2024 Great Ideas in Education Conference

Mark Tallman, a researcher and writer for the Kansas Association of School Boards, developed a system to compare school district performance on state outcomes with how that district would be expected to perform based on its percentage of low-income students plus students with disabilities and enrollment size. He then identified districts performing significantly better than expected based on these characteristics.

Over the past two years, he visited 40 high achieving districts and schools and talked with about 300 administrators, teachers, school board members, students, parents, and community members to ask how they are getting either high results or making significant progress. He will share the process and what he learned from these districts.

Mark Tallman, a researcher and writer for the Kansas Association of School Boards, developed a system to compare school district performance on state outcomes with how that district would be expected to perform based on its percentage of low-income students plus students with disabilities and enrollment size. He then identified districts performing significantly better than expected based on these characteristics.

Over the past two years, he visited 40 high achieving districts and schools and talked with about 300 administrators, teachers, school board members, students, parents, and community members to ask how they are getting either high results or making significant progress. He will share the process and what he learned from these districts.

Students and teachers are rapidly engaging with artificial intelligence tools for use in classroom environments, challenging the boundaries of current building and district policy in many cases. This session is intended primarily for district and building leadership to discuss effective policy, guidelines, and best practices for addressing advanced technology, particularly artificial intelligence tools, in Kansas K-12 academic environments. During the session the current state and capability of available tools will be outlined, and presenters will share activities in other states across the nation as well as where to find guidance from multiple national organizations. Current experiences in some Kansas districts will be described. A significant portion of the session will be allotted to discussion of attendees’ key concerns.