Feedback from
Beating the Odds Conference 2018

 

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The best thing about the conference was ...

Collaborating with others. Hearing things being done in other buildings. More options for 6-12, though you can adapt.
Seeing districts have success in changing the culture and climate of their building to help students success!
Having time to listen to other leaders, their methods, challenges and input.
Idea sharing, meeting colleagues, different strategies and viewpoints, getting out of the building and networking with others
Interacting with school administrators and seeing what works in their buildings.
The break out sessions where we heard from building leaders in charge of schools that are moving forward.
Collaboration
The mash-up, hash-out. It was great to hear the successes and challenges being faced by colleagues throughout the state.
Clear presentation of data with identifiable steps that can move students
The opportunity to discuss the impact of poverty with other "like" districts. Sharing ideas with others.
I enjoyed the topics: DTI/Support strategies which were research based. DLC.
Having the chance to listen to admins who are making changes in their buildings for ED students.
The opportunity to collaborate with other leaders and teachers from other districts
Meeting like-minded folks … "I found my people." Learning from their collective wisdom. Meeting.
Meeting new people, learning new ideas, learning that what I have been thinking about is being taught by others.
A variety of presentation choices
Hearing how schools are addressing the issues of poverty in the school community. Also, how creating a culture of caring and support and data-driven target goals makes a difference
Opportunity to experience presented research on academic progress and poverty, opportunity to participate and listen to relevant break-out sessions. Opportunity to share with afternoon breakout group.
I can take information back to district and implement it right away!
Hearing all the great work being done in rough poverty districts, good pace of content, active learning of content, building communities with other educators.
Opportunity to collaborate with colleagues. Poverty and student achievement data example of schools that succeed despite economic disadvantages.
Collaboration with many different levels of educators on strategies to improve instruction for students in poverty
Hearing and learning from change makers that turned their school districts around.
It was a nice change from other PD to meet with people from across the state and hear what other people are going through (struggles, successes, projects, etc.)
Hearing the innovated things happening on the K-12 level to prepare the students for accademic success.
Collaborating with other administrators.
Sharing of ideas and struggles, passion of the educators.
Networking with other districts
Leaving with tangible ideas that I can immediately use to enhance student instruction at my school.
The real school/district perspectives and activities that were shared. Time to talk to districts that are not in the same BOCES.
Flow of day from small group to large.
Nice breakout sessions

For future conferences, I suggest ...

More time to talk with others about their experiences.
Focus on mental health/mindfulness, climate-building buy-in, Balancing student centered community with taking care of staff.
Shorter lunch
More workshop opportunities - Q&A with those principals.
Continued statewide Data on more specifics
Be more explicit about the daily agenda - I know it was emailed but it was not included in the conference handouts.
A wider variety of sessions - maybe 3 rotations and not so much time doing the small group table talk.
More breakout/mash-up sessions where people can collaborate
Perhaps a High School Student to talk about the impact of their experiences/success. Student voice.
More time for Q&A in breakouts
Continued opportunities to hear from schools who are experiencing success around initiatives to improve student achievement.
A little warmer :)
more practical strategies for improving student academic/achievement outcomes
More time with presenters and presentation for Q&A at the end of the conference.
Possibly a longer day so you could get to more sessions or all presentations sent out to everyone via email so you could get the info that you missed.
I would love to hear about some High School strategies and innovation for students in poverty.
Invite/make available secondary presenters.
Changing culture of "they can't"; courageous conversations; more on best practices ELL
H.S. Focus - more on secondary.
More unstructured time to share ideas with a facilitator to guide the conversation in a positive direction.
Strategic sessions for urban vs. Rural populations.
1 additional small session after lunch before whole session.
Continue with breakout sessions but allow more time for questions or discussion with those attending.

My thoughts on the format of breakouts and Mash-up/Hash-out sessions are ...

I thought they worked well.
Useful
Nice variety of presenters/topics
Enjoyed the breakout formats. Would enjoy visiting all of the presenters.
Very productive to learn from other educators and not be talked at
I think the sessions could be even more open-ended allowing the participants to define the topics for discussion.
Break-outs were effective and well presented
Thank you for your organization and hard work, Manya!
I loved the format.
I enjoyed the opportunity to talk to like-minded educators.
I enjoyed talking with these professionals; I learned so much from the round-table discussions and casual conversations.
I really enjoyed the breakouts as they were intimate and easy to converse and share ideas.
I really enjoyed the layout of the day. I found the break-out sessions engaging.
Good! Digestiable. Enjoyed mash-up, hash-out.
The format of breakouts was beautiful - hearing from others in the field.
I liked the discussions on the five identified topics pertaining to how to assist students of poverty
Very well organized! Thank you!
Thought they were good to hear what other people are doing. How do we get powerpoints from them all?
I thought the format was great.
Well designed.
Great conversation, the conversation was valuable and ideas flowed easily.
Excellent. More like this is important.
I like the ability to choose the topics that will be most beneficial.
Good - an agenda with time schedule would be helpful.
Good, a very focused on a central topic.
Went well

Download the powerpoint from Manya’s Keynote Presentation here