Richmond, VA: Connecting the Dots - Strategic Planning for Education

Marriott Richmond
500 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
804.643.3400

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
• Infrastructure Planning for Student Achievement
• Outside the School Walls Learning Opportunities
• 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

Morning Keynote

Calvin Baker, Superintendent, Vail School District, AZ

Calvin Baker has been the the superintendent of the Vail School District for 21 years. During his tenure, student enrollment has grown from 500 students in one school to over 10,000 students in 16 regular and charter schools. For the third straight year, all regular elementary, middle and high schools in the Vail District have been rated as “Excelling,” the highest level, by the Arizona Department of Education.

Vail School District is a recognized leader in areas such as standards-based instruction, Response to Intervention and the use of technology. In 2005, the district was the first to open a school fully utilizing digital instructional material – substituting laptops for textbooks. The district has also implemented a system, called “Beyond Textbooks,” that puts calendared instructional standards in a digital format.

Baker is active in community and educational organizations. He is president-elect of the Arizona School Administrator’s Association and past-president of that organization’s superintendents division.

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.

 

Agenda

8:30 a.m. – Registration

9:00 a.m. – Welcome and Kick Off

9:10 a.m. – Morning Keynote 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 K-12 and 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.

Calvin Baker, Superintendent, Vail School District, AZ

9:30 a.m. – Roundtable Discussion Rotation Begins

Table 1: 9:30 to 10:05 a.m.
Table 2: 10:05 to 10:40 a.m.
Table 3: 10:40 to 11:15 a.m.
Table 4: 11:15 to 11:50 a.m.

11:50 a.m. – Lunch

12:25 p.m. – Roundtable Discussion Rotation Continues

Table 5: 12:25 to 1:00 p.m.

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: Funding Strategies: Grant Writing and Winning Secrets Revealed
There is a strategy to writing and winning grants. The speakers will share secrets to navigating the maze of finding funding opportunities and turning those opportunities into successful programs for Virginia. Technology can help schools increase efficiency and save money overall.  The speaker will review and share tips and tricks to provide tools for navigating the sea of funding more efficiently and effectively and will investigate ways to cover the technology investments you are considering.

Kristin DeProspero, President and Chief Executive Officer, Funding Solutions Corporation
Andrew Ko, Director, Microsoft Education
Jim Nickel, Academic Account Manager, Microsoft

ROUNDTABLE #3: 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.

Scott A. Cloud, Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction, Virtual Virginia
Dan Marohl, Regional Sales Manager, Wyse Technology, Inc.

ROUNDTABLE #4: Social Media and Its Place in Modern Classrooms
Today’s students are increasingly digitally savvy, and organizations must respond with solutions that allow people to connect in a media-rich, social, relevant and engaging forum. Learning environments now need to harness the power of social productivity tools to foster collaborative teaching and learning while preparing for the inevitable security risks. This table will share best practice strategies for bringing safe social networking, online tools and professional learning communities all together to promote teamwork and collaboration.

Suri Durvasula, Services Solution Executive, Dell Global Services
Adam Garry, Manager of Global Professional Learning, Dell
Karen Richardson, Executive Director, Virginia Society for Technology in Education (VSTE)

ROUNDTABLE #5: Hot Topics in Infrastructure for Virginia
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 roundtable discussion will include ways to leverage existing infrastructure to reduce costs, increase quality of services, ensure security and create a platform for new learning applications.

Matt Lawson, Director of Enterprise Services, Virginia Community College System
John McDonald, Former Deputy Secretary of Technology for the Commonwealth of Virginia, Vice President of State and Local Programs, 1901 Group
William Turanchik, Area Manager/GAM, Mid-Atlantic, Qwest^® Government & Education Solutions

All trademarks are the property of Qwest. Copyright © 2010 Qwest. All Rights Reserved.

1:00 p.m. – Roundtable Recap
 
1:10 p.m. – 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 a 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 opportunities.

John Halpin, Vice President, Center for Digital Education

1:35 p.m. – Network and Dessert

2:35 p.m. – Adjourn

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Location

Room Reservations:

• Room rate: $149 single / $159 double per night
• Deadline for reservations: Monday, August 30, 2010
• Call 800.228.9290 and reference Connecting the Dots

Map and Directions

Parking (parking rates subject to change)

• Valet parking is available - $19 per day