Sessions

We will detail a four year journey toward providing equity within the systems that support magnet enrollment and participation in the seventh largest district (second largest urban district?) in the nation, starting in Fall of 2017 through the current pandemic. This journey included many failures, successes, and a few pending items that may or may never happen. Structures used to determine the need and direction, real and potential pitfalls, and a means of rolling out such information will be discussed here with time to focus on the needs of your district as you listen to how things worked and did not work in Houston. Successes include: open enrollment for middle school magnets, theme-based entrance agreements, a consolidated application, and much more.

Holladay Magnet Elementary School from Arizona’s second largest school district, Tucson Unified School District. Holladay is a visual and performing arts magnet school. Holladay is one of three 2019 Arizona Exemplary Title I Schools with its efforts in Principle 5: Conditions, Culture & Climate. With Tonya Strozier’s leadership since 2015, her work transitioned the school to its B rating from the Arizona Department of Education in 2019.

Holladay offers an arts integrated learning experience with its research-based, culturally responsive curriculum. A curriculum that embraces and celebrates differences. All staff have high expectations for learning for all students. Holladay implements physical and emotional safety with school-wide protocols and employing a full-time counselor. Holladay shapes its environment with Leader in Me (LiM), use of Positive Behavioral Interventions and Systems (PBIS), and ongoing work with equity and diversity. Holladay values respect, cultivates student leadership, and promotes citizenship.

This presentation will include the blueprint one urban STEM-themed middle and high school in Connecticut developed and used to be “Champions of Change” during the 2020 school year of full distance learning. The school, ESUMS, challenged staff and students to: 1) adjust to a new way of life, including our experiences in a virtual community; 2) engage in a Global Community to explore topics such as sustainability, conservation, and public health; 3)shift individual habits and mindsets and 4) develop and practice Emotional Intelligence and Resilience. The current pandemic mandates that all countries and nations work together on all fronts. Public education doesn’t meet the criteria of an epidemic. Nevertheless, for those most disenfranchised in our community, it can be said that US education is in a state of pandemonium. President Elect Biden stated his priorities include “controlling the virus; securing health care; achieving racial justice and rooting out systemic racism in our country; saving the climate; and restoring decency, defending democracy, and giving everybody in this country a fair shot." United States’ priorities are not specific to only our country. The pandemic, racism, climate, and concern for our fellow humans are global concerns. Schools must teach students to be caretakers of self, community, nation, and world. This is why ESUMS …. STEM, Emotional Intelligence, and Global standards.

In this engaging session, participants will learn proven strategies for increasing magnet applications and matriculation at their schools. Principal Elena Ashburn & Magnet Coordinator David Brooks will guide participants through a strategic planning process for affecting change within their schools. And they know what they mean -- currently, the school they lead has the highest magnet applications and enrollment in a decade! Learn immediate, actionable ways to improve enrollment.

Without a doubt cultivating antiracist, culturally responsive learning environments is a HOT topic and one that is particularly relevant for magnet schools. Join us for this interactive experience to explore this compelling topic, and get a sneak peek at how the National Institute for Magnet School Leadership can support your schools through equity-focused professional development and coaching. We are excited to present this session in the Playposit platform, an MSA partner and sponsor.

Glean insights into how cultural competencies provide a foundation for policies and practices that ensure access to a rigorous curriculum, healthy social emotional learning, and academic success through authentic engagement with peers, teachers, families, and other community partners. Lead facilitator, Dr. Mary Conage, has worked with dozens of MSA districts and schools. You won't want to miss this preview of this workshop!

In this session, we will consider good practice in active learning and how this can encourage students to think hard and make progress. What can research tell us about how students learn effectively? What might we want to keep from our online experiences? We shall include practical examples of teaching strategies that can be applied across different subjects and grades.

Get ready to have fun participating! Attendees will engage in an experiential learning program that models the process of using African drumming to enhance school diversity, integrate the arts with the Common Core, and build recruitment opportunities. We’ll also be drumming and dancing!

Touching upon the latest research in the fields of neurology and sociology, we will present simple yet powerful strategies for using the arts to educate culturally diverse students and build recruitment and engagement opportunities in your community.

The session will highlight research on the relationships between diversity, the arts and student academic achievement. Topics will include:

• Sociological research on the link between cultural boundaries and academic achievement

• Neurological research on the effects of the arts on brain development

• Educating culturally diverse students and enhancing diversity through practical uses of the arts

• Building student recruitment and community engagement opportunities with artistic projects that increase cross cultural understanding

• Integrating the arts with Common Core

Until now, there has been no comprehensive school-wide resiliency/risk measurement tool that can be uniformly delivered by school personnel, nor has there been any systematic way to monitor school-wide resiliency health over time. Various screeners exist but these usually focus on one indicator (e.g., depression), are not tied to the MTSS framework and are only available for a few select age groups or are used only after a problem is brought to educator's attention. Most important, existing screening processes are often too expensive and labor intensive for schools. Given these issues, far too few students are performing to their potential, school systems do not know which students are suffering until the damage is done, and far too much money is wasted on inefficient and fragmented service delivery models.

This presentation will illustrate a comprehensive, easy to use system that incorporates cloud-based software, organization systems change frameworks, and resiliency science that quickly assesses the most robust predictors of interpersonal and intrapersonal functioning. The system is in MSA schools across the United States to measure, manage, and monitor behavioral health for all students in grades 3 and up. Further, the system leverages existing school resources that eliminates poor handoffs, maximizes response to intervention, and leads to significant cost savings. The presenter will review the process, software, and products, which link to the MTSS model. Further, validity data will highlight how information generated by the system predicts academic and interpersonal functioning. The presentation concludes by discussing potential pitfalls and strategies to address them.

Putting the “Art” squarely in the center of science, technology, engineering and math, drones are a revolutionary STEAM tool for creative artistic expression. Join our interactive session to learn how drones are being used to fulfill artistic vision and how you can engage your students’ creative sides with these revolutionary tools. Step into the real-life roles of drone designer team members that create performances for artists as diverse as Metallica, Drake and Cirque du Soleil. Learn to lead students through the engineering design process as they collaborate to costume, choreograph and code tiny aerial robots in creative performances.

At P.S. 349, we have been hard at work since remote learning began in March 2020 to ensure that our students had equity and access in their PBL projects. Teachers worked to implement technology-based apps and traditional teaching methods to ensure that all students had access to PBLs, no matter their access to technology. Now, in the 2020-2021 school year, families in NYC could choose between 100% remote learning or blended learning, where students come to school a few days a week and work remotely the other days. Again, teachers had to structure their entire curriculum, specifically PBL projects, to ensure access and equity to both groups of students. Teachers are using technology-based apps such as Flipgrid, Padlet, and Peardeck to engage students in PBLs, while also providing resources for them to complete their PBLs remotely. In-person teachers are also using these strategies, as well as others that better fit for in-person learning. Teachers across Pre-K through 5th Grade have made thoughtful and necessary adjustments while planning their PBLs in order to ensure every single student, no matter remote or blended, have access to PBLs and they are equitable with their peers. We would like to showcase our work in order to inspire others and share our ideas with them.

Duval County Public Schools have been marketing their magnet programs since the inception. The marketing strategies have changed over time, but one strategy has been a constant, the recruitment fair. This event is a district-wide initiative that draws thousands of attendees to a central location. School representatives are provided an opportunity to speak with parents face to face about their school and program offerings. There have been several names for the Expo: “Magnet Mania,” “Magnet and More,” and most recent, the “School Choice Expo.” The event takes place the first week of January as a kick-off to the application period for the School Choice Lottery. In 2020, due to the pandemic, Duval had to look for another opportunity of hosting the expo. Like many other organizations, the district made a pivot and turned to a virtual platform to host the 2021 School Choice Expo.

The goal of the district is to provide all students the opportunity to have access to magnet school programs. In addition, the Superintendent shall require recruitment strategies that are developed by each magnet school. The discussion for this presentation will include coordinating and planning a virtual recruitment fair with hundreds of schools and thousands of attendees in search of a school that best fit the needs and interest of the child. How does the district office prepare schools and the community for a virtual expo? Specialists will share the framework for planning and implementing a virtual expo for one of the largest urban districts in Florida

Participants will first be given a tutorial overview on how to navigate the GarageBand app on the iPad and explore the different genres.Using the Powerpoint provided by the presenters, the participants will engage in the step by step process of creating a GarageBand piece in the genre of their choice, and taking notes about the music vocabulary that will be included in their final writing piece.After choosing their genre, laying their tracks, and recording their piece of music, participants will observe how the presenters introduced and completed an opinion writing graphic organizer with their students about their song they created using music vocabulary such as tempo, beat, tone color, and instruments.Finally, the presenters will demonstrate how to transfer the GarageBand song into an EZ Sound Box Voice Recorder that they will take with them for their own enjoyment.We will describe how we used the sound box and the final writing draft as an Interactive Bulletin Board for the hallway where students and families are able to press a button and listen to the original composition while reading about why the student made their musical choices.As a result, our children were able to express themselves musically while learning pertinent writing standards.This authentic arts integration lesson shows evolving objectives in both General Music and ELA standards.

You know social media is necessary in 2021 -- especially for your school or district. But what should you be sharing? And how do you increase your school's following? This session will discuss getting social on social, planning out your content and taking advantage of the new algorithms on the different platforms to maximize your posts.

Preparing students today for the jobs and skills of the future will require a shift in thinking and possible reskilling for many individuals. According to The Forum, the top 10 skills that will be needed for future job seekers includes critical thinking and problem solving, these two skills top the list, as well as creativity, resilience, technology use, stress tolerance, and flexibility. This future demand means that today’s student needs access to learn about and ample opportunities to apply these skills in real-life contexts.

To help prepare students for future success, Galveston ISD’s Academic Programs for Equity and eXcellence (APEX) seeks to (a) ensure equitable opportunities for all students to engage in theme-based experiential experiences (i.e., coastal studies; environmental sciences; health, medical, and engineering; STREAM); (b) provide opportunities and choice for students to innovate and build confidence through self-empowerment, critical thinking, and problem solving; (c) empower families and give choice to foster student interest; (d) expect that high standards of learning can and will be achieved by all students; and (e) build a community of learners. This is no small feat; however, achieving these program goals is becoming a reality through research-based Unit Design practices.

We’ll provide a brief overview of the research we used for Unit Design, describe how we are engaging teachers and administrators in developing tools and resources to support cross-curricular lesson planning, highlight how community partnerships can take an active role to impact student learning, and share our plan to sustain research-based practices.

The National Institute for Magnet School Leadership is pleased to bring you a preview for a FREE course for magnet theme coordinators and lead teachers to sustain their magnet schools and programs through philanthropic asks via selling your cause.

The eight steps of the Cause Selling Cycle are the foundation of the Fundraising Academy curriculum. These steps walk you through every interaction with potential donors, from prospecting and pre-approach to the ask, and extend to the actions needed after a gift has been made. It’s all about relationships! Learn more about each step below:

• Prospecting: learn how to find qualified donors and determine their propensity to give to your organization.

• Pre-Approach: prepare to make a great first impression by learning more about your prospect and setting up your approach.

• Approach: make a great first impression!

• Need Discovery: ask meaningful questions and practice active listening to build trust and learn key information about your prospect.

• Presentation: communicate your cause and demonstrate your impact, tailored to each prospect.

• Handling Objections: understand and address concerns presented by your prospect to deepen the relationship and remove roadblocks.

• Making the Ask: make your ask with confidence!

• Stewardship: foster loyalty through strong donor stewardship practices and deepen your relationship. Make your donor feel valued.

Three years ago, Lied Middle School was informed we were going to become a STEM magnet school through the MSAP Grant. We used this opportunity and the MSAP funds to completely rebrand the school as Lied STEM Academy, introduce project-based learning, renovate classrooms, build community partners, and become the one of the most sought after, high achieving, innovative schools in Nevada. Learn about the programs we implemented, how we built partnerships, and turned our school around.

Over the past year, students and educators have engaged with each other and with content in different ways from the traditional in-person classroom model. With changes to instructional delivery came new ways of engaging students. One of the biggest take-aways from this experience is the way many students have thrived in an asynchronous learning environment. Providing students the opportunity to own their learning through flexibility of content, leveling, pacing, and method of delivery has helped educators differentiate instruction through choice.

Research has shown consistently over time that “…students who are disengaged in the classroom have poorer academic performance when compared to engaged students.” Learn how educators from across the country are embedding Legends of Learning's over 2,000 standards-aligned math and science games into all types of instructional approaches and how the content provides a seamless path for continuing asynchronous learning for the future.

Game-based learning provides students with highly engaging experiences that allow for differentiation for all types of learning styles, both in the classroom and just for fun at home.

In this session Magnet Coordinators, Magnet Resource Specialists, Teachers and Administrators will explore the process that Middle School 358, a Certified National Demonstration Magnet School in New York City, underwent to make their theme, STEAM Exploration and Experiential Learning, drive race and equity work. Participants will explore how to implement race and equity work with thematic units of study and while delivering transdisciplinary learning. This session will demonstrate the shifts that MS 358 made during the pandemic to transition into remote learning while sustaining the necessary conditions to support curriculum design, race and equity integration and magnet theme implementation. Through an interactive presentation participants will be able to step into a time machine to explore artifacts that illustrate the evolution of MS 358 during the pandemic and it’s journey from a brick and mortar school to a remote and blended learning school. This session will offer a ground level perspective for teachers who are doing the heavy lifting with curriculum, coaching, and leading teacher teams while simultaneously offering school administrators a space to reflect on systems and structures that best support magnet theme implementation and natural entry points for race and equity work. One key takeaway is that all participants will be able to memorialize one next step to find entry points for race and equity work with their magnet theme to further foster a culture of teaching, learning and community at their school.

In this new virtual era, we must learn to engage students with excellence! Online program effectiveness can be achieved, but creating engaging online content is the first step! Join Paradigm Shift as we show you how student learning can be achieved effectively through the virtual medium!

There are varying teacher levels that exist within magnets. While a few are still dipping their toes to check the temperature, others are swimming using floaties, and some are diving in the deep end breaking world records at lightning speed. Like students, educators need personalized professional learning opportunities that help maximize instructional practices and yield greater magnet theme integration. These opportunities provide teachers with essential skills needed that promote student academic excellence. Intentional capacity building for all staff lies at the heart of effective magnet school sustainability, and can even be done in our virtual learning spaces. This session will give practical suggestions on ways to ensure professional learning is authentic and relevant, meeting everyone's needs wherever they are in the pool. Attendees will gain insight on how to take their professional learning to the next level through the use of theme-specific webinars, conferences, and other rich experiences for magnet staff.

One large urban district has a long history of magnet schools, but not until recently did those magnet schools have common and clear expectations of operation. Jefferson County (KY) Public Schools developed district-wide magnet school program standards based on Magnet School of America’s pillars of excellence and implemented those standards in the district’s 52 magnet schools and programs. Learn one district’s process of magnet program standards development, implementation, and evaluation and find out what supports are in place to help magnet schools and programs successfully meet those shared expectations.

At the beginning of 2020-21 school year, Margate decided to start the year with a focus on attending to students’ Social and Emotional needs to help students not only deal with the impact on COVID on their families, schools, and society in general, but also to process the harsh realities of social injustice and racial inequities against the backdrop of a divisive election campaign. Through novel studies for grade level: 6th grade Bud, Not Buddy, dealt with adolescent homelessness, 7th grade Hunger Games, provided a picture of poverty and hunger, and 8th grade Esperanza Rising demonstrated the fight many students face becoming citizens in this country. Students engaged in Project Based Learning, a platform through which they addressed not only the issues, but also homelessness, hunger, and immigration practices by answering the driving question: How can young people foster change in their community?

This school-wide initiative required attending to several factors simultaneously in order to meet the criteria of Gold Standard PBL while adjusting to a new schedule in a full virtual environment:

1. Professional development for teachers unfamiliar with PBL - This we did through PLC and our PBL committee.

2. Accessible resources – video and audio text, discussion questions, etc. The literacy coach & ELA department took the lead in creating a CANVAS Course.

3. Plan – reading the novels through each content area, launching the projects, engaging in rich discussions and providing descriptive feedback, meeting checkpoints deadlines, and project culminating event - Virtual showcase.

The presentation will highlight a research study focused on identifying key strategies utilized in districts that have had success in magnet program implementation and sustainability, particularly those that have included magnet programs in the district's strategic visioning. The aim of the study was designed around developing an in-depth understanding of how K-12 Local Education Agencies (LEAs) implement and sustain magnet programs as part of the public school district's strategic planning process.

Concerns about the impact of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs in American schools are not new. STEM employment in the United States has grown twice as fast as other fields during the last decade and school districts have been encouraged to consider STEM-focused schools to meet this demand. The presenters in this session will discuss STEM magnet programs within 12 traditional high schools and their impact on student academic achievement. This mixed-methods study examined how students who participated in high school STEM magnet programs performed academically as compared to students with the same eligibility criteria not in the magnet programs. Academic performance was measured using grade point average (GPA) and graduation rate and by comparing the number of mathematics and science courses students in a STEM magnet program completed to the number of courses completed by students not participating in a STEM magnet program. Additionally, teachers and administrators shared perceptions of student success factors in STEM magnet programs.

The management of an MSAP grant can be a daunting task! This session will provide attendees with strategies for effective project implementation, including staffing, budget and inventory management, collaborating with external vendors for professional development, student enrichment, and grant evaluation, and MSAP grant monitoring and reporting. Session attendees will have an opportunity to reflect on their own MSAP successes and challenges while exploring practical applications that can be applied in their schools/districts to enhance their MSAP programs. The project management strategies shared in this session will support program sustainability beyond the MSAP grant.

Several years ago, the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO)--an interdistrict integration program based in Massachusetts--embarked upon a journey to reconnect with the program's roughly 10,000 alumni. With access to a handful of spreadsheets, boxes of dot matrix print-outs of class rosters from the 1980s and 1990s, and the help of a local researcher, METCO combed through and digitized decades of files. Today, METCO is managing a growing database of 600+ alumni, with more reaching out to volunteer every day. In this session, METCO will share some of the lessons learned through this process, and highlight which strategies have been most effective in connecting with and engaging alumni (an ongoing process). You'll also learn how METCO has been able to learn about and leverage its alumni base, and why that is important for the program's long-term success.

Are your parents attending the campus based events but are not engaged in the sessions? Is your school looking for partnerships to drive program innovation but not sure where to start? Come discover new and exciting ways to engage your parents while expanding or establishing community partnerships. During this session, you will learn how to create engaging events specifically designed for parents of all backgrounds, while soliciting community partnerships. You will leave with at least 3 parent events with how-to guides on soliciting community partnerships. If you’re not sure how community partnerships can leverage your attendance, student achievement, and increase parent engagement, then this is the session for you!

Magnet Schools have powerful stories to share with their communities but are often tripped up by poor marketing, ineffective communications, and entrenched narratives. In this session Metro Nashville Public Schools will share how they were able to dramatically change the narrative around Magnet Schools, Desegregation, & Public Education by partnering with a local reporter to tell a new story through a new medium - a Podcast.

Through a combination of strategy, messaging, and storytelling, MNPS was able to reach a much broader audience and change the narrative around Public Schools and Magnet Programming.

The session will incorporate powerpoint, audio, and possibly video elements to illustrate how MNPS developed a storytelling partnership and what the key takeaways and transferrable principles are for other districts.

You have built an engaging and effective program. Now all you need are the students to fill those seats! Let us share our marketing, recruitment, and selection practices in our district across our specialized programs, both magnet and dual language immersion. This session will address the timeline for when we start reaching out to families within and outside of the district and how we promote the programs through various tools such as campus tours and advertisements in local media outlets. We will also discuss how we manage thousands of student applications to the different programs and how we conduct the selection process that ultimately leads to enrollment. The recruitment process involves more than just attracting students to the programs. It is about laying the foundation for a long-term relationship with families who you want to retain for many years throughout their children’s education.