Nashville, TN: Connecting the Dots - Strategic Planning for Education

This is one in a series of six events for education technologists.

Today’s education landscape is changing dramatically. New external and internal forces are exerting a profound impact on the US education system, and today’s educators will need to plan strategically to meet these challenges. Issues that today’s education system are facing include:
•    National demand for high skill workers
•    The changing market place – disappearing industries and preparing students for jobs that are not yet invented
•    A retiring population and the largest group of students in K12 since the baby boomers
•    Unprecedented fiscal pressure on state budgets
•    Managing the significant role of technology in schools while maintaining aging infrastructure

This roundtable event will further examine these issues and explore new ways to align educational strategic planning with economic development.  

You are invited to participate in roundtable discussions on topics such as:
•    Strategies for Funding Innovation
•    Break-Out School Model Strategies
•    Infrastructure Planning for Student Achievement 
•    Outside the School Walls Learning Opportunities
•    New Uses for Student Data
•    Workforce Development

More than just a briefing, this fast paced planning session will convene K12 and higher education leaders and executives from state and local workforce development teams around an agenda designed for specific “take away” implementation ideas.

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Featured Speakers

Spotlight Presentation

Dr. Barbara Grohe, Former Superintendent, Kent School District, WA

Dr. Grohe recently retired as the superintendent in Kent, Washington. As superintendent of the fourth largest school district in Washington State, she provided leadership for 26,400 students and over 3,100 staff. Upon coming to Kent in 1999, Dr. Grohe clearly communicated her vision for integrating technology throughout the curriculum. It was Dr. Grohe's leadership and ability to communicate a vision that proved instrumental in passing several technology levies, which took this already award-winning district to an even higher level of technology literacy.

Prior to coming to Kent she served as superintendent in Wisconsin and Iowa. In each school district, leading edge technology was a core component in increasing student achievement.  In Iowa City, Dr. Grohe spearheaded a community and business initiative that financed the technology infrastructure.

Dr. Grohe was the 1998 National Superintendent of the Year. This award is bestowed on a superintendent who has demonstrated all-around outstanding leadership.  

Closing Keynote

John Halpin, Vice President, Center for Digital Education

John Halpin serves as the Vice President for the Center for Digital Education. He has worked in the public sector and information technology market for over 35 years.

As a veteran K-12 teacher, curriculum coordinator and college professor, Halpin has consulted with industry and the public sector to help promote the use of technology in education. He has also led sales and marketing efforts for some of the largest technology companies. In addition, Halpin has contributed to industry and professional publications as a writer and speaker. He has written for various outlets, including the national Business Journal Group, the McClatchy Newspapers chain and various corporate industry publications. He speaks often on public sector technology issues before national professional associations, various state leadership councils and technology companies.

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Agenda

8:30 Registration

9:00 am Welcome and Kick Off

9:10 am Spotlight Presentation:

Setting the Stage - What to Cut? What to Keep? How Can Education Plan for the Future?
Due to difficult budgets, most school leaders are being forced to take an inventory of what programs they can keep and what has to be disbanded. The opening speaker will offer ideas for K12, higher education along with state and local workforce teams to strategically plan for the future of their schools. Now is the time for education executives to take stock of what has been successful and preserve those activities.

At the same time we must look forward and plan for new ways to meet the challenges ahead. The strategic planning focus of the event will help leaders remember to focus on gaining efficiencies, getting priorities straight and how to leverage technology and partnerships to create success in the most important sector of our communities; education.

Dr. Barbara Grohe, Former Superintendent, Kent School District, WA

9:30 am Roundtable Discussion Rotation Begins

Table 1: 9:30 to 10:05 am
Table 2: 10:05 to 10:40 am
Table 3: 10:40 to 11:15 am
Table 4: 11:15 to 11:50 am

11:50 am Lunch

12:25 pm Roundtable Discussion Rotation Continues

Table 5: 12:25 to 1:00 pm

Roundtable Discussion Topics:

ROUNDTABLE #1: Tailoring Education and Talent Development to Support Regional Economic Development
This session will explore the role that P-20 schools, businesses and government have as stakeholders in tomorrow’s workforce, and methods to align curriculum and other resources with the needs of a changing marketplace. In order to facilitate sustainable and flexible economic growth, it is becoming increasingly important that the education community understand and prepare students for the job demands for your region.  The curriculum that we are teaching in schools directly impacts a student’s ability to be successful and employable in the future. 

This roundtable will discuss:
•  How to leverage regional data to improve student achievement and build a pipeline of qualified workers.
•  Methods to develop and empower student talent throughout their education
•  How to foster partnerships to create communities for success
•  Ways to engage and inspire students about planning for the future
•  Available funding opportunities 

Andy Vaughan, Director, Strategic Programs, Monster Public Sector & Education

ROUNDTABLE #2: Collaboration Fosters Innovation in Education
Never before has education faced such challenging and yet exciting times. Join us to discuss how students, parents, teachers, administrators and their communities are using technology to establish and maintain partnerships in learning to meet these challenges head on. This roundtable will share examples of how this collaboration is driving new and innovative ways of serving the education community and challenge participants to think outside the box.

Bill Kilcullen, Education Solutions, U.S. Public Sector Services, Microsoft Corporation

ROUNDTABLE #3: Hot Topics in Infrastructure for Tennessee
School systems are being challenged more than ever before to deliver rich content to students in an increasingly complex environment. Today’s education technologist requires more infrastructure flexibility despite declining budget dollars. This discussion will examine the state’s current infrastructure projects and where Tennessee is headed in the areas of storage, security, networking and virtualization. We will investigate best practices, common issues, ways to maximize resources and save money.

Glenn Yarbrough, Chief Technology Officer, State of Tennessee

ROUNDTABLE #4: STEM Education - Preparing Students for the Future
Technology is an ever increasing factor in all of our lives. However, there is growing concern that the U.S. is not preparing a sufficient number of students, teachers and practitioners in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to accommodate the workforce of the future. This roundtable will provide the latest research on the state of STEM education today and address ways to strengthen STEM education in our schools. It will also draw examples from Art2STEM, a 3-year, 1.35 million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation which works with girls to promote their interests, skills and abilities in STEM, so that more of them choose to pursue these paths in high school and post-secondary education.

Sandra Harris, Program Manager, Alignment Nashville/PENCIL Foundation

ROUNDTABLE #5: Online Learning: A Force for Improving Student Success
It has been argued that some of the greatest short-term traction we can make in school transformation is through online learning. The foundation has been set and the results have proven that online learning and face-to-face learning have equivalent results. However, online learning is more cost-effective and provides an economical way to recruit and train teachers in hard-to-staff areas. This table will discuss the relationships between online learning courses, digital content and virtual schools alongside a discussion about staffing and training assistance, credit recovery, remediation, advanced credit and other opportunities for student achievement through online learning.

Wendy Oliver, Ed.D., Coordinator, e⁴TN

1:00 pm Roundtable Recap

1:10 pm Closing Keynote

Connecting the Dots – How Today’s Hot Issues Impact Schools and What to Do About It
The closing keynote will “connect the dots” between the headlines and their impact on today’s students.   In the midst of tremendous change and opportunity, it is often difficult to keep up with changing educational environment, let alone have time to focus on the impact. How might you be affected by Race to the Top?  How can you provide better workforce development?   What impact will pending E-Rate changes have in your district?  How might the Obama Administration’s EETT proposals impact your funding?  How are campus management systems addressing student needs while keeping costs down?   The closing keynote will address the latest timely issues facing schools and discuss ways to maximize on current opportunities. 

John Halpin, Vice President, Center for Digital Education

VIEW PRESENTATION SLIDES HERE:

1:35 pm Network and Dessert

2:35 pm Adjourn

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Location

Directions:
Click here

Parking (parking rates subject to change):
•   Valet: $18 per day for meeting guests; $24 per day for overnight guests
•   Self-parking: Available at a public garage across the street from the hotel with charges
    based on a per-hour basis – half-day rate approximately $10 and full-day rate approximately $16

Transportation:
•   Grayline Downtown Airport Express leaves the airport every 15 to 20 minutes and most hotels
     every 30 minutes from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Reservations can be made online at
     http://www.graylinenashville.com/page.cfm?ID=1337.  
     Charges are $12 one way and $20 round trip.
•   Taxi fare is approximately $20 one way.