by Great Schools Partnership
Every year, the Great Schools Partnership hosts a wide variety of virtual learning opportunities in addition to an in-person conference for educators and other members of the school community. Session titles and descriptions for our 2023-2024 calendar are available below. Please note that registration is currently open for fall discovery sessions and the school leaders’ PLG; registration for the School Redesign in Action 2024 will open in December.
Don’t forget to bookmark our events page for the latest information.
Fall Discovery Sessions:
Habits of Work: Shifting from Compliance to Liberation
Dates: September 20, 2023
Description: One common shift when working toward equitable grading and reporting practices is to separate out behavior, or habits of work, from academic grades to better assess a student’s proficiency of the content and skills. Habits of work have been leveraged in schools across the country as an act toward educational equity to remove barriers from demonstrations of learning. Habits of work can provide valuable opportunities for students to reflect on how they approach their work and where there are places to continue to grow. However, how often have we paused to reflect on whose values are centered in the habits of work? Are habits of work facilitating growth and reflection? Are habits of work reinforcing systems of compliance and oppression or systems of liberation? Through shared learning and discussions, together, we can build systems to honor the individual while strengthening the collective.
Grading for Educational Equity: Feedback That Empowers Student Engagement
Dates: November 1, 2023
Description: Grading practices should help our students engage in meaningful, authentic work, and encourage students to set goals, guide learning, and self-reflect. True student engagement is the result of effective instruction, including opportunities to practice skills and receive feedback that encourages growth. The school’s grading system should be designed to give feedback to students so they can take charge of their learning and to provide information to all who support these students, and not to punish students or sort them into levels. In this session, we will focus on grading strategies that allow for growth and result in more student engagement for all students.
Instructional Rounds: Improving Teaching and Learning with Non-Evaluative Observation
Dates: December 6, 2023
Description: Rounds are a powerful tool that have been an accepted practice regularly incorporated in the medical field and underutilized in other professions. Instructional rounds focus on the instructional core which includes three interdependent components: teachers’ knowledge and skill, students’ engagement in their own learning, and academically challenging content. Instructional rounds offer an exciting opportunity to conduct non-evaluative observations in a breadth of classrooms across a school or district. Through instructional rounds, equity-driven school improvement is continuous and cyclical. Join us in learning how all school community partners (teachers, administrators, support staff, students and families) can collaboratively identify instructional patterns, make predictions, and collaboratively commit to next steps for improving teaching and learning.
2023-24 School Leaders’ Professional Learning Group (PLG):
Dates: October 18, November 29, January 17, March 6, March 25 & 26, May 1
Description: This is the first meeting of the School Leaders’ Professional Learning Group (PLG), which will meet monthly over Zoom—except for the March 25 & 26 meeting, which will take place in person at the School Redesign in Action conference in Providence, Rhode Island. Together, we’ll learn from research, share dilemmas, examine work, and push and challenge each other. This PLG will provide new perspectives in a supportive and facilitated online environment throughout the school year, allowing participants to engage and learn from colleagues across districts, regions, school sizes, and experience levels. School leaders will collaboratively drive the focus of each meeting. At times, we will break into smaller, choice-based groups to tackle timely and urgent issues that arise during our time together.
School Redesign in Action 2024:
Dates: March 25-26, 2024
Description: Save the date! The Great Schools Partnership’s annual School Redesign in Action Conference will be held on March 25-26, 2024, at the Omni Providence Hotel in Providence, Rhode Island. Join us and hundreds of educators to dream radically about the future of education and redesign our schools to support all students. You will connect with like-minded educators, exchange best practices, problem solve together, and leave with a renewed energy to take your learning back to your classroom, school, district, and community.