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11TH ANNUAL CALIFORNIA CHARTER SCHOOLS CONFERENCE


BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Monday March 29th   11:00am –12:15pm


Advocacy/PR/Marketing

PR 101
Room 105

Basic tips on getting your school’s positive message out to local news sources, including: how to draft a press release, how and when to send it to various news sources, writing letters to the editor and opinion editorials. Understand how to select and train a school spokesperson, and refine key school and charter school messages.

Presenter: Gary Larson, Director of Media Relations, California Charter Schools Association


Advocacy/PR/Marketing

How to Help Parents Advocate for Charter Schools 
Room ---

Learn what tools they need to make your job easier! Parents who understand their power can change the quality of education, and telling parents about solutions to their own concerns can turn them from a passive herd into a stampeding force for change. With a little leadership on your part, parents can help you advance the charter school movement in California.

Jeanne Allen, President, Center for Education Reform


Authorization/Oversight

Navigating "No Child Left Behind
"
– Compagno
Room ---

District-based charter authorizers face unique challenges in implementing NCLB. As part of a new national initiative to clarify and strengthen authorizers' NCLB role, The National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) is seeking authorizer input about how they are handling new accountability mandates and what support  they need for sound oversight. 

William Haft, NACSA, National Association of Charter School Authorizers; Nelson Smith, New American Schools


Business Operations

Forecasting School Financials
Room 102


Forecasting your school's financials is critical for understanding where you are now and where you are going from a financial perspective. Learn the key revenue and expense items to monitor tips for developing useful and accurate projections, including running scenarios, thinking outside the box, and comparing your school with others.

Peter Gascoyne, Eagle Peak Montessori School


Business Operations

How to Write a Technology Plan and e-rate
Room 103

An introduction to the whys and hows of technology planning, emphasizing opportunities to obtain significant additional funding for your school's technology program. Understand the reasons for preparing a technology plan, the range of opportunities this opens up (including but not limited to E-Rate), and the process of creating your plan. 

A Special Round Table Session that will follow the session provides a hands-on opportunity to begin or continue work on your own technology plan, using a suggested template that meets E-Rate and CDE guidelines. Share your current technology program, the status of the technology planning process.

Mark Miller, Miller Institute for Technology


Facilities

Working With Community Based Organizations, School Districts And Local Government To Get Facilities
Room 304

Get high-quality campuses by partnering with other community-based organizations, school districts or other local governments. School leaders and real estate professionals explain what makes these partnerships work – and why they sometimes don’t. Learn how to be successful the first time you partner, and get the campus your students and community deserve.

Moderator: Frank Gonzalez, California Charter Schools Association General Manager – Los Angeles; Ana Ponce, Camino Nuevo Charter Academy; Mott Smith, Civic Enterprise Associates; Jonathan Williams, the Accelerated School; Tim O’Shea, Founder of New Community Schools Development & New Community Schools Institute


Governance/Legal

Catch the Vision - Enrolling Staff in Personal and Professional Growth
Room 302

Lead your staff to bring out their best, avoid burnout, and recognize when intervention is needed by connection of their individual purpose to the work of the school. Learn strategies for developing a culture of commitment and collaboration, and how to enroll others in the work of personal and professional growth as it relates to defining or refining your school's vision.

Janis Bucknor, Culture and Language Academy of Success Charter School


Governance/Legal

Full Steam Ahead: Board Development on a Shoestring
Room 318

How to select, develop and sustain competent board members. What charter school boards can ethically and legally do to sustain talent, while systematically weeding incompetent or unaligned directors. Examine several ethical, operational and legal strategies proven to rescue boards searching for flesh blood and new leadership on limited budgets.

Ronald Arrington and William A. Taylor, Consultants, Trainers, Coaches - The Business Lawyers


Governance/Legal

School Laws for Charter Schools 101: What Law’s Apply to You?
Room 316

Learn about the most important state and federal laws that are applicable to charter schools so you can audit your program and/or prioritize areas in need of refinement. Tackle legal issues before they become legal issues.

Jim Young and Paul Minney, SMY&M Law Office


Leadership

The Trends and Events that will Influence the Future of California Charter Schools – A Delphi Study
Room 314

Are charter schools a powerful reform movement in education, a fad of the last decade of the 20th century or the promise for the new millennium? This interactive session will engage participants to examine these questions by identifying the trends or events that will influence the future of California charter schools.

David Alexander, Children’s Community Charter School


Special Education

You Are Responsible!! Serving Your Special Ed and Section 504 Students
Room 315

Focus on the division of responsibilities between the charter school and the district as it relates to serving students with special needs under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 504). Understand the form, content, and negotiation of the various agreements necessary.

Lisa Corr, SMYM Law Office


Special Education

Critical Issues and a National Perspective on Special Education
Room 319

State and national solutions and practices to meet the critical issues facing charters include: meeting the needs of special education students, addressing the issues of quality service, budgeting for additional costs and encroachment, traveling the labyrinth of LEA status, SELPAs and being a school of your sponsoring district. How can individual charters form coops and consortia to address their needs?

Moderator – Don Shalvey, Aspire Public Schools; Panel Tom Scovill, Shasta SELPA. Jennifer Faukner, California Department of Education, Special Education Division, Deborah Herrmann, California Department of Education, Charter Division


Student Achievement


How Can The International Primary Curriculum (IPC) Help Your School Go From Good To Great?
Room ---


The International School of Monterey charter school, using the International Primary Curriculum’s (IPC) K-6 program, encourages children to value their own cultural identity and helps them become internationally minded. In just two years, using the IPC program, the school became the 2nd highest scoring elementary school in the District.

Chrissie Jahn, Executive Director, the International School of Monterey; Andrew Wigford and Martin Skelton, International Primary Curriculum


Student Achievement

Teaching Alive: An Effective Pedagogy for Charter Schools
Room 101

A researched based professional development approach that assists K-3 teachers in reading instruction and other content areas. It is effective for all students, especially those from diverse linguistic, cultural, racial, geographic and economic backgrounds. Center for Research in Education, Diversity and Excellence’s teaching strategies are based on five basic principles found to be in all successful academic programs.

Priscilla Walton, Noni Reis, Center for Research in Education, Diversity and Excellence (CREDE), University. Of California, Santa Cruz


Student Achievement

Update On New Responsibilities for Charter School Oversight for Districts and Counties
Room ---

This session addresses some of a district’s and counties' general oversight responsibilities for charter schools.

Moderated by Colin Miller, Director of Policy and Research, The California Charter Schools Association


Student Achievement

Quality Assessment in a Standards Based System
Room 301

Learn to design a comprehensive classroom assessment system. Participants will explore innovative and holistic diagnostic, formative and summative assessment methods aimed at engaging students, both informally and formally, in meaningful activities that both teachers and students use in all content areas to improve teaching and learning.

Michael Moody, Insight Education Group, Inc.


Exhibitor Presentation

Introducing a New Technology for the Math Classroom - the Class Pad 300
Room 201

See what our new handheld technology has to offer. Experience the ClassPad 300 and a new concept called an eActivity. eActivities can be designed to inspire all students to explore mathematics, learn at their own pace and at their own level. The audience will participate in hands-on activities that can be used in Algebra, Geometry, and beyond. Each participant will receive a sample software for their PC for supplementing a lecture, and is also useful in preparing materials for your class.

Presenter: Diane Whitfield, Casio, Inc.


Exhibitor Presentation

Empowering Language Learners and Parents for Successful Integration in the Classroom and the Community
Room ---

This hands-on presentation will focus on research based instructional strategies for accelerated development of academic and social, second language and reading skills in the classroom, through structured content-based immersion. It will also train participants in equipping parents and other adults who are helping children with their language acquisition, with the necessary tools to participate in the process that promises positive outcome in the literacy realm.

Presenter: Hilary Rayvis-Randall, Santillana USA


Exhibitor Presentation

Technology and Project-Based Learning: From Theory to Practice
Room 307

Participants will be introduced to the essential elements of, and theories supporting project-based learning. This House Divided: The U.S. Civil War and Reconstruction, a standards-driven project, which immerses students in history of the Civil War and its aftermath, will be presented. Participants will learn how Questia, the world's largest online library, can support this and all your research needs. The project and a 90-day subscription to Questia are free.

Presenters: John Ferro and Jennifer Park, Questia

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