Summits on Evidence-based Education
The Wing Institute sponsored Summits are designed to facilitate communication, collaboration, and cooperation among education stakeholders across the nation who have experience with, and interest in, evidence-based education. Each Summit is built around a specific topic chosen for its importance to the field and relevance to real-life, real-time situations. With each topic, participants work together to analyze and synthesize the research and best practices, review common practices in the education system, and make recommendations for future actions at a policy level.
Each Summit produces presentations, publications and occasional commentaries from the participants.
The First Annual Summit on Evidence-based Education April 27, 2006 Oakland, CA
“The Evidence-based Education Roadmap: Bridging the Research to Practice Gap”
The Roadmap identifies four critical components of evidence-based education: efficacy, effectiveness, implementation, and sustainability. The First Annual Summit used this model to review: (1) the roles and responsibilities of researchers and practitioners when translating research to practice, (2) the need for evidence when implementing multi-tiered systems interventions (PBIS) into schools, and (3) the policy contingencies when using evidence to develop state-wide alternative assessment models in special education.
The Second Annual Summit on Evidence-based Education April 26, 2007 Berkeley, CA
“Response to Intervention (RtI): An Evidence-Based education Review”
RtI is gaining momentum across the nation as multi-tiered instructional framework for data-based early intervention and services. The Second Annual Summit provided an overview on the latest research and developments in RtI, examined RtI in the context of the Evidence-based Education Roadmap, identified critical variables for the successful implementation of RtI, and generated recommendations regarding use of RtI in “real-life” settings.
The Third Annual Summit on Evidence-based Education April 24, 2008 Berkeley, CA
“Sustainability: Implementing Programs that Survive 100 Years”
As evidence-based education advances, little attention has been paid to the science of “implementation and sustainability”. Consequently, many research validated interventions fail when implemented poorly in community settings. Those that don’t fail immediately, often fail to “sustain” over time. The Third Annual Summit examined the evidence regarding sustainable implementation, obstacles to implementing these best practices, and strategies for overcoming these obstacles.
The Fourth Annual Summit on Evidence-based Education April 23, 2009 Berkeley, CA
“Data-Based Decision Making: The Achilles Heel of Evidence-based Education”
The success of evidence-based education hinges on effective performance monitoring and accurate data-based decision making at all levels (student, staff and system). The Fourth Annual Summit focused on identifying the most critical data to collect, addressing technical and staff performance issues when collecting data, and decision making models that address the complexities of environments of imperfect evidence and avoiding common sources of error.
The Fifth Annual Summit on Evidence-based Education April 22, 2010 Berkeley, CA
“Education at the Crossroads: The State of Teacher Preparation”
Recent evidence suggests that most new teachers are not prepared for the demands of the classroom. The Fifth Annual Summit provided a review of the latest research and exemplars regarding teacher preparation and support, including: review of skills critical for effective teaching, the current status of teacher preparatory programs in this context, and the critical functions of teacher induction and retention.
The Sixth Annual Summit on Evidence-based Education April 21, 2011 Berkeley, CA
“Performance Feedback: Using Data to Improve Educator Performance”
In the climate of modern education reform much emphasis has been placed on accountability. The implicit assumption is that accountability data alone will influence the way in which educators do their work. If data are to be effective at influencing performance it has to be part of a performance feedback system that identifies not only important outcomes (i.e., student performance) but also those educator behaviors that are related to student outcomes. The Sixth Annual Summit reviewed best practices and exemplar models for educator performance feedback.
The Seventh Annual Summit on Evidence-based Education April 26, 2012 Berkeley, CA
“Building and Sustaining An Effective School Culture: Supporting Educator and Student Success”
Despite significant investments of time, money, and human resources, recent efforts at school turnarounds have had poor results. Too often such efforts fail because they did not take into account the complexities, contingencies, interactivity and resilience of existing school cultures. The Seventh Annual Summit examined the critical role of school culture in improving school performance, strategies from successful school turnarounds, and lessons learned from the private sector.
The Eighth Annual Summit on Evidence-based Education April 25-26, 2013 Berkeley, CA
“Leverage Points for Improving Teacher Effectiveness”
Of all of the factors in education, research shows that teachers have the single greatest impact on student performance. Yet there is significant disagreement in the field regarding what makes an effective teacher. Additionally, there is a significant gap between evidence-based instruction strategies and what is being taught in many teacher preparation programs and on-the job professional development model. The Eighth Annual Summit focused on the following questions: What are evidence-based effective teaching strategies? How can we best assess teacher performance? How can we best teach / support these skills learned from the private sector.
The Ninth Annual Summit on Evidence-based Education April 24-25, 2014 Berkeley, CA
“Adopting Evidence-based Practices in Education: Bridging the Culture Gaps”
There are fundamental disagreements in our society regarding virtually every aspect of education (theory, pedagogy, accountability, performance, governance, etc.). The Ninth Annual Summit examined the research on culture change (social influence, persuasion, communication, language, etc.) in order to identify strategies for building consensus among the different views.
The Tenth Annual Summit on Evidence-based Education April 23-24, 2015 Berkeley, CA
“Effective School Leadership: A Cornerstone for Improving Student Performance”
Second only to teaching, school leadership is the most important school-related factor in influencing student performance. Yet, there has been little progress in improving the quality of school leadership in K-12 education. The Tenth Annual Summit examined best practices in principal recruitment, selection, training, evaluation and support and developed recommendations for improvement.