2012 Common Core Consortium Regional Learning Series 

In 2012, the Great Lakes East and Great Lakes West comprehensive centers at Learning Point Associates (an affiliate of American Institutes for Research) are hosting a series to help the Midwest Common Core Consortium states collaborate, create tools, and foster continued partnerships. The purpose is to help the states build state-level capacity to support district implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The series begins with the first meeting in January 2012 and ends in September 2012. 

The January meeting focuses exclusively on defining and communicating college and career readiness and identifying ways to engage postsecondary institutions in the work. It will allow participant to network with their peers, share and develop definitions of college and career readiness, and provide strategies to communicate college and career readiness expectations to various stakeholder groups. It will also provide participants resources related to defining and communicating college and career readiness and a better understanding of the roles of postsecondary institutions in standards implementation as well as a plan to engage postsecondary institutions in all aspects of standards implementation.

This meeting is a continuation and a result of the interest and need that came out of the National Common Core meeting held in June 2010. Information from the national meeting is available now, and resources and information from this new 2012 series will be available after the January event.


Midwest High School SIG Regional Conferences
Leading Successful High School Turnarounds:
Learning from Research and Practice

At the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education request, the Great Lakes East Comprehensive Center, Great Lakes West Comprehensive Center, National High School Center, and National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality hosted the Midwest High School SIG Conference in Chicago on May 18–19, 2011, with specific attention to high school and the School Improvement Grants (SIGs). The third in the series, the event was attended at its capacity—more than 320 guests registered and included state education agencies (SEAs), local education agencies (LEAs), and schools implementing SIGs.

The two-day conference focused on four key areas: planning and sustainability, optimizing teaching and learning, effective teachers and leaders, and high school improvement priorities. These priorities addressed how to meet the individual needs of all high school students, ensure college and career readiness, prevent dropout and increase graduation rates, as well as organize for high school change (time, structures, staff, and operations). To increase knowledge base about implementing research- and evidence-based practices, seven keynote speakers shared practical strategies and tools in their presentations.

Visit the conference website for all information shared at the event. The site contains conference materials from the keynote and breakout sessions, including PowerPoint presentations, speaker biographies, and resources recommended by the federally funded centers as well as audio recordings of the sessions.