National Center on Scaling Up Effective Schools

2015 Conference

THE NATIONAL CENTER ON SCALING UP EFFECTIVE SCHOOLS NATIONAL CONFERENCE: Using Continuous Improvement to Integrate Design, Implementation, and Scale Up

Our second national conference was held on October 8-9, 2015 at the Music City Center in Nashville, TN. The conference convened a diverse group of researchers, practitioners, and developers to share research about school improvement initiatives that use continuous improvement models to improve schools through innovative and organic design, implementation and scale up.

The conference featured two keynotes by distinguished experts in the field of continuous improvement and design-based implementation research:
  • Anthony S. Bryk, President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
  • William R. Penuel, Professor of Educational Psychology and Learning Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder

View the conference program.

Papers that will be presented at the conference can be accessed below.

Welcome and Conference Overview – Thomas Smith, Executive Director of the National Center on Scaling Up Effective Schools, University of California, Riverside

Overview of the National Center on Scaling Up Effective Schools 

Description of NCSU’s Model of Improvement and Key Research Questions – Marisa Cannata, Director of the National Center on Scaling Up Effective Schools, Vanderbilt University

Building Capacity for Design, Implementation, and Scale Up – Thomas Haferd, Education Development Center

 

Panel 1– What’s the Role of Research in Design and Scale Up? 

Using Research to Inform Design and Implementation – Thomas Smith, University of California, Riverside

Another Set of ABCs for Scale- Accountability, Brokers, and Churn in a District System – Alan Daly, University of California, San Diego and Kara Finnigan, University of Rochester PowerPoint

Scaling Up as a Knowledge Use Problem – Mark Dynarski,  Pemberton Research PowerPoint

Using Evidence in Classroom Practice – Anne Morris, James Hiebert, Eric Sisofo, and Stephen Hwang,  University of Delaware

Practical Measures of Instructional Practice – Erin Henrick, Nicholas Kochmanski, and Paul Cobb, Vanderbilt University PowerPoint

Chair/Discussant: Joe Murphy, Vanderbilt University

 Keynote – Learning to Improve: How America’s Schools Can Get Better at Getting Better Anthony S. Bryk, Carnegie Foundation

 

Panel 2 – Issues in Design and Development 

Lessons Learned in Designing and Developing Using a Continuous Improvement Model – Stephanie Brown,  Florida State University; Christopher Harrison,  Northwestern University; and Christopher Redding,  Vanderbilt University

With the Design in Mind: Examining High School Reform Model Features that Matter in Implementation – Catherine Dunn Shiffman, Shenandoah University PowerPoint

Developing District Instructional Leadership Capacity: Creating the Conditions for Learning to Lead Instructional Improvement– Ann Jaquith, Liam Aiello, and Edit Khachatryan, Stanford University PowerPoint

Using a Networked Improvement Community Approach to Design and Scale Up Social Psychological Interventions in Schools – Kenn Barron,  James Madison University; Chris Hulleman,  University of Virginia and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; R. Bryce Inouye, Commonwealth Computer Research Inc.; and Thomas Hartka, James Madison University PowerPoint

Designing and Scaling Highly Effective Interventions that Produce BIG Improvement: Counter-intuitive Lessons from the Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) Project– Stanley Pogrow, San Francisco State University PowerPoint

Chair/Discussant: Anne Wang,  Education Development Center

 

Panel 3 – Integrating Implementation with Continuous Improvement 

Implementation of the National Center for Scaling Up Effective School’s Model in the Innovation Schools – Stacey Rutledge,  Florida State University;  Marisa Cannata and Mollie Rubin, Vanderbilt University; and Lora Cohen-Vogel and Ariel Tichnor-Wagner, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Using Data for Improvement to Support Implementation At-Scale: Adaptive Integration in the TN Mathematics Coaching Project – Jennifer Lin Russell, Richard Correnti, Mary Kay Stein, Maggie Hannan and Victoria Bill,  University of Pittsburgh; and Nate Schwartz, Laura Booker, and Nicole Roberts Pratt,  Tennessee Department of Education PowerPoint

The Practice of Innovation and Problems of Improvement – Don Peurach,  University of Michigan PowerPoint

Laying Tracks to Graduation: System- and School-level Continuous Improvement of the Diplomas Now Model – Felix Fernandez,  ICF International; Doug Mac Iver,  Johns Hopkins University; and Susan Sepanik,  MDRC PowerPoint

Successes and Cautionary Notes from the Ohio Network of Education Transformation (ONET) Schools – Sam Stringfield, Vicki Plano Clark, University of Cincinnati; Ann Allen, The Ohio State University; Brian Boyd, Wright State University; Kathleen Carr, Strategic Research Group; Jill Lindsey, Wright State University; J. Kessa Roberts, The Ohio State University; and Jacinda Dariotis, University of Cincinnati PowerPoint

Chair/Discussant: Ellen Goldring, Vanderbilt University PowerPoint

 

Friday, October 9

Panel 4 – Practitioner Experiences with Continuous Improvement Implementation 

Partnering for Improvement: Communities of Practice and their Role in Scale Up – Marisa Cannata, Vanderbilt University; Lora Cohen-Vogel, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Michael Sorum, Fort Worth Independent School District PowerPoint

Bridging Research and Practice- The Role of District Liaisons in School Improvement Collaborations – Dan Traeger,  Broward County School District and Laura Williams, Forth Worth Independent School District

Building Teacher Leadership for Innovation and Ownership– Bethanne Chimbel and Orion Smith,  Arlington Heights High School, Forth Worth Independent School District PowerPoint

Lessons Learned about Designing Innovation– Michael Mihalik,  South Hills High School, Forth Worth Independent School District PowerPoint

Using Personalization to Get at the Core of Student Learning – Peter Tiernan,  Monarch High School, Broward County Public Schools PowerPoint

Inspiring Teacher Leadership through Intentional Communication – Brad Fatout,  Flanagan High School, Broward County Public Schools PowerPoint

Chair/Discussant: Michael Sorum,  Fort Worth Independent School District

 

Panel 5 – New Approaches to Achieving Scale 

The Practice and the Process: Scaling In and Scaling Out  – Marisa Cannata,  Vanderbilt University; Stacey Rutledge,  Florida State University; and Tuan Nguyen and Chris Redding,  Vanderbilt University

From the PASL to the Tassel: Personalization for Academic and Social Emotional Learning – Michael J. Ramirez and Alan Strauss,  Broward County Public Schools PowerPoint

Applying a Scale Research Framework to an NSF Math Science Partnership Grant – Sherry Booth and Jeni Corn,  North Carolina State University PowerPoint

School Processes that Can Drive Scaling-up of an Innovation or Contribute to its Abandonment   – Jenna Zacamy, Denis Newman, Valeriy Lazarev, and Li Lin, Empirical Education Inc. PowerPoint

Developing Capacities for Evidence-guided Continuous Improvement – Kristen C. Wilcox,  Janet I. Angelis,  and Hal A. Lawson,  University at Albany PowerPoint

Chair/Discussant:  Don Peurach,  University of Michigan

 Keynote – Collaborative Design as a Leading Activity in Research-Practice Partnerships: Strategies for Promoting Scaling and Sustainability, William R. Penuel, University of Colorado Boulder

 

Panel 6 – Developing Collaborative Partnerships 

Opportunities and Dilemmas of Partnering for Continuous Improvement Lora Cohen-Vogel, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Stacey Rutledge,  Florida State University; Tom Smith,  University of California-Riverside; and Christopher Harrison,  Northwestern University

Research-Practice Partnerships in Education: Outcomes, Dynamics, and Open Questions – Cynthia E. Coburn, Northwestern University; William R. Penuel, University of Colorado Boulder; and Caitlin C. Farrell, National Center of Research in Policy and Practice PowerPoint

Partnerships: Shifting the Dynamics between Research and Practice – Vivian Tseng,  William T. Grant Foundation; John Q. Easton,  Spencer Foundation; and Lauren Supplee,  Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation

Chair/Discussant: Mollie Rubin,  Vanderbilt University