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March 02, 2010
10TH TAP CONFERENCE: INNOVATION THROUGH TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS
1,000 TAP educators, policymakers and partners from districts, states, organizations, foundations and businesses to join forces in Washington, D.C.
Santa Monica, CA (March 2, 2010) — The National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET) will hold its 10th TAP Conference: Leading Innovation through Teacher Effectiveness in Washington, D.C., on March 19-21, 2010. The event will take place at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill.
TAP™: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement is a comprehensive school reform that offers educators powerful opportunities for career advancement; ongoing strategic professional development; rigorous evaluation and accountability; and performance-based compensation. Marking a decade of progress, the TAP Conference will join 1,000 practitioners, policymakers and members of districts, states, organizations, foundations and businesses involved with TAP implementation across the country.
Conference events will range from plenary panels exploring the connection of TAP's proven reforms to critical issues facing America's K-12 system today, to "TAP-in-Action" breakout sessions, where teachers, administrators and others will delve into the system’s core principles and demonstrate how they operate effectively in practice. Because TAP aligns with goals outlined in the federal Teacher Incentive Fund, as well as Race to the Top and Investing in Innovation, some sessions will offer guidance to states and districts seeking to incorporate TAP into their applications. Lowell Milken, NIET chairman and TAP’s visionary founder, will deliver a presentation on Friday evening, March 19, highlighting the successes of TAP and goals for the future.
"Unlike decades of piecemeal reforms in K-12 education, TAP is different. It is integrated, comprehensive and aligned—and most importantly, it is working," said Lowell Milken. "As we look to TAP in a new decade where education reform is being demanded from diverse groups throughout our nation, we are encouraged by the active collaboration of our partners—educators, districts, unions, policymakers, businesses and foundations. At this 10th TAP Conference, we will create an important forum for the exchange of ideas, experiences, skills and knowledge among those dedicated to making TAP a stronger force to revitalize the teaching profession and improve achievement growth for all students."
Among the national panel topics will be innovative policies and effective implementation strategies to improve teacher and principal effectiveness in our schools, increasing the role of competition in awarding federal education funds through reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA); and creating meaningful teacher professional development and classroom evaluation systems. Experts weighing in will include Roberto J. Rodríguez, Special Assistant to President Barack Obama for Education on the White House Domestic Policy Council; James H. Shelton III, Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement at the U.S. Department of Education; Jeb Bush, former Governor of Florida and Founder, Chairman of the Board and President of the Foundation for Excellence in Education; Paul Pastorek, Louisiana Superintendent of Education; Alice Seagren, Minnesota Commissioner of Education; James P. McIntyre Jr., Knox County Schools, Tennessee, Superintendent; Jerel Booker, Associate Commissioner of Educator and Student Policy Initiatives at the Texas Education Agency; Janice H. Poda, Deputy Superintendent of Administration at the South Carolina Department of Education; and Rhonda Johnson, President of the Columbus Education Association in Ohio.
Additional education leaders highlighted at the conference will include Judy Wurtzel, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development at the U.S. Department of Education; Brad Jupp, Senior Program Advisor at the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Education; William L. Sanders, Senior Manager of Value-Added Assessment and Research at SAS Institute Inc., Andrew Rotherham, Co-Founder and Partner of Bellwether Education; Thomas Toch, Executive Director of the Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington; and Craig Jerald, President of Break the Curve Consulting.
Key topics for the practitioner-focused break-out sessions, trainings and hands-on workshops will be recruiting and hiring the most effective instructional leaders; increasing the quality of data-driven professional development; the inner-workings of the TAP Instructional Rubric; special area teachers in TAP; teacher and principal accountability and compensation based on "value added"; and sustaining TAP over the long term.
The full TAP Conference agenda can be found at http://www.tapsystem.org/tapconference2010/tap_conference_agenda.pdf.
TAP, an initiative of the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching, impacts more than 7,500 teachers and 85,000 students. For more information, visit www.tapsystem.org.
Due to the high demand of this Conference and hotel capacity policies, media must RSVP directly to Jana Rausch, Senior Manager of Media and Public Affairs, at (310) 570-4774 (office), (310) 435-9259 (cell) or jrausch@tapsystem.org.
Dr. Johnetta Wiley, Principal, South High School, Columbus, Ohio
"Teachers understand that we are successful together or not at all. Teachers now look beyond their classrooms to the whole building and understand that decisions make an impact on everyone."