NAESP's 90th Annual Convention & Exposition 2011

ROBERT MARZANO—Special 3-Hour Session

FOCUS AREA: Professional Learning Teams
Formative Assessment and Standards-Based Grading

Hear what Marzano Research Laboratory has learned in its research on implementing an integrated system of formative assessment and grading through effective tracking of student progress and also by developing a meaningful grading process. Robert Marzano will share the details about the specific benefits of formative assessment-assessment used during instruction rather than at the end of a course or unit. He will explain how to design and interpret different types of formative assessments, how to track student progress, and how to assign meaningful grades, even if a school continues to use a traditional grading system. Experience many examples that bring each concept to life in a classroom!

Robert J. Marzano, cofounder and CEO of Marzano Research Laboratory in Englewood, Colo., is a leading researcher in education. A speaker and trainer, he has written more than 30 books and 150 articles on topics such as instruction, assessment, writing and implementing standards, cognition, effective leadership, and school intervention. His books include Designing & Teaching Learning Goals & Objectives, District Leadership That Works, Formative Assessment & Standards-Based Grading, On Excellence in Teaching, and The Art and Science of Teaching.

ERIC BROWN—2-Hour Session

FOCUS AREA: School Culture
My Soul Looks Back and Wonder: Empowering African American Males for Success

African American males in the United States suffer from a cultural disconnect in schools. One of the most difficult tasks facing educators today is our inability to expand our focus beyond intervention and prevention programs to conceptualizing and implementing empowerment processes for African American Males. In this session, Eric Brown will focus on a systematic approach to address the unique needs of African American males and their families using strategies directed at closing the achievement gap

Eric L. Brown, a 1992 graduate of South Carolina State University, has taught at the primary, elementary, middle, and collegiate levels and served as a substitute teacher, teacher, assistant principal, and principal. He has a Masters Degree in Elementary Education, a Specialist Degree in Educational Administration, and is currently in pursuit of his Ed. D. from South Carolina State University. Under his leadership as principal of Killian Elementary School in Columbia, S.C., the school has received several state awards, including The State of South Carolina School of Promise Award and The State Department of Education Red Carpet Award. In addition, Brown is the author of two best-selling books: My Soul Looks Back and Wonder and A Bridge Over Troubled Water.

TOM CARROLL—2-Hour Session

FOCUS AREA: Professional Learning Teams
Team Up to Teach for the Future

To prepare today’s youth for 21st century College, careers, and civic engagement, we must team up. At the heart of every high performing school, we find a team of effective educators who join forces to increase student achievement beyond what even the best of them could accomplish alone. In this session, Tom Carroll will lead you an exploration of the steps educators can take together to build this collaborative culture in today’s schools. This is a great session for school teams to attend.

Tom Carroll, president of the National Commission on Teaching and American’s Future, leads NCTAF in its mission to empower educators who are transforming their schools from teaching organizations into learning organizations. Carroll founded the Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Technology (“PT3”) program, and created the Technology Innovation Challenge Grants Program at the U.S. Department of Education. He was the first Director of Technology Planning and Evaluation for the E-Rate program. He served as the U.S. Secretary of Education’s liaison to the Corporation for National Service during the launch of AmeriCorps. He was Deputy Director of the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, prior to which he was Director of National Research Centers and Regional Laboratories at the National Institute of Education (NIE).

MICHAEL CHIRICHELLO—2-Hour Session

FOCUS AREA: Leading for Change
Leading for Change: Getting Beyond the Walls of Resistance

Leading a school community to institutionalize change is a daunting challenge for principals. Michael Chirichello will share how to get beyond the walls of resistance by debunking the most common myths about change. Strengthen your capacity to lead your staff from letting go of the old, moving through the neutral zone, and launching new beginnings. Apply new strategies that will create a climate in which change is sustained over time. Learn how to develop a school culture that supports transitions. Design a coherent change plan for your school. Understand how to lead change with an unflinching commitment. Through your participation in simulations, dynamic conversations, and audience interaction, you will leave this session knowing that you can lead for change!

Michael Chirichello, an educator for 43 years, is a visiting professor at Northern Kentucky University who teaches in the Ed.D. program. He also consults with Drew University on a new doctoral program. Prior to his arrival at NKU, Chirichello was a public school teacher, principal, superintendent, and university department chair. During his tenure as professor at William Paterson University in N.J. he initiated five new graduate programs for aspiring principals and supervisors. He co-authored Learning to Lead: Ten Stories for Principals and is published in many professional journals. Chirichello is an international speaker and consultant on leadership, curriculum design, and mentoring. His consulting firm is Leadership Matters, LLC.

BETTY HOLLAS—2-Hour Session

FOCUS AREA: Professional Learning Teams
Coaching and Supporting Teachers in Differentiating Instruction

Your teachers have been trained in differentiating instruction. But is differentiation making it into every classroom? And how do you coach and support teachers toward that goal? In this session you will learn the six essential components of differentiated instruction, the keys to success that define effective differentiation for each component, and suggestions for growth to help every teacher succeed.

Betty Hollas, of Staff Development for Educators, is a veteran educator herself with more than 24 years of exemplary teaching experience. Her high energy, humor, and keen insights have made her a very popular presenter at many state, national, and international conferences. She is a former Teacher of the Year who has enthusiastically shared her strategies with fellow educators since 1982. Hollas is the author and co-author of many best-selling books including Differentiated Instruction: Different Strategies for Different Learners, Differentiating Instruction in a Whole-Group Setting, The Differentiated Instruction Coaching System, and The Seven Secrets of Motivating and Inspiring Your Team.

DONNA WILSON AND MARCUS CONYERS—2-Hour Session

FOCUS AREA: Evaluation of Classroom Instruction
BrainSMART Leading for Learning: Keys to Increasing Student Achievement

Learn a practical, brain-based framework for helping your teachers increase student achievement by connecting the art of teaching to the science of learning. Attendees will receive a complimentary copy of the Administrators Workbook for Increasing Student Achievement: BrainSMART Strategies for Leading and Teaching that puts the NAESP Standards for Leading Learning Communities into practice.

Donna Wilson and Marcus Conyers are authors of 20 books on the brain, leading, and teaching as well as co-developers of the M.S. and Ed.S. degrees, with a major in Brain-Based Teaching, with Nova Southeastern University. They have personally shared their leading and teaching strategies with more than 150,000 administrators and teachers in the U.S. and around the world. Wilson and Conyers are the authors of the Administrators Workbook for Increasing Student Achievement: BrainSMART Strategies for Leading and Teaching, a text that puts the NAESP Standards for Leading Learning Communities into practice.