Rachel Guinn, Larry Thomas and Kevin Hall from Birmingham Public Schools in Michigan
Several large school and district teams participated in the May 10-11, 2018 GL TURN conference in Lisle, IL to delve into the issue of ensuring equity with excellence for all students. Kedda Williams, Partners for Each and Every Child, provided a review of federal and state efforts to address equity as well as determine key foundational needs to apply equity throughout school systems. Kathleen Osta, National Equity Project, was joined by Superintendent Edward Condon and Community Outreach Coordinator Dawne Simmons, of River Forest Public School District 90 in Illinois to provide a deeper understanding of their journey to ensure equity with excellence for students in their community.
Larry Thomas, Oakland County ESC in Michigan joined Rachel Guinn and Kevin Hall, from Birmingham Public Schools in Michigan to shared their efforts to ensure equity through pedagogical practices to deepening student learning. This session showcased the work of a cohort of Michigan schools that are engaged in the New Pedagogies for Deep Learning (npdl.global) global network.
Rob Metz, BARR Center, (barrcenter.org) also shared their powerful story that began when Angela Jerabek, BARR founder first started implementing this program as a 9th grade counselor at St. Louis Park High School in 1998. At that time, just 56 percent of freshmen were passing all their core classes. Today, more than 85 percent of St. Louis Park freshman pass all their core classes.
Tamika Chambers delved into the topic of SEL using the 5 Pillars of social, emotional and academic development to guide educational policies and practices to ensure student success in schools and districts. (casel.org)
GL TURN will continue to address issues of equity and social-emotional-academic learning needs of students at the upcoming GL TURN conference on November 15-16, 2018 in Naperville, Illinois.