GAP Summit - Request to Attend

Session Description
11/13/07 2:30 - 3:30
Please note this is a partial list. The web site will be updated periodically.

Academic and Career Achievement: Positive Outcomes for Regional Occupational Students
(Laurel Adler, Dennis Guido, Doug Mitchell)
This presentation discusses results from the 2006-07 Longitudinal Study of California Regional Occupational Centers and Programs (ROCP) students who graduated in 2004. Panelists will discuss how the study, which used a comparison group, showed that ROCP students made greater Grade Point Average (GPA) gains between 10th and 12th grades than comparison students who were enrolled in college at high rates and earning higher salaries post high school. Academic and career outcomes for minority students and females were particularly encouraging.

Achievement Gap or Accessibility Gap?
(Sal Castro)
Mexican-American students lead the nation with the highest high school dropout rate and the lowest college graduation rate. How do low expectations, lack of meaningful standards-based instruction and non-student focused education contribute to this? Sal Castro will provide participants with a stimulating and thought-provoking session on how to provide the Chicano student a successful educational experience. Education needs to be culturally relevant and responsive to the needs of all students. Gain historical insights, learn about anecdotal student experiences, and received practical implementation strategies to open the accessibility gap. For more information on Sal Castro, please visit the “Featured Speakers” page on this Web site.

Closing the Achievement Gap Through Regional Collaboration
(Herb Fisher, Dennis Galligani, Joyce Justus, Diane Siri)
Based on over 40 years of research, collaborative efforts to affect school reform have proven successful, yet difficult to accomplish. A new initiative, The Alliance for Regional Collaboration to Heighten Educational Success (ARCHES), is building a statewide network of collaboratives. Under the auspices of the California Education Round Table, ARCHES has developed 15 new regional collaboratives in two years. Each of these collaboratives consists of at least one school district, one community college, one baccalaureate-granting institution, one business, and one community or family-centered organization. In addition to these 15 new or emerging collaboratives, California has seven mature regional collaboratives that are part of the ARCHES network. The focus of all these collaboratives are on matters of school reform that must reflect the needs of a specific region (e.g. mathematics achievement, combining Career-Technical and college preparatory courses, or quality preschool). This presentation will give an overview of ARCHES and the lessons learned developing and sustaining effective collaboratives that result in measurable student achievement.

Closing the Achievement Gap with High Quality Instruction
(Ronald Ferguson)
Dr. Ferguson’s presentation will focus on important findings from several years of surveying students and teachers as part of the Tripod Project for school improvement. The findings indicate ways that instruction affects student engagement and ways that high quality instruction can help raise achievement for all students while narrowing gaps between groups. Dr. Ferguson uses evidence from surveys to explore how organization conditions affect classroom practices, how classroom practices affect student engagement, and how student engagement leads to learning. He has also written a collection of poems for educators and will recite several poems from that collection. For more information on Dr. Ferguson, please visit the “Featured Speakers” page on this Web site.

Coordinated Health and Physical Education Programs Aimed at Simultaneously Closing the Achievement and Health Gap
(Christopher Corliss)
New techniques have emerged to improve student health status, physical fitness scores and learning readiness by modifying the school environment, increasing opportunities for healthy eating and increasing physical activity. This session explores how to successfully adapt and implement these principles through The Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH), an evidence-based school nutrition, health education, and physical education intervention and program model. Learn how CATCH addresses California-specific funding, instructional delivery, and implementation barriers following three ongoing collaborative research projects for the last two years in over 600 low-income classrooms in Orange County.

Creating a Community-Wide College-Going Culture for Economic Growth
(Lynn Haines Dodd, Sandra Williams-Hamp)
This session includes discussion of the partnership with Paramount Farming Corporation and high schools located in the Central Valley – Wasco, McFarland, Shafter and Avenal High Schools. Paramount Farming has made a significant commitment to collaboration with each of the high schools to improve the college-going culture and educational achievement for all students. Using socioeconomic and demographic data, each high school engaged in a process to design a school-wide change model embracing rigorous curriculum for Pre-Advanced Placement, assessment and test preparation, professional development, and parent and community involvement. Also, highlights from the research and data driven practices from the Florida Partnership initiative using Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test as a statewide pre-collegiate assessment testing for 10th graders. A snap shot of the process for these unique partnerships will be shared with participants, along with best practices and lessons learned.

Eliminate the Achievement Gap Before It Begins
(Jennifer Isbell, CiCi Meikle, Lori Thomas-Hicks)
Explore a system that provides all students with the support they need in key areas: academics, family life, social, emotional or physical development. Speakers will detail five years of data (Standardized Testing and Reporting [STAR], District, Site) documenting significant improvements in achievement. Panelists will explain why embracing the philosophies in Response to Intervention eliminated the need to label students as “learning disabled.” Discover elements that successfully transformed school culture, including: Master Scheduling (maximizing all resources), an Accountability System (no one falls through the cracks), and an Instructional System (a true three-tiered approach). Success CAN be achieved through a school-wide belief in prevention, differentiation, assessment to drive instruction, and effective early intervention.

From Immediate Interventions/Underperforming Schools Program to California Distinguished High School
(Jim Coombs)
Learn how West Covina High School (WCHS) reinvented itself by developing a culture of achievement, transforming a 2800 student comprehensive high school from an Immediate Intervention Underperforming Schools Program (II/USP) school to a 2005 California Distinguished School. Gain insights into systems and processes for developing a professional learning community featuring a culture of school-wide literacy, data analysis that drives instruction, standards-based instruction and benchmarks, and student/staff success. Learn repeatable strategies that allowed WCHS to post consistent growth in the Academic Performance Index (API) over five years, resulting in total growth of 169 points.

Getting Ready for Algebra Online: Enhancing Instruction 24/7
(Leslie Hays, Grace Ko, Melissa Swenson, Cheryl Tyler)
This panel of experts will demonstrate how the Getting Ready for Algebra (GRA) Online program leads to new levels of academic performance. Speakers will describe how GRA Online was set in motion with the formation of the San Diego County Superintendents’ Achievement Gap Task Force in 2003. Learn how superintendents, university deans and Task Force Board Members used performance data to develop the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE) Compact to address four key areas: ensuring a qualified mathematics teacher for each student, providing a rigorous mathematics curriculum for each student, extending learning time for students who need to pass the CAHSEE, and disseminating results and proven curriculum.

Improving the Achievement of English Learners Using the Sheltered Instructional Observation Protocol Model
(Jana Echevarria)
English learners are a large and growing population in our schools, yet as a group they continue to under-perform academically. One reason for their pervasive low academic achievement is that these students are learning academic English while they try to meet content standards required by the nation’s education reform movement. Author and researcher Jana Echevarria will present the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) Model, which is an effective instructional approach for improving the academic success of English learners. Used in all 50 states and several countries, the SIOP Model provides teachers with an explicit model for organizing instruction in a way that optimizes student learning. For more information on Jana Echevarria, please visit the “Featured Speakers” page on this Web site.

Panel of African American and Latino Superintendents
(Edna Davis-Herring, Carlos Garcia, Edmond Heatley)
Join a panel of leading African American and Latino Superintendents to discuss district-wide efforts to close the achievement gaps. This panel of educators brings unique perspectives and they will discus their expertise in leading a large organization as well as their efforts to use the power of the district to improve student achievement. They will also discuss what the state and districts needs to do to increase the ranks of superintendents of color.

Putting It Together....The Work Around the Achievement Gap
(Steven Ladd, Nancy Lucia, L. Steven Winlock)
Learn how The Elk Grove Unified School District fostered leadership and teamwork to improve student performance and close the achievement gap. Their district-wide approach directed attention to the classroom, increased support for the teacher, and influenced district-wide structural change to reduce class size in kindergarten through grade six (24 students at Title I schools and 26 students at non-Title I schools). Learn how Collaborative Academic Support Teams focused on student performance, involving teachers and district personnel to visit classrooms, discuss practices and review data. Their results include no Title I schools below a 701 Academic Performance Index (API).

Seven Steps to Improving Student Achievement in Subgroup Populations
(Charity Fleming Smith)
Although improving student performance has become the battle cry for our nation’s schools, many schools and districts continue to struggle. How can we improve achievement in student subgroups afflicted by poverty and other debilitating factors? In this session, Dr. Charity Fleming Smith will highlight seven effective practices, current research, and practical strategies for implementation and increasing the performance of all students and closing achievement gaps among identifiable clusters of students, schools and districts. Special emphasis will be placed on school improvement strategies that work for students representing subgroups and minority populations. Participants will also investigate proven, comprehensive techniques for stimulating systemic change and transforming academic achievement. For more information on Charity Smith, please visit the “Featured Speakers” page on this Web site.

State P-16 Council Subcommittee on Access
(Carrie Harris Allen, Lionel “Skip” Meno, Sallie Wilson)
The presenters will give an overview of the P-16 Councils’ Access Subcommittee preliminary findings and recommendations for closing California’s achievement gap. Attendees will be encouraged to participate in an interactive discussion with the presenters on the recommendations and related education access issues.

Teach For America: Building the Movement to Eliminate Educational Inequality
(Eric Scroggins)
Teach For America is building the movement to eliminate educational inequality by enlisting outstanding recent college graduates of all academic majors and career interests, to commit to two years of teaching, who go on to become leaders within education and in all other sectors. Teach For America corps members work in the nation’s lowest-income communities, compensating for socioeconomic disparities and lack of capacity in the system, to ensure that their students progress rapidly. Last year, 50% of the organization’s first and second year teachers led their students to achieve at least 1.5 years of growth during one year of school. By 2010, one thousand Teach For America teachers will be working in California, part of a national corps 8,000 strong, making Teach For America one the largest and most effective interventions in American public education. This session will focus on Teach For America’s theory of change and the lessons learned in working to close the achievement gap. It will include models of recruitment, selection, training, and support for effective teachers in low-income communities. For more information on Eric Scroggins, please visit the “Featured Speakers” page on this Web site.

The Governor’s Education Policy Agenda for California
(Scott Hill, Diane Levin, Camille Maben)
Education will take center stage in California’s policy arena during the coming year and beyond. The Governor’s Committee on Education Excellence and the Office of the Secretary of Education have submitted recommendations for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s education policy agenda. In this session, you will learn about the recommendations, a summary of the input received from stakeholders, and next steps for policy implementation.