Systemic racial disparities persist at national, state and local levels. Despite federal mandates to improve the achievement of all groups, relatively few educators possess and demonstrate the will, skill, knowledge and/or capacity to engage in, sustain, or deepen effective interracial conversations about the impact of race on student achievement. Providing professional learning opportunities that assist educators in participating in courageous conversations about race quickly leads to more meaningful and productive curriculum, instruction and assessment reform. "Courageous Conversation" heightens educators' awareness of equity and focuses school and district leadership responses towards eliminating the racial achievement gap.

More about Glenn Singleton.

Service learning expert Cathryn Berger Kaye asks, “Can teachers meet academic standards while promoting social and civic responsibility?” This session leads participants to explore service learning as an effective teaching methodology to address a myriad of topics including: tolerance and social justice, hunger and homelessness, climate change, literacy, animal-related issues, and more, all while meeting content and skill requirements. Whether you are new to service learning or have experience, this session adds to your professional repertoire, provides layers of purpose to your work in the classroom, and prompts you to discover how youth voice and choice invigorate students. This session includes literature and curriculum connections, practical ideas, and take-home resources.

During Fall Forum, Kaye will also be facilitating Strategies for Success with Literacy: A Learning Curriculum that Serves.

In a time when the child's world of wonder, exploration, and physical activity is threatened by extensive "preparation" for schooling, we must come together to defend play. Using videos and stories from elementary, secondary, and university classrooms to support the value of play, Andrias, Meier, and participants focus on how play and playfulness contribute to the habits of mind essential to using our minds well and realizing a democratic life. Participants have the opportunity to ask questions, express concerns, and offer their own perspectives on the value of play in their work and life.

More about Deborah Meier and Jane Andrias here.

Learn the stories of Native youth living on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and fighting for change within their communities by building a foundation of cultural and spiritual beliefs. These youth have found a sense of identity in their culture and are now using that strong connection to create long-term systematic change in one of the poorest places in America, fighting social ills such as short life expectancy, high drop-out rates, teen pregnancy, high unemployment rates, gangs, and drug abuse.

More about Nick Tilsen.

A provocative analysis of the real achievement, economic, and citizenship gap in America and how CES classroom and school leaders need to center teaching, learning, and assessment practices so that students learn that success in schools and learning to be free are one and the same. Drawn from the book –to be pre-released at the conference-- Those Who Dared: Five Visionaries Who Changed The Face of American education (Ted Sizer, Debbie Meier, Jim Comer, Hank Levin, and John Goodlad)

More about Carl Glickman.