflect upon John Saphier's brief, yet powerful article, "The Courage to Lead" and practice and apply specific strategies to develop the confidence and competence necessary to do what must be done to improve their schools.

What's the difference between leaders who improve their schools and those who don't? Change leaders do things others can't or won't. During this powerful, action-inducing workshop, participants will learn how to use evidence-centered design principles to leverage the 4Cs of school improvement: Culture, Capacity, Coherence and Courage. Participants will use the research of Hattie, Robinson, Fullan, Elmore and others to determine the degree to which they are engaging in tasks that align to the work of a true instructional leader, someone who actually improves student outcomes. Attendees will leave with immediately implementable strategies for each of the 4Cs of school change, so they can create the culture, elevate the capacity, develop the coherence, and muster the courage necessary to achieve real and lasting school improvement.

As instructional leaders, administrators must not only understand data and how to use it for their own purposes; they must know how to engage teachers in practices that place data at the center of their work. This session will address the leader's role in helping teachers view data as essential to the work they do with students and colleagues, and to provide the strategies necessary to engage educators in data-based, instructional decision making. During this highly interactive session, leaders will learn how to use data to measure student progress, analyze teacher performance, and examine the effectiveness of programs and practices. Specific activities will address the leader's role in identifying and utilizing data from various sources, facilitating data analysis activities, and optimizing the use of local assessments to improve instruction.

During this session, participants will deepen their knowledge and hone their ability to use data to improve teaching, learning and leading. In addition to examining a wide array of key data sources, attendees will participate in a variety of data analysis activities designed to engage faculty in the use of data to establish goals and evaluate progress and performance. Participants will also learn how to use local assessments to improve student outcomes by applying assessment analysis techniques to samples brought from their school/district. Strategies to enhance the use of formative assessment as a way to improve instruction and "know students by name and by need" will also be addressed. Opportunities to leverage the use of SGOs to maximize student achievement and improve professional practice will be also discussed. Finally, participants will practice the skills required for conducting data coaching conversations with individuals and PLCs.

Learn how to lead an inquiry-based approach to data analysis that will transform your entire school into a high-functioning data team. Presented as a live simulation of an instructional leader doing the "real work" of engaging faculty in high-yield data analysis activities, this unique program teaches the principles, practices and protocols of data analysis through hands-on experiences that elicit interest, insight and energy among faculty. Participants will leave with ready-to-use resources that will make implementation in their school easy.

John Hattie's research suggests "classroom discussion" has an effect size associated with two years growth in one year's time. David Sousa, the renowned expert on brain research, warned "the one who's talking is the one who's learning." Student talk is also required to address the content standards in every subject area, the Speaking and Listening Standards, and the growing disconnect between how teachers typically teach and students prefer to learn. During this highly interactive session, participants will engage in active simulations that will exemplify how to plan and facilitate classroom discussions that involve students in purposeful speaking, engaged listening and deep thinking. The presented strategies will be useful for teachers of all grades and content areas.

Your students may know what to do, but do they know how to think? During this workshop, participants will learn high-leverage thinking strategies that create a positive, lively, thought-filled classroom. Based on Making Thinking Visible, by Ron Ritchhart and David Perkins, this session will provide teachers an opportunity to experience, practice and apply techniques for: introducing and exploring ideas; synthesizing and organizing ideas; and digging deeper into ideas. Participants will also learn how curiosity and questioning can be used to elevate engagement and deepen understanding. These strategies can be learned one day and used the next.

In his book, Driven by Data, Paul Bambrick-Santoyo says, "The level of mastery that will be reached is determined entirely by what sort of questions students are expected to answer." During this session, participants will learn how to plan lessons and design assignments that "get kids thinking." Teachers will also learn how to use Rothstein and Santana's "question formulation technique" to teach students how to generate their own questions and pursue their own answers. Teachers will have the opportunity to refine their plans and revise activities, assessments and assignments so the questions they ask move from requiring recognition and recall to application and integration.

Students who come to school below grade level require instructional practices that help them achieve more than one year's growth in one year's time. During this interactive session, participants will learn how to examine the impact of factors that influence student outcomes, identify practices with a high effect size, and increase their use of instructional strategies that accelerate learning. The goal is to turn research into results. This workshop will provide practical techniques and resources to improve the use of five high-impact practices that optimize student outcomes: student talk, thinking tasks, teacher clarity, assessment and feedback.

Cancel any plans you may have for "test prep!" The best preparation for PARCC is quality instruction and local assessments aligned to standards. During this high-impact session, participants will gain a deeper understanding of how the NJSLS, PARCC and quality instruction can be used together, in a meaningful and manageable way, to improve teaching and learning. Participants will examine exemplars and resources that can be used to guide lesson planning, create classroom activities, and design "checks for understanding" that reveal PARCC readiness and improve results. In addition, techniques to increase students' effort, independence and on-demand performance will also be shared.
     P     Plan lessons that are aligned to the NJSLS and prepare students for PARCC
     A     Assess local assessments to determine if they are PARCC-like
     R    Refine local assessments to make them more PARCC-like
     C    Create activities that develop thinking skills, stamina, effort & independence
     C    Capitalize on resources to familiarize students with the PARCC platform

During this "hands on" guided learning experience, team members will roll up their sleeves and engage in the real work of a high-functioning Professional Learning Community (PLC). Together, participants will establish norms, participate in research-based practices, and utilize data analysis protocols to identify students and skills in need of remediation and enrichment. Local assessments will be used to practice and apply DRAFT, a five-step data and assessment analysis protocol that can be used to turn results into actions that improve teaching and learning.

Data                            How to make meaning of the scores

Results                        How to identify patterns in students' responses

Assessments              How to assess the assessments

Feedback                    How to evaluate and improve feedback

Tailored supports        How to create action plans that support students and teachers

Note:  Teams are invited to bring graded student assessments to the session to use as the basis for this PLC activity.

Learning thrives on feedback. Teachers require feedback from students to know what children understand, what they don't, where and why they have misconceptions, and whether they are cognitively engaged. Students require feedback from teachers that addresses the task (what they are learning), process (how they are learning) and self-regulation (who they are as learners). When we teach students how to generate and use self-directed feedback and how to provide meaningful feedback to peers, the entire classroom becomes a community of teachers and learners. This workshop provides easy-to-employ strategies to elicit and act on feedback to optimize learning.

The degree to which SGOs improve teaching and learning depends on the quality of the goals and fidelity with which they are implemented. During this workshop, participants will learn how to use a goal development strategy to create SGOs that are data-based, rigorous, aligned to standards and assessed in "PARCC-like" ways.

"If they don't learn the way we teach them, we'll teach them the way they learn."  How do we create school communities that are willing to do whatever it takes to ensure all students achieve their greatest potential?  During this session, we will take a hard look at how our expectations and belief systems influence professional practice, which in turn impacts student outcomes.  Then, we will explore strategies that can be used to reveal and address the truths that may lie at the root cause of our results.     

Much has been written about the value of using PLCs to improve teaching and learning. In schools across the nation, teachers are incorporating the protocols and practices that support the work of collaborative teams. Yet in order for PLCs to realize the potential described in the educational literature, their focus must be grounded in the use of data. Even teachers with experience working in teams or departments are often unaccustomed to working with data. The purpose of this practical, job-embedded workshop is to cause participants to view data as essential to the work they do with students and colleagues, provide the knowledge and skills necessary to gather and analyze data, and to teach teachers how to use data to measure and monitor student achievement. By addressing the factors that influence attitude and ability, teachers will become actively (and enthusiastically!) engaged in purposeful conversations and collaborative practices that use data to enhance instruction and improve results.