Workshop 2012

Explore a holistic approach to integrating sustainable, cost effective, environmentally friendly and energy efficient measures into all aspects of your district operations, ultimately helping your bottom line. This approach will be examined from the building and grounds viewpoint (director of facilities), financial and operational viewpoint (business administrator) and project implementation viewpoint (architect). Real life examples of classroom, maintenance, facilities and capital project sustainability measures will be discussed.

During the 2011-2012 school year, 11 districts and 19 School Improvement Grant (SIG) schools were engaged in the Excellent Educators for New Jersey (EE4NJ) Cohort 1 teacher evaluation pilot. Participants will hear from school leaders and teachers in pilot districts about important initial considerations for the development and implementation of an improved evaluation system. The session panelists will describe successes and challenges, as well as strategies for resolving problems. Participants will have an opportunity to pose questions to the panelists on issues they may be facing in their own districts.

This presentation discusses the 9/12 Generation Project, which teaches students about the 9/11 attacks through the kind acts of 9/12. Many educators, especially in New Jersey, were traumatized by the events and are unsure as to how to speak of the 9/11. Others are worried about frightening students who are too young to have first-hand memories of that fateful day. By focusing on 9/12 and all the good that came the day after the attacks, this project focuses on the positive. The 9/12 Generation Project contains the educational version of the “New York Says Thank You” educational film; teacher discussion guides based on the nine core values in the film; and service-learning project guides which meet common core curriculum standards and empower teachers to engage students in six unique volunteer projects focused on disaster relief, community revitalization, and the arts. The project was developed by "New York Says Thank You," which was created to thank the thousands of volunteers who flooded New York to help the city heal the day after the attacks.

The Regional Achievement Centers (RACs) are seven newly-created field teams that will lead the state’s efforts to turn around persistently struggling schools and those with troubling achievement gaps. The RACs represent the New Jersey Department of Education’s most ambitious, focused effort to improve student achievement across the state. This session will define the intervention strategies, based upon eight proven turnaround principles that can drive student achievement in low-performing schools. The session will also review the resources – including the explicit plans, tools, and funding – and the partnerships with the district, school, board of education, parents, communities and students that are necessary to increase student achievement.