Teaching For Intelligence: Believe To Achieve: Albany, New York

NUA’s
Teaching For Intelligence:

Believe To Achieve
CONFERENCE
Albany, New York

March 28–30, 2008
Empire Plaza Map
Hotel Locations Map

Table of Contents
Welcome Page .............................................................................. 2
In Memoriam ................................................................................ 3
Conference Sponsor...................................................................... 4
Become an NUA Mentor .............................................................. 5
NUA Board of Directors ............................................................... 6
Conference Hero .......................................................................... 7
Partners ......................................................................................... 8
Day-At-A-Glance: Wednesday & Thursday Programs .................. 10
Day-At-A-Glance: Friday Programs ............................................. 11
Friday Program Descriptions ....................................................... 12
Receptions .................................................................................. 25
Graduate Credit .......................................................................... 27
Day-At-A-Glance: Saturday Programs ......................................... 28
Saturday Program Descriptions ................................................... 29
Day-At-A-Glance: Sunday Programs ........................................... 42
Sunday Program Descriptions ..................................................... 43
Farewell and Charge ................................................................... 51
Ticketed Luncheon Speakers ....................................................... 52
Appreciation ............................................................................... 54
Certificate of Attendance............................................................. 56
Become an NUA Mentor ..................................... Inside Back Cover
The Passing of the Torch ................................................. Back Cover
1
Albany, New York • March 28–30, 2008 • Governor Rockefeller Empire State Plaza
W elcome
On behalf of the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education, I wish to
welcome all of you to NUA’s Teaching for Intelligence: Believe To Achieve Conference
in Albany.
We have come together to listen and to speak; to be challenged and to challenge;
to be introspective and to be interactive; to reflect and to renew; and, above all, to
learn and to share.
We all know that learning is best accomplished when we, the learners, work
together with open minds and open hearts and are willing to listen, to change and
to commit.
And this is our vision for all of us: that at the end of these three days, we go forth
with new ideas and honed skills, recommitted to our noble profession, with a renewed
willingness to take on challenges, and to change ourselves, our students, our schools
and, ultimately, all of society.
Eric Cooper, President

The National Urban Alliance For Effective Education
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IN MEMORIAM
Asa Hilliard III

1933–2007
The National Urban Alliance For Effective Education mourns

the passing of Dr. Asa Hilliard III. Dr. Hilliard died in Egypt on
August 13, 2007 from complications from malaria.
Professor Hilliard was in Egypt with students continuing
his world-renowned work on African studies and its impact on
western culture. Asa Hilliard III worked very closely with NUA
since its inception and his scholarship and humanitarianism will
be greatly missed.
NUA proudly dedicates the NUA’s Teaching For Intelligence:
Believe To Achieve Conference in Albany, New York (March 28-
30, 2008) to his life and his work.
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CONFERENCE SPONSOR
The National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA) is proud to sponsor
NUA’s Teaching For Intelligence: Believe To Achieve Conference in Albany, New York.
Following are NUA’s Mission Statement, NUA’s Focus and the Action that flows out
of its mission and focus:
Our Mission
NUA’s mission is to substantiate in the public schools of urban America an
irrefutable belief in the capacity of all children to reach the highest levels of learning
and thinking demanded by our ever-changing global community.
Our Focus
Our work is focused on learning and teaching. We build toward high intellectual
performance through students’ culture, language, and cognition. Consultants in NUA’s
network plan with school districts and provide ongoing professional development
activities for teachers and administrators to improve classroom instruction, and to
improve how school communities are organized for sustained achievement. NUA
consultants are scholar practitioners—teachers and university faculty who promote
higher student achievement through structural and instructional interventions
incorporating the latest research on organizational development, cognition, reasoning,
thinking, and higher-order comprehension skills.
Our Action
NUA mentors go into schools to assess how each one is organized for instruction,
examining its school climate and how data are used to “tune” instruction to each
student. By demonstrating lessons in math, science, reading, and writing with groups
of students, consultants coach instructional staff to accelerate student learning.
Consultants deliver state-of-the-art theory & practice to school communities
and classrooms. Currently NUA has ongoing collaborations with Hamden, CT;
Indianapolis, IN; Seattle, WA; Newark, NJ; Birmingham, AL; Wyandanch, NY; Albany,
NY; Bridgeport, CT; St. Louis, MO; and twelve Minneapolis, MN-area school districts;
the International Reading Association (IRA); the University of Alabama at Birmingham;
the University of Georgia, Athens; the Council of Great City Schools (CGCS); the
College Board; the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE); the School
Redesign Network (SRN) and the LEADS Initiative at Stanford University; and The
International Center for the Enhancement of Learning Potential (ICELP).
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For Information On Becoming

An NUA Consultant/Mentor,
go to www.nuatc.org and click on:
“Become an NUA mentor”
5
NUA
NUA’s Board of Directors
Chairmen:
• Robert S. Peterkin, Harvard University (former superintendent,
Milwaukee, WI PS)
• Janice Jackson, Harvard University (former deputy superintendent,
Boston Public Schools, and Assistant Secretary for Elementary and
Secondary Education, U.S. Education Department)
• Dr. Eric Cooper, President and Founder
• Dr. Yvette Jackson, Chief Executive Officer
• Dr. Gerald Lauber, Chief Operating Officer
Advisory Board:
• Dr. Michael Froning, Dean, School of Education, University of Alabama
at Birmingham
• Dr. Steven Ivens, (retired) Vice-President, Touchstone Applied Sciences and
Executive Director, Research & Development, The College Board
• Dr. Daniel Levine, Professor Emeritus, University of Nebraska, Omaha
• Mr. Peter Gerber, Founding Partner, The EdDesigns Group, Inc., and former
director of Education for the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
• Dr. Daniel Domenich, Senior Vice-President, McGraw-Hill,
National Urban Markets
• Dr. Sonia Diaz, Chief Academic Officer, Baltimore City Schools
• Dr. Asa Hilliard III, Professor, Georgia State University (honorary)
• Val Marmillion, President, Marmillion + Company
• Len Miller, O’Connor Davies Munns & Dobbins LLP
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CONFERENCE HERO
NUA’s Second Lifetime Achievement Award
The National Urban Alliance For Effective Education

proudly will award its second Lifetime Achievement Award
to Dr. James Comer. The award is given to Dr. Comer in
recognition of his more than forty years as a psychiatrist,
educator, researcher, writer and advocate dedicated to
improving the lives and education of American children.
Born in 1934, Dr. Comer holds an M.D. from Howard
University, and an M.P.H. from the University of Michigan.
He spent seven years in the U.S. Public Health Service
where he rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. In
addition, Dr. Comer did four years of post-doctoral study at
Yale University from 1964 to 1968. Dr. Comer has been a
professor at Yale since 1969; he is an associate dean of the
School of Medicine and the Maurice Falk Professor of Child Psychiatry at Yale.
Dr. Comer is one of the leading voices in the United States for bettering urban
education. He is perhaps best known for the “Comer” method, which first emphasizes
development of a child’s social skills and self-esteem which leads in a natural
progression to the bettering of scholastic abilities. He also believes that it is essential
to build relationships between home and school, which create a good quality of life
for children. The environment created by these relationships makes good child and
adolescent rearing more likely, which then makes scholastic achievement more likely.
Dr. Comer and his associates have consulted with almost 1000 schools across the
United States. He is the author of nine books including the autobiographical Maggie’s
American Dream: The Life and Times of a Black Family, and 2004’s Leave No Child
Behind: Preparing Today’s Youth for Tomorrow’s World.
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PARTNERS
THE CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT OF ALBANY
The mission of the City School District of Albany is to
educate and nurture all students to be responsible citizens, critical
thinkers, and life long learners to successfully compete in the
global community by providing an academically rigorous and
safe environment in partnership with parents, students, and the
community.
For more information, go to www.albanyschools.org/
THE NEW YORK STATE COUNCIL OF SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS

The New York State Council of School Superintendents is a
professional and advocacy organization with over a century of service
to school superintendents in New York State. The Council provides its
more than 800 members with numerous professional development
opportunities, publications and personal services, while advocating for
public education and the superintendency.
For more information, go to www.nyscoss.org/
THE NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION

The New York State School Boards Association
serves as the statewide voice of more than 700 boards of
education. The collective influence of some 5,000 school
board members, who constitute half the elected officials in
the state, enables the Association to work toward the benefit
of the elementary and secondary public school system
in New York State. School board members are the educational leaders of their communities; they
determine policies that govern the operation of their local public school system.
For more Information, go to www.nyssba.org/
QUESTAR III
Questar III provides more than 250 instructional and
support services to its 23 school districts with about 40,000
students in Rensselaer, Columbia and Greene counties of New York State. Through Questar III, school
districts can offer programs and services more economically, efficiently and equitably by sharing their
costs. The name Questar III reflects an evolution in the organization’s role and mission that has taken
place over the last decade. “Quest” stands for the educational journey and our search for excellence;
“Star” for the brilliance of our programs, staff and students; and “III” for the three counties we serve.
For more information, go to www.questar.org/
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THE NEW YORK STATE UNITED TEACHERS
NYSUT is more than 585,000 people who work in, or are
retired from, New York’s schools, colleges, and healthcare facilities.
We are classroom teachers, college and university faculty and
professional staff, school bus drivers, custodians, secretaries,
cafeteria workers, teacher assistants and aides, nurses and healthcare
technicians. NYSUT is a federation of more than 1,200 local unions,
each representing its own members. We are affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
and the National Education Association (NEA). We are also part of organized labor—the AFL-CIO—and
of Education International, with more than 20 million members world wide.
For more Information, go to www.nysut.org/www.nysut.org/
SRN LEADS OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY

The School Redesign Network (SRN) was established
in 2000 at Stanford University to build, capture and
share research-based knowledge to transform secondary
schools and school systems. Our mission is to help
support and sustain equitable schools and districts that
are intellectually rigorous, high performing, and designed to help all students master the knowledge and
skills needed for success in college, career and citizenship. The Leadership, Equity & Accountability in
Schools and Districts (LEADS) network was established in 2006 to further the work of SRN specifically
at the district level. LEADS applies cutting-edge knowledge from scholars and practitioners in education
and business to the complex challenges confronting urban school systems. LEADS operates on the
principle that equitable and high-achieving school systems require powerful classroom instruction
supported by performance-driven central offices.
For more information, go to www.srnleads.org/
MEDIATED OUTCOMES
Mediated Outcomes provides articles, books, and publications in support of educational change.
The company also conducts educational conferences and events related to high achievement and
literacy. Mediated Outcomes, in its on-going partnership with NUA, provides management assistance
for many NUA projects including this conference.
For more information, go to www.mediatedoutcomes.com/
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WEDNESDAY THURSDAY ■
DAY-AT-A-GLANCE
WEDNESDAY - MARCH 26
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Registration Crowne Plaza Hotel
THURSDAY - MARCH 27
7:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. Registration Crowne Plaza Hotel
8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. School Visits to Albany Schools
8:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. A Day With NUA - Morning Session Crowne Plaza Hotel
8:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Introduction To Dynamic Assessment Crowne Plaza Hotel
And Mediated Learning - Morning Session
1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. A Day With NUA - Afternoon Session Crowne Plaza Hotel
1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Introduction To Dynamic Assessment Crowne Plaza Hotel
And Mediated Learning - Afternoon Session
4:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. New York Financial Literacy Forum Crowne Plaza Hotel
(by invitation)
7:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Welcoming Reception Crowne Plaza Hotel Ballroom
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MARCH 28TH FRIDAY
■
DAY-AT-A-GLANCE
FRIDAY - MARCH 28
7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. Registration
7:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Bookstore Room 7
8:30 a.m. - 9:40 a.m. SESSION 1

PEDRO NOGUERA, Featured Speaker Convention Hall
JAMES COMER, Featured Speaker Swyer Theater at the Egg
DONNA ALVERMANN, Featured Speaker Room 6
Breakout Speakers Convention Hall Rooms 1–5,
Museum Room A/B and
The Hart Theater Lounge
9:40 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. Break
10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. SESSION 2

Guest Speakers - Welcoming Convention Hall
ERIC COOPER - Calling Together/Exordium Convention Hall
11:40 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. Ticketed Luncheon
DAVID ROTH, Speaker Room 6
LUNCH ON YOUR OWN

12:45 p.m. - 1:55 p.m. SESSION 3
DONNA OGLE, Featured Speaker Swyer Theater at the Egg
JAWANZA KUNJUFU, Featured Speaker Convention Hall
MICHAEL FRONING, Featured Speaker Clark Auditorium
DAVID ROTH, Featured Speaker Room 6
Museum Room A/B and
1:55 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. Break
2:15 p.m. - 3:35 p.m. SESSION 4

PROFESSOR REUVEN FEUERSTEIN, Keynote Speaker Convention Hall
4:05 p.m. - 5:15 p.m. SESSION 5

DAVID HYERLE, Featured Speaker Swyer Theater at the Egg
JUDITH LANGER, Featured Speaker Convention Hall
ASKIA DAVIS, Featured Speaker Clark Auditorium Museum
RELEAH LENT, Featured Speaker Room 1
MAMIE MERRIFIELD, Featured Speaker Room 6
Museum Room A/B and
5:15 p.m. - 6:15 p.m. “Fireside Chats” with Presenters Room 6
7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. Reception Crowne Plaza Hotel Ballroom
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MARCH 28 day
F r i TH
FRIDAY ■
Session I
Session I Featured Presenters Friday 8:30–9:40 AM
Creating Conditions that Promote Student Achievement

CONVENTION HALL Audience: All Grades
Theme: Promoting High Intellectual Performance and Enrichment
Presenter: PEDRO NOGUERA
While the movement for standards and accountability has largely succeeded in bringing greater attention to
Noguera
the issues surrounding student achievement, surprisingly little attention has been given to what it takes to create
conditions in schools that will make achievement more likely. Missing from much of the policy debate related to
achievement is how to support and cultivate effective teaching in schools. This presentation will describe strategies
that have proven effective elsewhere for supporting teaching and learning. It will also explore how schools can
develop effective partnerships with parents to further efforts to raise achievement and how data can be used to
develop school reforms that lead to transformations in the culture and structure of schools.
Pedro Noguera, Ph.D., is a professor in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development
at New York University. He is also the executive director of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education and the
co-director of the Institute for the Study of Globalization and Education in Metropolitan Settings (IGEMS). An urban
sociologist, Noguera’s scholarship and research focuses on the ways in which schools are influenced by social and
economic conditions in the urban environment. Noguera has served as an advisor and engaged in collaborative
research with several large urban school districts throughout the United States. He has also done research on issues
related to education and economic and social development in the Caribbean, Latin America and several other
countries throughout the world. Between 2000 and 2003, Noguera served as the Judith K. Dimon Professor of
Communities and Schools at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. From 1990 to 2000, he was a professor
in social and cultural studies at the Graduate School of Education and the director of the Institute for the Study of
Social Change at the University of California, Berkeley.
Educator Preparation and the Development of Children and Youth

SWYER THEATER (AT THE EGG) Audience: All Grades
Themes: Promoting High Intellectual Performance and Enrichment; Educator Preparation
Presenter: JAMES COMER
Development and the kind of learning that is needed for school and life success are inextricably linked. All
children are underdeveloped and need support from birth to maturity; and children from non-mainstream family Comer
and social networks are in greatest need. Many educators, through no fault of their own, are not prepared to
support development in practice. This presentation will explore the link between development and learning and will
consider a framework for preparing pre and in-service educators to apply developmental principals in practice.
James P. Comer, M.D., M.P.H., the Maurice Falk Professor of Child Psychiatry at the Yale University School of
Medicine’s Child Study Center, has been a Yale medical faculty member since 1968. During these years, he has
concentrated his career on promoting a focus on child development as a way of improving schools. His efforts in
support of healthy development of young people are known internationally.
Dr. Comer perhaps is best known for the founding of the Comer School Development Program in 1968, which
promotes the collaboration of parents, educators, and community to improve social, emotional, and academic
outcomes for children that, in turn, helps them achieve greater school success. His concept of teamwork has
improved the educational environment in more than 500 schools throughout America.
Adolescent Literacy: Fact, Fiction, and Future

ROOM 6 (AT THE CONVENTION CENTER) Audience: All Grades
Theme: Assessment, Language Development and Literacy
Presenter: DONNA ALVERMANN
Much has been written lately about the adolescent literacy achievement gap. Some of that information distorts
what the research actually says about adolescent literacy, per se. This session will focus on the fact, fiction, and
Alvermann
future of adolescent literacy in relation to closing the achievement gap.
Donna Alvermann is professor of language and literacy education at the University of Georgia, where she
teaches courses on young people’s literacies (digital, visual, and print). From 1992 to 1997, she co-directed the
National Reading Research Center, funded by the U.S. Department of Education. A past co-chair of IRA’s Adolescent
Literacy Commission and immediate past-editor of Reading Research Quarterly, Alvermann has also worked on
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MARCH 28TH FRIDAY ■
Session I
the 2009 NAEP reading framework. Her books include Content Area Reading and Literacy: Succeeding in Today’s
Diverse Classrooms (5th ed.), Reconceptualizing the Literacies in Adolescents’ Lives (2nd ed.), and Adolescents and
Literacies in a Digital World.
Session I Breakout Presenters Friday 8:30–9:40 AM
Strategies in Action
HART THEATER LOUNGE (AT THE EGG) Audience: All Grades
Themes: Assessment, Language Development and Literacy; Promoting High Intellectual Performance
and Enrichment
Presenters: KANDIE ANTONETTI and LISA HOUSE, City School District of Albany
The audience will observe the demonstration of strategies being taught to a group of 6th grade students from
Antonetti
Philip Livingston Magnet Academy in Albany. Participation of the audience will be encouraged.
Kandie Antonetti and Lisa House are teachers on the 6th grade team at Philip Livingston Magnet Academy in
Albany. The have been involved with the National Urban Alliance since its inception in Albany and are currently
NUA coaches for their building.
Using NUA Strategies in the High School Classroom

CLASSROOM A/B (AT THE MUSEUM) Audience: Grades 9–12
Theme: Promoting High Intelligence Performance and Enrichment
Presenter: JOHN DEER, City School District of Albany
This session will model and show off materials from various lessons that have been done at the high school
level in the fields of social studies and math.
Deer
John Deer has been a teacher at Albany High School for two years and has worked in the City School District of
Albany for the past four years as a teacher’s aid and substitute teacher as well. He currently teaches global history to
9th and 10th graders.
The Effects of Students’ Exposure to Violence on Teacher Practice

HUXLEY THEATER (AT THE MUSEUM) Audience: PreK–Grade 8
Themes: Learning Needs of Boys; Creating Culturally Competent Classrooms; Educator Preparation
Presenter: DAVID HATCH
This presentation will show the relationship between students’ exposure to violence (specifically media
and bullying) and teacher practice. It will include the presenter’s own and related research findings as well as Hatch
recommendations.
David Hatch earned his Ph.D. from Oregon State University. He has been teaching at Eastern Oregon
University for three years. His passion for children has led him to study the effects of violence on the classroom and
the perspective of teachers.
Connected Comprehension Instruction

ROOM 1 Audience: PreK–Grade 8
and Enrichment
Presenter: AMY RINDAL
In this session, teachers will see the importance of explicit comprehension instruction and experience Rindal
techniques using conversations that springboard into natural curiosity and new learning. Participants will learn to
spark thoughtful reflection on a text regarding the application of a specific comprehension strategy, highlighting the
fact that reading is a thinking activity.
Amy Rindal, M.Ed., is the national consultant for Rigby Professional Development. As a reading specialist and
licensed master reading teacher, she has provided teacher support and literacy instruction at nearly every grade level in
K–6. Her focus is empowering students through the individualized instruction and consistent opportunities for success.
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MARCH 28 day
F r i TH
FRIDAY ■
Session I
Why It Matters to Find Out What the Students Believe
as Well as the Teachers!
ROOM 2 Audience: All Grades
Themes: Promoting High Intellectual Performance and Enrichment; Educator Preparation; Leadership
and the Challenges of the 21st Century
Presenter: JEANNE ZEHR
Zehr
Feuerstein and Dweck are two psychologists whose work synergistically impacts the other. Feuerstein offers
a theory of Structural Cognitive Modifiability for educators. Dweck provides compelling evidence that students
also need to know this theory to provide motivation to learn. This workshop will present the facts on “fixed” versus
“growth” mind sets and how young it all begins! Dweck’s work offers even more reason to embrace Feuerstein’s
theory and programs. Better yet, participants will leave the session with specific strategies to immediately begin
developing energized learners.
Jeanne Zehr, Ph.D. has been a teacher, principal, and area administrator over the last thirty-two years. Her
degrees range from elementary education, special education to a doctorate in educational leadership. Along the
way, she acquired certification as a trainer for Feuerstein’s Instrumental Enrichment. Her life’s passion has been to
develop a deep love for learning in all whom cross her path.
Color Me Love—Personality Impacts Learning

Themes: Promoting High Intellectual Performance and Enrichment; Creating Culturally Competent
Classrooms; Educator Preparation
Presenters: BERTHA RICHARDSON, NUA Mentor and PAUL HANNA, NUA Mentor
This interactive and engaging session provides foundations, research and strategies that improve classroom
Richardson
dynamics (climate, discipline, relationships and academics) and intellectual success for all children. Looking for
ways to spark motivation and enthusiasm with students? Look no further, learn how personality impacts learning.
Bertha Richardson, Ed.D., an internationally recognized educator has over thirty-two years of educational
experience. She served as the teaching specialist and classroom teacher in the School District of University City,
Missouri for over twenty-nine years. She is the published author of many curriculum materials with a character
education focus.
Paul Hanna is best described as “teacher”. He is the reading specialist in South Callaway School District,
working with students in kindergarten through sixth grade and teachers of all levels. He is an adjunct instructor
of education at Columbia College in Columbia, Missouri, and consults nationally, training, groups in personality
Hanna
theory and literacy strategies.
A Co-Teaching NUA Integrated Math Classroom

ROOM 4 Audience: Grades 4–8
Theme: Creating Culturally Competent Classrooms
Presenters: TRACY BATTLES and NANCY VIALL, City School District of Albany
This session will feature an integrated math classroom implementation of the NUA beliefs and strategies in
an urban middle school. Participants will be exposed to and participate in an NUA driven 8th grade math unit.
Battles
Included will be the collaborative planning process between a math and special education teacher and the NUA
strategies that were utilized to create a culturally competent setting. The presentation will offer hands on experience
for the participants so that they can view learning activities that model how to achieve the goal of high intellectual
performance for all students.
Tracy Battles has been teaching in the City School District of Albany for over twenty-five years. As an integrated
special education teacher she has totally embraced NUA strategies and philosophy. She believes NUA has
enhanced instruction and team collaboration with student achievement always at the forefront.
Nancy Viall has been a mathematics teacher in the City School District of Albany for five years. She tries
to provide a stimulating learning environment that encourages students to trust their opinions, while fostering
confidence that allows students to realize their full potential. In her classroom, Nancy uses NUA strategies that
facilitate higher-level thinking. She has found that students not only retain the information longer, but they also
become more confident in their own abilities.
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Session I and Session II

Teacher, Have You Recognized My Mathematical Ability? Culturally
Competent Instructional Delivery in the Mathematics Classroom
Presenter: DENELLE WALLACE
Mathematics is the “gateway to technological literacy and to higher education” (Schoenfeld, 2002). This session Wallace
will provide educators with ideas for restructuring district policies to increase the involvement of underrepresented
student populations in higher level mathematics courses, research-based instructional strategies that promote
cultural competency in the classroom, and professional development activities and lesson plans that acknowledge
the impact of cultural competency on the academic success of a diverse student population for all levels of
mathematics.
Dr. Denelle Wallace has a B.S. in elementary education, a M.Ed. in school counseling, and a Ph.D. in urban
services. Utilizing sixteen years of experience in public education, Dr. Wallace has provided sessions on cultural
competency and research-based instructional strategies at the annual conferences of AERA, ASCD, VASCD, and
VCTM.
Discussing the Indiscussible: Racism and Leadership

CLARK THEATER (AT THE MUSEUM) Audience: All Grades
Presenters: PHIL HUNSBERGER and BILLIE MAYO
Racism and Leadership is an intensive professional development program that examines the intricate balance
of personal stance and professional practice regarding race and racism. The program examines attitudes and Hunsberger
dispositions about race held by district teachers and administrators that may unconsciously limit students’ ability
to achieve. This presentation will examine this model of reform adopted by numerous districts to address the
achievement gap.
Dr. Billie Mayo and Dr. Phil Hunsberger are senior consultants with Education Equity Consultants of St. Louis,
Missouri. Their work over the past eight years have been with school districts of St. Louis, MO, Long Beach and
Santa Barbara California, and Chicago, Illinois all adopting district reform initiatives to address issues of race and
racism.
Mayo
Session II Keynote Session Friday 10:00–11:30 AM
Calling the Conference to Order

EVA JOSEPH, Superintendent, City School District of Albany
Greetings
GERALD D. JENNINGS, Mayor of Albany, New York
RICHARD P. MILLS, President of The University of the State of New York (USNY)
and Commissioner of Education Joseph
H.E. ASAF SHARIV, Counsel General of Israel in New York

NEIL D. BRESLIN, New York State Senator
THOMAS L. ROGERS, Executive Director, New York State Council of School Superintendents
RICHARD IANNUZZI, President, NYSUT
JAMES N. BALDWIN, Superintendent, Questar III Boces, and Interim Superintendent,
Capital Region Boces
Special Presenter: DAN IANNICOLA, JR., Deputy Assistant Secretary for Financial Education,
United States Department of the Treasury, will speak to the importance of financial literacy
in urban schools.
NUA’s Tribute To the Life and Work of Asa Hilliard III
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MARCH 28 day
F r i TH
FRIDAY ■
Session II and Session III

Poverty Is Not Destiny
Presenter: ERIC COOPER
The keynote presentation will focus on the belief systems and expectations, which determine student outcomes.
The speaker will cite data to support the reality that virtually all schoolchildren and youth can graduate from high
school sufficiently prepared to attend a university or college. The presentation will emphasize research, and cultural
Cooper
and cognitive strategies. The speaker will define the political, administrative and instructional obstacles which deny
opportunities for high intellectual performance by all students as well as methods for overcoming these obstacles.
Eric Cooper is the president and a founder of the National Urban Alliance. He is an expert on the state of
current American education and a nationally known advocate for the children of America’s urban schools.
Ticketed Luncheon or Lunch On Your Own

11:40 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. For more info on the Ticketed Luncheon go to page 52.
Session III Featured Presenters Friday 12:45–1:55 PM
Vision and Collaborative Leadership: Keys to Improving Adolescent

Literacy Achievement
Presenter: DONNA OGLE
Accelerating middle and secondary literacy achievement requires the combined effort of the whole school. Ogle
Administrators and teachers, who develop literacy teams, engage together in sustained professional development,
create engaging settings for student learning and who set high goals for a whole school make a difference. Donna
Ogle will discuss these components through the lens of her own work in Chicago schools as part of three on-going
professional collaborations: Transitional Adolescent Literacy Leadership Project, the Advancing Literacy for Learning
Project, and the Striving Readers Research Project.
Donna Ogle is a professor in the reading and language department of the National-Louis University. Her
primary areas of interest are reading strategies and the process of instructional change in schools. She is well
known for her K-W-L strategy which emphasizes the power of teacher collaboration and her strong conviction that
“teachers, teaching teachers” has a strong impact on student achievement.
Keeping African American and Hispanic Boys Out of Special Ed

Theme: Learning Needs of Boys
Presenter: JAWANZA KUNJUFU
Is there a relationship between special education and prison, illiteracy and incarceration, Ritalin and cocaine?
Do some governors determine prison growth based on fourth grade reading scores? How can we save black
Kunjufu
and Hispanic males? Is it possible that their future could be in the hands of white female teachers?
Do boys have different learning styles than girls? Do schools make allowances for these gender differences?
What has been the success rate of single gender classrooms and schools?
Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu is an educational consultant with African-American Images. He is constantly on the
lecture circuit with over thirty different workshops, addressing students, parents, teachers, and community residents;
in pre-schools elementary schools, high-schools: colleges and churches. He is also the author of Countering the
Conspiracy to Destroy Black Boys; Motivating Black Youth to Work; Children Are the Reward of Life; Lessons from
History; A Celebration in Blackness, Elementary & High School; and, To be Popular or Smart: The Black Peer Group.
16
Session III
The Right Stuff: The Practical Necessity of Teacher Beliefs
CLARK AUDITORIUM (AT THE MUSEUM) Audience: All Grades
Theme: Educator Preparation
Presenter: MIKE FRONING
The simple truth that teachers must believe in the capacity of their children to learn has far-reaching
implications from teaching style to classroom management to selection of content and its organization. In this
Froning
wide-ranging presentation and discussion, Mike will bring his thirty-five years of experience as a classroom teacher
and his new life as a teacher educator together to emphasize the practical necessity of teachers having deeply held
notions of equity and diversity.
A native of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, Mike is a 1963 graduate of the University of Notre Dame. He
immediately went on to the Johns Hopkins University where he graduated with a master of arts in teaching. He
began teaching in 1963 at Western High School in Baltimore, a public school for girls that still maintains it single
sex designation. He married Lyn soon after and in 1968 they moved to Pago Pago, American Samoa, where both
were television teachers.
In 1970 they moved to Hawaii where Mike taught at Honolulu’s Kawananakoa Middle School for four years.
Then it was on to Amherst, Massachusetts and the Amherst Regional Schools from 1974 to 1991. He was then
recruited to Birmingham to become one of the founding faculty in the new Russell Mathematics and Science Center
at the Alabama School of Fine Arts. His program design led ASFA to be ranked as the #10 high school in the country
on the US News and World Report list of the “100 Best High Schools” in 2000.
In 1999, President Ann Reynolds recruited Mike to be interim dean of education at UAB and subsequently he
was named dean. Since that time the school of education has dramatically lifted its performance in urban education
while maintaining its reputation for producing many of Alabama’s award winning educators.
Thank You to Teachers! Songs to Inspire You!

Presenter: DAVID ROTH
I have always loved educators. Educators saved my sanity at a time when I was young and vulnerable. Over the
last twenty years I’ve written a lot of songs both about and used in educational settings. Think of this as a musical/
spoken word “thank you” (with some creative problem-solving and different perspectives thrown in) to all of you
Roth
who have devoted your lives to helping give people a better understanding of the world and of themselves. I’ll keep
singing my “easy-listening protest songs” until the day when teachers, not athletes or movie stars, get multiyear
hundred-million dollar contracts...oh...you already have one? Would you kindly come see me after lunch?
Session III Breakout Presenters Friday 12:45–1:55 PM
Teaching Struggling Learners

HART THEATER LOUNGE (AT THE EGG) Audience: PreK–Grade 3
Themes: Promoting High Intellectual Performance and Enrichment; Learning Needs of Boys; Educator
Preparation; Leadership and the Challenges of the 21st Century
Presenters: PETER DE WITT and KRISTEN CARD
Teaching Struggling Learners is a presentation given by Poestenkill Elementary School (upstate New York) De Witt
Principal Peter De Witt. In his presentation, Peter explains what a struggling learner looks like, and how teachers
and administration in his school district use multiple methods of instruction to help educate their students.
Peter DeWitt is the principal of Poestenkill Elementary School (upstate New York). Before becoming principal,
Peter taught primary school for eleven years in several city school districts in New York State. In addition to his
administration and teaching duties, Peter is a children’s author.
Card
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Session III
Believing and Achieving High Intellectual Performance in Urban Schools
CLASSROOM A/B (AT THE MUSEUM) Audience: All Grades
Classrooms; Educator Preparation; Leadership and the Challenges of the 21st Century
Presenters: SHEILA FRIDOVICH, NUA Mentor, WILLIAM TINKLER, GREG PACIFIC, BETSY SISSON,
and DIANA SISSON, NUA Partner School
Fridovich
This presentation highlights the Bridgeport/NUA partnership, as implemented in two schools. Principals,
coaches, teachers and NUA mentor will, interactively, review NUA professional development, strategies, and
underlying NUA beliefs that elicit high intellectual performance. The audience will be involved in several strategies
that simulate NUA professional and the NUA classroom. They will be making connections to make learning relevant
and specific NUA strategies will be taught to demonstrate learning.
Sheila Fridovitch has been working with NUA for ten years. She has helped implement the NUA training and
program in New York, Indianapolis, Albany, and Bridgeport. She has been interested in language development and
brain research, as they affect the affect the learning processes. She graduated from Hunter College in NY with a
degree in speech pathology. She has a master’s degree in audiology form the University of Maryland.
Mr. William Tinkler is the principal at James J. Curiale School in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Mr. Greg Pacific is an eighth-grade language arts teacher who has found creative approaches to implement
National Urban Alliance strategies to meet the diverse needs of his students.
As a sister-teaching team, Betsy and Diana Sisson are reading consultants who have worked extensively in the
field of literacy, from teaching at the university level to directing an ESL department in an international boarding
school in Asia. They currently work as literacy coaches for Bridgeport Public Schools and are pursuing a doctorate in
educational leadership.
Need Based PD: How Do You Provide Balance for Diverse Communities?
HUXLEY THEATER (AT THE MUSEUM) Audience: All Grades
Presenter: CHRISTOPHER LEONE
In an era where more accountability is shifting back to schools, this presentation will examine ways to
Leone
establish meaningful diverse professional development to meet the needs of urban schools. This presentation will
allow teachers and administrators a way to create a professional school culture and climate that directly impacts
instruction.
Christopher Leone is the current CEO of YOU Instruction and former school principal. A graduate of the
Johns Hopkins University Professional School of Business and Education, Mr. Leone has presented at national and
international conferences including AMS, ASCD and NMSA.
Turning Passive Readers into Active Learners

Presenter: KIMBERLY NIX
At this session, participants will learn how to engage struggling adolescent readers by learning how and why
students become passive learners by the time they get to the middle grades. The session will highlight strategies that
Nix
can be considered to enable students to learn again:
• Finding out what the latest research in adolescent literacy says about choice, control, and active learning for
struggling readers;
• Discovering a variety of learning activities designed to engage passive learners and teach them to use active
thinking processes (black line masters will be provided for participants to take home);
• Discussing effective classroom techniques for promoting active learning in the reading intervention classroom;
and,
• Realizing how the gradual release method and scaffold instruction can enable students to learn and how the
use of flexible grouping can help differentiate instruction for students.
Kimberly Riley Nix, a national reading consultant for McGraw-Hill’s Jamestown Reading Navigator Adolescent
Intervention Program, is a former secondary reading teacher, coach and coordinator specializing in meeting the
needs of Title I teachers and students. She has published several articles and recently authored a book on the use of
flexible grouping to help address the needs of adolescent learners.
18
Session III
Using Dynamic Assessment to Ensure that No Child Will Be Left Behind
Presenter: LOU FALIK
The session will provide a description of the goals, structure, and process of the Learning Propensity Assessment
Device (LPAD) that identifies the potential for cognitive modifiability and the ways in which mediated learning
experience (MLE) addresses deficient functions and builds cognitive competencies. This will be illustrated and
demonstrated through samples of the Feuerstein’s Instrumental Enrichment (FIE) program. Discussion will be
directed to the relationship of these activities to the acquisition of academic skills.
Professor Lou Falik has been ICELP’s clinical and training associate since 1988. He received his Ph.D.
in educational psychology at the Wayne State University in the US. Since 1966 he has been teaching at the
Department of Counseling, School of Education, San Francisco State University. He was the acting chair of the
department, in 2000-2001 academic year. The primary focus of his teaching was mental health counseling, clinical
skills practice, legal and professional practice, marriage and family counseling. Professor Falik was a visiting scholar
at the Michigan State University, visiting professor at Konan University, Kobe, Japan, and visiting lecturer in special
education and counseling at Haifa University, Israel. Professor Falik conducted training workshops in the Learning
Potential Assessment Device (LPAD) and Instrumental Enrichment in North America, Europe, Asia (India, Singapore,
and Indonesia) and Australia. He has published extensively on learning disabilities, counseling and dynamic
assessment. Many of his articles and book chapters are coauthored with Professor Reuven Feuerstein.
Texts for HIP: The Civil Rights Movement

Themes: Promoting High Intelligence Performance, Creating Culturally Competent Classrooms
Presenter: ELAINE HILL, NUA Partner School District
This session will show how using texts that focus on the Civil Rights Movement will stimulate all students to
strive for high intellectual performance. The facilitator will provide sample lesson plans with suggested learning
activities using a variety of texts. The session will be interactive with participants performing the activities.
Dr. Elaine N. Hill is executive director of Professional Development & Grants, Birmingham City Schools.
Her experience includes twenty-six years teaching high school English and six years working in curriculum and
instruction. Currently, she is responsible for coordinating the TRUST Initiative, which includes the professional
development services of NUA. She is the project director for Tapping Academic Potential, a federally funded grant
to increase student’s participation in advanced placement courses and college readiness. Dr. Hill is the chair of the
National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ), Alabama, a human rights organization whose mission is to
promote respect and understanding for all people.
HIP HOP into the Primary Grades

Theme: Promoting High Intelligence Performance and Enrichment
Presenters: SALLY BRUCE and DONNA FINKS, City School District of Albany
This presentation will focus on useful NUA strategies, and how to present them in a fun and friendly manner
to younger children. Participants will be invited to create their own materials that can be brought back to their own
Bruce
classrooms for immediate use.
Sally Bruce received her B.S. in social work from SUNY at Plattsburgh, and an M.S. in elementary education
from the College of St. Rose. She also has her Reading Recovery Certificate for NYU. She has been teaching in the
Albany City School district for seventeen years.
Donna Frinks received her B.S. in elementary education from SUNY at Geneseo, and a M.S. in reading from the
College of St. Rose. She also has her Reading Recovery Certificate from NYU. She has been teaching in the Albany
City School District for seventeen years.
Finks
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Session III and Session IV

Leadership for a Time-Strapped Faculty: The Importance of Coherence
in Staff Development
Theme: Leadership and the Challenges of the 21st Century
Presenter: ELAINE ROBERTS
School and district leadership should consider the role of professional development as part of the leadership Roberts
vision, but also examine the importance of building coherence into short- and long-term staff development plans.
Such coherence may ultimately enable teachers and teacher-leaders to examine concretely the correlation between
what is planned, what is actually taught, what is assessed or evaluated and how in context of the standards-aligned
curriculum.
Elaine Roberts, Ph.D. has been involved in higher education and professional development for nearly twenty
years. As a lifelong learner, Dr. Roberts is constantly seeking opportunities for her own professional growth. That and
a background as a former systems analyst makes it somewhat easy for her to help others examine their own systems,
processes, and content to build short- and long-term plans for sustained yet organic growth.
Session IV Keynote Speaker Friday 2:15–3:35 PM
Saving Our Students

Presenter: PROFESSOR REUVEN FEUERSTEIN
The initiative undertaken by NUA in partnership with ICELP has, as its main goal, the creation of the conditions
necessary for the development of cognitive processes and higher mental structures in children, youth and young
Feuerstein
adults in the African-American school population.
This intervention program is based on a firm belief, supported by strong scientific evidence, in the modifiability
of this population. They are endowed with a high potential to be affected by appropriate learning modalities—
particularly by the Mediated Learning Experience and by the applied systems derived from the theory of Structural
Cognitive Modifiability. It is by meaningful and focused interventions of this kind that these children and adults will
gain access to higher education and become contributing members of a technology-focused society.
The session will include a demonstration of how students are assessed and the immediate progress that came
be shown in students when they are introduced to alternative methods of learning and thinking.
Reuven Feuerstein, a clinical psychologist who studied at the University of Geneva under Jean Piaget, Andre
Rey, Barbel Inhelder, and Marguerite Loosli Uster, went on to earn his Ph.D. in developmental psychology at the
Sorbonne. He is currently the director of the Center for Development of Human Potential in Jerusalem. From 1970
until the present Dr. Feuerstein has served as professor in the School of Education at Bar Ilan University in Ramat
Gan, Israel; he is also the director of the Hadassah-Wizo-Canada Research Institute, in Jerusalem, Israel. His life’s
work has been the development of the Theory of Structural Cognitive Modifiability and its emergent practices of
dynamic assessment, active intervention, and placement of both children and adults in “shaping environments”.
The concept of mediated learning experience, which he describes as the proximal determinant of differential
cognitive development, is based on the assumption that a human development can be neither conceived of as a
sole epiphenomenon of neurophysiological maturation nor considered as simply the product of the individual’s
chance encounter with and direct exposure to stimuli and his active interaction with them. In addition to these
determinants, it is by the flow of information transmitted to the individual by a process of mediation through
channels produced by mediation itself that higher mental functions are developed. It is the mediation process
itself that constructs both its content and structure. Implied by the concept of mediated learning experience is an
intergenerational relationship determined by the strong need for ensuring continuity beyond the biological existence
of the individual. While used at a number of schools in the United States, Professor Feuerstein’s work is very known
and used in South America and Europe.
20
Session V
Session V Featured Presenters Friday 4:05–5:15 PM
Beating the Odds: Minds on Instruction in Middle and

High School Classroom
Presenter: JUDITH LANGER
Judith Langer will call on her series of Beating the Odds and Partnership for Literacy studies in urban middle Langer
and high schools to discuss essential instructional features that need to be in place to foster both higher level
thinking and higher achievement. In addition to describing the “Minds-on” classroom, she will bring it to life with
examples of highly engaging and thought-provoking activities and their effects on students’ acquisition of higher
literacy.
Judith Langer’s studies of language, literacy, and learning have had a major impact on English and literacy
theory, teaching, and assessment. For example, her research on comprehension has changed the way national and
state tests assess students’ literacy achievement and her studies of reading and writing have helped develop more
thought-provoking instruction.
Her major works examine the nature of literate thought—the knowledge students use when they “make sense”
and the ways in which their learning is affected by activities and interactions in the classroom. Langer’s research
has led to the concept of comprehension as envisionment-building, where understandings are not additive, but
in a continual state of reconstrual based on past, present and future experiences. It also has demonstrated that
individuals (of all ages) read differently when reading literary vs. expository texts. She has also identified important
ways in which effective literature instruction aids the development of student reading, writing, and thinking skills.
And she has identified the professional and classroom features of English programs where students are “beating the
odds” in literacy achievement.
Research on Thinking Maps: A Transformational Language for Learning

Presenter: DAVID HYERLE
The session centers on the belief that it is the constellation of fundamental thought processes that is the
universal dimension of humanness. Unfortunately, these cognitive processes are often implied within content
Hyerle
teaching (especially within the present standards movement), thus students’ cognitive and critical thinking
development evolves inconsistently and unmediated in schools. Thinking Maps is a metalanguage of eight
interdependent cognitive patterns based on foundational thinking skills—and frame semantics—that are taught
explicitly to students across whole schools and at the college level. This unique language for learning is particularly
useful for shifting under performing students’ content knowledge upwards while engaging their thinking capacities
at a new level. This presentation pointedly challenges several debilitating myths about “thinking” while synthesizing
twenty years of research and practice demonstrating students’ improved thinking, literacy and content learning
through the self-differentiating use of Thinking Maps.
David Hyerle is the developer of the Thinking Maps model and author of the primary training resources for
implementing Thinking Maps. Presently, he is the director of research and development for Designs For Thinking and
facilitating new applications of Thinking Maps in the field. He is a frequent keynote speaker, author of two A.S.C.D.
books focused on visual tools, and developer of a new online course: Visual Tools for Literacy. He is also coauthor
with Larry Alper of the new leadership guide and training: Thinking Maps: Leading with a New Language.
Establishing 21st Century Secondary Schools: A Futuristic Framework

CLARK AUDITORIUM (AT THE MUSEUM) Audience: School leadership, Grades 9–12
Theme: Leadership Strategies for the 21st Century
Presenter: ASKIA DAVIS, NUA Mentor
Dr. Askia Davis finds himself being referred to as the “teaching superintendent” due to his ability to lead
staff developers, teachers and principals in workshops and institutes that examine and promote the most effective Davis
pedagogical models for engaging 21st Century youth. Dr. Davis is former community superintendent in District 5
(Harlem, NYC), former Region One deputy superintendent (140K students in Bronx, NY) and former senior assistant
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Session V
to three NYC chancellors where he led their major reform initiatives. He received his doctoral degree from Teachers
College where he worked under the tutelage of Bruce Joyce and Marsha Weil as they pursued their ground breaking
work with the Models of Teaching, and Ann Lieberman as she trail blazed efforts to recast teacher development and
school reform. He is currently a senior advisor to the NUA.
Literacy Learning Communities: Collaborative Leadership

for the 21st Century
ROOM 1 (AT THE CONVENTION CENTER) Audience: Grades 4–12
and Enrichment; Creating Culturally Competent Classrooms
Presenter: RELEAH LENT
Lent
Literacy Learning Communities (LLCs), an adaptation of Professional Learning Communities, are built on a
solid foundation of collaboration, dialogue, and trust. Come away from this session with a survey for assessing your
school’s literacy culture and tools for creating a plan to meet the strengths and needs of all students.
ReLeah Cossett Lent, author of Engaging Adolescent Learners and Literacy Learning Communities, spent several
years at the University of Central Florida providing statewide literacy professional development. She is the recipient
of PEN/Newman Own First Amendment Award for opposing censorship in schools as well as intellectual freedom
awards from NCTE and ALA.
Trust Initiative’s Principals’ Panel

Theme: Leadership Strategies for the 21st Century
Presenter: MAMIE MERRIFIELD, NUA Mentor
Successful urban principals share strategies and ideas. Need more information about student engagement and
motivation; increasing levels of thinking and raising expectations; culturally responsive teaching and improved
Merrifield
interactions in the classroom? Attend this session with principals from Birmingham City Schools.
NUA Director Mamie Merrifield will facilitate this session with a team of principals from Birmingham City
Schools.
Session V Breakout Presenters Friday 4:05–5:15 PM
Using Multicultural Children’s Literature in a Global

Community Classroom
HART THEATER LOUNGE (AT THE EGG) Audience: All Grades
Themes: Assessment, Language Development Literacy; Creating Culturally Competent Classrooms;
Educator Preparation
Presenter: DEBORAH SCHERLE, NYSUT Presentation
Participants will experience high quality multicultural children’s literature selections with emphasis on
evaluating literature for bias, stereotype and tokenism. Strategies to utilize this literature in best practice while
supporting a multicultural global classroom will also be shared.
Deborah Scherle is the NYSUT instructor teaching multicultural children’s literature for the Masters in Literacy
program offered through Mercy College. In 2007, at Skidmore College, she wrote the curriculum and trained
twenty-three NYSUT instructors from all over New York State to teach the curriculum for NYSUT’s Education and
Learning Trust.
22
Session V
Hip Hop in Education: How to Effectively Integrate This Genre of Music
to Motivate, Empower, and Educate Our Children
Presenter: JEREMY DUDLEY, City School District of Albany
Dudley
This presentation, will give examples of how to effectively integrated hip hop music into a classroom to
enhance student learning. The session will highlight how students have used NUA strategies to create original songs
that will be shared. The participants will also assist in the creation of an original song using NUA strategies.
Jeremy Dudley is both a teacher in the Albany City School District, and a local hip hop artist who has been
voted best hip hop artist in the capital region for the past three years. In his eight years of teaching 5th grade at
Giffen Elementary School, he has become know for his dedication to his community and his dynamic classroom
instruction.
Beyond Multiculturalism: The Challenge of Preparing Teachers

for 21st Century Schools
HUXLEY THEATER (AT THE MUSEUM) Audience: Grades 4–12
Themes: Creating Culturally Competent Classrooms; Educator Preparation
Presenter: STEVEN JONGEWAARD
Participants will learn about a pre-service teacher training program with an exclusive focus on urban schools. Jongewaard
This program is designed to provide new teachers with the confidence and competence to work successfully in
highly diverse, urban classrooms.
Dr. Steve Jongewaard has worked in urban education for more than three decades, first as an elementary
classroom teacher and alternative school director in Minneapolis. He then began working as a teacher educator at
Hamline University in St. Paul. He is married and has three grandchildren.
Transformational Leadership: Creating and Sustaining Professional

Learning Communities
Themes: Promoting High Intellectual Performance and Enrichment; Leadership and the Challenges of
the 21st Century
Presenters: LA VERNE FLOWERS, NUA Mentor, and MARY OBERG, NUA Mentor Flowers
How can we create and sustain a professional learning community in every school? How can school leaders
inspire teachers to teach for high intellectual performance? The partnership between NUA and the West Metro
Education Program in Minnesota has been making great strides in transforming schools as places of learning for
students and teachers. Join this interactive and engaging session as the presenters share the building blocks for
transformational schools. Learn practical techniques that lead to new insights in shared leadership and how you can
transform your own school.
Dr. La Verne S. Flowers currently serves as the WMEP/NUA director in Minnesota which includes eight school
districts and forty-one schools. With over thirty-three years of experience in New York City at the school, district and
central board level, she now works on a national level with NUA.
Mary Oberg is a career educator with over thirty-four years experience as a classroom teacher, resource
teacher, administrator, and coordinator of programs for preK–12 students in Minneapolis public schools. She has
served as consultant in the areas of diversity, organizational development, leadership, staff development design,
curriculum design, instructional strategies, cognitive coaching, and assessment. Mary is currently the National
Urban Alliance coordinator for the West Metro Education Program (WMEP), a consortium of eleven urban and
suburban school districts dedicated to leadership and implementation of a voluntary desegregation program. She is
coauthor of the book, Creating Culturally Responsive Classrooms.
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Session V
What’s in Your Backpack?
Presenter: DOTTI SHELTON, NUA Mentor
This interactive and engaging seminar uses Mel Levine’s latest article “The Essential Cognitive Backpack” to
provide teachers with varied cognitive strategies that promote high intellectual performance that they can then pass
Shelton
on to their students who can take them from class to class and grade level to grade level.
Dr. Shelton earned her doctorate in curriculum and instruction through the University of Houston. She has been
actively involved with the National Urban Alliance for four years after working as a teacher at local schools and a
professor in regions in Texas. She is enthusiastic about and dedicated to improving education for all teachers and
students.
Closing the Reading Achievement Gap with Quality Classroom Libraries

and Enrichment
Presenters: CONSTANCE MCNALLY and MELISA HASTY, City School District of Albany
See successful NUA strategies in action! This presentation will showcase hands-on cross-curricular activities
McNally
based on quality literature and expository text. Children are encouraged to access prior knowledge and ask
questions while exploring the world around them. Special attention will be placed on building language skills and
further developing an awareness of print in a literacy rich environment. Highlighted will be methods of teacher
communication and collaboration to enable high intellectual performance for all learners. Attendees will make and
take activities as well as receive materials to bring to their classrooms.
Melissa Hasty has been a kindergarten teacher at North Albany Academy in the Albany City School District for
ten years, and was trained as a reading recovery teacher.
Connie McNally worked as a Title I reading teacher with 16–21 year old students for eight years. She has been
an AIS/reading teacher at North Albany Academy in Albany for the past thirteen years, with experience in grades
Hasty
K–8. She is currently the elementary NUA coach.
Key Word Note Taking

Classrooms; Educator Preparation; Multilingual Education
Presenters: SARAH BEERS et al, City School District of Albany
This session will explore utilizing the practice of using the key word note taking strategy across multiple
disciplines at the middle school level. This strategy helps students read carefully and put information into their
words. Students pair up and read part of a short text individually. Then they share what they have read. After
discussing, they decide collaboratively on a sentence, to summarize what they have read. This strategy also serves as
a tool for English language learners and students who have special needs.
The presenters are a 7th–8th grade middle school team working in the only preK–8th building in the city
school district of Albany. We are a young team composed of different core subjects that has been working together
for the last three years. The presenters are the only middle school team that works in conjunction with elementary
students and the only team whose students loop. This setting allows them to really know our student’s strengths and
weaknesses.
24
RECEPTIONS
Receptions and Art Exhibit
Welcoming Reception
Thursday March 27, 2008 • 7:30 to 8:30 PM
Crowne Plaza Hotel Ballroom
Entertainment by Albany High School Jazz Sextet
Director: Michael Richmond
Cash bar
Friday Night Reception

March 28, 2008 • 7:30 to 9:30 PM
Entertainment by Albany High School Gospel Choir
Director: Michael Glover
Cash bar
Art Exhibit
Artwork displayed throughout the conference provided by the
talented students and teachers of the City School District of Albany.
Gloria Savino, K-12 Instructional Supervisor for Art.
NUA wishes to say a special thank you to the Dr. Eva Joseph,
Superintendent, Dr. Joseph Dragone, Assistant Superintendent for
Secondary Education, the Directors, the Instructional Supervisor for
Art, and to all of the talented student musicians and artists for all their
hard work which made these receptions and the art exhibit possible.
25
RECEPTIONS
NUA/CSDA Gala Sponsored by McGraw-Hill Education
A RECEPTION WITH LIVE ENTERTAINMENT PROVIDED BY
THE BRAWNER BROTHERS BAND
Join us for a drink, a bite, some cool music and, if the mood strikes, dancing.

March 29, 2008 • 8:00 to 10:00 PM
First drink on the house (cash bar thereafter)

Complimentary hors d’oeuvres
The Brawner Brothers is a dynamic jazz-funk group that infuses Blues, R&B and Latin elements into
its extensive repertoire. The group has been highly acclaimed over the years by audiences and critics,
while performing at some of the most prestigious music venues around the country. Kenny Brawner, a
keyboardist, vocalist and composer leads the group, which includes his brother Everett Brawner on bass.
A guitarist, drummer and percussionist round out a very strong rhythm section that is complimented by a
powerful but fluid and smooth horn section.
Special thanks to McGraw Hill Education, one of the McGraw-Hill Companies,

for their support of all of the TFI-BTA conferences and for sponsoring this event.
26
GRADUATE CREDIT
Graduate Credit Through
The College of Saint Rose
Albany, New York
Graduate Credit (two graduate hours) is being offered by The College of Saint Rose,
Albany, New York (www.strose.edu) to attendees of NUA’s Teaching For Intelligence:
Believe To Achieve Conference in Albany, NY on March 28 to 30, 2008.
In order to receive the graduate credit, attendees must attend all three days of the
conference, register for the graduate level course EDA 585 with The College of Saint
Rose, pay The College of Saint Rose fees, and satisfactorily complete the required
course work.
To download a copy of the course syllabus, go to EDA 585 Course Syllabus (http://
www.believetoachieve.org/pdf/eda_585_outline.pdf)
To register for a graduate credit course offered by The College of Saint Rose,
please download, complete, and mail or fax the registration/payment form EDA 585
Registration & Payment Form (http://www.believetoachieve.org/pdf/eda_585_reg_pay.
pdf)
This course is being taught by Professor Perry Berkowitz of the College of St. Rose.
His contact information is pberkowitz@aol.com, office phone: 518-458-5462, and fax
number: 518-485-3958.
IMPORTANT: Professor Berkowitz will be available to meet with prospective

students in Room 5 in the Convention Center from 5:15 to 6:15 PM on Friday March
28, 2008, 5:15 to 6:15 PM on Saturday March 29, 2008 and 8:00 to 8:30 AM on Sunday
March 30, 2008. All students registering for graduate credit must meet with Professor
Berkowitz during the conference and register for the course on-line as shown above.
27
MARCH 29F rTHi d a y SATURDAY
■
DAY-AT-A-GLANCE
SATURDAY - MARCH 29
7:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Registration
8:30 a.m. - 9:40 a.m. SESSION 1

THE LITERATE CITIZEN, Panel Swyer Theater at the Egg
Meir Ben-Hur, Featured Speaker Room 6
ARTHUR APPLEBEE, Featured Speaker Clark Theater
Museum Room A/B and
9:40 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. Break
10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. SESSION 2

Calling Together and Keynote
ERIC COOPER - Calling Together Convention Hall
LINDA DARLING-HAMMOND, Keynote Speaker Convention Hall
Bryonn Bain, Speaker Room 6
LUNCH ON YOUR OWN

12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Superintendents’ Roundtable
(by invitation) Crowne Plaza Hotel
12:45 p.m. - 1:55 p.m. SESSION 3

YVETTE JACKSON, Featured Speaker Swyer Theater at the Egg
JOSEPH RENZULLI, Featured Speaker Convention Hall
JABARI MAHIRI, Featured Speaker Clark Auditorium
(double session)
Museum Room A/B and
1:55 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. Break
2:15 p.m. - 3:35 p.m. SESSION 4

URI TREISMAN, Featured Speaker Convention Hall
DOROTHY STRICKLAND, Featured Speaker Swyer Theater at the Egg
EVELYN ROTHSTEIN, Featured Speaker Room 1
FRANCISCA SANCHEZ, Featured Speaker Room 3
Museum Room A/B and
4:05 p.m. - 5:15 p.m. SESSION 5

TERRIE WILLIAMS, Keynote Speaker Convention Hall
5:15 p.m. - 6:15 p.m. “Fireside Chats” with Presenters Room 6
8:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. NUA/CSDA Gala, Reception with Crowne Plaza Hotel Ballroom
live entertainment and dancing
Sponsored by McGraw-Hill
28
MARCH 29TH SATURDAY ■
Session I
Session I Featured Presenters Saturday 8:30–9:40 AM
The Literate Citizen

Themes: Assessment, Language Development and Literacy; Education Preparation
Presenters: YVETTE JACKSON, DONNA OGLE, and P. DAVID PEARSON
This panel, comprised of leading experts on urban literacy, will explore the issues of the
Jackson Ogle
universality of literacy in all races and cultures, strategies for multi-literacies and methods for
overcoming the stereotypes that relate to the inabilities of some parts of society to become a
literate citizens.
Cognitive Pathways to Math Pearson

Presenter: MEIR BEN-HUR
Feuerstein’s Instrumental Enrichment (FIE) has been used in bridging FIE’s “learning how to learn” process into
mathematics. Cognitive Pathways to Mathematics is a professional development program, which is modulated to
Ben-Hur
address the range of grade levels and areas of school mathematics, including early mathematics, arithmetic (middle
school level), algebra, geometry, and probability and statistics. It is designed to develop teachers’ knowledge of
the fundamental mathematical ideas of the school curriculum, their understanding of the cognitive challenges that
explain systematic students’ errors, and awareness of the best empirically established instructional strategies relative
to the different strands of mathematics. This session will introduce the program, engage participants in activities that
will demonstrate its nature, and present some of the available data on its successes.
Meir Ben-Hur completed his doctoral work on the relationship between spatial and mathematical abilities at
Columbia University in New York. Since his first meeting with Reuven Feuerstein in 1974 that convinced him to
devote his career to the Israeli psychologist’s ideas of mediating children’s learning and thinking abilities, Maier has
continued to develop bridges between these ideas and mathematics education. In addition to serving as the senior
international trainer for Feuerstein’s institutes in Brazil, Holland and England, Meir has led the development of
trainers in North America and the international institutes, written serveral books and articles and trained teachers in
urban and rural school districts across the United States.
Rebuilding Classrooms Around Conversations That Matter

CLARK THEATER (AT THE MUSEUM) Audience: All Grades
Presenter: ARTHUR APPLEBEE
This presentation will discuss three components that are important in promoting high levels of achievement in
challenging subject matter: 1) cognitive and intellectual engagement; 2) thoughtful interaction with others; and 3) a Applebee
conception of curriculum that moves beyond the traditional dichotomies in curriculum and instruction.
Arthur N. Applebee’s (Ph.D., University of London) studies focus on how children and adults learn the many
specialized forms of language required for success in school subjects, life, and work. In 1998, he received the
David A. Russell Award for Distinguished Research in the teaching of English from the National Council of Teachers
of English (NCTE) for his book Curriculum as Conversation: Transforming Traditions of Teaching and Learning, a
reconceptualization of the role of curriculum in American schools and colleges. Applebee has also examined the
development of story telling and story-telling skills among children. He has experience in program evaluation,
high school teaching (English and drama) and clinical assessment and treatment of children with severe reading
problems.
He is a long-time advisor to the National Assessment of Educational Progress and has coauthored some
fourteen National Assessment reports on student achievement in American schools.
In addition to Curriculum as Conversation, his books include The Child’s Concept of Story: Ages Two to
Seventeen; Literature in the Secondary School: Studies of Curriculum and Instruction in the United States; Writing in
the Secondary School: English and the Content Areas; Contexts for Learning to Write: Studies of Secondary School
Instruction and Tradition and Reform in the Teaching of English: A History.
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Session I
Session I Breakout Presenters Saturday 8:30–9:40 AM
Implementing NUA Strategies in Cross-Curricular Learning Activities

HART THEATER LOUNGE (AT THE THE EGG) Audience: All Grades
Theme: Educator Preparation
Presenters: SARA TASBER, JACQUELINE SIMMONS, and NINA FLORIO, NUA Partner School
Our team will present an overview of the implementation of NUA strategies used when presenting cross-
curricular learning activities from a team approach. Our focus will be on actively engaging children in the learning
process by collaborating with your peers. These strategies have enabled our students to become independent
thinkers as they have learned how to take the initiative for their own learning.
Jacqueline Simmons has been teaching in Bridgeport for thirteen years. She currently holds an administrative
degree. Nina Florio has been teaching for thirteen years. She has an extensive background in differentiating
instruction. Sara Tasber has been teaching for three years and coaches high school students.
Leveraging Expert Teaching: An Online Mentor Training Course

Themes: Educator Preparation; Leadership and the Challenges of the 21st Century
Presenter: JAMES LERMAN
The challenge: How to increase the likelihood that new teachers will have a quality mentoring experience and
be motivated to remain as teachers. The response: Implementation of a moderated, online, asynchronous mentor
Lerman
training course focused on molding experienced teachers into high-impact mentors in a cost effective manner. Learn
how the NJ Consortium for Middle Schools at Kean University (a USDOE-funded project) aims to reduce teacher
turnover through this course, available to teachers worldwide.
James Lerman is coordinator of the NJ Consortium for Middle Schools at Kean University, an adjunct in the
Department of Elementary, Middle, and Secondary Education at Kean, and in the Department of Educational
Leadership at William Paterson University. He has written five books on the internet in education.
The Algebra Project in Miami: Building Support and Lessons Learned

Presenter: JOAN WYNNE
The Algebra Project and the Center for Urban Education and Innovation at Florida International University
began its first year building a site in Miami in August, 2006. The project’s story involves a number of partners, of
Wynne
struggles, of creating constituencies, parental home visits, and organizing community support. The project’s work
is a deliberate attempt to prove to the nation that all children, no matter how poor or how alienated from society at
large, can and will learn higher level mathematics, given the appropriate curriculum, pedagogy and support.
Joan Wynne, Ph.D. Associate Director of the Center for Urban Education and Innovation, Professor of Urban
Education at FIU, taught for fourteen years at Morehouse College, where she directed the Mays Teacher Scholars
Program. At Georgia State University, as the associate director of the Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence,
she directed an urban teachers leadership master’s program. Her research interests include language literacy and the
impact of racism in schools.
Building Organizational Capacity: A Human Resource Perspective

to School Improvement
ROOM 1 Audience: School and District Administrators
Presenter: JOSEPH P. DRAGONE, City School District of Albany
Achieving second order change to improve educational organizations requires a shift in beliefs and perceptions Dragone
about the way people do their work. Critical components of this are acknowledging the impact of a human resource
organizational perspective, examining the divide between organized design and process and actual task fulfillment,
and how investing in human capital can support second order change. This session will discuss how the NUA
supports this approach to building organizational capacity for increased student achievement.
30
Session I
Dr. Dragone currently serves as assistant superintendent for secondary education in the City School District of
Albany, NY. Previously, Dr. Dragone served as the principal of Cohoes Middle School in the Cohoes City School
District, NY, which was recognized by the New York State Department of Education as a leader in organizational
and instructional performance. Dr. Dragone holds a B.S. and a M.S. Ed. from the College of St. Rose in Albany, New
York, and a M.S., CAS and Ph.D. in educational administration and policy studies from the University at Albany,
State University of New York.
Heterogeneity in the Mathematics Classroom: Providing the Opportunity

for All Students to Achieve
Theme: Promoting High Intelligence Performance and Achievement
Presenter: MARITA MARTINEY
At Scofield, heterogeneous groups reflect a mix of student’s cognitive ability and their ethnic diversity. Students Martiney
from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds share their educational and personal experiences in a supportive
cooperative learning environment. Differentiated mathematics instruction ensures that each student is challenged
appropriately. Every student is exposed to the same mathematics concept; however, the degree of difficulty of the
problems or the mode of application or assessment is leveled to meet each student’s needs.
Dr. Marita Martiney graduated from Vassar College with a B.A. in biochemistry. She earned her M.S. and Ph. D.
in molecular genetics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. After ten years in biomedical research, she earned
a M.S. in education, and currently teaches 7th grade mathematics at Scofield Magnet Middle School, in Stamford
Connecticut.
Origami and Mediation—An International Language

and Enrichment; Learning Needs of Boys; Creating Culturally Competent Classrooms; Multilingual
Education
Presenter: DIANA MANN, NUA Mentor
Surely something that is so much fun and enjoyable as origami cannot also be educational. The bad news
is that most people only look at origami as a game-like activity that uses colorful paper that is folded into varied
shapes and figures. Wrong, the good news is that it is impossible to do origami without calling upon and developing
many of the basic academic skills to a higher level.
Through a process that combines math, language arts, creative design, and an Asian culture a student will
transform, without any use of scissors, glue, staples, pencils, paint, etc., a sheet of paper into something magical.
The technique used is folding and is known by its Japanese name—origami.
Diana Mann is a retired NYC teacher. She taught on all grade levels and had a teacher center based in one
of the city’s high schools. Diana has taught as an adjunct for Brooklyn College, College of Staten Island, NY Tech,
Torou University, and the College of St. Rose. She has been fortunate, trained by Reuven Feuerstein and some of his
disciplines in mediation. Also, she is a TOT in Thinking Maps. For the last ten years, Diana has been one of NUA’s
mentors.
Strategies for Improving Instruction for Black and Hispanic

Male Students—One Districts Journey
Presenters: KATI
PEARSON, NUA Mentor, MARILYN DOYLE-PATTERSON,
James
MYRA JAMES, and SUSAN BEECHER Pearson
This presentation focuses on one district’s journey to create an awareness in the perception
and prospective of how to educate male students of color. This presentation provides school
leaders with a framework that identifies the reasons why many male students of color are
disengaged in the learning process and as a result these students’ educational experiences are
less successful than other students. It also guides other districts, schools, and school leaders by
providing a framework, which can be used as a starting point to initiate change.
Beecher
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Session I and Session II

Marilyn Doyle-Patterson, M.Ed. is an associate superintendent for curriculum and students services in one of
Florida’s largest school districts, where she also served as an accomplished middle school principal for five years.
Kati Pearson, Ed.S. is currently is a district level reading specialist, providing support to elementary, middle,
and high schools in the areas of literacy, curriculum, instruction, and professional development. She is also a proud
NUA mentor.
Myra James, M.S. currently is a district level resource teacher that supports district initiatives in the areas of
literacy, curriculum, instruction, and professional development. The bulk of her twenty-six years of experience has
been in urban schools both middle and high.
Susan Beecher, M.S. is currently a district resource teacher that supports district initiatives in the areas of
literacy, curriculum, instruction, and professional development. The bulk of her vast experiences have been at urban
middle schools and at the district level.
Beyond Sit ‘N Git: Boys Need to Move!

Presenter: SARAH BUTZIN
Project CHILD (Changing How Instruction for Learning is Delivered) is an innovative teaching method for
elementary schools that redefines classroom instruction through technology and hands-on active learning. This
Butzin
method has proven especially effective in urban settings. Come and learn about a new way to teach and reach
young boys before it is too late.
Dr. Sarah (Sally) Butzin is the developer of Project CHILD (Changing How Instruction for Learning is Delivered)
and currently serves as executive director of the Institute for School Innovation, a non-profit organization in
Tallahassee, FL. She is the author of Joyful Classrooms in an Age of Accountability: The Project CHILD Recipe for
Success.
Session II Keynote Speaker 10:00–11:30 AM
Teaching and Learning For the 21st Century

Presenter: LINDA DARLING-HAMMOND
This keynote session will highlight Linda Darling-Hammond’s many years of research and expertise on what is
appropriate teacher development and how this development of teachers is an integral part of the necessary school
redesign that will guarantee equal opportunity for high intellectual performance for all of America’s children.
Linda Darling-Hammond is the Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education at Stanford University, where Darling-Hammond
she has launched the Stanford Educational Leadership Institute and the School Redesign Network. Professor
Darling-Hammond has also served as faculty sponsor for the Stanford Teacher Education Program. Prior to Stanford,
Darling-Hammond was William F. Russell Professor in the Foundations of Education at Teachers College, Columbia
University. There, she was the founding executive director of the National Commission for Teaching and America’s
Future, the blue-ribbon panel whose 1996 report “What Matters Most: Teaching for America’s Future,” catalyzed
major policy changes across the United States to improve the quality of teacher education and teaching. Her
research, teaching, and policy work focus on issues of teaching quality, school reform, and educational equity.
Among her more than 200 publications is The Right to Learn, recipient of the American Educational Research
Association’s Outstanding Book Award for 1998, and Teaching as the Learning Profession (coedited with Gary
Sykes), recipient of the National Staff Development Council’s Outstanding Book Award for 2000.
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Session III
Session III Featured Presenters 12:45–1:55 PM
Reversing Urban Students’ Underachievement: Nurturing High

Intellectual Performance
and Enrichment
Presenter: YVETTE JACKSON
Jackson
This session will show how every student of color can achieve high intellectual performance when the right
conditions are ensured. Educators attending this session will learn how to create these necessary conditions;
experience from this highly interactive session how students can be motivated to engage in their own learning; and,
find out how teachers working with the National Urban Alliance succeed in reversing underachievement when their
lessons take into consideration how student culture and language affect cognition.
Yvette Jackson is internationally recognized for her work in assessing the learning potential of disenfranchised
urban students. Her research is in literacy, gifted education and the cognitive mediation theory of Dr. Reuven
Feuerstein. She has applied her research to develop an integrated process to motivate and elicit potential in
underachievers. This research was the basis for her design of the New York City Gifted Programs Framework
when she was the director of gifted programs. As executive director ofinstruction and professional development
for the New York City Board of Education, she led the development and implementation of the Comprehensive
Education Plan, which optimizes the delivery of all core curriculum and support services in the public schools of
New York City. Dr. Jackson currently serves as the chief executive officer of the National Urban Alliance, founded
at the College Board and Teachers College, Columbia University. She works with school district administrators
and teachers across the country to customize and deliver systemic approaches to literacy development through
instructional practices that integrate culture, language and cognition to expand and accelerate student learning
and achievement. She is a visiting lecturer at Harvard University, a member of ASCD’s Differentiated Instruction
Cadre and a keynote presenter at national and international conferences. Dr. Jackson received a B.A. from Queens
College of the City University of New York with a double major in education and French. At Columbia University’s
Teachers College, she was awarded an M.A. in curriculum, an Ed.M. in educational administration, and a doctorate
in educational administration. Her session will show how every student of color can achieve high intellectual
performance when the right conditions are ensured.
Turning Around the Pedagogy of Purgatory Through An Enrichment Based

Approach: Assessing And Developing the Gifts and Talents of All Students
Presenter: JOSEPH RENZULLI
Joseph Renzulli’s research has shown that an enrichment-based pedagogy can improve student achievement, Renzulli
engagement, and a commitment on the parts of young people to put forth maximum motivation to learn. Following
a brief review of the strength-based assessment procedures for identifying talent potential in all students, this
presentation will focus on a pedagogy of talent development that has largely been withheld from urban youth
in favor of a “drill-and-kill” approach to learning. A practical and easy-to-use Internet based program will be
demonstrated.
Joseph S. Renzulli is professor of educational psychology at the University of Connecticut, where he also
serves as director of the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented. His research has focused on the
identification and development of creativity and giftedness in young people and on organizational models and
curricular strategies for total school improvement. A focus of his work has been on applying the strategies of gifted
education to the improvement of learning for all students. He is a fellow in the American Psychological Association
and was a consultant to the White House Task Force on Education of the Gifted and Talented. He was recently
designated a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor at the University of Connecticut.
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Session III
Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Speech-Language Assessments
for African American Students
HART THEATER LOUNGE Audience: All Grades
Presenter: TOYA WYATT
This presentation is designed to provide an overview of current approaches to culturally and linguistically Wyatt
appropriate speech-language assessments for African American students who are non-mainstream American
English speakers with primary focus on a newly published speech-language test that is designed for accurately
differentiating dialect from disorder in English child speakers, regardless of their dialect exposure background.
Implications for minimizing the risk of inappropriate speech-language referrals will be discussed.
Dr. Toya Wyatt is an associate professor in the communicative disorders program at California State University,
Fullerton. Dr. Wyatt’s primary areas of teaching and research focus on the language development, assessment
and delivery of services to young children from diverse cultural and language backgrounds with a primary focus
on bilingual and African American children. She is the author of several publications focusing on multicultural
child language development and assessment concerns and has given numerous presentations on these topics to
professionals, researchers, and parents locally (in California) and nationally.
Dr. Wyatt has also served as the member of several boards and committees of the American Speech-Language
Hearing Association (ASHA) and California Speech-Language-Hearing Association (CSHA). She is a fellow of both
the California Speech-Language-Hearing and American Speech-Language Hearing Associations. She holds a B.S.
and M.A. in speech-language pathology from Northwestern University and a Ph.D. in speech-language pathology
from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
The Language of Discipline and Achievement

CLARK AUDITORIUM (AT THE MUSEUM) Audience: All Grades
Theme: Language Leadership and Challenges of the 21st Century
Presenter: JABARI MAHIRI
Dr. Mahiri will argue that the achievement gap and the discipline gap can be seen as two sides of the same
coin. To increase achievement teachers must understand the complex ways that school discipline considerations and
Mahiri
practices are rendered through the language and culture of both students and teachers. This presentation uses video
clips of actual school disciplining events in conjunction with the latest research findings on school discipline to
increase understanding of the connections between discipline and achievement.
Dr. Mahiri holds a Ph.D. in English (language, literacy, and rhetoric) from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
His research is on the literacy learning of urban youth, particularly African American student, in schools and
outside of them. His focus is on writing development and effective teaching and learning strategies in multicultural
urban schools and communities. He is co-director of the Center for Urban Education and a principal investigator
for the Diversity Project. He is also an academy instructor for the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support
Consortium (INTASC) and serves on the board of the Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools (BAYCES). He
helped found and chaired the board of an alternative school in Chicago. He also taught English in Chicago public
high schools for seven years. He is author of Shooting for Excellence: African American and Youth Culture in New
Century Schools (1998), and editor of What They Don’t Learn in School: Literacy in the Lives of Urban Youth (2003).
He also wrote a children’s book, The Day They Stole the Letter J.
Session III Breakout Presenters Saturday 12:45–1:55 PM
Untangling Underachievers through Understanding Underachievement

Presenter: RICHARD PEARLMAN
Many students are branded with the label of underachiever early on in their educational careers. This label and
a fundamental misunderstanding of the complexity and causes of underachievement at home and school prevents
Pearlman
students from reaching their potential. This presentation will explore underachievement from a personal and
professional level allowing those in attendance to discover strategies for dealing with underachievement. The power
34
Session III
of implementing social/emotional elements into the classroom will also be explored.
Richard Pearlman has spent the past ten years in the classroom trying to meet the intellectual as well as social/
emotional needs of students. He is a strong advocate for those students branded with the label of underachiever.
Richard is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction at Saint Louis University.
Touching The Spirit: How Successful Urban Teachers Use Culture

in Achieving Educational Excellence for Underperforming African
American Boys and Other Students
Themes: Learning Needs of Boys; Creating Culturally Competent Classrooms; Educator Preparation
Presenter: AUGUSTA MANN, NUA Mentor Mann
Join in a fun and high-energy session filled with explorations of five unique explicit teaching strategies and an
original research-based African American culture-centered framework, TOUCHING THE SPIRIT. As a successful
teacher and consultant with over 40 years of classroom and professional development experience guides you in
the active and verbal practice and attempts at mastery of these creative vocabulary, comprehension, and writing
strategies, there will be lots of lively and amusing interaction and discussion. Your active involvement will help you
to consider how these practices can propel African American boys and all students toward knowledge and mastery
of skills, accelerate learning, reverse boredom, “touch their spirit”, and awaken their inherent desire to learn.
Augusta Mann is a consultant in urban education. She is recognized for her programs and materials in
intensified teaching to accelerate learning for students whom our schools are failing to educate to levels of
excellence. She has over forty years of experience as a successful classroom teacher, reading teacher, professional
developer and manager and designer of professional development services in urban school districts across the U.S.
Linking Assessment and Literacy Instruction

Presenters: KAREN KEMP and MARY ANN EATON
Learn how assessment indicators are effectively used to drive instruction for the purpose of addressing
Kemp
language development and literacy in the classroom. Participants will be introduced to The Cardinal Questions
that can be used to explore the literacy knowledge of the teacher as well as the abilities of each student to advance
accountability and promote student achievement.
Karen Kemp is a teaching veteran with a striking level of depth in her circulation and experience as a staff
developer. She has presented workshops on a wide variety of topics and authored several educational publications.
She is currently the director of special education in Cohoes City Schools.
Mary Ann Eaton is a speech and language pathologist who consults widely on language and literacy topics,
co-teaching, differentiated instruction and instructional support teams across the state and nationally. Her recent
publication, RTI: The Classroom Connection for Literacy was coauthored with Karen Kemp.
Eaton
BOOM! Igniting the Fire and the Desire for ‘Mathematics Intelligence’
for All Students
Presenter: ELIZABETH IRWIN
This presentation will address the four-year journey of a New York State urban school in facilitating the Irwin
development of a mathematical thinking and reasoning community for all students, teachers and administrators. The
catalyst of this change has been a focus on teachers as reflective practitioners as well as professional learning, with
a collaborative partnership formed with the AUSSIE consultancy, and embedded within a whole school framework
for school renewal. Various components of the journey including leadership, professional development, “assessment
literacy” (Fullan, 2005), data-driven instruction and students’ outcomes will be explored and discussed. Igniting
the fire and desire in all students’ for developing mathematical intelligence has been the motivating outcome of the
journey as well as proof of increased achievements and mathematical thinking.
Liz Irwin (Dip.T., B.Ed., M.Ed.-Mathematics Education) has worked as a teacher, education consultant,
university lecturer, administrator and regional leader in developing whole school curriculum frameworks in
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Session III
mathematics and literacy in Australia. Her passions include a constructivist approach to mathematics teaching
and learning, early childhood education and school leadership in a culture of change. Her depth of knowledge
and capacity for building professional learning communities in schools has been realized through her professional
development consultancy work with teachers and administrators. She is currently working as a mathematics
consultant for Australian United States Services in Education in New York, while completing her doctorate on school
leadership and professional learning with curriculum change.
Diversity and Differentiation: A Wealth of Perspectives,

A Wealth of Options
and Enrichment; Educator Preparation
Presenter: ARLENE HARRIS
Student diversity may be seen from a rich variety of perspectives. An educator’s responsibility is to acknowledge
that rich variety and create an environment which fosters student growth and achievement. Through active
engagement, participants will learn of the rich variety referred to by the term “diversity” and the various options for
differentiating instruction in order to reach our student populations.
Arlene Harris is an educational leader focusing upon the growth and achievement of individuals, schools and
organizations. Arlene is an educator in general and special education on all grade levels including adulthood,
professional development specialist, published author, educational therapist and counselor specializing in dyslexia,
university faculty member and consultant to schools, districts and corporations.
How Our Teaching Strategies Have Evolved After

a Year of NUA
Themes: Promoting High Intellectual Performance and Enrichment;
Educator Preparation
Presenters: GEORGE BENSON et al, City School District of Albany
Harriet Gibbons is a ninth grade academy that is part of Albany High
School. Harriet Gibbons is a former alternative education high school
re-invented as a ninth grade academy. Currently in its second year of
re-invention, the academy has seen higher promotion rates and student Benson et al
engagement.
Harriet Gibbons teachers from several disciplines will present activities
from traditional lessons that have been modified with NUA strategies to engage
students and increase learning.
The Impact of Visual Arts Instruction on the Mathematics Achievement

of English Language Learners
and Enrichment; Creating Culturally Competent Classrooms; Multilingual Education
Presenters: ROBIN FINNAN-JONES and MARILYN WEIL Finnan-Jones
This workshop will discuss a study conducted in a large urban elementary school. The purpose of the study
was to compare the mathematics achievement of English language learners who received visual arts instruction
with those who did not receive arts instruction, and to describe ways in which art education activities support and
develop mathematical learning. Workshop participants will have the opportunity to view and create art lessons that
incorporate ESL and math standards.
Dr. Robin Finnan-Jones has taught for several years in Corona, Queens, and New York City. She completed
her dissertation entitled The Impact of Visual Arts Instruction on the Mathematics Achievement of English Language
Learners in 2007. Currently she is the data specialist at P.S. 16 Queens and an adjunct professor at Long Island
University.
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Session IV
Session IV Featured Presenters Saturday 2:15–3:35 PM
Innovation in Mathematics Teaching and Learning in Large Urban Districts

Presenter: URI TREISMAN
Data from the National Center for Education Statistics show that there are vast differences in how effective
various urban districts are in teaching mathematics to low-income and ethnic minority students. We will explore
Treisman
explanations for these differences as well as some new practices worthy of attention in some high-performing
districts. We will pay special attention to new strategies for addressing the mathematics learning needs of English
language learners, students with special needs, and students who are disengaged from school.
Uri Treisman is professor of mathematics and director of the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas
at Austin. For his work on nurturing minority student high achievement in mathematics, he was named a MacArthur
Fellow in 1992. In December 1999, he was named as one of the outstanding leaders of higher education in the
20th century by the magazine Black Issues In Higher Education. Dr. Treisman is a founding board member of AVID
and of the National Center for Public Policy in Higher Education. He chairs the Chancellor’s Advisory Board for
Mathematics in NYC and the steering committee of the Urban Mathematics Leadership Network. In all his work, he
is an advocate for equity and excellence in education for all children. The recently released results of the 2005 Trial
Urban District Assessment show vast differences in the effectiveness of urban districts in teaching mathematics to
low income and ethnic minority students.
Effective Intervention for Struggling Readers and Writers:

Making it Happen
Presenter: DOROTHY STRICKLAND
This session includes three areas of focus: 1) a critical overview of school and district-wide intervention policies Strickland
and practices, such as reduced class size, preschool and family literacy programs, tutoring, and extended time
models; 2) a discussion of policies and practices at the classroom level that make a difference; and; 3) a discussion
of “responsible” test preparation as a professional development effort to improve student achievement.
Dorothy Strickland is the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Professor of Education at Rutgers University. A former
classroom teacher, reading consultant and learning disabilities specialist, she is a past president of both the
International Reading Association and the IRA Reading Hall of Fame.
Five Builders of Linguistic Intelligence

Presenter: EVELYN ROTHSTEIN
Linguistic intelligence blossoms when students become aware of the major aspects of the language they need to
speak, read, and write skillfully and “with ease.” By integrating 1) phonology, 2) morphology, 3) syntax, 4) semantics Rothstein
and, 5) etymology, students have the tools for high intellectual, literate performance. Strategies for achieving this
integration of language will be the focus of this session.
Evelyn Rothstein has been a consultant with NUA for many years and has presented at numerous national
conferences. She has her degree in psycholinguistics from Teachers College and during her time with NUA has
written three teachers books—Writing As Learning; Write for Mathematics, and English Grammar That Works, as well
as articles and children’s books.
37
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Session IV
Leadership for Sustainable English Learner Success
Themes: Leadership and the Challenges of the 21st Century; Multilingual Education
Presenter: FRANCISCA SÁNCHEZ
This workshop will explore the leadership required to create systems that support English learners’ full success
and sustain it over the long term. The presenter will provide a powerful systems-change framework with leadership
structures and tools needed to respond appropriately to any EL issue that may arise.
Francisca Sánchez, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction with San Bernardino County
Superintendent of Schools, has served in a variety of leadership positions. In recognition of her continuing
contributions to education, she was awarded a Presidential Excellence Medallion from CSU, San Bernardino in
2002 and named as 2002 Inland Empire Educator of the Year. She received the Association of California School
Administrator’s 2005 State Valuing Diversity Award and the California Association for Bilingual Education’s 2006
Vision Award. She is currently chair of the Curriculum & Instruction Steering Committee’s Visual and Performing Arts
Subcommittee.
Session IV Breakout Presenters Saturday 2:15–3:35 PM
“Read to Me”—Reading Aloud to Build Vocabulary—A Teaching Strategy

HART THEATER LOUNGE (AT THE THE EGG) Audience: Pre-K–Grade 3
Presenter: GWYNNE SMITH SCHEFFER
As educators of young children, we seek to employ the best in practice, research-based strategies in our
classrooms. The Commission on Reading in its 1985 report, “Building a Nation of Readers,” declared “The single
most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to
children.” Reading aloud not only introduces children to the language of books, which is different from speech
and conversation, it also helps them to learn new vocabulary. Reading aloud is a strategy that will help achieve the
desired learning outcome, which is to increase both the quantity and quality of children’s receptive and expressive
vocabulary. In addition, as educators we provide a good model of fluent and expressive reading and promote
reading as an enjoyable learning experience.
Gwynne Smith Scheffer is a senior associate with ICF International. She currently works as TA liaison on
national Head Start monitoring. She is the former Region III early learning specialist, ECE subject matter expert
with the T/TA Network. Ms. Scheffer earned both her B.A. Education and M.S. Organizational Dynamics from the
University of Pennsylvania. She is a member of NAEYC, ASCD and IRA, and former adjunct professor,
Drexel University.
HIP Teachers = HIP Students

CLASSROOM A/B (AT THE MUSEUM) Audience: PreK–Grade 3
and Enrichment; Creating Culturally Competent Classrooms; Educator Preparation
Presenters: SHELIA FRIDOVICH, NUA Mentor, MELISSA HUNT, EILEEN SUNDERHAFT,
and JENNIFER WILSON, City School District of Albany Fridovich
Sheila Fridovich (NUA) will begin the presentation with some background about how the NUA arrived in the
Albany City School District, with a quick community builder to get the audience actively engaged. Melissa Hunt
(a kindergarten teacher and NUA coach) will provide a brief overview of her role as the NUA coach at Sheridan
Preparatory Academy and the changes that have taken place at the school since the inception of NUA. Jennifer
Wilson, 3rd Grade Integrated Teacher, and Eileen Sunderhaft, Special Education Teacher, will then show a video of
various classrooms actively engaged in NUA strategies to achieve high intellectual performance. There will be an
NUA strategy taught to the audience as if they are 3rd grade students, with a question and answer period afterwards.
Sunderhaft
38
Session IV
Translating Your Vision and Mission into School-wide Practices
Presenter: JASON STRICKER
How does one translate the overarching vision and mission of the school into specific instructional initiatives,
professional development, and teacher practices? Participants in this session will analyze and answer the following
Stricker
questions:
• What is the instructional focus of my school and does everyone understand it?
• Do all initiatives relate to instructional goals as guided by the overall mission and vision?
• Are classroom instructional expectations clearly articulated?
• Do all of the school’s professional development activities support the instructional vision? and,
• Are teachers given adequate structured opportunities to collaborate?
Jason Stricker, a partner with Insight Education Group, Inc., is a specialist in the fields of literacy, standards-
based education, and staff development. He has worked as a K–12 teacher, literacy consultant, and extensively
as an instructional improvement coach. His comprehensive training on reading and literacy instruction, when
complimented by his exemplary teaching methods, has led to his work in both district and county office levels of
public education, as well as teaching classes in the Graduate School of Education at UCLA. Jason’s experience
at these different levels of educational organizations enables him to bring to this project a unique and powerful
perspective of how educational change affects all stakeholders at different levels within the system.
All Means All: Strategies for Engaging ALL Students at the Highest Level
Presenter: VALERIE BRAIMAH
In the engaged classroom, no student can hide. When students are visible and accountable, they receive the
attention and support they need to achieve. Join us for this interactive session introducing concrete strategies to
create the fully engaged classroom. You will be engaged as you explore how to plan and deliver instruction that
creates a classroom characterized by: accountable talk, on-going assessment and feedback, critical thinking, and
student purpose and direction.
Valerie Braimah, the chief learning officer at Insight Education Group brings a diverse background in education
as a teacher, administrator, and program evaluator, which enables her to effectively train and support teachers and
principals, and conduct school-wide assessments that inform comprehensive plans for sustainable school reform.
She holds a master’s degree in education policy from Johns Hopkins University.
Up Albany: Blazing into a Celebration of Culture Across the

Curriculum in the City School District of Albany
Presenters: KRISTEN
LOPEZ, KEN NEWMAN, VALERIE KARAS, Lopez Newman
SUSAN PAULTRE, and KATE VALETTE, City School District of Albany

This power session will feature school administration’s and educators’ implementation
of the National Urban Alliance (NUA) beliefs and strategies in an urban middle school
community. Attendees will be empowered to participate and garner skills, which can
be utilized in their own instructional communities. The building principal, educators
across content areas, and the school nurse will demonstrate numerous strategies within
participatory learning activities that model how culturally competent settings are used to Karas Paultre
achieve the goal of high intellectual performance for all students.
Valarie Karas has been a seventh grade ELA teacher at Hackett Middle School for less
than a year. As a new teacher, she has been motivated by the experience, enthusiasm, and
innovation present in the NUA. She loves to utilize Denise Nessel’s anticipation guides in
her classroom and is inspired by techniques that encourage students to read.
Valette
39
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Session IV and Session V

Kristen Lopez is in her seventh year of being a special education teacher for the City School District of Albany.
She has always believed that all students have potential and that all students can learn. NUA has given her an outlet
to pass on this belief to not only her students, but to the community around her. Kristen is excited to embrace the
philosophy of the NUA and infuses it into her instruction on a daily basis. She has seen first hand over the past year
how utilizing NUA ideas have given her underachieving students a feeling of confidence and seen them become
more enthusiastic about learning.
Ken Newman is an alumnus of Siena College and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. He is currently
pursuing his doctorate in educational leadership through NOVA Southeastern University. He holds a master’s degree
in education and is permanently certified in business education, special education and administration. Mr. Newman
has over seven years of administrative experience in urban education.
Susan Paultre has been a teacher with the City School District of Albany for the past nine years. She believes
that all students can learn given the right educational environment. Susan is a true believer in differentiated
instruction, which is what hooked Susan to incorporate NUA into her classroom setting. Susan has been using NUA
strategies since September of 2005 and has seen over a fifty percent increase in her student’s mathematical skills.
Kate Valette is a registered nurse and this is her third year working with Albany City Schools. Prior to school
nursing, she spent the majority of her clinical career working in the emergency department in urban teaching
hospitals. She has been motivated by the staff at Hackett Middle School and has employed NUA techniques in the
health office so that students feel the consistency throughout the building. Kate’s goal is to provide professional
health care to improve attendance and support a positive learning environment so our students can be successful
learners.
What They Know and Can Do: A Look Inside the Classrooms of Teachers
Who Closed Black-White Achievement Gaps
Themes: Creating Culturally Competent Classrooms; Educator Preparation
Presenter: JOHNNIE MCKINLEY
This interactive session presents findings of a two-year integrated quantitative study to identify strategies used McKinley
by thirty-one teachers judged effective with African American students who attained standards on two standardized
assessments. Participants will reflect on forty-two strategies observed in classrooms and identified by these teachers
and their principals. Interview and video clips illustrate findings that describe how these teachers adapted their
philosophies and instructional contexts and practices to meet their students’ cultures, needs, and experiences.
Dr. McKinley has over twenty-five years experience in organizational development, training, marketing, and
program evaluation. Recognized as a teacher whose African American students closed achievement gaps, her
research on effective teaching for African American students was nominated for the 2005 American Educational
Research Association and National Staff Development Council Dissertation Awards.
Session V Keynote Speaker Saturday 4:05–5:15 PM
Keynote Presentation
Presenter: TERRIE WILLIAMS
Terrie Williams presentation will highlight her current work, a book entitled Black Pain: It Just Looks Like We’re
Not Hurting, published by Scribner in January 2008 and will tell the untold story of depression among African-
Americans as well as Terrie’s tale of her own chronic and crippling depression—a revealing narrative she shared in
Williams
the June 2005 issue of ESSENCE magazine.
And she continues to work tirelessly to reach out to individuals who have suffered or are now suffering—from
the struggling high school student, to the successful executive who puts forth the daily “mask”, to the gang member,
the incarcerated and those who served time but were later proven innocent. Her drive to “save the world” leads her
and the efforts of The Stay Strong Foundation to urge corporate and individual responsibility and to offer educational
and leadership workshops, internships, and mentoring opportunities for youth.
Terrie is a clinical social worker by training who became successful public relations pro by her own design.
Over the years she has also inscribed her prominence as an author of the successful business and inspirational story,
and she has emerged as a passionate advocate for youth and those who battle depression.
But it must rightfully be noted that the accomplishments of the Terrie Williams Agency have always served as
40
Session V
a catalyst for her other successful endeavors. Her public relations achievements—and that of the Agency’s—have
been featured as case studies in PR seminars, college texts, industry newsletters, and novels. Terrie’s triumphs have
been chronicled in numerous publications such as Adweek, Jet Magazine, The Boston Globe, New York Daily News,
Washington Post, Crain’s New York Business and People Magazine. She is a highly sought-after speaker and has
shared her unique talent with many Fortune 500 companies and diverse organizations, from New York University to
the National Hockey League.
She has also received countless honors and awards, including: The New York Women in Communications
Matrix Award in Public Relations (she was the first woman of color to receive this award in its 70-year history);
the PRSA New York Chapter’s Phillip Dorf Mentoring Award; and The Citizen’s Committee for New York Marietta
Tree Award for Public Service. In 1996 she was the first person of color honored with the Vernon C. Schranz
Distinguished Lectureship at Ball State University, and in 1998 she donated her papers to the Howard University
Moorland-Springarn Research Center Archives.
41
MARCH 30 day
F r iTH
SUNDAY
■
SUNDAY - MARCH 30
7:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Registration
8:30 a.m. - 9:40 a.m. SESSION 1

STANLEY POGROW, Featured Speaker Clark Auditorium Museum
GWEN LAVERT, Featured Speaker Room 6
P. DAVID PEARSON, Featured Speaker Swyer Theater at the Egg
KYLENE BEERS/ROBERT PROBST, Featured Speakers Convention Hall
Museum Room A/B and
9:40 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. Break
10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. SESSION 2

Calling Together and Keynote
JONATHAN KOZOL, Keynote Speaker Convention Hall
LINDAMICHELLEBARON, Featured Speaker Room 6
LUNCH ON YOUR OWN

12:45 p.m. - 1:55 p.m. SESSION 3
RAFI FEUERSTEIN, Featured Speaker Swyer Theater at the Egg
JEANNE PARATORE, Featured Speaker Swyer Theater at the Egg
AHMES ASKIA, Featured Speaker Clark Auditorium
CLARA AMADOR WATSON, Featured Speaker Huxley Theater
Museum Room A/B and
1:55 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. Break
2:15 p.m. - 3:35 p.m. SESSION 4

Sonia Nieto, Keynote Speaker
ERIC COOPER - Terminus and Sending Forth Convention Hall
and Charge to The Community of Educators
42
MARCH 30TH SUNDAY ■
Session I
Session I Featured Presenters Sunday 8:30–9:40 AM
Teaching Reading Comprehension: The importance of Cognitive

Engagement and Critical Reading
Themes: Assessment, Language Development and Literacy; Educator Preparation
Presenter: P. DAVID PEARSON
In an educational world in which the pressures have never been greater to make sure students “get the basics”, Pearson
Pearson argues that one key, if not THE key, to growth in reading competence is to ensure that students become
“engaged” in active, not passive, comprehension activities and acquire the skills and dispositions to read all
messages from a critical perspective--asking not only what the author says but also what the author means.
P. David Pearson’s research interests include practice and policy in literacy instruction and assessment. A
member of the National Academy of Education, he is a former dean of the College of Education of the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he also co-directed the Center for the Study of Reading. Before coming
to Berkeley he was the John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor of Education at Michigan State University. He has
served as president of the National Reading Conference and on the boards of directors for the International Reading
Association, the National Reading Conference, and the Association of American Colleges of Teacher Education.
His honors include the William S. Gray Citation of Merit from the International Reading Association, the Oscar
Causey Award for Contributions to Reading Research from the National Reading Conference, and the Alan Purves
Award from the National Council of Teachers of English. Among his books and articles are the Handbook of Reading
Research, now in its third volume; and Learning to Read: Lessons for Effective Schools and Accomplished Teachers
(with B. Taylor, 2000).
Making High Poverty Schools Great: The Hi-perform School Design

CLARK AUDITORIUM (AT THE MUSEUM) Audience: Grades PreK–8
Themes: Promoting High Intellectual Performance and Enrichment; Leadership Strategies
for the 21st Century
Presenter: STANLEY POGROW
This session will describe a powerful, yet practical new design for restructuring high poverty schools K–8. This Pogrow
design incorporates the three most effective strategies for reducing the learning gap. The Hi-perform School design
provides the potential to dramatically improved the performance of high poverty schools because a) each of these
uniquely powerful techniques has never been used jointly in a school to get a multiplier effect, and b) they do not
exist today in high poverty schools. In addition, the design can be built around a school’s existing curriculum and
allows for local customization. The three gap reduction techniques will be described, along with the strategies for
implementing the design.
Dr. Stanley Pogrow is currently the William Allen Endowed Chair and distinguished visiting professor of
educational leadership at Seattle University, while he is on leave from the University of Arizona. Dr. Pogrow
specializes in school reform policy and the application of technology. His work over the past twenty-four years has
focused on using technology to produce more sophisticated forms of learning after the third grade. This work started
with the Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) program for Title I and LD students. Using the lessons learned from the
Hots program, an alternative approach to teach math for all students, called Supermath was developed. Supermath
provides interesting opportunities for districts to better meet the accountability challenges of No Child Left Behind,
while also producing the types of reflective mathematics learning.
Reading Strategies for the Underachieving Reader

Themes: Assessment, Language Development and Literacy; Educator Preparation
Presenters: KYLENE BEERS and ROBERT PROBST
This workshop offers a rationale and strategies for teaching reading and literature with
underachieving students. It assumes that, despite the difficulties such students may have, if they
Beers Probst
are offered proven strategies for attacking texts and texts that are worth reading, both appealing to
and challenging them, and they are in a classroom environment that encourages them, they will
learn.
43
MARCH 30 day
F r iTH
SUNDAY■
Session I
Kylene Beers, author of When Kids Can’t Read: What Teachers Can Do, is a former teacher, a former editor,
and a senior reading researcher at Yale University. She currently serves as the president of NCTE.
Robert Probst was a former junior and senior high school English teacher before becoming professor of English
education at Georgia State University. There, working with both experienced teachers and teachers in training, he
designed strategies to respect the interests of the students and their responses to what they read, while also leading
into thoughtful analysis of texts. He wanted the literature classroom to become a community of readers and writers
who, by sharing their thoughts about significant works, grow intellectually, aesthetically, and emotionally. That
work led him to write Response and Analysis: Teaching Literature in the Secondary Schools. He has also served as
columnist for Voices from the Middle, an NCTE publication.
Increasing Reading Ability Through Cognitive Clarity

Presenter: GWEN LAVERT
Many children approach reading instruction in a state of cognitive confusion about the purposes and features of
language. This presentation will help educators foster accountability and help students taking and retain information
Lavert
that they learn in order for them to have complete comprehension.
Gwen Lavert is the author of twenty-five books for children and is an assistant professor of education at Indiana
Wesleyan University.
Session I Breakout Presenters Sunday 8:30–9:40 AM
Closing the Opportunity Gap With Real Business Ownership

Themes: Promoting High Intellectual Performance and Enrichment; Learning Needs of Boys
Presenter: SCOTT REZNICK
Owning and running a retail kiosk improved attendance and performance of four hundred at-risk urban
students (two-thirds male); none dropped out. Real opportunity with ownership responsibility makes learning
relevant, engaging adolescents cognitively and emotionally: they make bottom-line decisions, solve consequential
problems, and develop confidence, discipline, and positive relationships. Horizons broaden. Examine a proven
model that creates a community of entrepreneurial practice in schools, integrating inquiry, cooperation, literacy, and
authentic assessment into daily learning and earning.
Scott Reznick designed a practical curriculum using real business ownership to promote academic
achievement, enterprising careers, and inclusive entrepreneurship. He has created business development programs,
taught law and finance at Rutgers and social studies in the inner city. Scott received a B.A. from Brandeis and J.D.
from the University of Chicago.
Learning by Laughing: Practical Ways to Turn School Work into Play

Themes: Learning Needs of Boys; Creating Culturally Competent Classrooms
Presenter: TRACY BAILEY, NUA Mentor
What engages reluctant learners? How can educators find more meaning in their work? What can ignite a flame
of curiosity and high intellectual performance in our schools? Fun. Receive practical tips on infusing your school
community with play, joy and sense of hopefulness while increasing academic rigor. Find out how one area, single-
gender, ninth grade center inspired students and reinvigorated teachers using this simple approach.
Tracy Swinton Bailey is a dynamic public speaker, poet, researcher and educator, whose work has taken her
to urban communities around the nation. For over a decade, her energy, passion and zest for learning has inspired
students and friends to strive for personal excellence.
44
Session I
Planning Strategic Phonics Intervention for Struggling Readers K–5
Presenter: KIMBERLI KERN
How effective are your intervention lessons for your Tier II and Tier III students? Are they making adequate
progress? This session will explore ways to design effective thirty-minute phonics intervention lessons that use
assessment to inform grouping and targeted skills instruction for struggling readers. Participants will examine the
strategies and explicit instruction required for developing phonetic knowledge from letter/sound correspondence to
multisyllabic words.
Kimberli Kern holds a master’s degree in elementary education, and has been an educator for fifteen years. She
has served as a classroom teacher, administrator, and master literacy coach. She has a passion for helping teachers
and students, and enjoys sharing “best practices” with educators through professional development and modeling.
Differentiating Instruction for Cultural and Educational Responsiveness

Classrooms; Educator Preparation
Presenter: SUSAN RUCKDESCHEL
Successful, culturally responsive classrooms are those that individualize and group instruction specific to the
Ruckdeschel
needs of all students; this is the essence of intervention. Strategies gleaned from Eric Jensen, Dr. Mel Levine, Patricia
Wolf and others will work to inform participants through practical, formative assessment practices that allow for
instructional planning using differentiated practices proven to maximize cognition. Participants will practice, apply,
and then brainstorm methods to integrate strategies into regular instruction, drawing on existing resources.
Susan Ruckdeschel, M.S. Ed. has been a reading specialist and program director in public schools for sixteen
years. She is currently a national consultant, training teachers in current research and pedagogy as it applies to
effective classroom instruction, utilizing new resources, and formative assessment practices.
Math Matters
Presenter: MARY KAY BACALLAO, NUA Mentor
Let’s play! Learn about math games and strategies that challenge the mind and engage the spirit. Dr. Mary Kay
Bacallao will present her mystery numbers game that utilizes math vocabulary and logical reasoning. She will also
Bacallao
bring models of her interactive Equals thinking strategy game of basic facts. Participants will have an opportunity to
play the games.
Dr. Mary Kay Bacallao is a National Urban Alliance mentor. Dr. Bacallao is an associate professor of education
at Mercer University.
Learning Readiness—From a Feuerstein Perspective

Presenter: MARTHA WOOD
Readiness, as applied to “reading readiness” or more informally being “ready” for an activity, refers to the
recognition of certain constructs that need to be in place before an activity can be accomplished with maximum
Wood
success. If we consider readiness for learning, there are at least four such constructs that must be in place before
an individual can learn efficiently, regardless of the quality of instruction or the effort put forth by the learner. These
constructs will be discussed in this presentation.
Dr. Martha M. Wood is the founder and director of the Southeastern Center for the Enhancement of Learning;
professor emeritus of mathematics from Clayton State University, University System of Georgia; coauthor of eight
mathematics textbooks for underachieving college freshmen; and a certified trainer for Professor Reuven Feuerstein’s
Cognitive Enrichment Programs.
45
MARCH 30 day
F r iTH
SUNDAY■
Session 1 and Session II

Educating Students for the 21st Century: Project Based Learning at Tech
Valley High School
Presenters: LEAH PENNIMAN and STACIA SNOW
Tech Valley High School prepares students to succeed on the NYS Learning Standards and Regents
examinations in addition to obtaining the 21st Century Skills needed to succeed in today’s ever changing society.
Students are engaged in Project Based Learning units that are rigorous, integrated across disciplines, and connected
to the community. Participants will have an opportunity to explore a successful PBL unit in depth as well as discuss
the principles and practices of effective PBL design. In teams, participants will actively explore a project generating
a “Know/Need to Know” list and creating a project plan. In addition there will be a discussion on PBL design.
The ratio of interactive: lecture format will be 2:1. Leah Penniman and Stacia Snow are faculty at Tech Valley High
School.
Session II Keynote Speaker Sunday 10:00–11:30 AM
Letters To A Young Teacher

and Enrichment; Learning Needs of Boys; Creating Culturally Competent Classrooms; Multilingual
Education
Presenter: JONATHAN KOZOL
Kozol
In reviewing Jonathan Kozol’s twelfth book, Letters To a Young Teacher, Stacy Teicher Khadaroo, writing in the
Christian Science Monitor in September, 2007, said:
“…But never before has he addressed teachers as directly as he does in Letters to a Young Teacher, based on
letters he wrote to a new teacher he calls Francesca, who welcomed him to her first-grade classroom in Boston—the
city where he began teaching 40 years earlier.
Kozol has made a career of advocating for inner-city students. He has observed their schools, spent time with
their teachers and families, and told their stories to the world. Those stories, intertwined with his own, inform his
trenchant critique of an educational system that continues to segregate children and relegate low-income minorities
to overcrowded, underfunded classroom...
Now he’s making his battle cry even more explicit, urging young teachers to take a stand if they, too, see
injustice in their students’ lives. But his weapons of choice are peaceful ones—the teachers’ own creativity and their
commitment to nurturing their students’ sense of delight…”
This best selling author returns to podium as a keynote speaker in the Teaching For Intelligence series for the
sixth time; this time speaking to the issues raised in Letters To A Young Teacher.
In the passion of the civil rights campaigns of 1964 and 1965, Jonathan Kozol moved from Harvard Square
into a poor black neighborhood of Boston and became a fourth grade teacher in the Boston Public Schools. He has
devoted the subsequent four decades to issues of education and social justice in America.
Death at an Early Age, a description of his first year as a teacher, was published in 1967 and received the 1968
National Book Award in Science, Philosophy, and Religion. Now regarded as a classic by educators, it has sold
more than two million copies in the United States and Europe.
His 1995 best seller, Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation, described his visits
to the South Bronx of New York, the poorest congressional district of America. Praised by scholars such as Robert
Coles and Henry Louis Gates, and children’s advocates and theologians all over the nation, Amazing Grace received
the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in 1996, an honor previously granted to the works of Langston Hughes and Dr.
Martin Luther King.
His next book, Ordinary Resurrections, was a more introspective work about the spiritual and moral qualities of
children he had come to know in the South Bronx. A favorite among schoolteachers because of its narratives of daily
life seen through the eyes of children, the book was described by The Washington Post as “an eloquent love letter to
a set of children” whom Jonathan had “grown to know, cherish, and delight in.” The New York Times described it as
“deeply moving…the most personal of Kozol’s efforts.” The poet Gwendolyn Brooks praised it as “a magnificent gift
to us all.”
46
Session II and Session III

In The Shame of the Nation, Mr. Kozol returned to the battle with his strongest, most disturbing work: a
powerful exposé of the conditions he found in visiting and revisiting nearly sixty public schools in thirty different
districts in eleven states over five years. Virtually everywhere, he found that inner-city children are more isolated
racially than they have been any time since federal courts began dismantling the landmark ruling in Brown v. Board
of Education.

Session III Featured Presenters Sunday 12:45–1:55 PM
Language of Schooling: Access or No Access for Bi-Lingual, Bi-Literate,

and/or Bi-Dialectal Speakers
Presenter: CLARA AMADOR-WATSON
This session will allow participants to explore the interrelationship between language, home language use and
language of schooling for educational access. Exploring implementation of equity pedagogy in urban classrooms
requires the use of differentiated and responsive assessment and instruction in order to provide rigor, relevance and
access for English learners and standard English learners. The construct of language minority status will be explored
via legislative initiatives, policy making, and professional teaching practices within K–12 public schooling.
During the last twenty years, Clara Amador-Watson’s career has centered on English as a foreign language,
English as a second language, bilingual and dual language education in the US and abroad. She holds degrees in
sociology of education, elementary education, bilingual teaching methodologies, educational leadership and policy
analysis for culturally linguistically diverse students has allowed her to teach in multiple urban settings from K–12
schools to post-graduate degree programs in teacher preparation for ELLs. She is currently working on professional
development for in-service teachers and professional preparation for pre-service teachers via alternative certification
routes.
A Thinking Development Approach to Accelerating Title I and LD Students

in Grades 4-8: Research Findings From the 26 Years of the HOTS Project
CLARK AUDITORIUM (AT THE MUSEUM) Audience: Grades 4–8
Presenter: STANLEY POGROW
This session will discuss the conditions under which a thinking development approach can accelerate the Pogrow
learning of Title I and LD students to a greater extent than relying on remedial test-prep approaches. This method
will emphasize the ability of this approach to produce transfer to a wide variety of academic gains and social
growth in the critical grades of 4–8, where early gains typically dissipate. This session will explore the 26 year
history of the HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills) project and is success with over 500,000 students. The HOTS
approach replaces remedial instruction with a unique Socratic learning environment built around the use of
technology and drama.
Dr. Stanley Pogrow is currently the William Allen Endowed Chair and distinguished visiting professor of
educational leadership at Seattle University, while he is on leave from the University of Arizona. Dr. Pogrow
specializes in school reform policy and the application of technology. His work over the past twenty-four years has
focused on using technology to produce more sophisticated forms of learning after the third grade. This work started
with the Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) program for Title I and LD students. Using the lessons learned from the
Hots program, an alternative approach to teach math for all students, called Supermath was developed. Supermath
provides interesting opportunities for districts to better meet the accountability challenges of No Child Left Behind,
while also producing the types of reflective mathematics learning.
47
MARCH 30 day
F r iTH
SUNDAY■
Session III
Learning Deficiencies or Deficient Learning?
Themes: Promoting High Intellectual Performance and Enrichment; Learning Needs of Boys
Presenter: RAFI FEUERSTEIN
The phenomenon of learning deficiencies occupies a considerable place in world educational systems. The
increase of the phenomenon raises the question of whether we are facing a trait or a state. A trait is a fixed character
feature—in all probability innate—with far-reaching implications and above all, non-modifiable. Feuerstein
Feuerstein’s Theory of Structural Cognitive Modifiability postulates that learning deficiency is a “state”—
dependent, amongst other things, on the environment in which the person exists and functions, and, most
importantly, that this state can be changed dramatically.
Rabbi Rafi Feuerstein will argue that deeming learning deficiencies to be a matter of “state” stems from
perceiving intelligence as a product of culture. Culture conveyed by parents and teachers to the younger generation
comprises not only content but also thinking functions. Learning deficiency must be perceived as a state of the
difficulty to convey culture, the cause of the failure to acquire necessary thinking and learning functions. The
importance of this question is increased enormously when applied to students from culturally different backgrounds.
Such students are at risk of being labeled learning-deficient merely because the strategies they acquired in their
natural environment are unsuitable for the academic environment in which they find themselves.
The lecture will analyze cases that show the possible effect of cultural difference on erroneous learning
deficient labeling and on methods for the cognitive development of various groups of the population who have been
branded learning-deficient or underachievers.
Literacy Instruction That ACCELERATES Achievement: Learning

From Excellent Teachers
Presenter: JEANNE PARATORE
Perhaps more than at any other point in our educational history, teachers today are held accountable for
the consequences of their instructional decisions, particularly as they relate to children’s reading achievement. Paratore
Rightfully, teachers are expected to be able to justify the instructional practices they use on the basis of sound and
rigorous research evidence. But not all educators and policy makers agree on what qualifies as “sound and rigorous”
research, and often such discussions become bogged down in a discussion of the merits (or demerits) of various
instructional programs. Although programmatic materials are important, none matters more than a qualified and
excellent teacher. This presentation will focus on the teaching behaviors and conditions that have been found to
relate to high levels of reading achievement. The presentation will use excerpts from a video library of authentic,
unscripted classroom literacy lessons showing teachers and students engaged in research-based reading practices to
support the discussion among session participants.
Promoting High Intellectual Performance

Presenter: AHMES ASKIA, NUA Mentor
This interactive session will address the adolescent brain and how teachers can use the latest research on this
growing brain to engage and accelerate the learning for their students. Participants will explore the integration of
Askia
Youth culture, language use, and development, and student voice in planning and delivering instruction to middle
and high school students. Participants will develop lessons, share in text-base discussion and practice the strategies
learned. Additionally, because of the practice, participants will leave with strategies that they can implement in their
classrooms immediately.
Ahmes Askia began her educational career in 1976 with Prescription Learning Corporation (later became
Jostens Learning) as an education consultant in Houston Independent School District.
During her tenure with Prescription Learning/Jostens Learning, she became an area director. In this role, she
was responsible for developing training for both consultants (education and technical) and teachers. She has worked
with teachers and administrators in Houston Independent School District, Dallas Independent School District, San
Antonio Independent School District, San Francisco Unified, Atlanta Public Schools, Birmingham Public Schools,
Chicago Public Schools, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Schools, Memphis City
Schools, Little Rock Public Schools, and many others.
Dr. Askia is currently the director of professional development for NUA.
48
Session III
Session III Breakout Presenters Sunday 12:45–1:55 PM
How Culture Impacts the Learning Environment of Students

Presenter: SHIRLEY GRAHAM, NUA Partner School
This presentation will summarize how culture impacts the learning environment of urban students. Focus will
highlight cultural differences in the classroom as well as cultural sensitivity. Lastly, this presentation will impart
Graham
effective methods and strategies that work with all students.
Shirley Graham the principal of Woodlawn Magnet High School, located in Birmingham, Alabama. She is two
time presenter at NUA conferences. Her school, Woodlawn Magnet High School, will participate with the National
Urban Alliance Trust initiative for a third year.
Differentiating Content Literacy Instruction for All Learners

Presenter: ANNYCE KUYKENDALL
How do you meet grade level content expectations and the diverse needs of all of your students? This session
will focus on ways to develop academic content vocabulary, increase comprehension, and differentiate instruction
while addressing a variety of reading levels for students reading on, above, or below grade level. Particular emphasis
will include supporting the needs of English language learners in the regular literacy or content area classroom.
Annyce Kuykendall is a former classroom teacher, literacy coach, and experienced trainer. She has assisted
districts in implementing systemic change in comprehensive literacy practices for grades K–6.
Priming, Processing and Mastery

Presenter: ELEANOR RENEE RODRIQUEZ, NUA Mentor
Choreography is a key instructional component of lesson plan designing. Using a painting analogy, Dr.
Rodriquez will model and the participants will reflect and practice the use of the instructional flow map, as well
Rodriguez
as other teacher proven and student appreciated practices to increase student motivation, learning and improve
academic and social achievement. Participants will leave with an action plan for change.
Dr. Rodriguez, coauthor of the thought-provoking book, What is it About Me You Can’t Teach? is
internationally recognized for her strategies for improving the performance of diverse learners. She has public
school experience from substitute teacher to superintendent’s office, including assistant to the superintendent,
elementary principal, and most importantly, teacher.
Those Darn Open-Ended Math Problems

Presenter: DONNA POLJANEC, NUA Mentor
Do your students have trouble with math word problems? Do they struggle with open-ended math questions?
Do you have trouble telling where your students go astray in their thinking about math? If you answered, “yes” to
Poljanec
any of these questions then this is the session for you! In this session Dr. Poljanec will show how Four Square can
help students to show their thinking about math and increase their scores on high-stakes state mathematics exams.
Dr. Donna Poljanec is a National Urban Alliance mentors. Dr. Poljanec is also a professor in the education
department at Clarion University.
49
MARCH 30 day
F r iTH
SUNDAY■
Session III and Session IV

Thinking Deeply About Mathematics
Themes: Promoting High Intellectual Performance and Enrichment; Learning Needs of Boys; Educator
Preparation
Presenter: BILL TOBIN
This session will provide teachers with the tools they need to create a classroom environment where students Tobin
routinely engage in mathematical thinking and meaning making. The NCTM process standards will serve as the
framework for a lively hands-on workshop. Participants will take away a host of strategies designed to help students
improve their current understanding and develop new understandings of specific mathematical concepts.
Bill Tobin is a math literacy coach at Reading High School, Reading, PA. He was a consultant for the NUA for
many years. Bill lives in Douglassville, PA with his wife Lisa. They are both trainers for Feuerstein’s Instrumental
Enrichment.
Help! I’ve Falling Between the Cracks and I Can’t Learn—Teaching Boys
And the Teachers Who Teach Them
Themes: Learning Needs of Boys; Educator Preparation
Presenters: KIMBERLY SMERKERS and JAMES STUDER
The session provides an overview on current brain research, the physical and learning needs of boys, and Smerkers
classroom strategies that enhance the learning of boys in all grades. The presenters co-facilitate and maximize the
participants learning by creating an active and engaging environment.
Ms. Kimberly Smerkers is Educational Support Professionals training coordinator. She has been an elementary
principal and is completing her dissertation in organizational leadership.
Dr. James Studer recently completed his doctorate in organizational leadership from University of La Verne and
is currently a vice principal.
Studer
Session IV Keynote Presenter Sunday 2:15–3:35 AM
Culture, Learning, and Literacy: How Teachers Help All Students Achieve
Presenter: SONIA NIETO
Using research with caring and committed classroom teachers who work with students of racially, culturally,
and linguistically diverse backgrounds, this keynote presentation will explore how they build on students’ identities
and experiences, challenge institutional policies and practices that get in the way of learning, and prepare students
Nieto
for life beyond test scores, rubrics, and templates.
Professor Emerita of Language, Literacy, and Culture, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Sonia Nieto has
written extensively on multicultural education, teacher education, and the education of students of culturally and
linguistically diverse backgrounds. She has taught at all levels from elementary grades through graduate school and
has received many awards for her research, advocacy, and service.
Conference Terminus and Sending Forth

Presenter: ERIC COOPER
50
FAREWELL AND CHARGE
T o all of our friends and colleagues,

it is time to say farewell. And in the classic and truest meaning of the word farewell,
please know that it is my greatest hope that each of you fare well.
For a short time in this small place, we have met together, listened and learned,
and changed. Now you must leave this time and place.
But before you leave, I call on each of you, on behalf of all of your friends and
colleagues from this short time and small place, to never leave this here and now and
to commit to this charge, which is implicit for, and required of all those who have
shared this time and place.
Each of you is charged to do better at what it is you do—teaching and mentoring
the children of this generation and future generations. Every day, make your students
better so that they can make all those around them better.
To do this, you must continue changing and making yourself better: a better
teacher, a better mentor, a better person. Clearly, this is not an easy charge. Certainly, it
is not a charge that anyone can succeed at every day. But know that each day presents
itself to you and offers itself to you as an opportunity to succeed.
And as days become months; and months, years; and years, a lifetime; the days
when you succeeded in this charge will become a lifetime of having fared well.
Eric Cooper
March 30, 2008
51
TICKETED LUNCHEON SPEAKERS
Room 6 (Convention Center)
FRIDAY 11:40 AM – 12:45 PM
DAVID ROTH Audience: All Grades
Award-winning singer/songwriter/speaker David Roth returns to NUA TFI:BTA from his home
on the Cape Cod, MA. The widely traveled recording artist appears at conferences, concert halls,
retreats, and trainings throughout North America with keynote conferences and community
building workshops.
Since emerging twenty years ago from a nationwide field of several hundred songwriters
to open the Kerrville (TX) Music Festival as its New Folk winner, the Chicago native (and two-
time national anthem singer for the NBA’s Michael Jordan-era Bulls) has garnered accolades
for his performances, workshops, writing, and recordings. In addition to singing “Earth” at the
40th Anniversary of the United Nations, David’s “Rising in Love” was performed at the 100th
Anniversary of Carnegie Hall in New York City. Manuel Garcia and Nine Gold Medals both
appear in the best-selling Chicken Soup for the Soul series by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor
Hansen, and music fans may have heard David’s songs in the repertoire of Peter, Paul, & Mary
over the years (Noel Paul Stookey also produced “If You Can’t Fly” for his 2002 children’s album
World Around Song). The BOSE Corporation includes “Taller Than My Hair” and “Five Blind Men” on their recent
“best of new folk” compilations. David has ten CDs on the Wind River and Stockfisch (Germany) labels, and is proud
to include “We Belong Together” (co-written with 92 third-graders) on his latest recording Practice Makes Progress.

SATURDAY 11:40 AM – 12:45 PM
BRYONN BAIN Audience: All Grades
Named one of the “30 Visionaries Under 30 Who are Changing Your Future” by UTNE
Reader Magazine, Bryonn has been described by noted public intellectual Cornell West as, not
only a poet who speaks his truths with a power we desperately need to hear, but also as one of
the leading legal minds of his generation. Bain has lectured at over 50 colleges and correctional
facilities nationwide, performed overseas in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and shared stages
with Maceo Parker, the Last Poets, Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, DJ Red Alert, Poor Righteous
Teachers, and dead prez.
In May 2000, an article Bryonn wrote about being racially profiled and wrongfully arrested
was published as the cover story for the nation’s most widely-read progressive weekly–The Village
Voice. Bain’s now famous essay, championed by his mentor and pioneering legal scholar Lani Guinier, was entitled:
“Walking While Black: The Bill of Rights for Black America,” and received over 100,000 replies from around the
world– the largest response in the history of The Voice. Bryonn was subsequently interviewed on CBS’ “60 Minutes”
by Emmy award-winning journalist, Mike Wallace, a segment seen by over twenty million viewers.
During his first year at Harvard Law School, Bain was crowned Boston’s 1999 Slam Poetry Champion, and then
went on to win the 2000 Grand Slam Poetry Championship at the world renowned Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe’. Bryonn’s
poetry is featured on the album NYC Slams: 13 Hottest Poets in New York City. At only 25 years old, he became the
youngest adjunct professor at New York University’s Gallatin School where he teaches “The Spoken Word.” He is
featured in director Jane Han’s spoken word poetry documentary Urban Scribe, and stars in the independent film
Hunting In America, written and directed by Sundance Film Festival finalist Kona Khasu. Bryonn has completed
his long anticipated, forthcoming spoken word epic “The Prophet Returns” and joint album entitled Problem Child
released in 2005.
52
SUNDAY 11:40 AM – 12:45 PM
Driving the Dream: Literacy and the Arts
LINDAMICHELLEBARON Audience: All Grades
Dr. Linda Michelle Baron is a former New York City public school teacher, earned her
master’s degree in reading and her doctorate in cross categorical studies from Columbia
University’s Teachers College. Dr. Baron is currently a professor in the teacher education
department at York College in New York City. She is the president and founder of Harlin Jacque
Publications, a publishing and educational consulting firm established over two decades ago.
As an author and poet, her books include: The Sun Is On (listed as a recommended book for
New York State middle schools), Rhythm & Dues, For the Love of Life and Anthony Ant and
Grady Grasshopper. The innovative Poetry & Ideas Book Series, published by Harlin Jacque
Publications, is Linda Michelle Baron’s written invitation to international audiences. She
invites all to achieve, grow, resolve conflicts, love themselves, and love others. Her “idea”
books support her creative messages and provide self-reflective “how to” activity guides for life
and learning. They include writing exercises that support goal achievement strategies. Dr. Baron’s innovative and
expanding educational enrichment program, Driving the Dream: Literacy and the Arts, has been implemented in
educational systems across the country. Dr. Baron is also coauthor of The Write Direction (Modern Curriculum Press),
an instructional writing textbook series published in 1999. Her poems have been featured in a number of poetry
anthologies as well as on stage in the recent musical and dance production, The Groove that Got the Move of Us!
53
APPRECIATION
The National Urban Alliance for Effective Education

wishes to express its appreciation for the hard work and contributions of its partners
in this conference:
CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT OF ALBANY,

and especially, Dr. Eva Joseph, Superintendent,
and Dr. Joseph Dragone, Assistant Superintendent
for Secondary Education
NEW YORK COUNCIL OF SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS,

and especially, Dr. Thomas L. Rogers,
Executive Director
NYSUT,
and especially, Debra Nelson,
Director of Special Projects
NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION,

and especially, Rita M. Lashway,
Deputy Executive Director
THE SCHOOL REDESIGN NETWORK

AND THE LEADS INITIATIVE AT STANFORD UNIVERSITY,
and, especially, Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond
QUESTAR III,
and especially, Dr. Gladys Cruz,
Assistant Superintendent for School Improvement
MEDIATED OUTCOMES,
and especially Dr. Gerry Lauber
NUA also wishes to express its gratitude to:
THE SCHOOL EDUCATION GROUP AT MCGRAW-HILL EDUCATION

for sponsoring the NUA/CSDA Gala
54
APPRECIATION
THE COLLEGE OF ST. ROSE,
and, especially, Dr. Perry Berkowitz
for teaching and administering the graduate credit course
BAUM AND BEAULIEU ASSOCIATES,

and, especially, Kathy Beaulieu,
the operators of the conference bookstore
ALBANY COUNTY CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU, INC.,

and especially, Gina Mintzer
and Deborah A. Goedeke
THE CROWNE PLAZA ALBANY-CITY CENTER,

and especially, Tom Daubney
and Jeffrey A. Michaelson
ALBANY DOWNTOWN HAMPTON INN & SUITES,

and especially, Colleen Guice
and Michele Neyer
74 STATE,
and especially, Jeffrey Krempa
THE NELSON A. ROCKEFELLER EMPIRE STATE PLAZA EMPIRE,

and, especially, Michael Snyder
THE EGG,
and especially, Peter Lesser,
Executive Director
NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM,

and, especially, Albert Gnidica
And, finally, the conference planners,
JIM AND LINDA FARRUGGIA

55
Certificate of Attendance
March 28-30, 2008 ß Albany, New York
____________________________________________________________________________________
This certifies that
attended this conference on March 28 to 30, 2008. Attendance at all
sessions of the conference totals twenty-seven hours.
Linda Farruggia
Conference Planner
team from N
U
dynamic
“I met thAe last year at the
Birmingham
.
BECOME
AN NUA
o n fe re n ce in
TFI:BTA c B E S T conference
sI
o f th e
It was one d . T he group reall
y
tt e n d e
have ever a b out impactin
g
a
MENTOR
ca re s...i t is
forever!”
student lives
r
Jeanne Zeh
For Information On Becoming

An NUA Consultant/Mentor,go to
www.nuatc.org and click on:
“Become an NUA mentor”
The Passing of the Torch
This conference is the third in a series that began
in November 2006 in Minneapolis. The second was
in Birmingham in April 2007. NUA’s Teaching For
Intelligence: Believe To Achieve Conference in Albany
continued the tradition and work that has marked all
of the conferences.
In less than three years, NUA’s TFI: BTA conferences

have evolved into a meeting place for leading
researchers, scholars and advocates to come together
and interact with classroom teachers and administrators
from all over the United States. While the conference
has many different themes and presentations covering
the entire gamut of the issues facing American
education, the conferences’ overriding characteristic is
the willingness and commitment of the presenters and
participants to take promise and hope to the next level
of doing and succeeding for American education and
its children.
At previous conferences in the series, there has been

a Passing of the Torch ceremony wherein a crystal torch
symbolizing the transition of the hope, the promise, the
doing and the succeeding, was passed from the closing
conference to the next conference that accepted the
mission of continuing the work. That tradition
will continue.
And as integral parts of the process that is NUA’s

Teaching For Intelligence: Believe To Achieve
Conference in Albany, the torch will symbolically
be passed by every presenter and participant in this
conference to those who will follow at the next
TFI: BTA.

Teaching For Intelligence: Believe To Achieve: Albany, New York

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Teaching For Intelligence: Believe To Achieve: Albany, New York

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NUA’s

Teaching For Intelligence:

Albany, New York

Hotel Locations Map

Welcome Page .............................................................................. 2

Become an NUA Mentor .............................................................. 5

NUA Board of Directors ............................................................... 6

Conference Hero .......................................................................... 7

Day-At-A-Glance: Wednesday & Thursday Programs .................. 10

Day-At-A-Glance: Friday Programs ............................................. 11

Friday Program Descriptions ....................................................... 12

Graduate Credit .......................................................................... 27

Day-At-A-Glance: Saturday Programs ......................................... 28

Saturday Program Descriptions ................................................... 29

Day-At-A-Glance: Sunday Programs ........................................... 42

Sunday Program Descriptions ..................................................... 43

Farewell and Charge ................................................................... 51

Ticketed Luncheon Speakers ....................................................... 52

Become an NUA Mentor ..................................... Inside Back Cover

The Passing of the Torch ................................................. Back Cover

Eric Cooper, President

Asa Hilliard III

The National Urban Alliance For Effective Education mourns

For Information On Becoming

The National Urban Alliance For Effective Education

THE NEW YORK STATE COUNCIL OF SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS

THE NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION

SRN LEADS OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY

8:30 a.m. - 9:40 a.m. SESSION 1

10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. SESSION 2

LUNCH ON YOUR OWN

2:15 p.m. - 3:35 p.m. SESSION 4

4:05 p.m. - 5:15 p.m. SESSION 5

7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. Reception Crowne Plaza Hotel Ballroom

Creating Conditions that Promote Student Achievement

Educator Preparation and the Development of Children and Youth

Adolescent Literacy: Fact, Fiction, and Future

Session I Breakout Presenters Friday 8:30–9:40 AM

Using NUA Strategies in the High School Classroom

The Effects of Students’ Exposure to Violence on Teacher Practice

Connected Comprehension Instruction

Color Me Love—Personality Impacts Learning

A Co-Teaching NUA Integrated Math Classroom

Session I and Session II

Discussing the Indiscussible: Racism and Leadership

Session II Keynote Session Friday 10:00–11:30 AM

Calling the Conference to Order

H.E. ASAF SHARIV, Counsel General of Israel in New York

NUA’s Tribute To the Life and Work of Asa Hilliard III

Session II and Session III

Ticketed Luncheon or Lunch On Your Own

Session III Featured Presenters Friday 12:45–1:55 PM

Vision and Collaborative Leadership: Keys to Improving Adolescent

Keeping African American and Hispanic Boys Out of Special Ed

Thank You to Teachers! Songs to Inspire You!

Session III Breakout Presenters Friday 12:45–1:55 PM

Teaching Struggling Learners

Turning Passive Readers into Active Learners

Texts for HIP: The Civil Rights Movement

HIP HOP into the Primary Grades

Session III and Session IV

Session IV Keynote Speaker Friday 2:15–3:35 PM