Breakout Presentation 1
Adolescent Literacy: A Complex Problem with School-wide Answers
(Mary Black, Ken Geisick, Peggy Graving-Reyes)
Follow one high school’s journey of instructional improvement by enlisting every teacher to address the development of adolescent literacy skills and achievement of critical content standards. Since implementing the Content Literacy Continuum in 2004, Riverbank High School has grown over 100 points on the Academic Performance Index, exiting Program Improvement status in 2006. Explore how Riverbank implemented the secondary Response to Intervention model and adopted content enhancement routines and learning strategies. Learn lessons from exploration, planning and implementation, plus the essentials for system-wide reform, including professional development, alignment of resources, collaboration protocols, shared leadership, and sustainability.
Art Is Education
(Nancy Carr, Dean Gorby, Stephanie Violet Juno, Louise Music, Andrea Timkins, William Virchis)
Alameda County Office of Education and Sweetwater Union High School District will discuss on their work to ensure student success in learning that provides visual and performing arts instruction in the school day. Presenters will also share the results of their work.
Closing the Achievement Gap by Addressing the Opportunity Gap in California
(Linda Darling-Hammond)
Gaps in academic achievement between low-income and minority students and their white and Asian counterparts persist in California and nationwide. Behind this evident gap are a multitude of less conspicuous gaps that must be addressed in order to improve learning for these students: gaps in teacher salaries, in the experience and qualifications of teachers and in other resources provided to schools. In addition, there are gaps in the extent to which engaging and culturally connected learning opportunities are provided to students and in how schools are personalized in their design and supports. This presentation discusses these gaps and how student achievement can be improved by addressing them. It also presents data from a newly-released study of California high schools that succeed in graduating low-income students of color and sending nearly all of them to college.
Early Childhood Education: Solution to Eliminating the Achievement Gap?
(Sharon Lynn Kagan)
Sharon Lynn Kagan will discuss the importance of early education to students' long-term school and life accomplishments. She will discuss how high-quality early education works to prevent achievement gaps and how--if done well--it can be an elixir to quality schooling. Kagan will also discuss important and sometimes neglected challenges that must be addressed (e.g., access, culture, appropriate expectations, and strategies) in order for early education to live up to this potential. For more information on Sharon Lynn Kagan, please visit the “Featured Speakers” page on this Web site.
How Comprehensive Health Impacts Student Achievement
(Pat Cooper)
Dr. Cooper’s presentation will point out the problems associated with traditional education reform as a result of not including comprehensive school health programs as a major priority. There will be specific references to the societal impacts, the educational and community impacts, and the impacts on the individual child. These negative impacts include the creation of an “abnormal” society as reflected by an “abnormal” bell curve scenario. This presentation will also focus on how comprehensive health programs have much to offer to teachers and administrators relative to reaching the academic goals of traditional education reform. There will be information given to help educators and health personnel implement coordinated school health programs in their schools and community by utilizing dollars already present in the system in different ways. For more information on Dr. Cooper, please visit the “Featured Speakers” page on this Web site.
Legislative Panel Discussion on Achievement Gap
(Karen Bass, Julia Brownley, Joe Coto, Mervyn Dymally, Martin Garrick, Gene Mullin, Jack Scott, Alberto Torrico, Mark Wyland)
This panel of State Legislators will discuss themes that arise at the Achievement Gap Summit and comment on preliminary recommendations for developing, implementing and sustaining a specific, ambitious plan that holds the State of California accountable for creating the conditions necessary for closing the achievement gap. You will learn about their 2007-2008 legislative agendas to close the achievement gap.
Lessons Learned From Leading Five Districts in Program Improvement Work
(Mary Camezon, Abe Doctolero, Mary Hopewell, Robert Phillips, Jan Sabo, Julie Scott)
This presentation focuses on the successful Napa/Solano/Contra Costa partnership that employed research-based tools and practices to alter the way schools and districts approach teaching and learning. Panelists will discuss how instructional leaders are transforming the culture of their schools and districts into environments where high expectations and rigor are the norm for all children, and where data is a powerful instrument of reform. Gain insights into the tools and process that their team uses to identify systems that lead to continuous improvement, plus longitudinal data that supports their approach.
NCLB English Learners - Challenges and Strategies
(Patricia Cuesta, Steve Hansen)
This presentation describes how data analysis and targeted instructional strategies helped a 2007 California Distinguished Middle School boost its California Standards Tests (CSTs) scores while serving a low income, 90% Hispanic population with a student majority of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) English learners (ELs). Mr. Hansen describes the role of the Giano Outreach to Achieve Literacy (GOAL) program played in maximizing the proficiency of the NCLB EL subgroup. Results have shown that the Giano NCLB EL subgroup increased its CST/English-language arts (ELA) performance from 10.3% to 31.0% proficient and CST/Math performance from 19.0% to 41.2% proficient.
Policies that Support the Academic Development of Urban Black Males
(Odis Johnson, Jr.)
In this session, Dr. Johnson explores the contextual and social factors contributing to the achievement of African Americans and African American males in particular. How African American males are achieving relative to their female counterparts and peers of other racial groups; how differences in the quality of the learning contexts in which we find African American males contribute to gender and racial achievement disparities; and how social policies might be enacted to address these issues are the primary topics explored in this session. The latter topic will consider the promise of developmental “pipelines,” out-of-school time programs, in-school retention/acceleration policies and any others offered by session participants. For more information on Dr. Johnson, please visit the “Featured Speakers” page on this Web site.
Professional Development: Strategies to Enhance Instructional Practices in Preschool
(Paula Brown-Almond, David Gordon, Nancy Herota, Cathy Wietstock, Joyce Wright)
Learn new techniques to enhance instructional practices for preschool through kindergarten (P-K) students through high quality research-based development strategies. We’ve assembled a power-packed panel of administrators from the California Preschool Instructional Network (CPIN), Early Intervention for School Success (EISS), and Early Reading First to share professional development strategies to close the achievement gap. Learn the essentials of professional development academic content, intervention strategies, assessment, the impact on student achievement, high quality learning environments and transition for administrators, teachers and other support staff.
Structures, Strategies, Scheduling and Support
(Pamela Carter, Sara Leibman)
Learn ideas, tools and resources for high school reform based on using the Santa Susana High School smaller learning community structure and programs. Speakers will focus on research-based characteristics of the nation’s highest performing high schools, presenting strategies such as an academy structure, a unique extended-day block schedule, advisory program, and a required senior project. The academy structure incorporates high academic expectations with components of career technical education to prepare students for college and their career. Learn how a focus on rigor, relevance and relationships increases student achievement while providing personalization and support needed to navigate high school and beyond.
Teaching as the Opportunity: When Teachers Thrive, Students Achieve
(Lowell Milken)
Despite hundreds of K-12 reforms over five decades, far too many young people are still not receiving the rigorous education they need and deserve. Most of these reforms have failed by not addressing the central role of talented teachers in raising student achievement. What specifically can be done to attract, develop, retain and motivate the best talent to join the American teaching profession and ensure that young people are prepared to achieve a productive, fulfilling future in an intensely competitive global economy? What role do opportunities for career advancement, professional growth, teacher accountability and competitive compensation play in ensuring high quality programs in schools? Education reform pioneer Lowell Milken will explore how comprehensive school reforms such as the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP)--active in 14 states plus the District of Columbia--can drive student performance and close achievement gaps across all socioeconomic levels. For more information on Lowell Milken, please visit the “Featured Speakers” page on this Web site.
The Role of the Media in Closing the Achievement Gap
(Greg Edmonds, John Fensterwald, Carolyn Goosen, Linda Jacobson, Franco Pinto, Peter Schrag)
A panel of distinguished journalists from print, TV, and radio news will discuss the question: What role does the media play in closing the achievement gap? Representatives from leading news organizations in some of the largest and most diverse cities in America will provide important perspectives in this moderated discussion.
Theory to Reality-From Program Improvement to National Model School
(Chris Adams, Julie Adams)
This presentation will explain how Enterprise High School closed the achievement gap and exited Program Improvement (PI) by focusing on the systems adopted and the process implemented that changed the culture of the school from an athletic school to an academic school. In this session, you will learn the step-by-step process in which one high school went from PI to National Model School in 3 years. Incorporate these elements to produce effective instructional change in your school immediately and learn how to develop and implement a literacy action plan to improve school culture, instruction, and student achievement.
What California can do to Close Achievement and Opportunity Gaps
(Russlyn Ali)
Practices and policies throughout California perpetuate devastating achievement and opportunity gaps that plague low-income students and students of color. But it doesn’t have to be this way. In her presentation, The Education Trust—West’s Executive Director, Russlynn Ali will unpack the strategies that yield real results for all students. Ms. Ali will talk about key roles in K-16 reform efforts, both state and local. And she’ll answer some key questions: How do we talk about our challenge of closing the achievement gap in terms that inspire action and confidence rather than hand-wringing? What are some powerful leverage points--especially in high schools--for moving all students to high levels of achievement? And what are the underlying structures needed to support real change at all levels of education? For more information on Russlynn Ali, please visit the “Featured Speakers” page on this Web site.
Why Many Children are Behind: Addressing the Vocabulary Achievement Gap
(Dana Grisham, Marcy Merrill)
Since vocabulary knowledge is closely related to reading comprehension and academic achievement (Chall, Jacobs, & Baldwin, 1990; Graves, 2000), vocabulary deficits contribute to the eight million American students in grades 4 - 12 who struggle with reading (Reading Next, 2004). The gap is wider with students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds (Hart & Risley, 1995). They enter school knowing fewer words, find reading difficult, and resist reading (Stanovich, 1986). Schools with strong vocabulary programs include rich instruction and interventions which are aligned with research in vocabulary acquisition (Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2002). Learn how to teach vocabulary, including word learning strategies, and discuss research on vocabulary and technology.