Breakout Session Strands
- To boldly go — Designing equitable, student-centered learning: Teacher-powered teams use their autonomies to create student-centered learning environments. Sessions in this strand will focus on ways teacher-powered schools have designed learning programs and environments that allow all students to be successful. Please reference which of Education Evolving’s seven principles of student-centered learning you will focus on in your presentation.
- Planetary alignment — Sharing power with students, families, community: Teacher-powered schools actively engage families and communities as experts and give students real power and choice in their own education. Many teacher-powered schools are also community schools, meaning they offer wraparound support services to students and families and have a staff member or members coordinate community involvement. Sharing the power of decision-making with students, families, and communities allows all members of a school to come together for the benefit of students. Sessions in this strand focus on this particular teacher-powered practice. Please consider co-presenting with students, families, and community organizations that meaningfully contribute to your school’s leadership.
- Intergalactic cooperation — Running effective collaborative teams: These sessions will focus on innovative ways teacher-powered teams use their autonomies, structures, and collaborative leadership practices to govern their schools. More information on Teacher-Powered Practices and use of specific autonomies can be found on our website. Please share which practices and autonomies you will focus on in your presentation.
- Shooting for the stars — Transforming the system: There are many teacher-powered allies and advocates that actively support teacher-powered teams. Sessions in this strand will focus on ways districts, unions, networks, and education organizations support the innovative and important work happening in teacher-powered schools.
Types of Sessions
- Breakout Sessions (60 minutes): These breakout sessions are designed to share knowledge and best practices. If you are interested in presenting a breakout session please share the topic, its relevance to teacher-powered, and a detailed description of how you will use the time.Community Conversations (60 minutes): Community Conversations are led by teacher-powered practitioners and support experts in small groups. If you are interested in leading one of these discussion groups please share the topic you would like to discuss, including talking points and questions you will ask the group.
BLOCK A: Monday, October 26 | 3:00–4:00pm CST
Autonomies to Establish Positive Relationships
- STRAND: Shooting for the stars: Transforming the system
PRESENTERS: Kelly Knick & Ryan Goins, Center for Powerful Public Schools
DESCRIPTION: Attendees will explore how school sites have leveraged their autonomies to implement a bridge program, where teachers and student leaders co-teach and collaborate in creating a summer experience that establishes strong relationships and high expectations amongst students and staff.
Our Journey to Teacher-Powered: Transitioning to a New School Leadership Structure
- STRAND: Intergalactic cooperation: Running effective collaborative teams
PRESENTERS: Anna Robinson, Lizzie Forshee, Terrence Thigpen, and Morgan Williams; Laura Jeffrey Academy
DESCRIPTION: In 2018-19, Laura Jeffrey Academy transitioned to a teacher-powered school but it didn’t happen overnight. In this session we will share the process we went through, resources used, challenges faced and overcome, as well as areas for continued growth and refinement. Time will be provided for participant reflection and questions.
COMMUNITY CONVERSATION: Student-powered, teacher-powered
- STRAND: Planetary alignment: Sharing power with students, families, community
PRESENTER: Haben Ghebregergish, High School for Recording Arts
BLOCK B: Monday, October 26 | 4:30–5:30pm CST
Creating Teacher-Powered Culturally Responsive Action Teams
- STRAND: To boldly go: Designing equitable, student-centered learning
PRESENTERS: Michael Stewart and Laurie King, Maricopa County Regional School District #509
DESCRIPTION: The story of how the Maricopa County Regional School District developed a team of culturally responsive teacher leaders who will operate on their respective campuses as a culturally responsive action team that will be able to help encourage and support the growth of a culturally responsive school community.
Build the Foundation, Empower the Team: Practical solutions for decision-making
- STRAND: Intergalactic cooperation: Running effective collaborative teams
PRESENTERS: Julene Oxton and Amber Espinosa, Level Up Academy
DESCRIPTION: Level Up Academy is aligned in vision and practices transparent decision-making processes to take healthy risks and adapt to the needs of their students. Come and explore answers to questions such as; What types of decision making processes are there? How should the level of empowerment be determined? Why do conversations get stuck? And more.
Pushing for Policies that Advance Teacher-Powered Schools: how Los Angeles educators organized for local autonomy and power
- STRAND: Planetary alignment: Sharing power with students, families, community
PRESENTERS: Rebekah Kang and Rosa Jimenez, UCLA Community School
DESCRIPTION: In this session, Rebekah Kang and Rosa Jimenez will share how they partnered with their union, a local university, and grass root organizations to advocate for policies that advance teacher-powered schools. They will share their stories as well as share practical steps members can take back for their unique contexts.
COMMUNITY CONVERSATION: No testing, no problem? Prove it!
- STRAND: Shooting for the stars: Transforming the system
PRESENTER: Aaron Seligman, UW System Administration Office of Educational Opportunity
DESCRIPTION: Without standardized test data this year, we can reimagine what assessments, measures, and feedback for student learning can be. But what will you tell your school board, district, or charter authorizer? Share and discuss new ways to report when you are asked what your kids learned during these changing times.
BLOCK C: Tuesday, October 27 | 4:00–5:00pm CST
Sharing Leadership to Grow a Culture of Innovation
- STRAND: Shooting for the stars: Transforming the system
PRESENTERS: Adam Haigler and Ben Owens, Open Way Learning
DESCRIPTION: Authentic innovation doesn’t come from chasing fads, it comes from building a culture that’s baked into a school’s DNA. A culture that catalyzes existing skills and talent to prototype, remix, and scale innovative strategies that better meet the individual needs of every student, including in a time of COVID-19. This session will explore a proven model that leverages the principles of the Teacher-Powered Schools movement, enabling you to create and sustain such a culture of open, localized innovation in your own school.
Launching Family Involvement and Engagement to Transform Schools
- STRAND: Planetary alignment: Sharing power with students, families, community
PRESENTERS: Cleata Brown and Leila Parks, Mission Hill K-8 School
DESCRIPTION: We will be supporting educators in becoming the catalyst to move families into the orbits of involvement and engagement. How can we empower families who are underrepresented in our school community?
COMMUNITY CONVERSATION: Collaborative Leadership for Thriving Teams
- STRAND: Intergalactic cooperation: Running effective collaborative teams
PRESENTERS: Irene Salter and Buffy Cushman-Patz, Chrysalis Charter School and SEEQS: the School for Examining Essential Questions of Sustainability
DESCRIPTION: Being an Administrator at a teacher powered school is not easy. Two years ago we sat down with a powerhouse team of other site administrators to write a guide just for us. Join us as we walk through the chapters in the guide and support each other along this journey.
BLOCK D: Tuesday, October 27 | 5:30–6:30pm CST
Dismantling Unhealthy Power Dynamics
- STRAND: Intergalactic cooperation: Running effective collaborative teams
PRESENTERS: Rebekah Kang, Marisa Saunders, and Kyle Weinberg; UCLA Community School and UCLA Center for Community Schooling
DESCRIPTION: The session will explore how unhealthy power dynamics can develop in collaborative spaces even with well-intended educators. Participants will walk away with tools to identify unhealthy power dynamics and ways to dismantle and distribute power so more people can join the journey of developing a student-centered school. Participants will also receive a copy of a guide written by researchers and a practitioner on this topic.
COMMUNITY CONVERSATION: Student Leadership in Outdoor Learning Experiences
- STRAND: To boldly go: Designing equitable, student-centered learning
PRESENTERS: Skylar Primm, Amanda Bolan, and Tiffany Lodholz; High Marq Environmental Charter School
DESCRIPTION: Join High Marq Environmental Charter School as we share the story of our first decade and how we transitioned our school’s place-based learning program from exclusively teacher-led to one designed around student ownership and agency. Student and staff voices will both be featured.
BLOCK E: Wednesday, October 28 | 2:00–3:00pm CST
Think Big, Start Small: Student-Centered Improvement Culture
- STRAND: Planetary alignment: Sharing power with students, families, community
PRESENTERS: Marguerite Sheffer and Lori Grant, TrueSchool
DESCRIPTION: Equity and improvement aren’t a single decision or initiative, they are an ongoing process that involves everyone. We share an adaptive process with structure, tools and protocols to honor students and families as the key players and help teachers collaborate to make student-centered decisions.
Determining Learning Program/Expanding Opportunity: An Avalon School seminar
- STRAND: To boldly go: Designing equitable, student-centered learning
PRESENTERS: Kevin Ward and Nora Whalen, Avalon School
DESCRIPTION: The 8th autonomy, as defined by Kim Farris-Berg, Edward J. Dirkswager and Amy Junge, is “Determining learning program and learning materials…” What happens when determining the learning program becomes about developing and extending teacher power? Nora Whalen and Kevin Ward, advisors at Avalon School, worked to collaborate with another charter, a university, and community members to create new opportunities for students.
Hiring: The most important autonomy?
- STRAND: Intergalactic cooperation: Running effective collaborative teams
PRESENTERS: Taryn Snyder and Jerry Pisani, The BTU School
DESCRIPTION: As leadership changes within a teacher-powered school, it’s imperative to work collaboratively to find the right fit for an open position. Learn about how the Boston Teachers Union School looked backwards, forwards, and within to refine job descriptions, reinvent hiring processes in the midst of a pandemic, and ultimately hire two new Co-Lead Teachers.
BLOCK F: Wednesday, October 28 | 3:30–4:30pm CST
Sharing Power WIth Students: Reframing Systems Toward a Liberatory Pedagogy
- STRAND: Planetary alignment: Sharing power with students, families, community
PRESENTERS: Chris McNutt and Nick Covington, Human Restoration Project
DESCRIPTION: Teacher-powered schools are student-powered schools. Participants will engage in a workshop on incorporating progressive systems in their classroom to build humanizing pedagogies that share power with all voices.
Ground Control: Designing Collaborative Teams to Help Students Take Off!
- STRAND: Intergalactic cooperation: Running effective collaborative teams
PRESENTER: Danny Flannery, Mission Hill K-8 School
DESCRIPTION: How can schools utilize meeting time to optimally benefit students? Determining the direction of a teacher-powered school while also teaching in a classroom can feel overwhelming. Join us to discuss collaborative structures where the staff share responsibility for the school in ways which are efficient and effective.
COMMUNITY CONVERSATION: Educational Entrepreneurship Incubator
- STRAND: Shooting for the stars: Transforming the system
PRESENTER: Julie Cook, Jeannine Dunn, Mike Dunn, and Matt Downing; Souderton Charter School Collaborative
DESCRIPTION: School can be different, for students and teachers. As educators, we want to make a difference. We have big ideas and want to initiate changes in our classrooms, schools, districts, and communities but need help making it happen. This design lab will bring together participants in a generative discussion designed to expand and/or refine participants’ ideas and plans.