Teacher teams from nation’s teacher-powered schools to gather in Los Angeles

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Los Angeles, CA, Nov 28, 2016 – On January 28-29, 2017 hundreds of educators, union and district leaders will convene for the second Teacher-Powered Schools National Conference. The conference is the largest national gathering for teacher teams working at or interested in developing a teacher-powered school—a trend that is transforming American public education from the inside out.

In teacher-powered schools, teacher teams secure autonomy to design and run their schools by making the decisions impacting student success. Conference breakout sessions are designed by practitioners with knowledge and experience in shared leadership, collaborative cultures, and student centered decision-making. There are also learning strands designed for union leaders and administrators interested in how they can create space for teacher-powered schools. Registration is open for the conference, which will be held at the UCLA Meyer & Renee Luskin Conference Center.

“Teacher-powered schools put a new spin on the concept of ‘teacher leadership’,” said Kim Farris-Berg, conference co-host and author of Trusting Teachers with School Success: What Happens When Teachers Call the Shots, “they place final decision-making authority over what matters for student and school success into the hands of those who know and understand students—the teachers.”

California has many outstanding teacher-powered schools. All attendees will start the conference on Saturday with a school tour of teacher-powered Social Justice Humanitas Academy (SJHA). Located on the Cesar Chavez Learning Campus, SJHA is on the border territory of two rival gangs, yet students beat all expectations with a 94% graduation rate and among the highest student achievement scores in their area.

Teacher-powered leaders and practitioners inspire teams to establish a vision that goes beyond traditional mindsets about “school” and “teacher’s roles.” They will ignite attendee’s imaginations, sharing their best practices for collaboratively designing and running all aspects of their schools in 30 plus breakout sessions.

A pre-conference school tour is scheduled on Friday, January 27th at the historic Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools campus in downtown Los Angeles—the former site of the Ambassador Hotel and of Kennedy’s assassination. The campus has six teacher-powered schools serving students from mostly immigrant families in one of the poorest, most densely populated parts of California. The schools place a strong emphasis on social justice in their learning programs, a living legacy to RFK.

There are currently more than 100 schools operated by teacher teams in 18 states—with more on the way. Support for teacher-powered schools is astounding: a May 2014 report by Education Evolving found that 85% of Americans think teacher-powered schools are a good idea, while a majority of teachers want to work in one.

Conference registration is $299 per person, with a 20% discount for groups of 4 or more. To register or to learn more about the 2017 National Teacher-Powered Conference visit our website, like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/teacherpowered, or follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/teacherpowered.

For more information and to learn more about Teacher-Powered Schools, visit www.teacherpoweredschools.org.

The Teacher-Powered Schools Initiative is a joint project of Education Evolving and the Center for Teaching Quality.

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Press Contact:
Amy Junge, (949) 300-4876, amy@educationevolving.org

Relevant Articles
5 Ways Teacher-Powered Schools Are Transforming American Public Education, Kim Farris-Berg, Huffington Post (2014, July 23).

Bold Innovations Emerging at L.A. Unified’s Teacher-Powered Schools, Kim Farris-Berg and Kristoffer Kohl, Education Week (2014, Nov 11).

Teachers Design and Run L.A. Unified Pilot Schools, Kim Farris-Berg and Kristoffer Kohl, Education Week (2014, Nov 10).