Dr. Douglas Reeves Ph.D

Making Standards Work

Topics by Dr. Douglas Reeves:

Doing the Right Things, Right Now

With ground-breaking new research, Dr. Douglas Reeves provides a highly interactive experience for every participant that reveals the essentials of leadership focus. This keynote address will first consider the moral imperatives linking research and practice. Then, using research from thousands of schools in an international study, participants will consider the essentials of focus, monitoring, and efficacy – the factors that are most strongly associated with improved student achievement. Finally, Dr. Reeves will address the latest research on change leadership and sustainability, along with the standards of evidence that teachers, administrators, and educational policymakers should consider when implementing high-impact educational strategies

Leadership and Learning 2011

“Dr. Douglas Reeves brings his latest research and practice to this presentation, including his two newest books, The Elements of Grading and Assessing 21st Century Skills, both published by Solution Tree, and Finding Your Leadership Focus, published by Teachers College Press of Columbia University. Participants will learn:

• How to move a system from “frazzled” to “focused” ? How to establish the “Constellation of Practices” that link leadership to learning
• How to develop “Symbiotic Leadership” with contributions by teachers, parents, and
  students
• The latest practices of 90/90/90 and 100/100/100 schools
• How to avoid micromanagement and establish leadership boundaries
• Getting Ready for the Common Core Standards

Getting Ready for the Common Core: What Teachers and Administrators Can Do Right

Now Description: In this keynote presentation, Dr. Douglas Reeves provides a roadmap for teachers, administrators, district leaders, and educational policymakers at the district and state levels to help them implement the Common Core State Standards. The central argument of this presentation is, “Don’t wait for Washington to tell you what to do.” Teachers and administrators can take effective action now that will both improve performance on current state assessments and help prepare students and teachers for the Common Core. Participants will explore the following themes:

• Lessons from the past – what states and schools got right – and wrong – in implementing standards
• Finding common ground – reducing stress and anxiety among teachers by exploring common elements of standards
• Making standards work – transforming Common Core Standards into engaging classroom learning activities
• Assessing the Common Core – implementations for classroom, school, and district assessments
• The moral imperative – why the Common Core is the right thing to do
• Research-based teaching and leadership strategies
• Monitoring implementation of the Common Core

Constructive Alternatives for Educational Leaders (alt. title: “Getting Accountability Right: How to Improve Student Achievement and Improve Staff Morale With Constructive Accountability Systems)

Dr. Douglas Reeves, the creator of Holistic Accountability, provides cutting edge research and innovative ideas for transforming school accountability. “Accountability is more than test scores,” Dr. Reeves argues. With a compelling mix of evidence, case studies, and humor, he makes the case that accountability can be a constructive force in education only if we consider the “antecedents of excellence”—those indicators in teaching, curriculum, and leadership that are related to student achievement. “No child in any school will be more accountable than the teachers, leaders, and policy makers who bear responsibility for the system,” Reeves concludes.

Assessing 21st Century Skills

Description: In his new keynote presentation, Dr. Douglas Reeves challenges educators and administrators to consider the profound changes that are essential to assess 21st Century Skills. “Everyone talks about the need for 21st Century Skills,” Reeves contends, “but too many assessments are indistinguishable from those that were administered fifty years ago – or for that matter, 100 years ao. If we really want 21st Century learning, then we need 21st Century assessment.” There are three fundamental shifts, Dr. Reeves suggests, that must take place. The first is a shift from standardized to authentic assessment. If we expect students to perform authentic tasks, then the conditions of assessment must be variable, not standardized. The second is that assessments must be open, not secret. The century-long tradition of secret assessments is based upon surprise and ambiguity, Reeves argues, along with distorted notions of fairness – that is, an assessment is only fair if it is secret. In fact, the global best practices in assessment include assessments where students not only know about the questions, but have contributed to the creation of test questions. Third, we must shift from assessments that are exclusively of the individual to a combination of team and individual assessments. While businesses, governments, nonprofit organizations, and educational institution extol the virtues of teamwork and collaboration, they continue to rely on assessments that are almost exclusively based on individual work. Dr. Reeves suggests that 21st Century assessment must include a rigorous and comprehensive consideration of teamwork and collaboration. Equipped with new evidence from his latest 2010 publications, Dr. Reeves will provide his usual blend of humor, evidence, and interactivity in order to bring relevance and practical application to every participant.

Sample Client Schedule

7:00 AM – 8:00 AM: Leadership Breakfast: An informal chat with your client’s district and/or community leadership and Dr. Reeves

8:30 AM-10:15 AM: General Session Keynote Presentation

10:30 AM – 11:30 AM: Follow-up/Q&A

Email this page to your colleagues