Join WestEd and the Center on School Turnaround and Improvement at the National ESEA Conference, which will be held on February 4–7, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia.
With the theme “Together for Equity,” ESEA will emphasize understanding the unique needs of learners who experience disproportionate marginalization and strengthening federal program practitioners’ abilities to centralize support across all ESEA programs.
Conference lectures and sessions are organized by strands and explore many challenges faced in federal education programs, including family involvement and engagement, cultural understanding and support, and developing schoolwide practices that ensure the success of every child, regardless of their race, gender, ethnicity, language, ability, sexual orientation, or income.
Add our sessions (see below) to your calendar and visit WestEd’s booth #323 to meet our staff and to learn about WestEd’s resources, professional learning opportunities, and research.
Leadership
Tuesday, February 4
Session: Family Engagement with an Equity Lens: Continuous Improvement Resources and Practices
Presenters: Margit Birge, Lidia Renteria, Marcelino “Mars” Serna, Marissa Lazo-Necco
Time & Location: 10:30–12 pm, Room 305
This hands-on session will explore two free resources that can help leverage family engagement to improve student outcomes at the school and district level: The “Family Engagement Toolkit: Continuous Improvement through an Equity Lens” and the “Self-Reflection Tool for Family Engagement.” These resources are grounded in the Dual Capacity-Building Framework and support a continuous improvement process with a focus on engaging underrepresented families.
Thursday, February 6
Session: The Four Domains for Rapid Improvement, for Practical
Improvement: The Delaware Story
Presenters: Terry Hofer, Mark Blitz, High Broomall, Eric Niebrzydowski
Time & Location: 3:30–5 p.m., Room 404/405
Learn the keys to engaging in impactful school improvement work that moves beyond compliance alone. Leaders from the Delaware Department of Education and a Delaware local education agency will share their story of working together to create an effective needs assessment and school improvement process. External partners who led the development and implementation of the research-grounded Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement Framework as well as the Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning (CALL) will also share insights.
Instructional Transformation
Tuesday, February 4
Session: Providing English Learners and Other Students Deep and Generative Opportunities to Learn
Presenter: Aída Walqui
Time & Location: 12:30–1:30 pm, Room 311/312
This presentation makes the case that rigorous and deep learning occurs when students are invited to engage in activity that is intellectually honest and that challenges and supports them. Dr. Walqui will present five principles that define quality instruction in classrooms where students who are English learners study alongside native speakers of English. Participants will understand and recognize how these principles are applied to instruction that simultaneously develops students’ conceptual, analytic, and language practices deeply.
For more information about ESEA 2020, visit the conference web site.