GAP Summit - Request to Attend

Session Description
11/13/07 1:15 - 2:15
Please note this is a partial list. The web site will be updated periodically.

A Systems Approach to Closing the Achievement Gap
(Manny Barbara, Kathy Harris, Barbara Service)
This session will equip you to develop an action plan that closes the achievement gap based on a systems approach. Our expert panel will explain how to accelerate the performance among students of color. Explore all components within a district that impact student learning through an equity lens. Learn why a triangulated balance of courageous conversation centered on race, best practices and leadership are necessary elements to achieve sustainable results.

ACES needs the 4Cs: Coherence, Collaboration, and Civic Capacity
(Leslie Jordan, Jo Ann Yee)
Districts with high concentrations of immigrants, English Language Learners, and students living in poverty face intense pressure to close the achievement gap. Why are solutions so elusive? Our experts will explore critical school factors, such as access, culture, expectations and instructional strategies, and the role schools play in building the foundation and support of families, communities and the larger society. This session will empower you to succeed with practical tips and strategies from districts that are scaling up, sustaining reforms and narrowing the gap.

Closing the Expectations Gap: Lessons from the American Diploma Project Network
(Michael Cohen)
This session will focus on the research background and policy agenda for the American Diploma Project (ADP) Network, a consortium of 30 states working with Achieve to close the “expectations gap” between current state requirements and expectations for students to earn a high school diploma, and the knowledge and skills high school graduates must have in order to be prepared to succeed in postsecondary education and careers. The session will review the progress states have made since the ADP Network was formed in 2005, the tools Achieve has developed to support their efforts, and the key lessons from their work to date. Special attention will be paid to how states are working to raise graduation rates as they raise graduation requirements. For more information on Michael Cohen, please visit the “Featured Speakers” page on this Web site.

Closing the Gap in College Preparation in Literacy
(Nancy Brynelson, Robbie Ching, Marcy Merrill, Karen Wescom)
In this presentation, school district and university partners will share their experience developing and implementing California’s Early Assessment Program (EAP) and Expository Reading and Writing Course to close the achievement gap for underrepresented students aspiring to attend college. Learn how these initiatives improve high school students’ preparation for college and careers by understanding the key components of EAP and results achieved by one implementing teacher and her students. The session will describe the partnership structures to provide professional development and fosters interaction with audience members to explore how to promote similar efforts in your own school and district.

Creating Effective Early Education Opportunities for At-risk Communities: A Blend of Best Practices and Culture
(Gisselle Acevedo, Lisa Schaeffer)
The presenters will describe how blending best educational practices with cultural traits and specific needs of at-risk student populations can lead to effective learning environments that help decrease the achievement gap at the earliest stages. Essential elements in the inclusive approach adopted by Para Los Niños Preschool include clear articulation of the education philosophy and the implementation of curriculum and activities that make the philosophy come alive. In line with the constructivist theory of learning, the approach is based on the notion that children learn most effectively by directly interacting with the environment and making associations that are personally meaningful. In this session, you will learn how the classroom environment, teachers, children, and families create dynamic learning experiences that develop heightened engagement and conceptual understanding. This type of culturally-relevant approach is feasible and effective in addressing the academic challenges faced by many at-risk communities.

From a Glimmer of Hope to a Shining Star: Transforming Our School Into a Place of Academic Excellence in a Safe, Caring Community
(Jane Anderson, Mary Gorsuch, Lauren Rafael, Susy Stone)
This presentation highlights the transformation of Pauma School into a thriving Professional Learning Community using the meta-analysis of Robert Marzano and the research of DuFour, DuFour and Eaker. Speakers will explain key success factors, such as: shared commitments; improving academics/social skills; personalizing individual goals; shared responsibility for learning; extended learning time; actively seeking partners in families; community and tribal leaders; celebrating success and sustaining motivation.

Higher Education Panel
(Steve Bruckman, Harold Levine, Barry Munitz, Jim Rosser)
Join representatives from the University of California, California State University, California Community Colleges, and California Private Colleges and Universities as they discuss their system-wide and campus specific efforts to partner with K-12 to close the achievement gap.

Making Schools Work
(William Ouchi)
Eight of the nation's major urban school districts are now implementing a strong form of school empowerment that grants principals control over their school budget, curriculum, staffing pattern, and schedule. All of the districts have simultaneously implemented a new method of funding schools, Weighted Student Formula (WSF). UCLA Professor Bill Ouchi and his research team have gathered data through visits to nearly five hundred schools in these eight districts. His analysis of the eight districts is now complete and writing of a book and articles is underway. Each of the eight districts is implementing a unique version of school empowerment and WSF. This session will describe what is now happening in the eight districts: San Francisco, Oakland, Seattle, Houston, Chicago, St. Paul, Boston, and New York City. Ouchi will also discuss the early-stage reforms that are underway in Los Angeles, Clark County Nevada, the States of Hawaii and Ohio, Washington D.C. and elsewhere in the nation employing similar approaches. For more information on William Ouchi, please visit the “Featured Speakers” page on this Web site.

Meeting the Instructional Relevance Gap Through Service-Learning
(Michael Brugh, Herman Clay, Andrew Furco, Laverne Potter)
Service-learning is a research-based instructional method that is increasingly viewed as a strategy to meet the academic and personal growth needs for all students. Our panel will describe what service-learning is, and how it not only delivers academic content standards, but also supports youth development assets and improves school/community relations. Learn how to design, implement and evaluate service-learning activities by understanding the research behind service-learning and discovering examples of service-learning activities from elementary, middle and high schools, including the LAUSD.

Reducing the Hispanic Achievement Gap: The Glendale Experience
(Rosa Alonso, Michael Escalante, Linda Evans, Kelly King, Alice Petrossian)
How can educators close the achievement gap among their Hispanic population? This power-packed panel will reveal strategies for success. The discussion explores Columbus Elementary School, a California Distinguished School and Title 1 Achieving School that created a “tipping point” for Hispanic students. Panelists will also share intervention strategies at Horace Mann Elementary, a P-1 school recognized as a Reading First school, and Crescenta Valley High School, a California Distinguished School that accelerated achievement by Hispanic students through a rigorous program to reaffirm their cultural identity.

Supports + Accommodations = Achievement²
(Jill Larson, Pamela McCabe)
Accommodations can be the key to mediating disabilities, unlocking potential, and optimizing a student's learning strengths while minimizing the effects of weaknesses. This session introduces a toolkit that assists educators and parents in making accommodation decisions and monitoring effectiveness. Panelists will discuss research-based accommodations, specialized materials and media, and instructional supports that help students with disabilities master general education curriculum content and skills. Learn about the appropriate use of accommodations to facilitate full and equal participation in statewide assessments, and why improving access to the core curriculum is critical to closing the achievement gap for students with disabilities.

Teaching Reading, Language and Content to Long-Term English Learners and SIFE in Middle and High Schools
(Margarita Calderón)
The diversity of Long-Term English learners (ELs) and Students with Interrupted Formal Education (SIFE) ranges from pre-literate to reading at a fourth grade level in English and even in their primary language. Yet, schools must be accountable for their progress. This session will describe two complementary programs and the amazing outcomes in twenty middle and high schools in New York City. The programs were implemented in classrooms with multiple language students and in dual-language classrooms with Spanish-English students. The five-year study funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York focused on training math, science, social studies and language arts teachers on how to integrate vocabulary and reading comprehension skills with their subject matter. The complementary project focused on teaching English Language Development, Special Education, and Reading teachers how to integrate phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency and basic comprehension with rich vocabulary and discourse through content. The instructional components, sample materials, and professional development strategies will be shared. For more information on Margarita Calderón, please visit the “Featured Speakers” page on this Web site.

Teaching your Staff to Analyze Data
(Jennifer Meglemre)
The first step in closing the achievement gap is pinpointing gaps in a student’s knowledge and creating a school culture focused on using data to improve instruction. Ms. Meglemre will explain the benefits of devoting part of faculty meeting to data analysis and helping educators understand the many ways and many types of data that can be collected and used. The session also presents wisdom on differentiation and instructional strategies for increasing student achievement by exploring work from prominent researchers and authors, such as Mel Levine, Jay McTighe, Grant Wiggins, Robert Marzano and Debra Pickering.

The Village Nation: "How are the Children?"
(Andre Chevalier, Fluke Fluker, Bill Paden)
The Village Nation has helped to redefine the traditional approach to education which has left the African American segment of the population disenfranchised. Co-founded in 2003 by Bill Paden, Andre Chevalier, and Fluke Fluker, The Village accomplished this task by utilizing the ancient African proverb, "It takes a Village to raise a child." Currently serving hundreds of African American students at Cleveland High School in Resada, California, the Village has improved their Academic Performance Index (API) scores more than 144 points across four years. This gutsy program places the African American students into a small learning environment in which cultural, academic and personal issues are examined with an honest, straight forward message. The raising of black consciousness, coupled with test taking methods, yield results that baffle the experts and slam the "achievement gap" closed. The Village's out of the box approach is not for the faint of heart, but its results are proven. For more information on Andre Chevalier, Fluke Fluker, or Bill Paden, please visit the “Featured Speakers” page on this Web site.

Urban Superintendent Panel
(Mike Hansen, Magdelena Carrillo Mejia, Laura Schwalm, Chris Steinhouser)
This panel of urban superintendents will focus on issues of student achievement and the gaps in statewide student achievement. In this moderated discussion, superintendents from several large urban districts promise to provide an informative discussion on both a superintendent's role in ensuring student achievement and the successes and challenges they have individually experienced as education professionals in California's public school system.