2012 Regional Summit
May 17, 2012 ~ University of Minnesota, Crookston
8:30 am Registration ~ 9:00 – 4:30 pm Program
Education is defined as teaching, learning, schooling, tutoring, instruction, edification, culture….and more! The NMF summit on the topic of education in the region will focus on areas that have significant meaning to all communities and that relate to quality of place.
The summit has been planned in cooperation with IMPACT 20/20, a group of regional leaders seeking to promote closer ties between schools and the people and places they serve.
The agenda for the summit is framed by the future of education and how to prepare for it, and on national best practices in the school/community partnership’s role for enhancing education, student achievement and development. It will highlight examples of regional best practices for creating a culture of learning in communities. To conclude, participants will join a café- style dialogue around the topic.
Anyone involved in education, a school, a business, or a community is encouraged to attend. The cost is $75 (for May 3rd early bird rate; then $100 until May 14th). Meals are included and 6 hours of CEUs are available. For more information, call 218-759-2057, toll free in Minnesota 800-659-7859, e-mail lisap@nwmf.org.
Agenda
Keynote - Dr. Linda Baer
As the Future Catches You
The best way to predict the future is to invent it. Join this exciting "travelogue" into the future of education by exploring the key challenges in the coming decade. Powerful trends to watch for on the horizon and what you can do to better prepare for the journey will wrap up this whirlwind tour that features a glimpse into the future.
Keynote - Dr. Joyce Epstein
Then and Now: New Directions for Programs of Family and Community Involvement for Student Success
This presentation presents key concepts, structures, and expected results of research-based programs of family and community involvement. Studies show that it is imperative to change from the “old way” of thinking about parental involvement to a “new way” of organizing district leadership and school-based programs of school, family, and community partnerships. The session will prepare attendees to take steps in their own preschools, elementary, middle, and high schools and at the district level to strengthen plans and practices of family and community involvement linked to school goals for student learning and development.
The session will help leaders at all levels learn a common vocabulary, build knowledge of research on partnership program development, learn about resources from the National Network of Partnership Schools at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Epstein will address questions about the steps needed to organize, implement, and evaluate programs and practices of partnerships.
Keynote - Dr. Anton Treuer
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask
Native Americans underperform on state mandated tests in many areas and have poor rates of graduation and matriculation to colleges and universities. But what appears to be an "achievement gap" is really an "opportunity gap" that can be remedied. This insightful and informative presentation will describe how we got to where we are in Indian education and how to find realistic solutions to provide opportunity for Native Americans to excel in school and ways for everyone to learn more about the first Americans so all of our children can get along, succeed, and learn.
Break-Out Sessions – Participants will select projects and attend two 45 minute sessions.
IMPACT 20/20 Regional School Community Partnership Pilot Projects
IMPACT 20/20 is an influential group of Northwest Minnesota leaders representing diverse interests and working together for the region’s economic success.
The IMPACT 20/20 Education Taskforce is seeking to accomplish two goals: (1) improve four-year on-time graduation rates in high schools of Northwest Minnesota; and (2) increase the number of local college students obtaining two- and four-year degrees.
As a step toward achieving the first objective, communities in the region were chosen to serve as demonstration sites for school-community partnerships designed to boost student performance. Selection criteria for the pilot communities included geographic diversity, diverse populations, school size/community size, and likelihood of impact, with one of the most important factors being the presence of good leadership. Each effort is a community effort, not solely a school project.
The Bemidji community project’s goal is that each Bemidji-area high school freshman will have developed a success plan to help guide their learning through 12th grade, and will have access to a community adult leader/coach to guide them with their success plan.
FOCUS: 9th graders with mentoring and individual plan
The Park Rapids community project’s goal is increasing the number of students graduating on time by focusing on middle-school at-risk students, developing a student success plan for each of them, hiring a student success coordinator, and monitoring the progress of each student.
FOCUS: At-risk middle school students with monitoring
The Thief River Falls community project is an initiative to deepen the school/business partnerships at Lincoln High School. Inspired by a recent partnership with Digi-Key, the school district created a “corporate/community council.” The goal of the initiative is to ensure that all students in the district create a success plan, including work, education and life skill elements.
FOCUS: High school students post-graduation planning
The Naytahwaush community initiative addresses the transition from 6th grade in Naytahwaush (and other schools) to 7th Grade in Mahnomen. It includes co-curricular activities between Naytahwaush and Mahnomen; a transition focus during the first thirty days of school; student mentors for each student; peer tutors matched with each student; parental involvement
FOCUS: 6th/7th grade students transitioning to middle/high school
Closing Dialogue
In a café type discussion, share the answers found in the sessions: What did you see or hear that you want to occur in your school? In your community? In your family, circle of friends and colleagues? How does it fit with the future vision? With national best practices? What steps do you think you can take?
Speaker Bios
Linda Baer is principal senior consultant for i4Solutions focusing on inspiring leaders to new levels of innovation, integration, and implementation of solutions that improve student success and transform institutions for the future. Baer was a Senior Program Officer for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Postsecondary Success working on improving student engagement and success and establishing a national platform for analytics in higher education.
Joyce Epstein, Ph.D. in Sociology from Johns Hopkins University, is Director of the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships and the National Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS), Principal Research Scientist, and Research Professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University. In 1995, she established the National Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS), which provides professional development that enables school, district, and state leaders to develop research-based programs of family and community involvement.
Dr. Epstein has over one hundred publications on family and community involvement including School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, Third Edition (Corwin Press, 2009), which guides partnership program development, and a textbook for college courses for future teachers and administrators called School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Preparing Educators and Improving Schools, Second Edition (Westview Press, 2011). Among recent awards, she was named a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in 2009 and received the 2009 Elizabeth Cohen Award for Applied Research from AERA’s Sociology of Education Special Interest Group. Her current research focuses on how district and school leadership affects the quality of schools’ programs of family and community involvement and results for students. In all of her work, she is interested in the connections of research, policy, and practice.
Anton Treuer is Professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University. He has a B.A. from Princeton University, M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. He is Editor of the Oshkaabewis (pronounced o-shkaah-baywis) Native Journal, the only academic journal of the Ojibwe language and author of eight books. Dr. Treuer has received prestigious awards and fellowships from the American Philosophical Society, National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Science Foundation, the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Minnesota Historical Society, the Minnesota Humanities Commission, the Experienced Faculty Development Program, the Institute for the Study of World Politics, the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, the Grotto Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Bush Foundation, and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation.