The 2009 annual institute will be held July 14-16, 2009
Location: the Holiday Inn Select, Koger South Conference Center in Richmond, Virginia

The focus of the Institute is to identify best practices and interventions that will support increased graduation rates. The Institute will include a planning session to provide the opportunity for every school division team to develop a plan for increasing the graduation rate. The recommended attendees for the Institute are: 1) administrators; 2) principals; 3) teachers; 4) school counselors; 5) pupil service personnel, or others who provide support to students in the area of high school completion.

• Institute Agenda (PDF)
• March 27, 2009 - Superintendent's Memo

Presenter: Dr. Loujeania Bost
Moving from Research to Practical Application in Dropout Prevention Dropout Prevention
This session provides practical guidance for high school and middle school educators, superintendents, school boards, and state policymakers as they design and implement dropout prevention strategies. The guide, released by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, presents research supporting effective dropout prevention programs, practices, and strategies. During this session, Dr. Bost will discuss six evidence-based recommendations for reducing dropout rates. She will conclude with a framework model to put recommendations into practical use.

Handouts:
Strategies to Address Dropout (PDF)
Summary of Dropout Prevention Program Components (PDF)

Presenter: Dr. Steven W. Edwards
Identifying At-Risk Students and Building a Framework of Effective Interventions
This session will utilize national research along with school and community demographics to identify students at risk for school failure. With the help of a resource guide, the Pyramid of Interventions, participants will create a system to address the needs of the at-risk student. (part one of two sessions)

Handout:
Virginia DOD Handouts July 09 (PDF)

Presenter: Dr. Paul Nussbaum
Brain Health Across the Lifespan
There is no greater or more complex system than the human brain. This magical collection of neurons weighing no more than 4 pounds enables all of our thoughts, emotions, and behavior. This session will focus on brain health across the lifespan as an important model for the development of student learning. Participants will learn the basics of the human brain and recent brain research. A five part lifelong and proactive lifestyle, critical to maximizing brain health, will be discussed.

Handout:
Your Brain Health (PDF)

Presenter: Franklin Schargel
Helping Students Graduate: Strategies and Tools to Prevent School Dropouts
Over one-third of K-12 students never graduate – increasing the likelihood of their imprisonment, single parenthood, poverty and the use of alcohol and drugs. Workshop participants will learn 15 successful, research-based, data-driven strategies developed by the National Dropout Prevention Center that will reduce the number of school dropouts. Using the 15 effective strategies and tools developed as “best practices” by some of America’s outstanding schools and programs, workshop participants will not only learn what to do but how to aid at-risk youth to graduate. (part one of two sessions)

Handout:
Helping Students Graduate: Strategies and Tools To Prevent School Dropouts (PDF)

Presenters: Reginald Smith & Jacqueline Winston
The Parent School Partnership: Strategies that Work!
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) mandates that school divisions create effective parental involvement programs. This session will focus on principles that support parental engagement as well as the identification of strategies that will have the greatest impact. Participants will also learn about barriers and challenges to creating important relationships between schools and parents. (part one of two sessions)

Handouts:
Building the Parent-Teacher Relationship - Part 1 (PDF)
No Child Left Behind (PDF)

Presenter: Rick Wormeli
Practical Strategies for Differentiated Instruction
Differentiated instruction is 80 percent mindset and 20 percent craft and mechanics. This session will present myth-busting, paradigm-shifting experiences that explore what is and is not differentiation as well as the practical teaching mindset that leads to successful differentiation. The session will include specific strategies, provocative perspectives, humor, video, real applications, and innovative practices. (part one of two sessions)

Handout:
Practical Strategies for Differentiated Instruction (PDF)

Presenter: Dr. Joanna Kister
Improving High School Graduation: The Career Technical High School That Works Connection
Educators must understand the economic and global contexts of the world in which they are preparing students and the importance of career-connected education. This session will provide research support and best practices for expanding access for students to career pathways that span secondary and postsecondary studies. Studies indicate improved graduation rates and achievement for students in career pathways. This session will feature the High Schools That Work key practices of higher expectations, integration of academic and career/technical studies using real world contexts, and career development.

Handout:
Improving High School Graduation: The "Career Technical/High Schools That Work" Connection (PDF)

Presenter: Dr. Karen Mapp
Making the Connection Between Families and Schools
This session will provide participants with information and strategies to create and sustain effective family–school partnerships that support student learning and achievement. During the session, Dr. Mapp will summarize the research findings and recommendations from the 2002 Southwest Educational Development Laboratory publication, A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family and Community Connections on Student Learning, and explore several “best practice” strategies featured in Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guide to Family-School Partnerships.

Handout:
Making the Connection between Families and Schools (PDF)

Presenter: Ray McNulty
Closing the Achievement Gap: What Are We Learning and What Do We Need to Do?
The International Center for Leadership in Education is involved with several research projects focused on what happens in the schools and classrooms of highly successful high schools. This session will provide an overview of the research results taken from proven and promising schools that have achieved high student achievement for all subgroups despite challenging demographics. In addition, participants will learn about the research that supports the Rigor/Relevance Framework and the importance of moving to application-based instruction as a means of raising student achievement.

Handout:
Rigor - Relevance - Relationships (PDF)

Panel Discussion
Community Organizations: Essential Partners in Student Success
This panel discussion will highlight successful partnerships between school divisions and community organizations. The panelists will discuss how they have worked collaboratively to provide resources and services to help students maintain a commitment to educational success.

Handout from panelist, Dr. Bill Porch:
Orientation to Communities In Schools (PDF)

Presenter: Franklin Schargel
What Do Successful Leaders of At-Risk Learners Do to Raise Academic Achievement?
Next to high performing teachers, successful leadership is the second most important factor in increasing academic achievement and achieving higher graduation rates. This presentation will feature the reason why 200 high-performing, high-minority, high-poverty urban, rural, and suburban schools were successful. The session is designed for potential and serving school leaders, at all grade levels and post-secondary trainers of potential school leaders.

Handout:
From At-Risk to Academic Excellence: What Successful Leaders Do (PDF)

Presenter: Rick Wormeli
It’s More than Serving Pizza: Motivating Today’s Secondary Students
Attitude can change a blob of sand into King Arthur’s castle. This workshop provides practical ideas to minimize inhibitors and maximize motivation for students. Participants will learn practical strategies to create compelling lessons that encourage students to think, take risks, and learn. Motivating today’s adolescents is challenging, but it can be done.

Handout:
Motivating Today's Secondary Students (PDF)

Graduation Data: What Each School Division Should Know
During this session, participants will have an opportunity to synthesize information gathered during the conference and use that information to plan initiatives within their divisions to increase graduation rates.

Handout:
Graduation Data Template (Word)

Presenter: Dr. Jessica Broome
Georgia’s Graduation Coach Initiative
This session will provide an overview of Georgia's Graduation Coach Initiative. The history and successes of the program as well as the role of the graduation coach in increasing graduation rate, decreasing dropout rate, and supporting school improvement efforts will be discussed.

Handouts:
Grad Coach Brochure (PDF)
VT Institute (PDF)

Presenter: Kristina Doubet
Differentiating Instruction to Increase Student Engagement in Learning
“Hooking” students on learning in the early years of school is a necessary precursor to continued academic investment and success. This session will explore how setting the curricular bar high and tailoring instruction to meet students’ needs improves both engagement and performance. Practical proven examples will illustrate how at-risk elementary students have been motivated to succeed by high-quality curricula that integrate standards while addressing students’ differing readiness, interest, and learning profile needs.

Handout:
Differentiating Instruction to Increase Student Engagement in Learning (PDF)

Presenter: Ray McNulty
Creating, Leading, and Sustaining an Innovative Education System
(This is different than shown in the agenda)
In June 1999, the students in the Class of 2009, who recently graduated from high schools, were in second grade. What has changed over those 10 years? Did our education system adjust to the changes and prepare them for the world in which they will live and work? Does our system have the ability to lead, adapt, and innovate? Ray McNulty believes it does. This session will explore the steps that need to be taken to implement a culture of innovation in every district and school.

Handout:
Rigor - Relevance - Relationships (PDF)

Presenters: Elaine Allensworth, Emma Tai and Youth Team
Voices of Youth in Chicago Education: Lessons in Success
This session will utilize data collected by the Consortium on Chicago School Research to present ways that early indicators can be used to design intervention strategies and help schools analyze the structural factors that affect graduation rates. Youth leaders from Voices of Youth in Chicago Education (VOYCE) will lead an interactive workshop on the importance of creating youth-led, community-based public education reform. Through an explanation of VOYCE’s participatory action research process and research-based pilot projects, participants will learn the tools they need to nurture and support youth leadership in their schools and divisions.

Handouts:
Voices of Youth in Chicago Education (VOYCE) (PDF)
Student-Led Solutions to the Nation's Dropout Crisis - A Report by VOYCE (PDF)