The VT Principals’ Association (VPA) and the VT-HEC will be partnering for the 2nd year in a row on the VPA’s 2013 Leadership Academy to be held July 29 – August 1, 2013 at the Killington Grand Resort. For this Academy, the VT-HEC will first present a day with Chris Jernstedt and Bill Rich in a special pre-institute event on July 29. Bill and Chris will again introduce the latest from the research on the brain and learning and show ways these findings can be applied in the classroom. Chris has been a researcher and professor at Dartmouth for many years while Bill has been a teacher, teacher trainer and coach who has worked at applying these principles in many VT schools.
In addition, the VT-HEC, through its TASS program (Teaching All Secondary Students), will design a special strand for the Leadership Academy that will center on what leaders can do to ensure the principles of neuroscience are applied school-wide . This strand will focus on the leadership and systems necessary to create a culture of ongoing improvement and learning for all staff and students by utilizing the principles of education neuroscience in a standard-based learning model to achieve 21st century skills for all. Bill Rich and Val Gardner are slated to be the instructors of this strand. Val, who was the long-time principal of CVU, has been working as a leadership consultant and graduate instructor. Together with Bill, they now work with other experts in TASS to support middle and high schools in VT in their efforts to ensure better outcomes for all students.
Separately, these will be two exciting events, but taken together, these events will present the full continuum from research to practice: from the principles of how people learn that are being derived from today’s research, to the practical design of learning opportunities and assessments using these principles in the classroom, to the leadership, culture and systems needed to implement these principles in the context of the Common Core to transform learning for all students.
