The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) and the Pennsylvania Association of Federal Program Coordinators (PAFPC) are pleased to announce that the 2011 Pennsylvania/Title I Improving School Performance Conference will be held in State College, PA at the Penn Stater Conference Center.  The Conference will begin at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday evening, January 23, 2011 and end at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, January 26, 2011.

Conference Theme

The theme of the conference will continue to be:  Getting results: Increasing the numbers of students who achieve PA standards in reading, mathematics and science at proficient or higher levels through the application of what is being learned through scientifically based educational research.

This theme directly reflects the purpose of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 2001, “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) and the expectation in that law that districts and schools will use federal funds to implement programs and practices that scientifically based research has found to be effective. 

This theme also reflects the purposes of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) – namely, the School Improvement Grants (SIG 1003G) for specific schools that have been identified as being the least successful with their students. The department has awarded funds to support School Improvement Grants, or SIG, from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to 57 schools. The grants are to implement specific, aggressive reforms designed to substantially improve student performance in schools that have a high percentage of students performing below grade level, and where insufficient progress has been made over the past 5 years.  Each SIG school is using one of the four required reform models:

1.      The Turnaround model goal is to “turn around” schools through the implementation of nine broad strategies, including replacement of the principals, high-quality professional development, adoption of new governance, and replacement of at least 50 percent of staff.

2.      The Transformation model includes the use of rigorous, transparent, and equitable evaluation systems for teachers and principals, high-quality professional development and design and development of curriculum with teacher and principal involvement.

3.      The Restart model enables a district to re-open a school as a charter school or elect to have an education management organization run the school.

4.      School Closure enables districts to transfer students to other, higher-achieving schools within the district’s boundaries, within a reasonable proximity.

Lastly, this theme directly reflects the content of the Pennsylvania Accountability Workbook, the Chapter 4 Curriculum Regulations, the purposes of the PA Accountability Block Grant, and PDE’s initiative to provide “high support” to all schools and districts identified as “in need of school improvement.”

Conference Strands

The proposed strands for the conference will be organized around the principal targets of the Pennsylvania Accountability System with respect to: 

1.      reading achievement

2.      mathematics achievement

3.      science achievement

4.      graduation (high school level)

5.      achieving AYP, in general.

These targets are set for all students within a school, including students who belong to the following subgroups:  (a) “economically disadvantaged students,” (b) “students from major racial/ethnic groups,” (c) “students with disabilities,” and/or (d) “students with limited English proficiency.”

The sponsors of this conference encourage the staffs of all schools and districts that have improved their performance with respect to one or more of the above targets to consider responding to the Conference’s “Call for Session Proposals” that will be disseminated in September 2010.  This invitation is meant for all schools and districts, irrespective of whether improvements have been achieved solely through local initiative, achieved with the help of external technical assistance groups (e.g., Intermediate Units and Distinguished Educator teams), and/or achieved through the support from specific state and federal programs -- for example, through:

·         implementing pre-school and full-day kindergarten programs with resources from the PA Accountability Block Grant, that foster the development of young children’s reading-related skills

·         implementing schoolwide improvement efforts with resources from Title I, PA projects like Project 720, and/or ARRA funds

·         implementing tutoring programs to help struggling students to achieve specific reading and mathematics standards with resources from Title I, the Pennsylvania Accountability Block Grant, Pennsylvania Educational Assistance Program, and/or 21^st Century Community Learning Center grants

·         implementing improvement strategies supported by the Pennsylvania Accountability Block Grant.

Conference Sessions

Over sixty, 90 to 180-minute sessions, will be offered during the conference.  For educators who have not participated in the conference, the program book for the 2010 Conference will continue to be available on http://www.pafpc.org/content/ispprogram/09.htm through October 2010.  The program book presents the descriptions of the sessions that were presented in January 2010.  It shows that, in general, conference sessions are presented by staff members of schools and districts that have improved their performance on one or more of the targets and who are prepared to share:

• data that demonstrate the improvement that they made, as well as the data that informed their design for improving their performance
• the design itself, as well as their experience in delivering/implementing their design
• the specific changes made with respect to SAS – that is, the components of a standards-based instructional system (i.e., clear standards, fair assessments, aligned curriculum, standards-based instruction, instructional materials and resources, and supplementary interventions)
• the specific changes with respect to wellness and resiliency framework (i.e., high expectations, meaningful student engagement, connectiveness and bonding, skills for life, clear and consistent boundaries, unconditional support)
• specific changes with respect to other high leverage educational practices (i.e., changes in practices related to “quality teaching,” “quality leadership,” “artful use of infrastructure,” and “continuous learning ethic”).

The program book also shows that there were sessions that were collaboratively presented by district/school staff members and by Department, Intermediate Unit staff, and/or outside resource persons.

Priorities for Sessions at the 2011 Conference

The conference has always featured a significant number of sessions on effective school improvement strategies and on strategies that have resulted in the improvement of elementary school reading achievement.  Feedback from participants over the last several years have urged us to recruit sessions that present successful school improvement efforts in mathematics and that present successful efforts of middle and high schools in either reading or mathematics.  Though we have made progress over the last two years in presenting sessions that reflect these interests, we again ask district and school leaders that have made significant improvements in secondary student learning and in mathematics achievement to consider sharing these successes at the 2011 conference.

Registration

PAFPC has an electronic registration process for all of its conferences.  All information about registering for the 2011 PA/Title I Improving School Performance Conference will be posted on October 15, 2010

Sharing this Information

It is not too early for school staff to begin to think about attending the conference and about possibly presenting a session at the conference.  Therefore, please pass this information on to your curriculum directors, school principals, lead teachers, and other staff involved in school improvement efforts, and if appropriate, encourage them to submit a session proposal by November 1, 2010 in accordance with the Call for Session Proposals that will also be disseminated in September (note:  the 2010 Program Book posted on the PAFPC website illustrates the information that needs to be provided in a proposal).