Featured Speakers

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Pasi Sahlberg Milton Chen Kaya Henderson Andrés Alonso Ken Kay Diane Ravitch Barbara Chow James Shelton

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  • "Very interesting, worthwhile, inspiring, yet candid and direct."- Anne Manning, Vermillion, SD
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  • "Thought-provoking and grounded in practical solutions."- Irene Ricci Sullivant, Camden, NJ

Agenda of Expert-Led Sessions & Discussions

New York, NY – Monday, May 2, 2011
7:30am REGISTRATION AND CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST
8:30am WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION OF KEYNOTE SPEAKERVirginia B. Edwards, Editor-in-Chief, Education Week, and President, Editorial Projects in Education
8:40am OPENING KEYNOTE SPEAKERPasi Sahlberg, Director General, CIMO, Ministry of Education, Finland, in conversation with Virginia B. Edwards of Education Week

  • Education of American Children and What the Finnish Model Tells Us
9:20am

BRIDGING DIFFERENCES IN NATIONAL POLICY WITH DEBORAH MEIER AND DIANE RAVITCH

Insights you’ll gain:

  • How the ESEA should be changed to promote school improvement
  • The recent evolution of education policy and its impact on the federal-state-local balance
  • Perspective on philanthropy’s role in setting the education agenda
  • The impact of common standards and assessments

Panelists:
Deborah Meier, educator, writer, and public advocate
Diane Ravitch, education historian; former Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education
Ms. Meier and Ms. Ravitch co-write Education Week‘s blog Bridging Differences

Moderator:
Christopher B. Swanson, Vice President, Research and Development, Editorial Projects in Education

10:05am MORNING REFRESHMENT AND NETWORKING BREAK
10:35am RETHINKING NOTIONS OF SCHOOL TIME AND CLASS SIZEInsights you’ll gain:

  • Efficiency improvements from changes to block schedules and class size
  • Strategic redeployment of teachers to boost achievement
  • Effectively adapting longer school days and years in public education
  • Improved teacher effectiveness utilizing time-management strategies
  • How to maximize academic time by incorporating online learning

Moderator:  Christina A. Samuels, Staff Writer, Education Week

Panelists:
Xavier De La Torre, Superintendent, Socorro Independent School District, Texas
Carol R. Johnson, Superintendent, Boston Public Schools
Eric Schwarz, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Citizen Schools
11:20am WORKING LUNCH WITH INTERACTIVE ROUNDTABLES
12:30pm INTRODUCTION OF KEYNOTE SPEAKERVirginia B. Edwards, Editor-in-Chief, Education Week
12:35pm MIDDAY KEYNOTE SPEAKERBarbara Chow, Program Director, Education, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, in conversation with Virginia B. Edwards of Education Week

  • Deeper Learning in Education
1:15pm DIGITAL INNOVATION IN EDUCATION Insights you’ll gain:

  • Best practices for building online credit-recovery programs
  • Effective ways of blending face-to-face and online learning to develop a greater array of curriculum offerings
  • Using e-learning programs to improve personalized instruction
  • Benefits and drawbacks of state-sponsored virtual schools and private for-profit e-learning companies

Moderator: Michelle R. Davis, Senior Writer, Education Week Digital Directions

Panelists:
Michael B. Horn, Co-founder and Executive Director of Education, Innosight Institute
James H. Shelton, Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and  Improvement, U.S. Department of Education
Susan Patrick, President and CEO, International Association for K-12 Online Learning
2:00pm AFTERNOON REFRESHMENT AND NETWORKING BREAK
2:30pm MAXIMIZING YOUR SCHOOLS’ STAFF RESOURCES TO ADVANCE STUDENT LEARNINGInsights you’ll gain:

  • Where to find flexibility in the teacher contract to save money and advance student achievement
  • Strategic advice to spend wisely on teacher professional development
  • Best ways to capitalize on your teachers’ expertise
  • How to make evaluations more valuable in promoting professional growth
  • Best practices for holding on to talented teachers

Moderator: Stephen Sawchuk, Assistant Editor, Education Week

Panelists:
Timothy Daly, President, The New Teacher Project
John DeStefano, Mayor of New Haven, Conn.
Terry B. Grier, Superintendent, Houston Independent School District
Christopher J. Steinhauser, Superintendent, Long Beach Unified School District
3:10pm INTRODUCTION OF KEYNOTE SPEAKERVirginia B. Edwards, Editor-in-Chief, Education Week
3:15pm CLOSING KEYNOTE SPEAKERKen Kay, Chief Executive Officer, EdLeader 21, and CEO, E-Luminate Group, in conversation with Virginia B. Edwards of Education Week

  • Leading 21st-Century Districts: A View 10 Years Out
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