UB's Summer Education Institute -- "Reinventing Education" -- Will Look at Practical Strategies for Improving Schools

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Workshops, discussions and keynote presentations by three nationally renowned education reformers will distinguish "Reinventing Education," a week-long summer institute to be held July 15-18 by the University at Buffalo Graduate School of Education.

The program, which will take place on UB's North Campus, is designed to benefit teachers, administrators, school board members, parents and others interested in schools.

Keynote speakers will include Tony Wagner, Ed.D., co-director of the Change Leadership Group (CLG) in the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and author of "Making the Grade: Reinventing America's Schools."

CLG is funded by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Its mission is to develop new knowledge about what is needed to initiate and sustain deep systemic changes in K-12 public education that will result in improved learning for all students, to sponsor programs that strengthen the capacities of educational leaders and "change coaches" to implement systemic change, and to disseminate key learning from this work to diverse professional audiences.

Another keynote speaker will be Mary Erina Driscoll, Ph.D., associate professor and director of the Educational Administration Program in New York University's Steinhardt School of Education, who will examine the policy implications of the "No Child Left Behind" legislation.

Driscoll's research focuses on the ways in which organizational and collaborative arrangements may be used to connect individuals to one another and to the communities in which schools and students are located. Past research has explored how school choice mechanisms in the public sector are related to student and parent beliefs about the quality of teaching and learning in their schools.

The program's third distinguished speaker will be Pedro A. Noguera, Ph.D., Judith K. Dimon Professor of Communities and Schools, Harvard Graduate School of Education, and the author of "Confronting the Urban: How City Schools Can Respond to Social Inequity."

Noguera's research focuses on ways in which schools respond to the social and economic forces within their urban environment. He has engaged in collaborative research with several large, urban school districts, and he has published and lectured on topics such as youth violence, race relations within schools, the potential impact of school choice and vouchers on urban public schools, and secondary issues resulting from desegregation in public schools.

Among the program highlights will be a presentation by an instructional support team from the Millcreek (Pa.) Township School District that implemented a "student support team" approach that systematically addresses the academic, behavioral and social/emotional needs of special- education students.

The program also will offer registrants an opportunity to engage in small-group follow-up discussion with each of the speakers and participate in workshops on a variety of topics of interest to administrators, teachers, parents and the public.

They include sessions on understanding and communicating curriculum and student performance results on the ELA and math assessments, alternative and special education collaboration, and assessing and decentralizing school leadership in urban school systems.

Others will illustrate how to use six traits of writing to improve student performance, how to use data and research in schools, how to use the state's elementary and intermediate science curriculum and Regent's biology exam results to make instructional decisions, issues related to small schools and promoting leadership that will encourage and develop change.

In a wrap-up and planning session, participants will discuss ways to utilize the information presented and implement it in their own school districts, as well as explore specific professional development needs.

Workshop presenters include Ted Smith, Questar III BOCES; Maryann Anderson, Ellen LeVan, Karen Staab and Larry Stevens of the Millcreek School District; Julie Carter and James Collins and Corrie Giles of the University at Buffalo; Fran Murphy of the LEADERSHIP Academy; Ted Anderson and Richard Brennan, Erie I BOCES; Gail Hirsch, Cattaraugus-Alleghany BOCES; Joseph Zawicki, Buffalo State College; Roma Collins, Alexander Central Schools; Nicholas Hejaily, Williamsville School District; Michael DuPre, University of Rochester; Susan Meier, Odyssey School, and Cathy Battaglia, City Honors High School.

Participants also will have the option of registering for an evening event at the Chautauqua Institution that will include dinner at the Athenaeum Hotel and a concert.

Those interested in more information or program registration can call 716-645-6640 ext. 1010 or go to the GSE Web site at http://www.gse.buffalo.edu/.

Registration for the summer institute and a pre-institute workshop on instructional support teams for special education on July 14, is $545 by May 10 and $695 after May 10. Participants can register separately for the institute, the pre-institute workshop and the evening at Chautauqua Institution.