High tech and critical education issues on tap at Annual Education Conference
Lowest rate ends Aug. 22 for Dec. 2-4 gathering in San Francisco
Published: August 3, 2010
Preparations are firming up for CSBA’s Annual Education Conference and Trade Show, which opens with pre-conference learning opportunities Dec. 1 and runs through Dec. 4 at San Francisco’s Moscone Center.
The lowest conference registration rate—with savings of up to $100 off the cost of on-site registration—is available to those who register by Aug. 22. Rooms are still available at the headquarters hotel, the San Francisco Marriott Marquis.
And, with budgets being top-of-mind for most board members this year, “the conference planning committee wanted to see a wide variety of budget and finance sessions for all school districts and county offices of education,” noted Annual Education Conference Coordinator Deanna Fernandes.
Taming technology
The trade show offers even more for attendees this year, with many training and demonstration sessions held right on the trade show floor. The basics of blogging and “Web 2.0” will be covered at special computer stations, and CSBA’s own technical support staff will demonstrate the association’s online agenda and policy platforms, Agenda Online and Gamut Online.
The conference also features a special series focusing on the use of data. CSBA Governance Consultant Christopher Maricle will facilitate the Spotlight on Data series, exploring how boards can use data to focus and strengthen their governance work, improve district public relations through greater transparency and accountability, support improved student achievement and close the achievement gap.
Jim Spellos, founder and president of the technology website Meeting U (www.meeting-u.com), has four different sessions slated throughout the conference. He’ll help local educational agencies learn how to define themselves online in “Beyond Facebook: Creating Your Own Social Networking Brand” on the Annual Conference’s opening day Dec. 2. Later that day, he’ll demystify the various online search tools available at “Google-licious: How to Find Anything on the Internet.”
On Friday, Spellos will again do double duty, showing executive assistants must-see timesaving tools in “75 Websites in 75 Minutes—the Essential Websites for Today’s Assistants,” and explaining how anyone can improve their computer I.Q. with some “Way Cool Tools” available online.
Critical issues
Richard Rothstein, a noted education author and research associate with the Economic Policy Institute, will discuss reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act at a critical issue session Friday, Dec. 3. Following the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, the next iteration of ESEA is likely to have a large impact on local boards of education, so now is the time for them to weigh in on what they want to see from the reauthorization process.
During another critical issue session that day, Joseph Johnson, executive director of the National Center for Urban School Transformation at San Diego State University, will discuss “Key Characteristics of Top Performing Schools.” This critical issue session will present case studies and examples of schools that have been identified as high achieving despite having high poverty levels and many students who are English learners and from ethnic minorities. Expect to leave this session with knowledge about successful school practices and governance strategies that can transform schools to high-achieving campuses of learning.
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