CCSA to Host Its First All-Virtual Conference from March 15-19, 2021
LOS ANGELES, CA – Next week, March 15-19, 2021, more than 1700 charter public school teachers, leaders, and supporters in the state and across the U.S will attend the 2021 California Charter Schools Virtual Conference. The California Charter Schools Association (CCSA) will hold the conference via a cutting-edge online platform allowing attendees from across the state and nation to engage with each other and learn from education experts and leaders amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In the past year, nonprofit charter public schools have stepped-up to meet the challenges when schools shut down due to a global pandemic by offering high-quality education through virtual learning and adapting to an unforeseen environment,” said Myrna Castrejón, president and CEO of CCSA. "This year's conference will reflect what we have learned through this crisis to emerge stronger than ever."
Keynote speakers at the conference include Lacey Robinson, president and CEO of UnboundEd, and author and activist Jonathan Mooney, one of the foremost leaders in LD/ADHD, disabilities, and alternative education.
Attendees will have the opportunity to attend more than 150 breakout sessions over five days, with urgent topics including mitigating learning loss, COVID-19 requirements for in-person instruction, and bridging the digital divide. As this conference is being held virtually, conference attendees will also be able to view recorded sessions after the event has occurred.
In addition, the conference will have a virtual exhibit hall with vendors and service providers offering the latest programs and products to help charter school educators meet the unique needs of each and every student.
A complete breakdown of breakout session topics and times can be found at: https://charterconference.org/2021/program/search/
Media interested in attending the conference can obtain a login by contacting [email protected].
The following is a list of key events taking place throughout conference week:
Monday, March 15
9 AM – 5 PM: Breakout Sessions
Urgent topic sessions:
- Serving the Most Vulnerable: Supporting Homeless and Foster Youth – Learn how to attract, identify, and retain homeless and foster youth and the staff who support them from the leadership of Santa Ana’s Scholarship Prep Charter School.
- Setting Up an Interactive Hybrid Classroom – A teaching and learning consultant with 15-years of educational experience shares her experience with hybrid learning.
- Respond, Adapt, Reinvent: Strategic Planning in a Pandemic – Join peers and K-12 experts as we review the essential steps of strategic planning and share exercises and templates to help you navigate near- and long-term changes and seize the opportunity to innovate.
1 PM – 2 PM: General Session, Keynote Speaker Jonathan Mooney
Tuesday, March 16
9 AM – 5 PM: Breakout Sessions
Urgent topic sessions:
- Every day, Every lesson: Social-Emotional Learning in Virtual Classrooms – Attendees will learn a framework teaching for Social-Emotional Learning (SEL), especially in a virtual learning environment, as well as specific lessons and strategies to differentiate and support students’ SEL development.
- Planning for and Recovering from a Disaster – Charter Leaders from Butte County will share lessons learned from their experience recovering from the Paradise Camp Fire that destroyed the town of Paradise displacing all 6 charter schools. Attendees will learn how to put systems in place before a disaster, and what steps to take to recover after a disaster, including funding sources, mental health and communication strategies.
Wednesday, March 17
9 AM – 1 PM: Breakout Sessions
Urgent topic sessions:
- Mental Health, Suicide Prevention and Awareness – Candace Yoder, Executive Director of the Matthew Silverman Memorial Foundation will educate attendees on youth mental health and suicide awareness and prevention methods through lived experience, data, and research.
- What works online? Lessons from 20 charters about online teaching – Charter principals, networked via a UC Berkeley learning community, will present what's worked to engage diverse students online, along with impediments to student and teacher motivation
1 PM – 2 PM: General Session, Keynote Speaker Myrna Castrejón
Thursday, March 18
9 AM – 4:30 PM: Breakout Sessions
Urgent topic sessions:
- Going the Distance: How schools are updating programs for the hybrid era – This session will analyze seven schools’ data collection and how they are succeeding at translating data collection into actionable steps that can be used to increase student learning.
- Are the Kids Alright? Listening to Learn Through a Pandemic – This session shares findings from a national project that asked students from 166 schools about life and learning during Spring 2020’s school closures and again in the Fall and explores students’ perceptions before/during the pandemic surfacing actionable insights for creating a school culture that propels all students’ academic growth and social-emotional development.
- Moving your Zoomers to Roomers: Success and Lessons Learned in Returning to Campus During COVID – Three seasoned charter school leaders who have successfully returned to campus and are providing hybrid, cohorted, in-person, and distance learning models will discuss their lessons learned.
Friday, March 19
9 AM – 1 PM: Breakout Sessions
Urgent topic sessions:
- A Case Study: One School’s Roadmap to Academic Excellence Pre & Post Covid – Leaders from Los Angeles’s Alliance Ouchi-O'Donovan 6-12 Complex discuss their instructional coaching model that puts data, high-quality lesson plans and regular feedback to teachers to the forefront and the role school leaders and teachers have in tracking and using data to monitor student progress.
- Leading Schools for Racial and Social Justice #4Real – This session addresses the root causes of student inequities and social injustice so schools can create the foundation of an action plan on how to recognize and dismantle systemic racism and increase student outcomes.
1 PM – 2 PM: General Session, Keynote Speaker Lacey Robinson