The Agenda for AAPF16 will be announced soon.


2015 agenda

The 4th Annual Alternative Accountability Policy Forum provided another excellent summit that encompassed accountability policies, partnership development to support re-engagement, instructional strategies for at-promise students, and ways to produce and use relevant data.

All meetings, meals, and receptions were held at the conference hotel, the Coronado Island Marriott Resort & Spa. Learn more about the Location.

Download the full Agenda

Session Evaluations

WestEd Report on AAPF 2014.

Sunday, November 15

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5:00 - 6:00 pm
Welcome Reception
Coronado Ballroom Foyer
Graciously Sponsored by Coronado Island Marriott Resort & Spa and Learn4Life

Monday, November 16

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 7:00 am 
Registration
Coronado Ballroom Foyer

7:00 - 8:00 am
Breakfast
Coronado Ballroom

8:00 - 9:00 am
General Session
Coronado Ballroom

Welcome: Dr. Linda Dawson, SIATech, Inc.

Keynote Speaker: Assembly Member Eduardo Garcia
The Honorable Eduardo Garcia represents the Coachella Valley in the California State Assembly. He serves as Chairman of the Committee on Jobs, Economic Development, and the Economy, and is a member of the Select Committee on Boys and Men of Color and author of California’s Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) conformity legislation.


9:15 - 10:15 am
Breakout Sessions I

Engagement is Key with OU Students
Presenter: Bob Rath, Our Piece of the Pie, Connecticut
Room: Coronado Ballroom A
Learn about a model that integrates a relationship centered approach with three fields of practice, education, workforce development and youth development. Participate in a discussion exploring the markers for engagement. #AAPF15Engage
View Presentation: Engagement is Key with OU Students

LeaderSHIFT: The EQ Factor in Extraordinary Leadership 
Presenter: Joelle Hood
Room: Coronado Ballroom B
It takes more than content knowledge and IQ to be a leader who motivates and inspires a team to achieve things they never thought possible.  Learn the research behind emotional intelligence and why it is critical to leaders both as individuals and to the groups that they lead. Participate in experiential learning activities designed to strengthen these skills within yourself and your school or organization. Walk away with new strategies, skills, and activities to practice on your own and utilize with your own staff.  #AAPF15EQ
View Presentation: LeaderSHIFT: The EQ Factor

SIATech’s Individual Pupil Growth Model
Presenter: Kris Mallory, SIATech, Inc., John Schacter, Value Added, and Carolyn Denny, Renaissance Learning
Room: Coronado Ballroom D
SIATech has developed an individual pupil growth model in partnership with Renaissance Learning and the Value Added Collective to demonstrate meaningful academic growth at the student level.  Learn how a growth model can improve student performance, enhance teacher effectiveness, and increase multi-campus collaboration. #AAPF15Growth
View Presentation: Using Data to Think Differently
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Telling the Whole Story: Using Qualitative and Quantitative Metrics to Measure Multiple Facets of Alternative Programs
Presenters: Carla Gay, Portland Public Schools, Matthew Eide, and Christopher Mazzeo, Ph.D., Education Northwest
Room: Coronado Ballroom C
This session will share an alternative accountability framework developed by Education Northwest for Community Based Alternative Programs that includes multiple metrics to track individual student progress for a large urban school district.  #AAPF15Story
View Presentation: Telling the Whole Story using Qualitative and Quantitative Metrics

10:30 - 11:30 am
Breakout Sessions II

Alternative Accountability Actions at State Boards of Education
Presenters: Greg Moser, Attorney for Charter Schools before the California Board of Education
Room: Coronado Ballroom A
Hear how California Boards of Education approach alternative accountability assessment methods and learn strategies for working with state boards of education.   #AAPF15Boards
View Presentation: Alternative Accountability Actions at State Boards of Education
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Career Pathway Design and Development:  How Do We Measure Success?
Presenters: Terry Grobe and Hannah Smith, Jobs for the Future
Room: Coronado Ballroom C
This session will provide an overview of youth-focused career pathway programming in California and across the country. Discussion will center on how we might look beyond youth-focused outcomes to consider the system metrics that will likely drive the scale and sustainability of this work.  #AAPF15Pathway
​View Presentation Materials: TSJ On Ramp Graphic
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Recommendations for Improving California’s Accountability for Alternative Schools 
Presenters: Natasha Collins, Legislative Analyst’s Office and Rick Martin, Orange County Office of Education
Room: Coronado Ballroom B
Learn from California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office, which recently released a report with recommendations to improve state accountability for alternative schools, and an Orange County Office of Education practitioner who worked on an alternative accountability proposal from the California County Educational Services Association which described some of the state’s alternative school approaches. You will leave this session with a better understanding of why implementing alternative accountability metrics make sense.  #AAPF15Improve
View Presentations: Next Steps for Improving State Accountability for Alternative Schools (Collins) 
​Accountability Model for Alternative Education Programs (Martin)

Tailoring Wrap Around Services for Disengaged Youth
Presenters: Amy Lansing and Wendy Plante, UC San Diego
Room: Coronado Ballroom D
Learn how a clinical-research training team worked directly with risk-immersed youth to identify and address a range of needs including trauma sensitivity,  de-escalation techniques,  and motivational interviewing / communication skills. You will leave this session more informed on the identification of triggers and acquisition of grounding and mindful techniques for students as well as self-care and self-compassion for students and staff.  #AAPF15Youth
View Presentations: Tailoring Wrap Around Services for Disengaged Youth, Motivational Interviewing


12:00 - 1:15 pm
Lunch
Skyline Terrace


1:30 - 2:30 pm
Breakout Sessions III

Collective Impact in Santa Clara County
Presenters: Laurie Pianka, SIATech and Mary Ann Dewan, Santa Clara County Office of Education
Room: Coronado Ballroom B
Hear how the Santa Clara County Office of Education has used collective impact principles to create a partnership for reengaging disconnected youth. #AAPF15Impact
View Presentation: Collective Impact in Santa Clara County

Opportunity Works: How the Back On Track Pathways Can Reengage Students
Presenter: Terry Grobe, Jobs for the Future
Room: Coronado Ballroom D
The national Jobs for the Future organization has developed the Opportunity Works initiative and other work for Back on Track pathways. #AAPF15Back
View Presentation: Opportunity Works: How the Back On Track Pathways Can Reengage Students

Save Rate: A Proposal for Measuring Success of At-Promise Students; ACSA’s Education Options Council Proposal
Presenter: Elsbeth Prigmore, Shasta Union HSD
Room: Coronado Ballroom A
The ACSA Educational Options Council has developed a proposal to assess how students perform in our at-promise schools by how they exit our schools instead of a mere myopic view of "drop out" statistics where numbers can be manipulated and narrowly defined within a limited four year time frame.  #AAPF15Measure
View Presentation Materials: Save Rate – A Proposal for Measuring Success of At Promise Students 

WIOA Regulatory Update
Presenter: Trish Jones, Policy Advisor, National Job Corps Association
Room: Coronado Ballroom C
Last year's adoption of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) has led to many new benefits for out-of-school youth. Regulations for implementing WIOA are currently being developed. Learn what to expect from national experts. #AAPF15Regs
View Presentation Materials: WIOA Regulatory Update

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2:45 - 3:45 pm
Breakout Sessions IV

College Connections for Comeback Kids
Presenters: Lacy Lenon-Arthur, Riverside County Office of Education and Jeremy Johnson, Riverside City College
Room: Coronado Ballroom B
Riverside County Office of Education’s College Connections is designed to provide individualized educational and transitional support services to students enrolled in the Come Back Kids (CBK) charter school program.  Most CBK students have not been successful in the traditional school setting and have thrived in RCOE’s small, high quality learning communities.  College Connections assists the most needy youth by identifying appropriate pathways for students to complete their high school education and  to develop post-secondary transition plans that include academic resources, linkage to community colleges, career mapping with identified Career and Technical training, and job placement.  A key to the success of College Connections is the ongoing, intensive follow-up with the student to ensure success in attaining their goals. College Connections has grown and flourished since its inception 2009, and was a 2014 of the California School Board Association Golden Bell award winner. #AAPF15CBK
View Presentation: College Connections for Comeback Kids

The Digital Sweet Spot for At-Promise Students: Merging Purpose, User, and Technologies
Presenters: Kevin Pressley and Greg Cohen, SIATech, Inc.
Room: Coronado Ballroom A
At-promise administrators, teachers, and students can use the same digital tools for universal education outcomes: learning, communication, feedback, and collaboration. SIATech schools target this digital sweet spot: the convergence of users, purpose, and tool. Participants in this hands-on session will explore a variety of problems that digital tools address (e.g., document sharing, long distance learning), try some tools, and discuss how they might be used for all stakeholders. #AAPF15Digital
View Presentation: The Digital Sweet Spot for At-Promise Students

Implications for Policy and Practice from Alternative Norming Studies
Presenter: Jody Ernst, Momentum Strategies
Room: Coronado Ballroom C
Learn what new research says about at-risk youth and alternative accountability assessments including Renaissance, NWEA, and more. #AAPF15Norming
View Presentation: Implications for Policy and Practice from Alternative Norming Studies

The Power of Relationships: Exploring the Role of Social Supports in Efforts to Re-Engage Young People
Presenters: Jon Zaff and Craig McClay, America’s Promise Alliance
Room: Coronado Ballroom D
Hear a presentation about what America’s Promise Alliance learned in preparing their newest report, “Don’t Quit On Me,” about the role that relationships play in young people’s decisions to stay in school, leave school, and re-engage. #AAPF15Power
View Presentation Materials: The Power of Relationships: Exploring the Role of Social Supports

4:00 - 5:00 pm
Conversation Sessions
Coronado Ballrooms C&D

How Community College Partnerships and Dual Enrollment Make a Real Difference for Opportunity Youth
Presenter: Nick Mathern, Gateway to College
Room: Coronado Ballroom C
Out-of-school youth understand that post-secondary education is crucial for economic success. Having left school does not mean that students don’t have the desire or capacity to success in college. Programs featuring relevant post-secondary training and support are powerful motivators attracting youth to re-engage with their education. #AAPF15Dual

Long-Term Engagement for Facilitating Research and Sharing Success
Presenters: Matthew LaPlante, Utah State University; and Julie Evans, Project Tomorrow
Room: Coronado Ballroom C
Share your experiences and hear from others as we collaborate to address the challenge of maintaining contact with graduates of at-risk student schools and programs. #AAPF15Alum

Meeting the Needs of At-Promise Students in the Virtual Learning Environment
Presenter: Chuck Wolfe, Megan Henry, and Early King, K12, Inc.
Room: Coronado Ballroom D
Share your innovative strategies and persistent challenges in effectively onboarding and providing wrap-around services for at-promise students in online schools and programs.​ #AAPF15Virtual
View Presentation: Meeting the Needs of At-Promise Students in the Virtual Learning Environment
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So What Do We Call You?
Presenters: Jon Zaff and Craig McClay, America’s Promise Alliance
Room: Coronado Ballroom A
At-risk?  Critically at-risk?  At-Promise?  Recovered dropouts?  Reengaged dropouts?  Push outs?  Over age and under credited?  Traumatized youth? Opportunity youth?  These are a few descriptors of disengaged youth.  If we don’t call them “dropouts,” what do we call them?  Join the leaders of the “Don’t Call Them Dropouts” study, reengaged students, and other educators in a gently facilitated conversation about how we describe the students we serve.  #AAPF15Name
View Presentation Materials: So What Do We Call You
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Updates from the Field
Presenters: Jody Ernst, Momentum Strategies, and Nelson Smith, National Association of Charter School Authorizers
Room: Coronado Ballroom D
Join a conversation about the many state, district and school level efforts to identify and implement meaningful accountability systems for schools serving at-promise students. #AAPF15Field
​View Presentation: State AEC Policy Review
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What Key School Design Elements Effectively Support Off-Track Youth?
Presenters: Leslie Talbot, Talbot Consulting;  Aretha Miller, Community Education Building; and Robert Clark, YouthBuild Newark, Inc.
Room: Coronado Ballroom B
Join the conversation of findings from the State University of New York’s Pathways to Opportunity Project.   The conversation will include a “gallery walk” of perspectives and collaboration to learn from each other, determine how the Pathways to Opportunity Project findings may fit other school systems, synthesize the information and garner consensus. #AAPF15Key
View Presentation: What Key School Design Elements Effectively Support Off-Track Youth?


5:30 - 6:30 pm
Evening Reception
Coronado Ballroom Foyer
Generously Sponsored by Renaissance Learning

Tuesday, November 17

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7:00 - 8:00 am
Breakfast
Coronado Ballroom C&D

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8:15 - 9:15 am 
Breakout Sessions V

California Implements WIOA 
Presenter: Andy Hall, Vice President and Chief Program Officer, San Diego Workforce Partnership
Room: Coronado Ballroom B
California has begun a two-year implementation process by the legislature and the California Workforce Development Board. Hear from locals about how school districts and local agencies are combining resources to provide job skills and academic growth to out-of-school youth. #AAPF15CalWIOA
View Presentation: California Implements WIOA

How to Create True Community Schools - and Why We Need Them!
Presenters: Valerie J. Chase and Craig Beswick, Learn4Life with WIOA Partners from San Diego Area
Room: Coronado Ballroom C
The digital age has helped us all to become connected in real time across almost all boundaries.  Discover how the campus of the 21st century can remove the barriers to human interaction on campus. #AAPF15True
​View Presentation: How to Create True Community Schools 

Learn and Earn Models: Integrating Schooling and Workplace Learning to Promote Career Readiness
Presenters: Michelle Van Noy, Ph.D., Rutgers and Marcy Drummond, ACT Foundation
Room: Coronado Ballroom A
Explore a research based framework for understanding informal learning experiences and the potential impacts of integrating schooling and workplace experiences in formal learn and earn models.  #AAPF15Model
View Presentation: Learn and Earn Models: Integrating Schooling and Workplace Learning to Promote Career Readiness
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Student & Learning Support Services Make a Difference: A Review of Our Pilot Year​
Presenters: Jayne Smith, Ph.D, Director of School Support Services; R.J. Guess, CEO; Michael Wegner, Director of Workforce Partnership Programs
Room: Coronado Ballroom D
John Muir Charter Schools serves re-engaged transitional age students across California.  In 2015-2016, JMCS integrated counseling services and career pathways in select sites to support students' academic and job training experience. Results of the pilot year program evaluation suggest student and learning support services do make a difference and inform replicable program design across JMCS sites.  #AAPF15Support
View Presentation: Student & Learning Support Services Make a Difference


9:30 - 10:30 am 
Breakout Sessions VI

Career Pathway Design and Development:  How Do We Measure Success?
Presenters: Terry Grobe and Hannah Smith, Jobs for the Future
Room: Coronado Ballroom B
This session will provide an overview of youth-focused career pathway programming in California and across the country. Discussion will center on how we might look beyond youth-focused outcomes to consider the system metrics that will likely drive the scale and sustainability of this work.  #AAPF15Pathway
View Presentation Materials: TSJ On Ramp Graphic
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San Diego’s Multi-Agency Re-engagement Efforts
Presenters: Ian Gordon, Vernon Moore, and Becky Philpot, SDUSD, and community based organizations
Room: Coronado Ballroom A
Learn how San Diego’s Dropout Prevention office, Pathways Opportunity Youth, and other initiatives have been working to develop collective impact safety net programs to keep disengaged youth from falling through the cracks as they transition between the various educational and other public agencies. #AAPF15SD
View Presentation: San Diego’s Multi-Agency Re-engagement Efforts

How Do Your State’s Policies Hold Up?
Presenters: Jody Ernst, Momentum Strategy & Research and Nick Mathern, Gateway to College
Room: Coronado Ballroom C
In this interactive session attendees will have to opportunity to see how their state fares on an evaluation rubric assessing the strength of its alternative accountability policies and inform whether strong laws translate into strong practices. Attendees will also provide feedback and help shape an evaluation rubric for assessing how well state policies impact students (re)engagement. #AAPF15State
View Presentation: How Do Your State’s Policies Hold Up

Understanding the Impact of Trauma Exposure on Academic Engagement in Risk-Immersed Students
Presenter: Amy Lansing, UC San Diego
Room: Coronado Ballroom D
Research on the developmental impact of chronic and severe traumatic stress on children links violence exposure, poverty, and maltreatment to cognitive functioning and brain alterations that have a direct impact on school readiness and academic engagement.  Learn how schools serving at-promise youth should address these issues. #AAPF15Trauma


10:45 am - noon 
Closing General Session & Activity
Coronado Ballrooms C&D
Presenter: Delaine Eastin, Former California Superintendent of Public Instruction