Educators know that getting students engaged is a real challenge. Engagement is down across America, with less than half of high school students feeling engaged. So what is the key to fixing this? The answer is student voice.
Educators want assessments to be instructionally useful and provide data they can use to help students learn, but not all assessments do that. So what do instructionally useful assessments look like?
Presented by Mike Boraz, Chief of Network 15, Chicago Public Schools (IL); Tim Schell, Director of Secondary Curriculum and Instruction, Waunakee Community School District (WI); and Quinesha Tillman, Partnership Manager, PERTS
Is this scenario familiar? The administration decides that the staff need professional development to integrate a new SEL approach into the classroom. They know that teachers need more than one day of seminars to adjust their classroom methods, so leadership provides training over several weeks. Once the school year begins, administrators observe the teachers to check their progress, but only a few have integrated the SEL approach into their lessons. The professional development, despite the in-depth training, wasn’t impactful enough.
Presented by Valery Dragon, School Improvement Strategist, Partnerships Director, UnboundEd
Presented by Carla Evans, Ph.D., Senior Associate, National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment; and Scott Marion, Ph.D., Executive Director, National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment
Presented by Dr. Matthew Burns, Fien Professor of Special Education, University of Florida, College of Education
Moderated by Pam Austin, Director of Instructional Technology, Voyager Sopris Learning
Chronic absenteeism—students missing 10 or more school days in a year—has been rising across the United States. A recent study by Panorama Education showed that absenteeism nearly doubled from 2018-19 to 2023-24. That means more students missing out not just on academic learning but also on opportunities to connect with teachers and peers, impacting their future. During the edLeader Panel “Improving Attendance: Levers Within Your District’s Locus of Control,” district leaders identified key strategies that have helped get students back in the classroom.
Presented by Dr. Amanda Patterson, Senior National Director, Innovations and Insights, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Dr. Jessica Huizenga, Associate Partner, Center for Model Schools; and Anthony Colannino, Senior Fellow, Center for Model Schools, President, Leading and Teaching for Growth, LLC, and Author, Leading with Head and Heart
Moderated by Tyler Schlagenhauf, M.Ed., Director of Product Marketing, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt