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Your school is committed to building a professional learning community—but how do you sustain the work of PLCs throughout the year? Through this two-day interactive workshop, you will discover a 15-day challenge that has helped schools across the nation strengthen their PLCs. Join expert Maria Nielsen as she shares how to jump-start the work of collaborative teams and bring the PLC at Work® process to life in classrooms, schools, and districts.

Participants will:

  • Clarify the work of collaborative teams
  • Develop collective commitments for each team
  • Establish steps for a guaranteed and viable curriculum
  • Determine short- and long-term SMART goals
  • Recognize how to use depth of knowledge (DOK) levels to teach and assess at the rigor and complexity of the standards
  • Complete a 15-day pacing guide for a unit of study
  • Establish a learning-assessing cycle for a unit of study
  • Anticipate and plan for Tier 1 and Tier 2 interventions as the unit is planned
  • Design a plan for taking the 15-day challenge back to your entire school or district
  • Acquire a toolkit of templates and organizers to take back to your school or district

Venue

The Chifley Houston

2400 West Loop South

Houston, Texas

Learn from leading experts

Maria Nielsen

Maria Nielsen

Maria Nielsen

Maria Nielsen, educational speaker and author, specializes in supporting teachers and administrators in the areas of PLCs, RTI, school culture, curriculum design, the highly engaged classroom, and assessment systems. Her life’s work is to help schools build successful systems to ensure high levels of student learning.

Schedule

Agenda and speakers are subject to change.

Download the detailed agenda

Wednesday, September 17th

7:00–8:00 a.m.

Registration and Continental Breakfast

8:00–11:30 a.m.

Presentation

11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

Lunch (provided)

12:30–3:30 p.m. Presentation

Thursday, September 18th

7:00–8:00 a.m.

Registration and Continental Breakfast

8:00–11:30 a.m.

Presentation

11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

Lunch (provided)

12:30–3:30 p.m. Presentation

Accommodations

Events reach capacity quickly. Please confirm your registration before making travel plans.

While discounted rooms in our hotel room block may be sold out, the primary hotel may still have rooms available at their standard rates. Please inquire directly with the hotel.

Hotels

Primary Hotel

The Chifley Houston

2400 West Loop South
Houston, Texas 77027
800.445.8667

Discounted Rate: (single or double) $169/night
Deadline: August 17, 2025, or until group rate is sold out
Online reservations

Events reach capacity quickly. Please confirm your registration before making travel plans.

Parking information: Discounted daily parking rate of $15.00 for self-park and $20.00 for valet

Venue

The Chifley Houston

2400 West Loop South

Houston, Texas

More details

Additional Information

Product code: WSG312


Five Reasons to Attend a Solution Tree Event (PDF)
A Letter to Your Boss (DOC)

You will receive a certificate of participation 6 weeks after the event concludes. Please check with your state department of education for CEU availability.

Teams should bring the following:

  • Laptop for the team (not necessary every member of the team have one)
  • Standards for the content area they are choosing to work on
  • Any curriculum materials they presently have for that unit of study
  • Any assessments they presently have for that unit of study

Included with your registration

The 15-Day Challenge

The 15-Day Challenge

Simplicity of the PLC process and energy to drive the work are essential for teams to collaborate successfully. Author Maria Nielsen provides you with the structure and tools you need to confidently utilize both of these staples to become a high-functioning professional learning community.

Event Journal

Event Journal

We’re enhancing your event experience. In addition to providing presentations in digital format, Solution Tree is publishing retail-quality, perfect-bound notebooks expertly designed to support your learning. Any printed handouts or worksheets integrated into your sessions will continue to be provided.

Contact Us.