iNACOL PLUGGED IN | 10.18.18 – Counting the Days Until #iNACOL18

October 18, 2018

iNACOL Plugged In Newsletter

Plugged In
Oct. 18, 2018

The Countdown to #iNACOL18 Begins

iNACOL 2018 Symposium | Driving the Transformation of Learning | Oct. 21-24, 2018 | Nashville

We are days away from hosting more than 3,000 education changemakers in Nashville for the 2018 iNACOL Symposium. Under the theme of “Driving the Transformation of Learning,” experts, practitioners, educators, school and district leaders, policymakers and researchers will gather to discuss big ideas and innovations and work together to create a path toward transforming the nation's education system.

For you to get the most out of your experience, visit our Symposium website at: https://www.inacol.org/symposium/ regularly, and be sure to check out these exciting features:

Innovation Corner – This is a brand-new innovative space for school models to showcase their personalized, competency-based models and tools in action. You’ll be able to interact with new tools, learn from students, record your thoughts at the Voices Hub and host impromptu gatherings in the various lounges. Here are all the details: https://www.inacol.org/symposium/innovation-corner/.
Keynotes – The breadth and depth of experience of speakers at this year’s Symposium are unparalleled. Get seated early to hear from Carlos Moreno, Phyllis Lockett, Tony Monfiletto, Russlynn Ali, Nick Donohue, David Istance, Jemar Lee and our student learners panel and Pamela Cantor, M.D. Here’s more about them: https://www.inacol.org/symposium/program-presenters/keynote-speakers/
Meet the Experts and Practitioners – We have 16 don’t-miss campfire sessions planned for you to meet and engage in dialogue with leading experts and education practitioners. Stay tuned for more details.
Innovator Awards Announcement – After poring over dozens of nominations, our awards team has selected a Teacher of the Year and Outstanding Individual Contributor to Personalized Learning. Find out who will receive these honors at the Tuesday luncheon.

Save Sunday evening at 5 pm Central for our annual opening night President’s Welcome Reception. It’ll be held in the Davidson Ballroom of the Nashville Music City Center, and while you’re reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones, you’ll get your first look at the new Innovation Corner.

Be sure to also save Monday, Oct. 22 at 5:30 pm Central for a special networking event. iNACOL attendees will take over 5th Avenue in Nashville. Don’t miss the opportunity to make meaningful connections at this fun event under the evening sky!

Other Helpful Links:

You’re welcome to use the #iNACOL18 hashtag on Twitter to memorialize your entire experience, from insights you gain, great quotes and fun snapshots. See you in Music City!

New CompetencyWorks Book Offers 16 Quality Design Principles for Competency-Based Education

Last week, the iNACOLCompetencyWorks initiative released Quality Principles for Competency-Based Education, a new book offering guidance on ensuring high-quality learning environments as more schools and districts transform to competency-based education systems.

Developed with input from innovative educators and school district leaders from around the country who have pioneered the shift toward competency-based education, the book offers 16 Quality Design Principles to guide the development of competency-based learning with the goal of creating a system in which every student succeeds. While producing high-quality learning models certainly requires attention to the structure, policy and operations, it also requires replacing the underlying beliefs and culture of the traditional system with an inclusive culture of learning. As states, districts and schools re-design education systems, the 16 principles offered in this book offer a set of guideposts for schools and districts.

Reminders

Download the iNACOL Symposium Mobile App to get the most out of your conference experence.

Download the Symposium Mobile App

Available in the App Store and Google Play, the mobile app is your way to stay connected and up-to-date on everything happening at the Symposium. Head to your app store and download “YourEvent – Powered by Zerista.” You’ll need to use your Symposium registration email to access our content. You should also have an invitation link in your inbox.

Special Thanks to iNACOL Symposium Sponsors

Sponsors are an important partner to the iNACOL Symposium. Their support enables many of the important features that have been hallmarks our annual gathering, including our reception and networking events, the school redesign breakout sessions, keynote events and breaks. Please visit our sponsor page to learn more.

visit

New from iNACOL's Blog: Education Domain

Connecting Science with Learning and Human Development

When I was a medical student, I was taught about how the human brain and body develop, what happens when development goes right and produces health, and what happens when something goes awry. One of the most amazing things I learned was that humans are born with 25,000 genes but over the course of our lifetimes, only 10 percent of those genes ever get expressed! That’s because genes are what we call “chemical followers.” This means that the environments and relationships children experience – the context of their lives – largely shape who they become.

- Pamela Cantor, M.D., Turnaround for Children

Understanding How U.S. K-12 Accountability and Assessments are Too Often Conflated: What Policymakers Need to Know to Advance Student-Centered Learning Policies

It is common today in U.S. education policy to see the terms assessment and accountability used interchangeably. To be clear, though intricately linked to each other in today’s policy context, accountability and assessment are two separate concepts.

An OECD Career in Innovation and Educational Futures

It has been quite a thrilling challenge to work in the international arena at OECD, rubbing shoulders with some of the best brains and creative innovators in the world. Our work lay in the fertile interaction of research, policy and practice, seeking to be the catalysts for these interactions and offering tools and frameworks to get the most from them.

- David Istance, Co-Executive Director of Big Picture Learning

Teacher professional development should also be personalized

Creating Multiple, High-Quality Pathways to Educator Credentials and Development to Support Personalized, Competency-Based Education

In a competency-based system, students need multiple, high-quality pathways to high school graduation, higher education and the workforce. In the same way, educators need multiple, high-quality pathways to credentials, advancement and development.

Plugged In Headlines: Other News in Personalized, Competency-Based Education

Four States Want In on Second Round of ESSA's Innovative Assessment Pilot
Alyson Klein, Education Week

State Schools Chiefs: Who's Elected, Who's Not, and Races to Watch This Year
Daarel Burnette II, Education Week

Rural school district eliminates letter grades in hopes of closing educational gaps
NBC4

The American Dream Is Harder To Find In Some Neighborhoods
John Ydstie, NPR

What Happens When States Un-Standardize Tests?
Alyson Klein, Education Week

Teaching to the student, not the test
Nick Chiles, The Hechinger Report

ATTEND

Policy

The iNACOL Center for Policy Advocacy leads the multi-stage evolution of policy necessary for the growth of effective personalized learning models toward the goals of high quality, equity, access and dramatically improving student learning to close the achievement gap and ensure every student has access to high-quality, world-class learning opportunities.

CompetencyWorks

CompetencyWorks is an online resource dedicated to competency education in K-12 education. CompetencyWorks shares original research, knowledge and a variety of perspectives through an informative blog with practitioner knowledge, policy advancements, papers on emerging issues and a wiki with resources curated from across the field. Bookmark this resource and check often for frequent updates.

Resources

Working collaboratively with diverse experts in the field, iNACOL produces reports, books, policy briefs, blog posts, webinars and related resources on key topics and tough issues that equip and empower educators and leaders to catalyze and scale personalized, next generation learning models. Use our web-based library to freely access and share materials.


iNACOL.org \| Contact

The mission of iNACOL is to drive the transformation of education systems and accelerate the advancement of breakthrough policies and practices to ensure high-quality learning for all.

This email was sent by: %%Member_Busname%% %%Member_Addr%% %%Member_City%%, %%Member_State%%, %%Member_PostalCode%%, %%Member_Country%%

Profile Center | Unsubscribe