I was impressed by Mississippi State Superintendent Hank Bounds. He started his presentation with a wakeup call to the calamity of high school dropout rates. [I think this is a much overlooked statistic that is an indictment of the current state of failure of K-12 education.] He then proceeded with a gutsy presentation of data that showed a disparity of achievement between various student populations (by ethnicity, SES, ELL, etc.). Those statistics painted a clear picture that we are not adequately serving “all” studnets. He called on all of us to recognize that a drastic CHANGE is necessary.

Bounds also said that principals must be “instructional leaders,” helping teachers know how to do their jobs better. [This is an area I feel strongly about, yet many principals view their job as overseeing discipline and sports. Shouldn’t curriculum and instruction be the primary concern of everyone in education?]

Finally, I liked Dr. Reeves comments about the school trophy case. He identified that as a place where kids see what is important to a school. It should include things like writing samples, academic awards, and other exemplars of academic achievement.

I was also impressed with the role technology can play in adapting instruction to a variety of learner needs.