A Personal Invitation to the 2020 Aurora Institute Virtual Symposium

And from the neo-liberals…

About Agenda Register Sponsors OCTOBER 26-28, 2020 2020 Virtual Symposium A New Dawn for Every Learner Join Us

A Personal Invitation to the 2020 Aurora Institute Symposium FROM SUSAN PATRICK, AURORA INSTITUTE PRESIDENT AND CEO NEWS Bright Spots of Innovation Attendee registration is now open for the first-ever 2020 Aurora Institute Virtual Symposium. This year’s theme is “A New Dawn for Every Learner.” Over our three days of learning, we will hear multiple snapshots of exemplars of future-focused, equitable student-centered learning. Join us on Oct. 26, 2020, at 12 PM ET for “Bright Spots in Driving Collective Change .” This plenary will feature Susan Patrick, President and CEO of the Aurora Institute; Oscar Santos, Executive Director of the Center for Collaborative Education; and Rachael Stephens, Program Director at National Governors Association. This keynote presentation is about programs and initiatives driving innovations for equity at the local, state, and national levels — to accelerate education systems change. Be inspired by these leaders as they share deep shifts in thinking to create more innovative approaches to address long-standing issues and tackle problems in novel ways. The session will highlight their work and offer snapshots to build knowledge on promising work across the field to support equity-driven, future-focused education. Learn more on the Day 1 Agenda. On Oct. 27, 2020, at 12:15 PM ET, we’ll host “Bright Spots from Personalized, Competency-Based Districts and Schools Across the USA.” In this keynote, you’ll hear from educators who are sharing best practices, supporting and inspiring one another across networks, learning as their journeys continue, and reflecting with each other to expand their student-centered learning designs in new and creative ways. It will feature: Renee Hill, Riverside Unified School District John Clemente, South Bronx Community Charter Kristen Watkins, Dallas Independent School District Dr. Steve Kossakoski, NH VLACS Cory Steiner, Northern Cass Brenda Diaz, Nashville Big Picture High School See more on the Day 2 Agenda. The Symposium will begin at 11 AM Eastern on Monday, October 26. Over three days, attendees will hear keynotes on “Future of Education: Leapfrogging in a Time of Crisis,” “Systems Change: Bright Spots in Key Education Initiatives,” “Lifting Up Best Practices for Quality and Equity—Even During COVID-19,” among others. We will host our ever-popular student panel, as well as several book club events. This virtual convening is intended to provide concentrated, impactful learning and networking opportunities while fitting into attendees’ daily routines. Join us for more than 30 breakout sessions, an in-depth look at innovative learning models, and discussions with our field’s foremost visionaries. Register now.

PEOPLE Meet Day 2 Keynote Speakers Susan Patrick Aurora Institute Renee Hill Riverside Unified School District Dr. Steve Kossakoski VLACS David Ruff Great Schools Partnership John Clemente South Bronx Community Charter High School Cory Steiner Northern Cass School District Javier Guzman Big Picture Learning Kristen Watkins Dallas Independent School District Brenda Diaz Nashville Big Picture High School See Keynotes

AGENDA View Keynotes & Sessions Symposium Highlights Day 1: 11 AM – 3:30 PM ET Keynote Plenary 1: Future of Education: Leapfrogging in a Time of Crisis Plenary 2: Systems Change: Bright Spots in Key K-12 Education Initiatives 8 Breakout Sessions Book Clubs: Meet the Experts with Authors Day 2: 11 AM – 2:30 PM ET Keynote Plenary 1: Lifting Up Best Practices for Quality and Equity—Even During COVID-19 Plenary 2: Bright Spots from Districts and Schools Across the USA 10 Breakout Sessions Day 3: 11 AM – 3:00 PM ET Keynote Plenary 1: Student Panel 16 Breakout Sessions Closing Plenary: Top 10 Trends for the Future of K-12 Education: A Path Forward & Equitable Futures See Full Agenda

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT The Aurora Institute Virtual Symposium is offered complimentary this year.

THE SYMPOSIUM IMPACT Conference in Numbers 112+ SPEAKERS 6 KEYNOTE PLENARIES 30+ BREAKOUT SESSIONS 14 AUTHORS

All Fall Symposium Webinar Series Still in Progress We’ve been hosting a series of more than 30 webinars all fall leading up to our main virtual Symposium convening. They are ongoing and due to popular demand, we will continue to offer this Symposium content throughout the fall. You’re invited to join us. Learn more.

About The mission of the Aurora Institute is to drive the transformation of education systems and accelerate the advancement of breakthrough policies and practices to ensure high-quality learning for all. Follow Us Contact Aurora Institute Symposium Website (888) 956-2265 symposium@aurora-institute.org

The Aurora Institute Symposium was formerly the iNACOL Symposium.

Vendor

An item from K12, Inc. themselves.

If you submit your profile to the School Vendors directory on K12 Academics, we guarantee we will generate over 6,000 visitors to your listing, improve your social media presence and Google Page Ranking. If you submit to this directory we will allow a 2nd free listing to one of the following directories: Camp Vendors, Charter Buses, College Vendors, Educational Publishers, Educational Software, Hotel/Lodging, Library Vendors, Museum Vendors, Office Vendors, Playground Equipment , School Supplies, School Uniforms, Virtual Learning Environment One Year Profile Listing: In State Listing: $250 Regional Listing (2-16 states): $350 Nationwide Listing (17 or more states): $599 Submit your Profile- https://www.k12academics.com/node/add/school-vendors Visit the Directory- https://www.k12academics.com/node/add/school-vendors Example Profile– https://www.k12academics.com/national-directories/school-vendor/high-country-low-voltage We are the best online option: 1) Your profile networks the entire Education Sector: 167,429 Schools (34,576 Private & 132,853 Public); 13,506 School Districts; 5,300 Colleges/Universities; 116,867 Libraries; 35,000 Museums, 12,000 Camps 2) We generate more website traffic than all competing websites. https://www.k12academics.com/K12%20Academics%20vs%20Competitiors/k12-academics-vs-school-vendor-website-competitors 3) Visitors find us first on Google https://www.k12academics.com/K12%20Academics%20Search%20Engine%20Keywords/school-vendor-search-engine-keywords 4) Listing on K12 Academics increases your search engine ranking. 97/100 SEO/DA/PA Score. 5) In 2020 we expect to generate seven million unique visitors, 30 million unique pageviews and 75 million hits. https://www.k12academics.com/website-traffic Benefits: 1- Direct keyword targeting and advertising. 2- Expert profile content analysis. Unlimited text, images, videos included in your profile. 3- Social Media Promotion- Over 40,000 followers. 4- Monthly Newsletter Promotion- Over 35,000 subscribers. 5- Strong SEO footprint- Quality Content, Reputation and Programming. 6- Strong Customer Service. Average response time within the hour. 7- Website recognized/sourced in thousands of Magazines, Journals, Textbooks, Newspapers, Articles, etc. 8- Website traffic over five million unique visitors per year. 9- Largest network of education resource directories on the internet. Our Guarantees 1- Over 6,000 visitors 2- Promote your listing to over 40,000 Social Media followers & 35,000 Newsletter Subscribers 3- Improve your search engine ranking 4- Reach your local audience 5- Targeting your demographics. Profiles Include: 1- Extensive Contact Information listed- Phone, Fax, Email, Address, Website. 2- Up to (5) images – (1) logo and (4) action shots 3- Unlimited Text per Profile 4- Advanced HTML editing. Allows for pictures, videos, links, different text colors and sizes. 5- Tags/Keywords for Social Media and Search Engine ranking. 6- Link to Website and Email Address Total Benefits, Guarantees & Profile Package Details with K12 Academics https://www.k12academics.com/benefits-advertising-k12-academics Site-wide Banners: Our sitewide banners generate 8-25 million impressions and 2,000-12,000 Clicks annually. Banners appear at any time on all 500,000+ pages of our website. Email ad@k12academics.com for more information, or visit the link below. https://www.k12academics.com/k12-academics-affiliates

This message was sent to MKBARBOUR@GMAIL.COM by vendor@k12academics.com PO Box 175, Ambler, PA, 19002

[Webinar] Strategies and Tools for the Next Era of Learning: A Panel Discussion

Note this webinar from the National Repository of Online Courses.

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MEETING LEARNERS WHERE THEY ARE: STRATEGIES AND TOOLS FOR THE NEXT ERA OF LEARNING LIVE WEBINAR | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 12:00 PM PT / 3:00 PM ET Accommodations for the COVID-19 pandemic have converted what was long considered a problem that only accrued to an at-risk subgroup of learners into a problem that affects literally every student—problems of transfer, progression, and readiness are now universal issues. More than ever, educators are considering how to normalize and institutionalize the process of giving every learner the opportunity to ascertain readiness in key areas and continuously revisit and strengthen core skills. With appropriate technological supports, this just-in-time approach can be skillfully deployed and readily scaled to radically improve student engagement, persistence, and success. Join us for a conversation with education thought leaders and secondary and postsecondary practitioners who will weigh in on the strategies and tools that can help us meet learners where they are, now and into the uncertain future. NROC President Dr. Ahrash N. Bissell will facilitate this timely discussion. Are you unable to attend the webinar? Register anyway, and we will send you the recording. PANELISTS DR. KAREN VIGNARE Executive Director of the Personalized Learning Consortium — APLU and Every Learner, Everywhere Project Partner DR. HAE OKIMOTO Associate Vice President of Student Affairs and Director of Academic Technologies, University of Hawai’i System DR. ERIC BAN Managing Director of the Dallas County Promise at The Commit! Partnership REGISTER NOW

The NROC Project is a national nonprofit organization collaborating with secondary, postsecondary, and adult education leaders to develop digital courses and web-based tools that improve college readiness.

NSQ Leadership Team Nominations

Some readers may be interested in making nominations.

The National Standards for Quality (NSQ) provide the K-12 community with an updated set of openly licensed standards (formerly iNACOL standards) to help evaluate and improve online courses, online teaching, and online programs. Dear Michael Thank you for being such a valued contributor to the National Standards for Quality Online Learning! Your efforts continue to make a difference for educators across the world, especially during these tumultuous times. We want to take a moment to especially thank the members of the NSQ Leadership Team. These educators have worked behind the scenes to help guide our work, and we could not be more thankful for their leadership, thoughtful input and decision making. 2021 will hopefully bring with it some new changes, along with exciting challenges. For a few of our Leadership Team members, this means retirement, changing positions, and new endeavors. Because of this, we are currently accepting nominations for four open spots on the team.  There are 15 members of the Leadership Team and all have substantial experience in the field of distance learning. These may include K-12 and higher education, public and private schools, non-governmental organizations, the educational publishing community, etc. The members are responsible for, among other things, advising on the work of the National Standards for Quality Online Learning, reviewing new and revised NSQ policies, initiatives, and projects, for example, revision timelines, and the development of new resources, advocating for and networking on behalf of the NSQ, disseminating information about NSQ, and serving on subcommittees and task forces as needed. The Leadership Team meets online monthly or quarterly depending on the project scope for the upcoming year, and members must be available to attend and participate actively in a majority of meetings. If you are interested in leading the work of the National Standards for Quality Online Learning, or know a colleague who would be a good fit, we hope that you will fill out a nomination form. Nominations are due by November 10, 2020, and self-nominations are welcome. If you have any questions, using the contact information below. We look forward to reading your nominations! Christine Voelker (cvoelker@qualitymatters.org) and Cindy Hamblin (chamblin@k12vls.org) NSQ Program Managers Contact Us

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NCVirtual E-lert for October 19 (Next Progress Report Posts on Oct. 22)

A newsletter from a US-based K-12 online learning program.

October 19, 2020 Greetings, everyone! We will post a new progress report on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020. We have details below on the report’s comment section, where you will find important details from teachers, including AP Join Codes. We also have another amazing week of presenters in our Iwork speaker series. Sessions are free, and all your students are invited. See all the details below, and please forward this e-lert to any stakeholders who may need it. They can subscribe here. Trending Updates Canvas Update – NCVirtual is still working with Canvas engineers to resolve its platform issues. Canvas performed a maintenance event that negatively impacted the integration we use to provide our course notes. This impact is being felt across the country by schools that use this integration. This issue must be resolved by the Canvas engineers. Until Canvas fixes the issue, we are doing the following: Our instructional team is working with teachers to provide a workaround until Canvas resolves the issue. Teachers will provide flexibility on assignment due dates. Teachers will provide an extension for students enrolled in Early Start 1st 9-week Health and Early Start 1st 9 week PE courses that were scheduled to conclude today (Oct. 13th). October 22 Progress Report – In our next progress report, our AP teachers will post their AP Join Codes in the comments section of the report. See our previous announcement for full details on the process for online students registering for the AP exams. Teachers in all classes will post steps students need to take to improve their grades and specific data (parent contact information, IEP modifications, etc.) that they need from schools. Guide for Parents and Mentors – Are your students working from home? If so, they may benefit from our Guide for Parents and Mentors. Try to get this document into their hands. Many parents want to help, but they aren’t sure how. Iwork Speaker Series – NCVirtual and NC Career Connections have a great line-up of guest speakers this week. From October 19-23, we are proud to bring you four events. Sessions focus on different job sectors and preparing for the workforce. See the events and registration on our Iwork page. All the past Iwork sessions are archived on the page, and you can stream them at any time. Please share with your students and anyone who would be interested. It’s going to be a fantastic week, plus we have more coming next week! Teacher Online Training Course – Prepare your teachers for success in the online learning environment. Visit our Teacher Online Training page for details and registration. The course is free! Semester Success with NCVPS – Students are registered, now what? We’re glad you asked! We have a webpage just for that. Visit our Semester Success page to see how you can support your students. Enrollment Options Transfer Students – We can accept transfer students after regular enrollment has ended. Transfer students must be enrolled in the class at the face-to-face school, have instructional time with a teacher, and have a passing grade to transfer in with. We must also have an available seat in the course to accommodate the transfer. Contact the Virtual Support Center to transfer students. Be sure to include the following in your ticket: student’s name PowerSchool ID# school name transfer grade course needed any student details that can help the NCVPS teacher Transfer options will remain open through midterms each semester. OCS Enrollments – We can still enroll OCS students into existing sections. We can’t open new OCS sections for schools, though. Spring Semester – Enrollment is still open for Spring 2021. We have a lot of capacity in our spring courses. Your students may temporarily land on a waitlist until we begin opening new sections. Flex Enrollments – Our Flex Learning enrollment option is available for students who have special circumstances or in an emergency situation. Visit our Flex Learning page to see if this option is right for your student’s situation. Student Spotlight Matthew S. “Taking a class with NCVPS was new, and interesting. I felt a contrast between regular classes and my NCVPS class.” –Matthew S. “Matthew is a middle school student taking Earth and Environmental Science. He takes each challenge and makes a really fine product with each assignment. His innovative use of Tweets for a recent project was fun to read as he covered every requirement in a colorful, interesting, and amusing way.” – Kella Randolph, NCVPS Teacher Current Reporting What Grades Are Currently Posted? Oct. 15 – Final Grades Posted for Early Start 1st Session Health and Early Start 1st Session P.E. What’s Next on the Schedule? Oct. 22 – Progress Reports Posted in the NCVirtual Registration System Reporting Overview See our Grades and Testing Quick Reference Guide for an overview of our reporting. We have details on our Student Status (No-Show) Reports, Progress Reports, Final Grade Reports, and how we calculate grades. Progress Report Action Steps What should your action steps be with our progress reports? We’re glad you asked! Here are a few steps you can take. Access the Report – Progress reports are posted in the NCVPS registration system. See our Guide for Accessing Grade Reports for details. Schools have access to our posted progress reports. Parents, facilitators, and mentors can use the Canvas App for Parents to monitor student progress. Schools should check the following two items on every progress report: Check Student Progress – If you have any underperforming students, we have several supports ready for you. Students have time to improve their grades, but they should start immediately. Please review the following supports. Check Teacher Comments – Our teachers will request data that they need from school, like parent contact information and IEP/504 modifications. They may need the school to contact the student if the student has stopped logging into the course and does not respond to teacher communications. We have several levels of support for students. Student Help Page – If students are having any problems at all aren’t sure where to find help, they should visit our Student Help page. They are never more than two clicks away from help! Peer Tutoring Center – Do not let this resource go unutilized for any student who needs help. There is a link to the Peer Tutoring Center in every course. Teacher Communications – Students do not always advocate for themselves very well. Go ahead and reach out to the NCVirtual teacher to see if adjustments can be made for struggling students. Our teachers are eager to help. Intervention Strategies – NCVirtual has a list of intervention strategies for districts and schools to follow. These are good for any low-performing, under-performing, or at-risk students. Visit our Intervention Strategies page for details. Guide for Parents and Mentors – Most students have someone who wants to help them. It might be a parent, other relative, friend, minister, coach, or mentor, but they don’t know how to help. Try to get our Guide for Parents and Mentors into their hands. It might be the exact kind of help your student needs. Virtual Support Center – If you have a complicated support question or problem and don’t know where to start, open Virtual Support Center ticket. We will escalate your ticket to the right person. Be sure to include the student’s name, PowerSchool ID number, and your school name. If your ticket is about a specific course, please include the course name and teacher name. Digital Transition Webinar Series Our Digital Transition webinar series is back! We have a great set of experienced online teachers lined up to bring you a webinar series with a variety of topics that will help you in your remote instruction and online learning environments. Here’s our schedule for this week: Stakeholders On Board: Ways to Effectively Communicate with Each Student Team – Tuesday, October 20, 7:00 PM Gaining the trust and support of the team of caregivers for each student is more important now than ever. Join us to explore proven techniques to establish and maintain communication with stakeholders in an online environment. Presenter: Laurie Sloan, NCVPS Partnership Program Instructional Leader and AP Art History and Art of Fashion Instructor Tips and Strategies for Teaching Science Online – Thursday, October 22, 7:00 PM From labs to data analysis to science content, join us to explore ways to make science teaching work online. Presenter: Jeni Day, NCVPS Chemistry Teacher and Professional Development Specialist Lead Visit our Digital Transition page to register and browse our playlist of previous webinars. Daily Office Hours The Outreach and Support team has office hours to Monday-Friday from noon to 1 p.m. Anyone can join, and we have breakout rooms ready if needed. Visit our Lunch with NCVirtual page for details and the link to join us in our online room. Help NCVirtual is a support organization, and we are here to help! Check out our guides and support pages below. Printable Guides 2020-2021 Academic Year Guide Student Help Page Quick Reference Guides YouTube How-To Guides Virtual Support Center (Be sure to create an account before you submit your first ticket.) THANKS, EVERYONE! Your North Carolina students appreciate your dedication and hard work! View as Webpage | Subscribe  ‌  ‌  ‌

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