Leadership

Closing student achievement gaps requires specific actions focused on acceleration and leveling up strategies to achieve grade-level proficiency or beyond. Acceleration is the pathway; we cannot continue to go backward if our goal is to move forward. Discover how to erase inequities in student learning while building hope and confidence in both teachers and students. This is equity in action.

Melissa Dickson, EdM, is an outstanding presenter and educator. She is passionate about providing teachers with research-based ideas and strategies that they implement immediately. In her decades as an educator, Melissa has been a literacy coach, staff developer, site-based team leader, mentor teacher, inclusion teacher, classroom teacher, and early childhood teacher.

Alexandra Guilamo is an expert in the implementation, education, and effective leadership of dual-language, bilingual, and language-learner education. She has previously served as a teacher, academic coach, elementary school principal, and district-level educator.

Greg Curtis is an author and presenter. He has spent more than 30 years working with schools around the world as a teacher, curriculum and professional learning director, leadership trainer, strategic planner, and IT director.

Michael McDowell, EdD, has been a public school educator for the past 18 years serving in the roles of classroom teacher, academic and athletic coach, school principal, assistant superintendent of personnel and instruction, and superintendent.

Emily Feltner, EdD, has over 30 years of experience at all levels in education. She works with schools and districts in the areas of leadership, literacy, and school improvement.

Instructional leaders (e.g., coaches, principals, and teacher leaders) work with teachers to improve educational outcomes for their students. This role can be overwhelming, especially when students and teachers have lost a full year of academic instruction.

With so much focus on students’ foundational skills, we cannot afford to overlook the unconstrained components of language comprehension. In this webinar, author Molly Ness highlights the research showing the cognitive, linguistic, socioemotional - and even physiological - benefits of read alouds. Despite their solid research basis, 50-70% of teachers do not plan read alouds in advance! This webinar overviews a planning protocol for effective read alouds in Pre-K - Grade 8 in literacy blocks and content-area classrooms.

Roxanne (Roxy) L. Mourant, MEd, has been an educator since 1987 and has worked in a variety of school settings. She is currently chief education officer of Educating for Leadership, Inc., in Alaska.

Many articles, blogs, books, podcasts, and webinars have been written and shared for the purpose of reiterating the need to close student achievement gaps. And yet, the process and progress in closing the gaps has been out of reach.