Alan Blankstein

While the movement for standards and accountability has largely succeeded in bringing greater attention to disparities in student achievement, surprisingly little attention has been given to what it takes to create conditions in schools that will make achievement for all students more likely. Missing from much of the policy debate related to achievement is how to place equity at the center of education reform, and how that, in turn, supports the most effective teaching in schools.

Excellence Through Equity: Five Principles of Courageous Leadership to Guide Achievement for Every Student will describe principles and practices that have proven effective in meeting the needs of a wide variety of learners, and how practitioners can avoid the zero-sum scenario which leads some to believe that we have to choose between the pursuit of excellence and equity.

You will learn:

1. The changing demographics and economics that call for a more effective approach to addressing disparities and inequities;
2. Why the path to excellence is through equity and what we can do to make it happen;
3. How courageous leaders build commitment to high-performing school cultures; and
4. An instructional approach to engaging learners, building relations and personalizing learning across ethnic, cultural, and linguistic divides.

This presentation focuses on how to build leadership communities within and between schools and districts, how to create schools where failure is not an option, and what it takes to turn schools around and continually improve schools and entire districts that are already good. Content is based on two decades of research and one decade of field-tested practice in districts throughout the world – much of which is encapsulated in the award-winning Failure Is NOT an Option ®, (Third Edition released at the Convention) and the newly released The Answer is in the Room: How Effective Schools Scale Student Success. It’s not about Common Core – it’s about Common Implementation. While CCSS, Professional Standards, RTL and many other initiatives du jour have our attention, the secret to tackling them all is in the lead team that is capable of shaping school culture and advancing instruction system-wide. This requires relational trust, clarified purpose, and a common language, method and framework for action. This engaging, humor-studded session is for leaders at all levels. It provides a foundation for creating a high-performing school culture, and leadership teams throughout the district capable of handling almost any challenge.