Phone Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
1-800-933-ASCD (2723)
Address 1703 North Beauregard St. Alexandria, VA 22311-1714
Complete Customer Service Details
The information on this page is for Empower19 in Chicago, Illinois. Check back in September for information about the 2020 ASCD Empower Conference, which will be held March 13–16, 2020, in Los Angeles, California.
About Pre-Conference Institutes | One-Day Institutes | Two-Day Institutes | Three-Day Institutes
Our one-day Pre-Conference Institutes will be held on Friday, March 15, 2019, in Chicago, Illinois. They will run 8:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m. (except where noted). Discounted combination registration rates are available for all one-day Pre-Conference Institutes with Empower19 except where noted.
These are Pre-Conference Institutes held at Empower19. Check back for information about institutes at Empower20.
This session will run 8:30–11:30 a.m. on Friday, March 15, 2019, and is not eligible for discounted combination pricing with Empower19.
Presenters: Vanessa Ford, National Center for Transgender Equality, Boston, MA; Becca Mui, GLSEN, New York, NY
Some 75 percent of transgender and gender nonconforming (GNC) youth feel unsafe at school because of their gender expressions and identities (GLSEN, National Center for Transgender Equality & MAP Project, 2017). Many educators believe that ensuring safety for transgender and GNC students expands, not compromises, their commitment to all students. However, most have not received training that allows them to support this vulnerable population. In this institute, educators from all K–12 settings are welcome and will
Materials Fee: N/A
Registration Code: PD19PC030
Due to the special price of this Pre-Conference Institute, discounted combination rates with Empower19 are not available.
Visit the Hotel & Travel section to reserve rooms and book your travel.
^Return to top.
This session will run 12:30–3:30 p.m. on Friday, March 15, 2019, and is not eligible for discounted combination pricing with Empower19.
Presenters: Kelisa Wing, Department of Defense Education Activity, Alexandria, VA; Casey Bethel, Georgia Department of Education, Douglasville, GA; Abdul Wright, Best Academy, Minneapolis, MN
Former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in 2015 that the school-to-prison pipeline is "the civil rights issue of our time." What can we do to address this pervasive issue? The first step in discovering the key to dismantling the systems that push our youth into this pipeline is through facing, tracing, and replacing our implicit and explicit biases. The presenters will lead participants through a series of hands-on opportunities that will require them to take a deeper inward dive to discovering their implicit and explicit biases and replace those biases with truths. Participants will then seek to discover truths about how those biases and microaggressions perpetuate the belief gap, the opportunity gap, and the school-to-prison pipeline, and how disparate discipline systems contribute to the pipeline for at-risk students. Participants will leave with an initial plan for shifting their disciplinary practices to positively influence their students.
Participant Outcomes:
Registration Code: PD19PC009
Presenter: Bob Sornson, Early Learning Foundation, Brighton, MI
One-size-fits-all instruction crushes vulnerable learners; a personalized, competency-based learning system is designed to help each individual student succeed. In a competency-based learning system, rather than letting a single pacing guide dictate the delivery of instruction, students move ahead toward crucial learning outcomes when they demonstrate the key learning milestones along the path to competency. In a competency-based learning model, assessment is ongoing and used to guide instructional planning every single day. A well-designed competency-based learning system improves outcomes for all learners, allows teachers to be professionals, and helps learners maintain the growth mindset needed to be successful learners for life. In the successful learning systems of the future, students will progress based on competency, not seat time.
Registration Code: PD19PC022
Discounted combination rates with Empower19 are also available. Learn more
Presenter: Michael Murphy, ASCD Author, San Antonio, TX
We have all been a part of numerous innovations, all with merit. Yet many do not last long enough or go deep enough to have a lasting effect on teaching and student achievement. Are we putting so much effort into the innovations' beginnings that we are missing opportunities to support them when they need the most effort, resources, dialogue, and focus? In this session, investigate Bossidy and Charan's three core practices of executing change. See how to orchestrate these practices over time and how to identify people's needs as they change. Learn how to build professional learning, trust, and motivation to create the culture necessary to sustain lasting implementation of practices that lead to student growth. Analyze how to reward the "doers" of the work while applying both "heat" and "light" to ensure that the most important innovations last for full effect on both the adults and students who share our space.
Participants will
Registration Code: PD19PC018
Presenter: Huda Essa, Culture Links, Dearborn, MI
Persistent systematic inequities often block immigrants from reaching their outstanding potential for achievement and lifelong success. In order to develop significant relationships with students, we must gain a genuine, deeper understanding of the distinct challenges they have encountered and continue to face. In this institute, educators will use cultural and linguistic pedagogy to develop vital knowledge about these populations in order to unlock that potential and build a climate of prolific, schoolwide respect and motivated engagement. This unique and authentic learning opportunity allows education professionals to engage in deeply influential activities and gain the practical tools needed to strengthen social and emotional capacity that nurtures enduring achievement for all students.
Registration Code: PD19PC020
Presenters: Jon Bergmann, FL Worldwide, Chicago, IL; Dan Jones, Vincenza Leone, Errol St.Clair Smith, and Kathy Swanger, FL Worldwide, Lake Forest, IL
This institute will be a master class in the tools and strategies educators can use to reach every student every day. It will feature a flipped track (where the basic principles are delivered online before participants attend), an administrator track, and a track for those who prefer a traditional workshop setting. The face-to-face session will be used for active learning, giving participants space to apply principles and work through problems with the facilitators. Participants will leave with the internationally recognized Flipped Learning Level-I, Level-II, or Administrator Certification. The workshop will bring together masters of innovative classroom practices, including a K–12 teacher, an administrator, a tech coach, and a higher-ed professor. Participants will leave with some of the best research-based strategies for reaching every student in every class every day.
Materials Fee: $10.00 for Flipping the Learning (Quick Reference Guide)
Registration Code: PD19PC023
Presenter: Erik Palmer, Erik Palmer Consulting, Denver, CO
Speaking is everywhere. Sharing book reports, talking about current events, showing solutions at the board, presenting research papers, sharing lab results, discussing, participating in Socratic seminars, practicing foreign language dialogues, and more are common classroom activities. In spite of this, speaking is the forgotten language art in schools, and almost no specific instruction is given to students about doing those activities well. This institute will show educators how to increase emphasis on speaking and will present a practical, multiple-trait framework for understanding and teaching the skills involved in all effective oral communication. Participants will learn the five keys to creating effective talks and the six traits of effective performance. The presenter will share and model lesson ideas, strategies, and activities with a proven track record of success for teaching each skill. Finally, rubrics for speaking will be presented, and participants will work in grade-level groups to develop rubrics for their schools.
Participants will leave with
Materials Fee: $22.00 for Teaching the Core Skills of Listening and Speaking
Registration Code: PD19PC013
Presenters: Brent Duckor and Carrie Holmberg, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA
In this institute, participants will learn about seven research-based, high-leverage formative assessment moves and how they can be used effectively to inform classroom instruction and to improve student achievement. This workshop will feature an exploration of authentic problems of practice in standards-based ELA and STEM curriculum, and it will provide exemplars and tools for enriching student learning with a focus on targeted formative feedback. School and district teams of administrators and teachers will learn about strategies to improve student achievement through formative assessment practices. Individual and teams will have the opportunity to engage in discussion and plan for implementation.
Registration Code: PD19PC021
Presenter: Erik Francis, Maverik Education LLC, Scottsdale, AZ
What is a good question—or rather, how does a good question challenge students to demonstrate levels of thinking as categorized by Bloom's Revised Taxonomy and communicate depth of knowledge as designated by Webb's Depth of Knowledge Levels? Learn how to rephrase the performance objectives of academic standards and learning targets into good questions that will assess and build background knowledge; set the instructional focus; serve as assessments; and personalize deeper, student-centered learning experiences.
Materials Fee: $23.00 for Now That's a Good Question! How to Promote Cognitive Rigor Through Classroom Questioning
Registration Code: PD19PC014
Presenter: Jessica Sprick, Safe & Civil Schools, Eugene, OR
If students are going to be successful in school, they first have to be in school. A growing body of research indicates that regular student attendance is one of the most vital yet under-addressed issues in schools today. This institute will practical prevention and intervention strategies that can make a dramatic difference in attendance for all students in your school. Learn about variables you can manipulate to improve student attendance at school and classwide levels through universal prevention and through targeted and intensive function-based intervention with individuals who require Tier 2 or Tier 3 support.
Participants will learn practical strategies for:
Materials Fee: $28.00 for A School Leader's Guide to Tackling Attendance Challenges
Registration Code: PD19PC010
Presenter: Allison Rodman, The Learning Loop, Haddon Township, NJ
In a time when our lives continue to become more personalized—through custom ads, personal shoppers, and movie and book recommendations—our professional learning experiences for educators have not kept pace. In too many districts and schools, teachers continue to participate in one-size-fits-all, "sit-and-get" professional development sessions. In this session, explore innovative practices in professional learning to design more personalized experiences that empower teachers to taking a standing role in their own growth. Together, we will apply the personalized learning principles of voice, codesign, social construction, and self-discovery to design a personalized professional learning model for your district or school. Planning tools, models, and collaborative time will be provided to leave you feeling empowered to put your plan into action.
Registration Code: PD19PC019
Presenters: Bena Kallick, Institute for Habits of Mind, Westport, CT; Allison Zmuda, The Competent Classroom, Virginia Beach, VA; Yvette Jackson, National Urban Alliance, New York, NY
How can we intentionally focus our thinking and actions on equity in our personalized learning environments? Equity-driven pedagogy is based on the fearless expectation that all students are capable of high intellectual performances. In this institute, we will focus on structures, strategies, and processes that deepen learning through regular and rich experiences that help students discover who they are and who they aspire to be. As an outcome, each participant or team will leave with some exemplars of practice and a network of resources to further their work. This is a unique opportunity to see the synergy in decades-long focus on equity-driven pedagogy and the habits of mind with a fresh look at the promise of personalizing learning.
Materials Fee: $20.00 for Cultivating Habits of Mind (Quick Reference Guide) and Personalizing Learning in Your Classroom (Quick Reference Guide)
Registration Code: PD19PC012
Presenter: Tony Frontier, Cardinal Stritch University, Milwaukee, WI
New standards and assessments have raised important questions about the validity of assessments to accurately measure achievement and reliably clarify students' learning needs. How can we ensure that the dozens of classroom-designed assessments students take each year also result in valid conclusions about student progress? More importantly, how do we ensure that those assessments inform teaching and learning? And most importantly, how can systems of classroom assessments be developed that empower and engage students as learners? The presenter will share tools and collaborative protocols for assessment and rubrics design that ensure that classroom-based assessments are valid and inform reliable, responsive instructional practices to support and improve student learning.
Materials Fee: $22.00 for Five Levers to Improve Learning: How to Prioritize for Powerful Results in Your School
Registration Code: PD19PC016
Presenters: Jill Harrison Berg, Jill Harrison Berg Consulting, Boston, MA; Christy Connolly, Henry Grew Elementary School, Boston, MA; Jordan Weymer, Donald McKay K–8 School, Boston, MA
Teacher leadership makes sense: Many of today's teachers have the expertise and desire to make a difference beyond their classrooms, and most school administrators seek shared responsibility of school improvement. But implementing teacher leadership is easier said than done. It is not a matter of just adding leaders to existing leadership structures; rather, it is a transformation of school leadership. In this pre-conference session designed especially for principals and other school or district administrators, you will collaboratively examine the key challenges and opportunities principals experience as they reframe their titular role of "leader" in order to maximize the benefits of teacher leadership, experiment with a toolkit of strategies and tools to help you grow and sustain teacher leadership, and reflect on the changes you can make to ensure the success of teacher leadership in your own school or district.
Materials Fee: $24.00 for Leading In Sync: Teacher Leaders and Principals Working Together for Student Learning
Registration Code: PD19PC017
Presenters: Eric Sheninger, International Center for Leadership in Education, Cypress, TX; Thomas C. Murray, Alliance for Excellent Education, Washington, DC
The current speed of technological breakthroughs has led to the coming age of workplace automation, dramatically altering the world of work our students will enter. With all that is known about how students learn and the predictions regarding the world that our students will face tomorrow, a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching and learning is education malpractice. Built on the foundation of leadership and school culture, a redesigned learning experience fundamentally shifts the teaching and learning paradigm to one that's personal. It alters the use of authentic assessments, how technology is leveraged, the spaces in which the learning occurs, the way educators grow professionally, how schools collaborate with the community, and the sustainability of the system as a whole. The presenters will dissect this approach to unlocking tomorrow's schools so that today's modern learners leave ready to create new industries, find new cures, and solve world problems.
Materials Fee: $26.00 for Learning Transformed: 8 Keys to Designing Tomorrow's Schools, Today
Registration Code: PD19PC015
Presenters: Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA; Dominique Smith, Health Sciences High, San Diego, CA
Academic learning may be the explicit focus of schooling, but what teachers say, the values we express, the materials and activities we choose, and the skills we prioritize all influence how our students think, see themselves, interact with content and with others, and assert themselves in the world. Social and emotional learning (SEL) is most familiar as compartmentalized programs or specific interventions, but the truth is that all learning is social and emotional. This institute will make the case for taking a deliberate approach to the "hidden curriculum" already being taught, presenting a five-part model of SEL that's easy to integrate into everyday content instruction. '''Our children's and emotional development too important to be left to chance. This integrated approach to SEL empowers every teacher to help students develop skills that will serve them in the classroom and throughout their lives.
Materials Fee: $22.00 for All Learning Is Social and Emotional
Registration Code: PD19PC024
Presenters: Debbie Zacarian, Zacarian & Associates, Amherst, MA; Lourdes Alvarez-Ortiz, Education Consultant, Agawam, MA; Judie Haynes, Education Consultant, Wykoff, NJ
Half of all students in the United States have experienced or are experiencing one or more types of serious childhood trauma (National Survey of Children's Health). This startling statistic should raise our alarm about what we can do to support students and families. Although much has been written for counselors and therapists about using a therapeutic approach with such students, little, if any, information has been available about teaching this epic population of learners. Further, when we learn that our students have experienced significant adversity, we often perceive them as having deficits that need remedying. Instead of looking at what is "broken" in the lives of these students, the presenters will emphasize science-based teaching and leadership practices that focus on seeing, acknowledging, and capitalizing on the many assets these students and their families bring with them.
Materials Fee: $23.00 for Teaching to Strengths: Supporting Students Living with Trauma, Violence, and Chronic Stress
Registration Code: PD19PC011