AM. Breakout Sessions
1) Dr. Yvette Jackson (National Urban Alliance for Effective Education) – a seminar focused on students’ strengths, rather than their weaknesses, to reinvigorate educators to inspire learning and high intellectual performance. Through the lens of educational psychology and historical reforms, Dr. Jackson responds to the faltering motivation and confidence of educators in terms of its effects on closing the achievement gap. Dr. Jackson seeks to rekindle the belief in the vast capacity of underachieving urban students, and offers strategies to help educators inspire intellectual performance.
2) Mari Pearlman (Pearlman Education Group, LLC) -a seminar focused on the foundational principles of evidence-based assessment design. From the claims we wish to make about student learning through the evidence we need to support those claims to the design of mechanisms to gather evidence. Specific hands-on examples from the domains of English/Language Arts Literacy and mathematics will be used to illustrate how to design evidence-based assessments.
3) Dr. John Hodge (Urban Learning and Leadership Center (ULLC) -an organization focused on student achievement and reduction of the achievement gap. He has served as a reading teacher, English teacher, AVID teacher, Assistant Principal and Associate Director of AVID Center Eastern Division. He served as Director of An Achievable Dream Academy, an inner city school that piloted many of the interventions used by Urban Learning and Leadership Center. An Achievable Dream Academy is a high performing, high poverty school that has received numerous national awards. Dr. Hodge’s career has been defined by assisting students and teachers overcome obstacles and achieve goals. Dr. Hodge is an expert in helping schools create and sustain academic excellence. Have you ever become discouraged after you’ve worked hard and the results did not reflect your effort? Have you ever, just for a moment, let the thought cross your mind that the barriers to educating all students might be too overwhelming to overcome? This seminar will inspire participants to reflect on the true purpose of education and their role in ensuring that all children reach their fullest potential.
4) Paul Palek, Jr. (New Jersey Department of Education, Office of Evaluation, NJ ACHIEVE)– A forty year veteran in education including eleven years as a social studies teacher and coach followed by fifteen years as a very successful high school principal- a “TOP 20” and outstanding high school rating in New Jersey many times. Paul served twelve years as a Superintendent of Schools and was selected as New Jersey’s “Superintendent of the Year.” Most recently, Paul has worked as the Implementation Manager for the NJDOE–Division of Teacher and Leader Effectiveness–Office of Evaluation. The seminar will focus on realistic and practical explanation of AchieveNJ from an administrator’s perspective. The ultimate goal for Superintendents and principals is to move from compliance, to quality and finally ownership in the implementation of the initiative. All components of the legislation will be covered including observation/evaluation regulations for teachers and principals, SGOs, corrective action plans, mSGPs, ScIPs, and district responsibilities to insure consistency and uniformity in all the aforementioned areas.
PM 12:45 pm-2:00pm
1) Mari Pearlman (Pearlman Education Group, LLC) -a seminar focused on the foundational principles of evidence-based assessment design. From the claims we wish to make about student learning through the evidence we need to support those claims to the design of mechanisms to gather evidence. Specific hands-on examples from the domains of English/Language Arts Literacy and mathematics will be used to illustrate how to design evidence-based assessments.
2) Dr. John Hodge (Urban Learning and Leadership Center (ULLC) -an organization focused on student achievement and reduction of the achievement gap. He has served as a reading teacher, English teacher, AVID teacher, Assistant Principal and Associate Director of AVID Center Eastern Division. He served as Director of An Achievable Dream Academy, an inner city school that piloted many of the interventions used by Urban Learning and Leadership Center. An Achievable Dream Academy is a high performing, high poverty school that has received numerous national awards. Dr. Hodge’s career has been defined by assisting students and teachers overcome obstacles and achieve goals. Dr. Hodge is an expert in helping schools create and sustain academic excellence. Have you ever become discouraged after you’ve worked hard and the results did not reflect your effort? Have you ever, just for a moment, let the thought cross your mind that the barriers to educating all students might be too overwhelming to overcome? This seminar will inspire participants to reflect on the true purpose of education and their role in ensuring that all children reach their fullest potential.
3) Liz Azukas (Cranford Public Schools, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction) – a seminar for administrators to prepare them to provide professional development to staff regarding cognitive rigor and common core state standards. Participants will address through hands-on activities Bloom’s Taxonomy, Webb’s Depth of Knowledge, and the Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrix. Participants will exit with activities that can be replicated in professional learning settings to help teachers raise the level of cognitive rigor in their classrooms.