CASS Fall Conference 2017

The CASS Annual Conference will use the Team Leadership Learning * approach to design the learning. The content will be based on emerging research and practices coherent with the professional practice standard(s). Michael Fullan* and Santiago Rincón-Gallardo will be the key facilitators and thought leaders for both the fall annual conference ( November 2017) and the spring Alberta Education/CASS conference. (March 2018)

Pre-conference – Wednesday November 1^st, 2017

Deep Learning, Pedagogy, and Systems Change

Nurturing deep learning in classrooms and across entire school systems is perhaps the most pressing and exciting task for education systems around the world. Drawing on existing research and world-wide examples of districts leading the way on advancing the deep learning agenda, this pre conference workshop will introduce the concept of deep learning and the conditions that enable it. It will offer a range of ideas tools, protocols and activities to get district teams to gain clarity and precision in deep learning and pedagogy, and to advance pedagogical change for deep learning at a whole system level.

The workshop will provide an opportunity for your team to focus on building professional capacity for changing pedagogy and deepening learning and address the following competencies in the draft superintendent quality leadership standard: Leading Learning, Ensuring First Nations, Métis and Inuit Education for all Students and Visionary Leadership. You may wish to bring and support your thinking with your school authority documents. (e.g., 3 -year education/assurance plan, Provincial results and Accountability Pillar Overall Summary – Annual Education Results Report)

Who should attend?

System teams interested in moving forward their leadership work that relies on improved pedagogical practice. (E.g., Indigenous education, Learning Technology Policy Framework (LTPF), Curriculum, Mental Health, Inclusive environments, Student Engagement, Assessment.)

Conference – Wednesday Evening, November 1^st, 2017

Leadership from the Middle

Top-down change doesn’t work. Bottom-up change doesn’t add up. The key is Leadership from the Middle, defined as the layers between the top (government), and the bottom (individual schools). Effective Leaders from the Middle connect laterally with their peers to build their collective capacity, manage upward by leveraging provincial policy for local purposes and influencing policy development, and liberate downward to stimulate and support innovative and purposeful change. In this keynote, Michael Fullan will discuss Leadership from the Middle and the opportunities opening up for Alberta with its new move towards the Professional Practice Standard (s). This keynote is coherent with the following competencies in the draft superintendent leadership quality standard: Building Effective Relationships Modeling Commitment to Professional Learning, Supporting Effective Governance

Conference – Thursday, November 2^nd, 2017

Coherence Making

Coherence making is about developing shared mindsets around the purpose and nature of the work across your entire district. Its core components are focusing direction, deepening learning and pedagogy, developing collaborative cultures, and securing accountability. Using a Team Leadership Learning approach, this full day workshop will use short presentations to introduce core ideas and stimulate your thinking around coherence making, followed by team sessions where you and your team will be guided and supported in planning your own work. The workshop will combine short presentations by Michael Fullan and Santiago Rincón-Gallardo, guided activities, and one-on-one interactions between the presenters and your team for tailored conversation and feedback. Coherence: The Right Drivers in Action in Schools, Districts and Systems https://michaelfullan.ca/books/coherence-right-drivers-action-schools-districts-systems/

Conference – Friday, November 3rd, 2017

Role-Alike Meetings and Breakout Sessions

Opportunities to meet with role-alike colleagues (e.g.,Chief Superintendents, Curriculum and Assessment, Human Resource, Technology, First Nations Education School Authority Leads) will occur on Friday morning. Breakout sessions will also be offered and are identified via the registration link.

Who Should Attend?

System teams who are interested in building their own and others capacity and who wish to have dedicated planning time to address the areas of focus of their own school authority

The day will be coherent with the following competencies in the draft superintendent leadership quality standard: Visionary Leadership, Building Effective Relationships, Leading Learning, Ensuring First Nations, Métis and Inuit Education for all Students, Supporting Effective Governance

This conference will also provide an opportunity for Alberta Education, CASS and/or partners to share emerging initiatives, projects and messages.

Based on grant funding from Alberta Education and direction from the CASS board the overarching outcome for CASS professional learning opportunities:

Superintendent leadership supports quality school leadership and teaching to create optimum learning for all students in Alberta.

Michael Fullan, O.C., is the former dean of the Ontario Institute for Studies of Education, University of Toronto. Recognized as a worldwide authority on educational reform, he advises policy makers and local leaders around the world in helping achieve the moral purpose of all children learning. He is an adviser to the premier and minister of education in Ontario and is coleader of the New Pedagogies for Deep Learning global partnership. Michael is a prolific, award-winning author whose books have been published in many languages. His latest books include: Professional Capital (with Andy Hargreaves),The Principal: Three Keys for Maximizing Impact, The New Meaning of Educational Change (5th edition), Coherence: The Right Drivers in Action for Schools, Districts, and Systems (with Joanne Quinn), Freedom to Change, and Indelible Leadership: Always Leave them Learning. Michael received the Order of Canada in December 2012. He holds honorary doctorates from several universities in North America and abroad.

Santiago Rincón-Gallardo is Chief Research Officer at Michael Fullan’s international consulting team. In this position, he conducts research and advises system leaders and educators to advance whole system reform for instructional improvement. Santiago worked for over a decade promoting grassroots pedagogical innovation in Mexican public schools serving historically marginalized communities. His academic work explores how effective pedagogies for deep learning can spread at scale. Santiago holds an Ed.D on Education Policy, Leadership and Instructional Practice and an Ed.M in International Education Policy from Harvard. He completed post-doctoral studies and is currently a visiting scholar at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.