Second Equity in Motion: Growing All Students Through High-Quality Assignments

Second Equity in Motion Practitioner Convening - Schedule at a Glance

Using a Framework to Enhance Classroom Assignments: Deep Dive Into Our Assignment Analysis Guide (Literacy or Math)

Our literacy and math assignment analysis guides serve as tools for practitioners to identify trends across multiple assignments, subject areas, and grade levels. In these sessions, participants will learn more about our frameworks and how our analysis guides can be used to enhance assignments back home in their classroom, school, district, or state.

Scaffolding in ELA, Science, and Social Studies Assignments

This session will examine the temporary scaffolding or supports that practitioners can provide for students as they work toward independence. Participants will learn more about different types of scaffolding and how to most effectively use them to refine classroom assignments.

The Role of Choice and Relevancy in Enhancing ELA, Science, and Social Studies Assignments

Relevancy and choice for students can foster autonomy and provide a pathway from the known to the unknown, from the simple to the complex. Participants in this session will learn more about how to incorporate relevancy and choice into their classroom assignments to motivate and engage students.

Discussions as a Tool for Equity and Support

When students engage in rich discussions as part of their ELA, science, and social studies assignments, they are pushed to comprehend more deeply, collaborate with others, and practice what it means to present knowledge and ideas with both credibility and conviction. Participants in this session will examine the importance of both the content and structure of discussions as they refine their classroom assignments.

Promoting Mathematical Communication in Assignments

The classroom tasks students receive directly impact their ability to cultivate the critical skills of reasoning, justification, and argumentation. How can we enhance math assignments that are answer-focused and do not ask students to justify or explain their thinking? Participants in this session will examine various strategies for promoting mathematical understanding through verbal and written communication aligned to Standards of Mathematical Practice 3 and 6.

A Balancing Act: Rigor in Mathematics

Rigor in mathematics is evidenced by the pursuit of conceptual understanding, procedural skill and fluency, and rigorous application of mathematics in real-world contexts — all with equal intensity. Students need to have this balanced repertoire to ensure rigorous learning. Participants in the session will learn to identify and incorporate aspects of rigor into mathematics assignments.

The Role of Choice and Relevancy in Enhancing Math Assignments

Relevancy and choice for students can foster autonomy, strengthen students’ mathematics identities, and provide a pathway to meaningful mathematical engagement. Participants in this session will learn more about what relevancy and choice look like in the contexts of mathematics classrooms and how to incorporate relevancy and choice into their classroom assignments to motivate and engage students.

Supporting Assignment Analysis in Your School, District, or State

School and district leaders play a critical role in supporting teachers as they implement more rigorous college- and career-ready standards. Participants in this session will explore ways in which school structures, resources, and professional development can be leveraged to promote assignment analysis that enhances student learning throughout their school, district, or state.

Literacy Assignment Analysis Guide Overview

This session will repeat the content from the general session, focusing on the Literacy Assignment Analysis Guide. Because participants will select either a literacy or math focus for the general session, this overview will be offered for individuals interested in learning more about the literacy guide, after having attended the math analysis guide general session.

Math Assignment Analysis Guide Overview

This session will repeat the content from the general session, focusing on the Math Assignment Analysis Guide. Because participants will select either a literacy or math focus for the general session, this overview will be offered for individuals interested in learning more about the math guide, after having attended the literacy analysis guide general session.

John B. King Jr.
President and CEO, The Education Trust

John B. King Jr. is the president and CEO of The Education Trust, a national nonprofit organization that seeks to identify and close opportunity and achievement gaps, from preschool through college. King served as the U.S. Secretary of Education from 2016 to 2017 as a member of President Barack Obama’s administration. In tapping him to lead the U.S. Department of Education, President Obama called King “an exceptionally talented educator,” citing his commitment to “preparing every child for success” and his lifelong dedication to education as a teacher, principal, and leader of schools and school systems.

Before becoming education secretary and beginning in January 2015, King carried out the duties of the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education, overseeing all policies and programs related to P-12 education, English learners, special education, and innovation. In this role, King also oversaw the agency’s operations. King joined the department following his tenure as the first African American and Puerto Rican to serve as New York State Education Commissioner, a post he held from 2011 to 2015.

King began his career in education as a high school social studies teacher in Puerto Rico and Boston, Mass., and as a middle school principal.

King’s life story is an extraordinary testament to the transformative power of education. Both of King’s parents were career New York City public school educators, whose example serves as an enduring inspiration. Both of King’s parents passed away from illness by the time he was 12 years old. He credits New York City public school teachers — particularly educators at P.S. 276 in Canarsie and Mark Twain Junior High School in Coney Island — for saving his life by providing him with rich and engaging educational experiences and by giving him hope for the future.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts in government from Harvard University, a J.D. from Yale Law School, as well as a Master of Arts in the teaching of social studies and a doctorate in education from Teachers College at Columbia University. King lives in Takoma Park, Md., with his wife (a former kindergarten and first-grade teacher) and his two daughters, who attend local public schools. You can follow King on Twitter via @JohnBKing.

Lillian M. Lowery
Vice President for P-12 Policy and Practice, The Education Trust

Lillian M. Lowery, Ph.D. serves as Ed Trust’s, vice president for PreK-12 Policy, Research, and Practice, leading Ed Trust ambitious agenda to focus national attention on inequities in public education as well as the actions necessary to close gaps in opportunity and raise achievement.

Most recently, she served as president and CEO of FutureReady Columbus, where she led a commission of representatives from across the Columbus, Ohio, region to focus on college and workforce readiness. Prior to her time in Ohio, she served as the education lead for two states, both as the state superintendent of schools for the Maryland State Board of Education and as the secretary of education for the State of Delaware.

Additionally, she served as superintendent of the Christina School District in New Castle County, Delaware; assistant superintendent in Fairfax County Public Schools in Fairfax County, Virginia; and area administrator for Fort Wayne Community Schools in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She also has school-level experience, having been a high school principal and assistant principal, a minority student achievement mentor, and a secondary English teacher.

Lowery served on several organizational boards, including Delaware State University, EdReports.org, and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Lowery holds a doctorate in education and educational leadership and policy studies from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, a master’s degree in education curriculum and instruction from the University of North Carolina, and a bachelor’s degree in English and secondary education from North Carolina Central University.

John White
Louisiana State Superintendent of Education

John White was named Louisiana State Superintendent of Education in January of 2012. That year he launched Louisiana Believes, the state’s plan to ensure every child is on track to college or a professional career. In the time since, White has worked to unify the state’s fragmented early childhood system, to modernize expectations and curriculum for all students, to professionalize the preparation of educators, to provide pathways to prosperity for all high school graduates, and to provide families with expansive school options irrespective of their financial means.

In 2015, Louisiana 4th grade students made greater gains on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) in reading than those made by any other state. In mathematics, Louisiana 4th graders made the second-highest gains among states.

Since 2012, Louisiana’s high school graduation rate has risen by 5.2 percentage points. More than 6,300 more graduates from the class of 2016 achieved a college-going ACT score than in the class of 2012, and over the last three years, Louisiana is the most improved state on the ACT among states using the ACT as their high school test. Louisiana now ranks third in the South among such states for composite ACT average score.

In 2015, Louisiana was also the nation’s second fastest-improving state on Advanced Placement (AP) tests. The number of Louisiana students earning AP scores qualifying students for college credit has increased by 116 percent since 2012. And the number of Louisiana graduates annually entering college has grown by more than 2,400 over that period, a 12 percent increase.

Prior to being named State Superintendent, White served as Superintendent of the Louisiana Recovery School District, overseeing the nation’s first system of publicly-funded charter and non-public schools in New Orleans and launching the Baton Rouge Achievement Zone.

Prior to moving to Louisiana, White worked in New York City under Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein. While in New York he served as Deputy Chancellor, launching the Innovation Zone, a network of 100 21st Century schools that use technology to personalize student learning, and leading the city’s efforts to turn around more than 100 failing schools and start 500 new charter and district schools.

White previously served as Executive Director of Teach For America – Chicago and Teach For America – New Jersey. He began his career as an English teacher at William L. Dickinson High School in Jersey City, New Jersey.

White received a B.A. in English with distinction from the University of Virginia and a Master’s in Public Administration from New York University. He serves as chairman of the independent non-profit advocacy organization Chiefs for Change and is an Academic Visitor to the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Brooke Haycock
Senior Writer, The Education Trust

A former high school dropout from an urban public school system, Senior Writer Brooke Haycock has been with The Education Trust for more than a decade. Her issue-focused docudramas, based entirely on interviews with students and educators, transform research into performance, exposing the stories behind the data and driving straight to the heart of debate around equity in schools.

Brooke is the author of Ed Trust’s Echoes From the Gap series, and her other off-stage writing —focused on student experiences and message communication in schools — has appeared in Phi Delta Kappan and U.S. News and World Report, and is regularly featured in Ed Trust’s blog, The Equity Line. She holds a bachelor’s degree from The University of California–Santa Barbara and a master’s from Johns Hopkins.

“I really enjoyed the guide, sessions, and the conversations overall. It was great to have enriching dialogue with colleagues from different areas and different positions.” —Teacher and instructional coach.

“It was great to experience such a well-organized, informative, extremely interesting PD. I find myself thinking about assignments all the time now.” —Curriculum expert

“It was one of the best PD sessions I have been to in years!” —Principal leader

“I want to take the guide back to teachers for guided collaboration.” —Principal