Aligning School Culture to Ensure Success for Each Student

[All Levels]

Mario I. Acosta

The success of every student is the mission of all schools. Cultivating a school culture that aligns with the school’s goals is essential for its success. School culture is a collective identity, playing a critical role in shaping the overall work climate, employee engagement, productivity, and achievement. Culture is an intangible yet influential aspect that guides individuals' attitudes and behaviors and contributes to the school's identity and success. 

Mario I. Acosta reviews the components of effective school culture and connects to High Reliability  School concepts. He equips participants with research-based strategies to foster a positive and inclusive school culture. Participants are empowered to create an environment where each student, teacher, and staff member thrives academically, emotionally, and professionally.

High Reliability Teams: Installing, Supporting, and Monitoring the Collaborative Teams Process
[Level 1]

Mario I. Acosta

Mario I. Acosta focuses on the effective implementation of PLCs and the resulting collaborative teams process to support the work of a High Reliability School. Participants explore how to install high-functioning collaborative teams and review ways to monitor and give feedback to teams.

Participants in this session:

• Discuss the implementation of professional learning communities and the collaborative teams process and explore feedback and monitoring systems.

• Explore connections between traditional teaming models and the HRS framework to leverage their current PLC structures through HRS implementation.

• Review examples of implementation and practice from current HRS network schools to audit and plan for future practices in their own campus or district.

It Starts With Us: Educator Wellness to Enhance HRS

[All Levels]

Tina H. Boogren

The research is clear: Teachers matter more in ensuring student achievement than does any other aspect of schooling. But what happens when the teacher is burned out and overwhelmed? To enhance student achievement through a commitment to HRS, we must ensure our educators are well. By tapping research-backed strategies for educator wellness, Tina H. Boogren presents strategies that help educators of all levels and backgrounds bring their very best selves to their students each day.

Participants gain insight into:

• Foundational research and theory on educator wellness and how this connects to HRS and student achievement

• A hierarchy of needs and goals K–12 educators can use to create personalized wellness plans

• Simple but powerful strategies and tools that can be implemented immediately

A Six-Step Process for Direct Vocabulary Instruction All Levels

[All Levels]

Shelley Gies

Vocabulary instruction provides a firm foundation for literacy development and academic achievement. Shlley Gies offers a practical system to implement direct vocabulary instruction for basic (Tier 1), advanced (Tier 2), and academic (Tier 3) terms. Participants review the six-step process of teaching academic terms.

Participants learn:

• The concept of guaranteed vocabulary and how it embeds with a guaranteed and viable curriculum

• The difference between Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 vocabulary terms

• How to design a schoolwide plan for comprehensive vocabulary instruction

• The six-step process for teaching academic (Tier 3) terms

District-Level Leadership for High Reliability Schools: Strategies for District-Level Leaders to Empower, Support, and Grow School-Level Leadership

[All Levels]

Melanie Lewis Magee

Although the HRS model is designed as a school-level framework, it becomes more powerful when an entire school district decides to embark on becoming highly reliable. Substantial school improvement requires a coordinated, systematic, and collaborative effort, rather than a series of isolated individual efforts. Districts large and small can benefit from this framework that supports a long-term focus on sustained school improvement while maintaining a short-term focus on specific areas of operation. Participants in this session learn strategies that will assist district leaders as they work to embed the concepts of the High Reliability Schools framework in their districts.

Participants in this session:

• Explore research-based ways to focus central office administration on teaching and learning.

• Understand concepts of district support for HRS to build strong campus leaders.

• Plan specific steps for implementation.

Student Efficacy: Ways to Help Students Reach Their Goals [Level 2]

Kristin Poage

One of the most powerful ways to increase student achievement is through student efficacy, or the belief in one’s ability to accomplish a task. In this session, participants see how teaching students about efficacy, affirmations, and the growth mindset lead to higher rates of achievement. Kristin Poage shows how building effective relationships with students leads to an increase in being able to answer “Yes” to the question students often ask: “Can I do this?”

Participants can expect to:

• Understand the research behind student efficacy.

• Learn classroom techniques to promote student efficacy.

• Examine how teacher demeanor and building relationships with students lead to success.

Collaborative Teams That Transform Schools: Using Proficiency Scales as a Protocol for the Collaborative Process [Level 1, Level 3]

Philip B. Warrick
The Oxford online dictionary defines a protocol as the accepted or established process or behavior in any group, organization, or situation. Marzano, Warrick, Rains, and DuFour (2018) identify six guiding questions that should inform the concept of teacher collaboration focused on learning schoolwide. Those questions are:

• What is it we want our students to learn?

• How will we know if our students are learning?

• How will we respond when students do not learn?

• How will we enrich and extend the learning for students who are proficient?

• How will we increase our instructional competence?

• How will we coordinate our efforts as a school?
  
  

Participants learn:

• How proficiency scales naturally address questions 1 and 4

• The process of using proficiency scales to address question 2 to develop team assessment practices, including common formative assessments

• How proficiency scales can be used to develop short-term SMART goals that help teams address questions 3 and 4

Leadership for High Reliability Schools [All Levels]

Philip B. Warrick

The High Reliability Schools (HRS) framework and the big ideas of an HRS provide schools with the tools to move beyond the concept of having a successful school to being a school where each student finds success. The five big ideas of an HRS empower schools to address the challenges they face with systems and interventions, engage in data-driven leadership, and ensure equity in learning. Philip B. Warrick overviews each of the five big ideas for an HRS:

• Becoming an HRS is a measurement process.

• Certain levels of the HRS framework have a more direct relationship to student achievement than others, as measured by external tests.

• Schools must tailor programs and practices to their needs.

• Without adequate focus and energy, even effective programs and practices will degrade.

• Standards-referenced reporting and competency-based education are at the top of the HRS framework because of their magnitude of change and their focus on equity.