IDAHO TEACHERS TO LEARN FROM LOCAL, NATIONAL LEADERS ON CREATING THE 21ST CENTURY CLASSROOM

Hundreds of Idaho teachers and principals will visit Boise this week to learn from local and national leaders about how to create the 21st Century Classroom to keep students engaged and improve academic achievement.

EduStat University 2012 will bring together Idaho educators working hard to increase student outcomes through a 21st Century, technology-rich, data-driven practice.

More than 300 teachers and principals from across Idaho are scheduled to attend. The event will be held at The Riverside Hotel in Boise on June 26-27, 2012. The Idaho State Department of Education has partnered with Schoolnet, the statewide instructional management system, to host EduStat, which is funded through a grant from the J.A. and Kathryn Albertson Foundation.

EduStat is aligned with Students Come First, which passed in 2011, and will help Idaho’s teachers and principals as they work to implement these reform laws at the building level.

Presenters include Idaho teachers who are using digital learning to raise student achievement and educators from New Plymouth School District who successfully created and implemented pay-for-performance nearly 10 years ago.

In addition, EduStat will feature nationally known speakers, such as chemistry teacher Aaron Sams who uses a “flipped” classroom to engage students every day, Jeff Mao who has led the implementation of the 1:1 laptop initiative in the state of Maine, and Adora Svitak, an innovative 14-year-old with brilliant ideas about what adults can learn from children.

Here are some of the highlights of EduStat University 2012:

Tuesday, June 26:

• 8:30 a.m.: Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna will kick off EduStat with opening remarks. 
• 9:30 a.m.: 14-year-old Adora Svitak will give a student’s perspective on technology and education with a keynote address, “The New Kid(s) on the Block”: Youth Digital Culture and Implications for Student Voice in Education.”
• 10:45 a.m.: Aaron Sams, a chemistry teacher from Colorado is a dynamic speaker who will describe how he uses advanced technology in a “flipped” classroom setting to improve student achievement and make sure all students are engaged every day.
• 2:15 p.m.: Idaho teachers and administrators from New Plymouth School District will present on their successful pay-for-performance plan during a breakout session. (They will present again at 3:30 p.m.)
• 2:15 p.m.: Idaho classroom teachers Dave Gural (Eagle High) and Michelle Chavez (Weiser High) will describe how they use digital learning over the Idaho Education Network to engage Idaho students and improve student achievement in breakout sessions. (They will present again at 3:30 p.m.)

Wednesday, June 27:

• 8:45 a.m.: Jeff Mao will give a keynote address on how the state of Maine successfully implemented a 1:1 laptop initiative in grades 7 and 8.
• 10:00 a.m.: Greg Green, a principal from Michigan, will describe how he turned student achievement in his school around using classroom technology to engage students every day and show them relevance in what they were learning.

All keynote addresses during EduStat University 2012 will be streamed live online at http://www.idahoptv.org/leglive/.

To view the full schedule for EduStat University 2012, visit http://www.studentscomefirst.org/edustat.htm.