Sessions

Research and Performance Management

Charter School Hot Topics

Facilities

Leadership: Administrative

Leadership: Board of Directors

Legal Issues

Operations and Finance

Public Relations, Outreach, and Advocacy

Teaching, Learning & Student Affairs

Parents

More to come, so check back soon!
Click on the strands below for Session Descriptions within each strand:

Session Title:

In education when data analysis is discussed it is invariably connected to "accountability" or "NCLB", which for many causes them to break out in a cold sweat or worse. In this talk I will examine the role of data analysis in helping schools, classrooms, and students improve for the sake of improvement, not because someone told you it was the "right" thing to do. Attendees at the session will learn new ways of looking at data that are aimed at continuous improvement, intervention, and acceleration. Examples will include reference to NWEA MAP data and
other sources of student achievement data. Principals and teachers will both feel comfortable in this session.

Session Title:

Come to this session and learn more about Alpine Achievement Systems, a data management tool, designed to ease the burden of multiple systems, reports, and number crunching. Over 60 charter schools use Alpine Achievement in Colorado through their district, independently, or through the League. This system is designed to help schools with the analysis of student performance data (CSAP, NWEA, literacy, and much more), develop customized groups for teachers to do their own analyses and monitor student progress, develop easy to understand reports for board of directors and for authorizers (literacy, special education, response to intervention, gifted), and the broader school community. Whether you are a current user of this system or considering it for your school, you will walk away with a better understanding of the power of the tool and recently expanded functionality including Plan Builder and Data Warehouse.

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This is an interactive session designed for current users of the NWEA Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessment. Your school has invested instructional time, resources to purchase and administer this assessment system and more, now you have the opportunity to develop a long range plan to fully implement the system and maximize the use of the results to impact instruction. Participants will explore school specific outcomes and tie them to opportunities, people, & resources to assist the school in meeting the outcomes. Participants will leave with a customized plan ready to be put into practice at their school. Participants will also walk away with a better understanding of the various resources and tools available to them beyond their buildings- through NWEA, the network of over 80 Colorado charter schools using NWEA, and the League's services and support.

Session Title:

Calling all school leaders and authorizers of designated alternative education charter schools: Approximately one in three of Colorado’s charter high schools qualify for the alternative education campus (AEC) designation and a number of others come close. Approximately half of these AEC charter schools are authorized by Denver Public Schools (DPS). Given the large numbers of AECs in DPS and the large number of charter high school qualifying under this designation, individuals from both the League and DPS have been considering how best to measure the effectiveness of schools serving large proportions of high-risk students. Please join this session to find out what the League’s research team has discovered about “typical” growth for high-risk students and to help us brainstorm about additional, non-test-based measures of student progress that should be considered for inclusion in an alternative accountability framework for assessing quality among AECs. We will consider how the state’s new district accreditation framework, current “alternative accountability” model, and Adequate Yearly Progress measures might be modified to more fairly hold schools serving high-risk students accountable. We will use the school performance framework for alternative schools, from Denver Public Schools, as a starting point for the discussion and will bring in alternative accountability frameworks from other states and authorizers to consider as well. We encourage school leaders and authorizers from all districts and charters that are close to the state’s 95% high-risk student threshold to attend.

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Join this session to find out more about Colorado's Growth Model data that was released over the summer and the impact on charter schools. The Colorado Growth Model replaces the School Accountability Report (SAR) growth measure and becomes the focus of the state's District Accreditation Framework. Walk away from this session with a better understanding of your school's results, how this data can be used in your building and classroom, and how it will be used statewide.

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Three schools share their experiences with NWEA's MAP test to building a culture that promotes student success. Do you find students filling in the bubbles to form a tree? Are you invalidating assessments because students are not taking them seriously? Join this session and hear from three school leaders as they share their experiences, expectations, and techniques to create a culture that embraces academic performance data and incentives for teachers and students to celebrate growth and proficiency for all grades K-12.

Catherine Witt, Landmark Academy
Jay Cerny, Eagle County Charter Academy
Cyndi Bush-Luna, Colorado High School Charter
Steve Haynes, Colorado High School Charter

Session Title:

Krista Kafer and Jen Dauzvardis, members of the Charter School Support Initiative (CSSI) team, will present a PowerPoint on this unique evaluation service for self improvement available through the Colorado Department of Education (CDE). The CSSI service is independent of other evaluations such as those required for charter renewal and accreditation and it is completely voluntary. Participating schools receive a comprehensive review of the school's strength and weaknesses based on the Standards and Indicators for School Improvement, a research-based rubric.

The presentation will explain the evaluation process, the anatomy of the report, and how schools benefit from an external review. It will also provide the perspective of school personnel. Before joining the team, Dauzvardis was the board president of a school that received a site visit. She will provide an inside scoop of the process and value of the report. The audience will have the opportunity to ask questions.

Jen Dauzvardis, Colorado Department of Education
Krista Kafer, Colorado Department of Education

In November 2007, the Colorado State Board of Education amended the rules for the administration of the Exceptional Children's Educational Act (ECEA). This included new criteria under the Response to Intervention (RtI) model and the disability category “Specific Learning Disability”. Join this presentation by state experts to find out how these changes impact charter schools and leave armed with resources and tools to assist your school in the implementation of these models.

Do you have teachers with initial licenses that want to move to a professional license and need a state approved induction program? Did you know that charter schools can have their own? Come to this session and learn about that process and also find out what other charter schools are doing for teacher induction.

Is your school lacking a lunch program or stuck paying high prices for mediocre food? Colorado has had limited options for charter schools to provide food service and also receive federal funding for students qualified for free and reduced price lunch. The League has heard from schools about this issue for years and is now working with partner organizations to establish a pilot program for charters to provide affordable, healthy food service starting in 2009. Please join this session that will include partner organizations and the potential food service provider to learn more about this pilot and our long term plans to expand food service opportunities for charter schools.

Erin Lewellen, Revolution Foods, Inc.
Tony Lewis, Donnell Kay Foundation
Marco Rafanelli, Colorado League of Charter Schools

Lauren Jones, College in Colorado

Session Title:

Join us for an interactive overview of navigating the confusing process in obtaining a facility for your school. We can help answer the following: Who are the players in the facility process and what position do they play? What are some of the issues surrounding charter facilities (legal familiarizing landlords and owners working with local planning departments, etc.) and many more!

Facilities

Facilities

Facilities

In 2002, legislation was passed requiring school districts to notify their charters schools when a bond initiative is being considered, and invite them to submit proposals for inclusion in the bond. Not surprisingly, how each school district currently plans to include, or not include, charters in their upcoming bond initiative varies greatly.

The Colorado League of Charter Schools worked with charter school leadership in numerous districts this year to help maximize their opportunities for inclusion in the bond process. Find out more about the results of this work, how it impacts future bond elections in districts across the state, and how we are continuing efforts to improve the landscape for charter school facilities.

Schools that start out small and grow gradually, schools conceived as small schools, and schools in rural areas face major challenges finding and affording a suitable facility. This panel discussion of finance experts and a rural charter school leader will examine (1) services and programs available to such schools for identifying, acquiring, and developing an appropriate facility; and (2) affordable financing options for facilities acquisition and improvements; and (3) questions small school operators should ask realtors, brokers, lenders, and other third parties. The importance of, and approaches to, short and long-term facilities planning will also be highlighted, along with lender expectations and requirements for new, small, or rural schools seeking to finance a facility.

Session Title:

Are you an administrator that needs support and don't know where to turn? Do you have teachers that need support and don't have a way to provide that support? Are you wondering what you will do when you retire? Have you recently faced a life changing event? Do you have goals you want to accomplish but have put them off for a long time? This session will explore how life coaching can provide a process for dealing with these issues. You will preview and experience some of the tools used during life coaching. You will learn some relaxation techniques, ways to strengthen your brain and the importance of mind-body connection.

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The panelists in this session will explore critical strategies and processes related to recruiting, hiring, and retaining school leaders and staff - Topics that will be addressed include developing effective recruitment materials, where to search for candidates, how to develop an appropriate selection process, notifying all candidates of the outcomes, and establishing structures to keep quality leaders and staff once you have them on board.

Session Title:

Assessing the governance of your school is as important as assessing the school’s performance. Yet few boards know how to do this. Take your board to new levels of effectiveness by learning when a board should assess itself, what questions you should ask, and what to do with the information.

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Much of your charter school’s success depends on a strong working relationship with your school leader. This session is designed to help you evaluate and strengthen your partnership with your school leader. Together we will delve into the governance-management conundrum through some real life board/school leader case studies.

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Is your school operating without a defined plan? Strategic planning is a vital part for the success of a charter school. With a board governance structure it is critical that all involved focus their resources to the common vision and mission of the school. This session will provide instruction on the processes of developing a strategic plan from the mission statement to the implementation. Strategies will be discussed which carry out the identified goals and objectives of a school. The practical relevance of strategic planning for charter schools is that a well-defined plan helps the governing board focus on their role as policy makers, liaisons in the school community, and support for the administration, rather than management of day-to-day operations. In addition, strategic planning provides an opportunity for stakeholders at all levels in the school to have meaningful input on a variety of issues.

Session Title:

In his groundbreaking bestseller, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap . . . And Others Don't, author Jim Collins uses research to explain the differences between companies that made the leap from being merely good, to being great. In a similar manner, author Brian L. Carpenter studied one hundred charter schools in order to understand why they closed. Each of these schools, at their start, was deemed good enough to receive a charter, but within a few years, each was dissolved. They went from being good, to being gone. While the topic is sobering, Dr. Carpenter, CEO of the National Charter Schools Institute, is a sought after speaker, both for his compelling content and for his irreverent wit. In this seminar, he emphasizes three things every charter school executive and board member should do to make sure their school becomes great instead of gone.

Session Title:

Applying Board Best Practices

This session is designed to help board members become consciously aware of best practices in everyday situations. Charter school board members are regularly faced with circumstances where a solid implementation of best practices can guide good decision-making. New and experienced board members should recognize when to apply those valuable tools and skills learned in board training. In this session, three real world scenarios will be presented for the audience, followed by guided small group discussion. The presentation will also consider how an outwardly simple issue can involve the application of numerous best practices. Recognizing opportunities to act responsibly and effectively is a characteristic of professional and successful boards. A variety of resources and handouts will be available to support the topics discussed.

Jennifer Dauzvardis, Colorado Department of Education
Denise Mund, Colorado Department of Education

Session Title:

The Seven Outs: A Strategic Planning Model to Move Your School From Good to Great

Just the words “strategic planning” are enough to make some board members and school executives feel swamped. The process is usually long, boring, and largely without results—unless you count a five-inch-thick vinyl notebook collecting dust on a shelf as an achievement. Don’t mire your board and executive in writing a plan that is tedious, dull, and loaded with administrivia—three adjectives that could have been invented to describe the typical strategic plan. The Seven Outs offers your school a step-by-step framework for conducting strategic planning. Once completed, the board and executive will know what the students are to accomplish and how well they are to accomplish it, and the board will know how to evaluate the outcomes.

Session Title:

Performance Management for Charter School Boards: Defining, measuring, and monitoring student and school performance outcomes

Session Title:

Charter school attorney Brad Miller sets forth a variety of techniques to assist charter schools (and other non-profit organizations) to avoid predatory billing practices, to ensure that they are asking for and receiving the legal advice they need for optimal operations, and to identify methods of accountability to achieve fair expectations on both sides. This course is oriented towards charter school leaders, CFOs and HR directors.

Session Title:

Charter schools must understand numerous legal issues related to employment, such as hiring, evaluating staff, disciplining staff, terminating employment (by lay-off or firing), employment contracts, "at-will" employment, employment discrimination, hostile work environments, harassment in the workplace, payroll issues, family & medical leave, and workplace investigations.

This comprehensive legal presentation will cover these issues in a manner designed to assist charter schools of every type.

Session Title:

This session will provide an overview of the special education laws and the impact on charter schools, review three models for delivery of special education services, and discuss key considerations to help charter schools plan for and negotiate special education services in their charter contracts. Participants will walk away with a better understanding of laws surrounding charter schools and will leave with a guidelines document to help schools develop a compliance plan while going through contract negotiations for new schools and for schools going through contract renewal.

Session Title:

This session will look at some of the changing legal issues facing charter schools today. Some of the topics that will be addressed include:

• Contract compliance sanctions
  
• Transferring authorizers
  
• Charter school obligations in serving limited English proficient students

Session Title:

Getting your charter school application or renewal application approved is the first step, then it is moving onto negotiating your contract with your authorizer. Come this session to learn more about and discuss contract negotiations, both for initial and renewal contacts. The session will focus on general negotiations strategies as well as the specific contract issues that are frequently problematic.

Session Title:

Can a group of students establish a prayer group during school? Can a prayer be read by the principal at graduation? Can the school put on a Christmas play? Teaching about religion vs. teaching religion. The Constitution includes allowable private religious activities within and around public schools, however public schools are often deem as religious free zones and school officials often don't have the time to understand the full extent of this law. Come to this session to get a better understanding of the law and activities that are permissible and those that need to stay out of the public school setting.

Session Title:

Merit pay systems can be subjective and confusing, but step-and-lane models might reward behaviors that don’t fit your school’s values and goals. As the next generation of differentiated pay, strategic compensation aligns personnel incentives with organizational objectives. Communities expect charter schools to innovate and lead with non-traditional compensation systems. Strategic compensation exceeds that expectation by aligning human, financial, and intellectual resources to support the school’s vision and philosophy.

Session Title:

Bank failures and government bailouts behoove the prudent business manager to understand the financial opportunities & risks that Charter Schools face in this environment. This session will equip attendees with multiple tools to: 1) Manage the risk of their choice of financial institution 2) Ensure compliance with the deposit protection provided by Colorado Statute 3) Maximize yield on deposit and investment accounts 4) Understand the economic outlook for key interest rates 5) Develop prudent investment policies and processes.

Session Title:

Is your budget squeezed each year by the rising cost of health care benefits? Are you aware that recent changes in legislation that could severely inflate your 2009 renewal rates? Are you confused by the myriad choices in plan designs and structures? In this interactive session, a panel of industry experts will address how the current market for health benefits affects charters of all sizes. The panel will also discuss the League’s new charter school trust program and other long-term strategies to help manage your costs in this volatile environment. Please don’t miss this excellent opportunity to interact with our expert panel -- all questions and discussions are welcome as this session is designed to be an open forum to explore specific charter school health benefit challenges.

Gary Clark, HUB International
Patterson McKinley, Smallwood Financial
Marco Rafanelli, Colorado League of Charter Schools
Kimberly Shepard, United Health Care

Although the primary focus of all schools is the educational program, maintaining effective and legal business practices is essential to the ongoing stability of the school. This session will cover the basics of setting up effective business management practices at your school. Topics covered will include financial policies and procedures, accounting procedures, creating and using budgets, financial management controls, financial reports, purchasing options, and preparing for a financial audit.

Across the country, the leading reason for charter school closures is the challenge of effectively managing and maintaining a school’s fiscal health. The elements that contribute to a school’s fiscal health are diverse and complex, including ensuring a stable funding stream, creating and operating a system for managing a school’s finances, and engaging in long-term financial planning that enables a school to address such perennial problems as facilities financing and expansion of its operations. Since school operators and authorizers alike often don’t have a formal educational background related to the financial side of a school’s operations there is a widespread need for practical knowledge and tools that can build the charter movement’s collective capacity for effective financial management. Effective fiscal management contributes to the financial health, effectiveness, and stability of charter schools.

This training will address the primary factors that impact the fiscal health of charter schools. The core of the session will focus on a “financial planning toolkit” developed by the National Resource Center on Charter School Finance and Government. The toolkit includes a “map” of the most significant elements that affect a school’s fiscal health and how they relate to each other, a “checklist” that covers the most critical elements necessary for an effective financial management system, and key indicators that can be used to assess the fiscal health of a school.

Help acheive school goals, retain good teachers, and boost morale with solid, easy to use compensation models. Pay for performance and incentive pay models are becoming ever more popular in education. This course will provide established models you can readily implement and will show how to develop and tie models to school goals, CSAP, MAPS and other performance criteria. Comparisons of pay and compensation models from local schools and districts will also be provided.

Session Title:

Media 101 – From a Reporter’s Perspective

Learn about Media Relations from those who know it best – local reporters and media experts. In this session, you will learn first-hand from reporters how to effectively publicize your school. Learn the do’s and don’t of building strong media relationships. Find out from a reporter’s point-of-view, what is considered “news worthy,” when and how to effectively pitch your story, and when not to call a reporter. Find out how to handle negative press, and much more. The session will also include a question and answer session with this panel of well-known media experts.

Nelson Garcia, Education Reporter, 9News
Mark Harden, Reporter, Denver Business Journal
Nancy Mitchell, Education Reporter, Rocky Mountain News
Mark Stevens, Director of Communications, Colorado Dept. of Education

Moderator: Alan Gottlieb, Vice President for Policy and Business Engagement, Public Education and Business Coalition

Session Title:

Winning the Legislative War!

As a public school, a charter school receives most of its operating funds through the School Finance Act – a major portion of the state’s annual budget. Every year the legislature considers proposals, in addition to the School Finance Act, that have an impact on charters – issues like facilities funding, accounting practices, and accountability requirements, as well as changes that impact all public schools, including accountability reporting, mandatory background checks, and school finance. Legislators want constituent input – the more familiar they are with you and your school, the more likely it is that they will listen to or even seek your input regarding proposed legislation. Join us for this session to learn more about how your school community can be an active and effective participant in public policy for charter schools. Participants will leave this session with tools and resources and tools to help engage elected officials in their charter school's community.

Sean Bradley, Colorado League of Charter Schools
Bob Hughes, Hughes Consulting

Session Title:

How to Market Your School Via Your School's Web Site

Join this session to gain essential knowledge of search engine optimization, blogs, and social networking to strengthen your school's Web presence. You will take tours of a new school choice Web site and education policy blog that are bringing more Web traffic to your school’s site. You will learn about crucial information that parents should be able to easily find on your Web site.

Pam Benigno, Independence Institute
Joe Weaver, Independence Institute

Session Title:

“Are you ever really ‘off-the-record’? Avoiding and confronting negative media stories about your school

In this session, you will learn some basic media relations tips that will help your school effectively handle less than positive media inquiries. Arm yourself with easy tips and techniques that can keep your school out of the negative media spotlight.

Learn how to: Effectively react to a potentially negative media story. How to minimize the chances of having a negative media story. Steps for recovering from a negative media story. Selecting and training a member of your staff or board to be your school’s media spokesperson. Making sure your staff knows not to speak to the media, even if it seems urgent. Understanding if and when it’s ever appropriate to say “no comment.” And answering the question…”when talking to a reporter, am I ever, really off-the record?”

Penny Davis, National Charter Schools Institute
Stacy Rivera, Colorado League of Charter Schools

Session Title:

Making Good Teachers GREAT!

Teachers often feel overwhelmed with academic pressures to achieve and with new methodologies and practices for boosting student learning in particular content areas...but they are hungry for the real HOW TO implement what really works. Learn proven delivery and classroom management practices that bring joy and re-ignite a passion for teaching. Discover tools as school leaders for optimizing learning moments. Participants will learn five practices that will dramatically change how they view teaching and learning!

John LeTellier, Learning Forum International Foundation and Quantum Learning Education

Session Title:

Building Character, Building Community, Building a Culture of Achievement

When our students walk out our school doors, they become citizens of the world. What are we doing to help them maneuver the challenges of life in modern society? You can create a school culture that fosters critical thinking, common values, and core beliefs. Through examples of everyday decision-making, student engagement and meaningful service projects, explore two models that will help you return to your school and make it a true learning community.

Session Title:

Looking for an easier school-wide discipline program? This session will provide you with a common language for teachers, administrators, and parents. Filled with humor and real-life examples, you will walk away with strategies that you can use tomorrow in your classroom, office, or at home. This session is not a replacement for your existing discipline model, but it will help frame discussions about student behavior and the unconscious choices that adults make when handling discipline.

Session Title:

Given the persistent underachievement of English language learners in mathematics, the link between vocabulary, prior knowledge and content literacy cannot be ignored. The presenters will evaluate ELL learning strategies including scaffolding and sheltered instruction and explore how approaches like these combined with technology and continuing student progress monitoring can lead to math achievement. We will use a case study of the HELP Math program and the pilot at Vanguard Classical School to explore this topic.

Session Title:

Join this session to hear about different approaches to improving literacy for all students. Participants will learn about targeted strategies and effective instructional practices as well as establishing goals and measures to evaluate student success. Walk away with classroom ready resources and tools to take back to your school and share with your instructional teams.

Precious Broadnax, Roosevelt Edison Charter School
Eric Gossage, Roosevelt Edison Charter School
Katie Stultz, Roosevelt Edison Charter School
Lettie Pickett, Roosevelt Edison Charter School
Steve Thompkins, Roosevelt Edison Charter School
Lisa Gagliardi, Pueblo School for the Arts and Sciences
Cheryl Gomez, Pueblo School for the Arts and Science

Peer coaching is a model of professional development that can build collegiality and also improve teaching. These models help to refine teaching practices, change conversations in the building, and create a focus on common goals and objectives for instruction. Find out what models are being used at a charter school and take back ideas and strategies to your schools.

Session Title:

Setting the Record Straight – Educating the Public about Charter Schools

When parents enroll their children in a charter school, they are often barraged with questions from family, friends and neighbors about how charters differ from traditional public schools. Learn how to overcome mis-information about charters and educate the public about the role and importance of your child’s school. This session will arm you with effective talking points that you can use to set the record straight about charter schools. Participants will learn how to talk to a variety of audiences including friends and family, other charter school parents, school board members and even the media. Whether you want to talk to friends about the importance of your school, write a letter to the editor or testify to the district board of education on behalf of your school, this session has something for everyone who wants to increase public knowledge about charter schools.

Debbie Brown, Parent, Cherry Creek Academy
Stacy Rivera, Director of Communications, Colorado League of Charter School

Session Title:

The Power of Charter School Parents – Speak up for your charter school through grassroots organization and community advocacy.

Each year, charter schools face funding and legislative challenges. When charter school parents and supporters speak up, it makes a big difference in how local elected officials vote on issues that affect charters.

Hear from a charter school parent and an advocate who have worked to organize their communities and keep parents informed about issues affecting their schools. Learn why it is important for parents to band together and speak up for charter schools. Find out how you can get involved, and easily stay in touch with your elected officials.

Participants will also hear, first-hand, from a local elected official who has received hundreds of emails from charter school parents and supporters.

Donnell Rosenberg, Parent, Platte River Academy
Bob Hughes, President, Hughes Consulting and Charter School Advocate