Several schools within the Rochester Community Schools were identified as schools that "Beat the Odds."  This session will focus on Richard Elmore's work on the instructional core.  The instructional core consists of seven basic principles.  When these principles are implemented in a systematic manner increases in student achievement are an inevitable product.  Learn ways to implement these principles in your school to improve achievement.

Understanding effective instruction is the first step in any evaluation system for educators.  Step two is building that into your system. A panel of experienced local educators will discuss what effective instruction looks like, how it can be evaluated, and how to build it into your evaluation system. 

Excite your community with what is going on in your schools!  We share how our integrated curricular STEM program and our FIRST Robotics Team RUSH works to energize not only our school, but our local community and state policy makers. We demonstrate how to energize your parents, students, community, and state government, through mentorship where students help younger kids. We've reached 5 countries and 41 states!  You can do the same!

The presenter will discuss the barriers slowing the inevitable process of moving from a "school" to a global learning hub. We will explore why each school must make Innovative Teaching and Learning, Purposeful Technology Integration and Global Competencies a priority.  The session will include examples of how building principals, classroom teachers, and students have done their part in being true leaders in 21st century education.  Beating the odds in today's world takes creativity and innovation, what are we doing to advocate this in our schools?

Greenville Public Schools is shattering the confines of school buildings and school schedules for a group of lucky teachers and students in a pilot initiative called 1:1 Mobile Learning.   450 students and their teachers from across the district are receiving Android tablets and phones equipped to access our wireless network while at school.  In the spirit of teaching and learning  "Any Time, Any Place, Any Path, Any Pace" , each student in the pilot is being provided with mobile data plan to allow access to world information from home and wherever they go.  Imagine how the limits of a 55-minute class period can vanish as students "meet" virtually well into the evening and extend classroom activities using online tools and resources.  

Is your district looking to start a project-based learning program? Do you have an existing program that you want to expand? If so, this session is for you. Join us as we examine "forest issues" such as pedagogical theory and curriculum development, as well as "tree issues" including the latest planning and design trends. Along the way, you will be introduced to Milan High School's new Center for Innovative Studies, a 23,000-square-foot project-based learning environment. 

This session demonstrates how traditional teaching practices can be transformed.  Blended instruction models use the best parts of traditional education and merge them with the energy and excitement that surrounds the on-line experience. Participants are provided with links to sites that engage students, foster learning and create excitement in the classroom.  Materials presented include samples of student work and actual classroom strategies through a course management system, Web 2.0 tools and social media. 

Technology in math that offers real-time feedback and enhances student understanding of mathematical concepts. It allows for monitoring of students to create meaningful accommodations to lessons for understanding of concepts. The program also offers instant student feedback and what areas need extra support and understanding.

By taking a combination of high school Advanced Placement classes and dual enrollment college courses, rural high school students will be able to graduate from Croswell-Lexington Early College High School after five years with both a high school diploma and up to 62 transferrable college credits towards an undergraduate degree or an Associate Degree from SC4. There will be NO tuition cost and no travel necessary for the student or family for the courses.