Lexia Reading software helps students acquire and improve essential reading skills while supporting educators in monitoring and informing reading instruction in classrooms. Lexia also aligns to the medical community's recommendations regarding what needs to happen when students are in need of intervention. The session will include a demonstration of the software, and discussion with Q and A.

Research demonstrates that students who feel safe and attend school in healthy, orderly and supportive environments tend to be more successful and achieve academically.  In order to facilitate a thriving and safe school environment, Minnesota school districts need to have their required crisis policies in place, routinely drill their students and staff for emergency situations, and consider recovery strategies post incidents.  What conversations have you had as a district and as a school to ensure that your school environment is welcoming and has a plan of action when emergencies occur?

Through a construct of Climate, Planning, Policy and Facility, this session will increase school safety knowledge and awareness by addressing special considerations for diverse populations, building safe and healthy learning communities, implementing technology modalities to ensure secured and prepared schools, and establishing student services intervention strategies for working with at-risk students.

This program has been proven to multiply the time principals spend in classrooms monitoring instruction by 500% or more, while simultaneously reducing their work loads by 15-20 hours per week, and demonstrating a corresponding rise in student achievement.  The program teaches principals how to implement management strategies designed to free them from front office paperwork, and allow them instead to spend the majority of their time monitoring and improving classroom instruction.

The Minnesota Teachers Retirement Association (TRA) helps educators consider retirement options. This session is aimed at the planning needs of mid-career educators. Individuals with over 10 years to go before retirement will benefit from the experienced perspective on the nuances and ramifications of different planning decisions.

What is the Minnesota School of Excellence program? What does it take to be endorsed as a Minnesota School of Excellence -- and what benefits does the Minnesota SOE program offer schools? This session is for the curious who are considering undertaking the school improvement process.

In this presentation, administration and staff from Bamber Valley Elementary School will share a detailed account of implementing Voyager Math (V-Math) as a supplemental intervention. Come learn how we arranged the schedule, selected students, supported staff and monitored outcomes of this successful program.  

As administrators, we are hearing and learning about the terms RtI, PBIS, problem-solving, and standard treatment protocols. Although these acronyms may cause anxiety for administrators on where to start, we invite you to come hear how one school district is integrating and implementing all of these initiatives at the same time. We will share strategies of how each building in the Mahtomedi School District is gaining staff buy-in, using data, and reframing how we utilize professional learning communities. You will leave this session with practical strategies and supports for starting or enhancing an integrated model in your school or district.

Explore engaging design staff development processes focused on student and staff talents, skills, and abilities that honor diversity and engage success. Learn how a central, city, and southern Minnesota school have each engaged students and continue to stay above the curve for meeting AYP and honoring diversity.

Blogs, wikis, podcasts, Twitter, Skype, and YouTube. How can these and other social media tools enrich the elementary classroom? Why should elementary educators be using these tools on a regular basis to transform their students' learning experiences?

Scott McLeod, J.D., Ph.D., is widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading academic experts on K-12 school technology leadership issues. Dr. McLeod is an Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Educational Administration program at Iowa State University. He also is the Director of the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE), the nation's only center dedicated to the technology needs of school administrators.  McLeod was a co-creator of the wildly popular video, Did You Know? (Shift Happens).

Talk with principals who have successfully integrated Hazelden's Olweus program into their school community, such as Michell Krell, principal, Hartley Elementary, Waseca, MN: "We have been using the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program in my school for four years and it has been exciting to see the changes. Olweus meshed very effectively with our school-wide behavior program.Students know what bullying is and don't want to be considered a bully."

How can the school leader be creative in accelerating the achievement of diverse students?  A past practice used to change schooling experiences for students of many cultures has been to try to intervene at the values and attitude levels of staff and students.  We have seen little progress using this singular strategy.  The presenters will share a model for transforming schools to cultural proficiency that provides interventions at all stages along a pathway from new knowledge, to beliefs, values, and attitudes that lead to new professional behaviors. Specific examples of interventions in support of higher achievement for students of diverse backgrounds will be shared.

What is your method for writing clear, measurable goals during the child study process?  How do you record data during the intervention process and communicate progress?  Do you have a method for coordinating instruction for those students in multiple programs?  This session will share a tool to help answer these questions.

Administrators and teachers are motivated to raise reading achievement, but what about the students?  Understand the latest research on RTI and the link between reading practice, engaged reading, and reading achievement.  Explore how to increase high success reading, build content knowledge, and empower even the most disengaged students.

Is it really possible for every one of our students to reach high achievement levels in any subject? That may depend on whether they have a “growth mindset” or a “fixed mindset” about achievement. A recent study, by Carol Dweck and Lisa Sorich Blackwell, of low-achieving seventh graders indicated that training students to adopt a growth mind-set about intelligence had a catalytic effect on motivation and grades. Participants in this session will explore the research of Stanford developmental psychologist Carol Dweck, which indicates that the key to success isn’t ability; it’s whether you look at ability as something inherent that needs to be demonstrated or as something that can be developed.

How can we, as principals, most advantageously approach our contract negotiations process? What are some best practices and hot topics we should keep in mind? Members of the Negotiations Committee will share updates, best practices, and hot topics to equip principals in their negotiations process. After the panel discussion, participants will be divided into like negotiation groups (individuals or small teams, medium-sized teams, and
large negotiations groups) to facilitate discussion, problem solve, and answer questions specific to their needs.

The Minnesota Teachers Retirement Association (TRA) helps educators consider retirement options. This session is geared for principals who have less than 10 years until retirement. It will cover several choices a principal has when retiring, including: appropriate High 5 options, how pensions are calculated, survivorship coverage options, accelerated annuity options, Rule of 90, post-fund balance concerns, how taxes affect your benefits, and VEBA.