Events

This session is designed for instructional/behavioral/interventionists & coaches at any stage who want to strengthen their impact with teachers and students. Explore high-leverage student engagement strategies that can seamlessly integrate into your coaching conversations. Revisit your coaching playbook with fresh eyes and practical tools to refine your approach. Along the way, we’ll also focus on sustaining your purpose, strengthening relationships, and prioritizing self-care—because thriving coaches create thriving learning communities. After this session, ime will be given for lunch (on your own). We will re-group to debrief, collaborate, problem solve and share resources before you return back to your district.  Registration closes 4-5 days prior to the event date.

This breakaway we will have Emily Flach (Regional Educational Technology Coordinator from the Illinois Learning Technology Center) present a free session on "The Day the Internet Dies: Keep Your K-12 Building Running Amidst a Cyber Attack." In an age where connectivity is vital, the possibility of a cyber attack crippling the internet infrastructure is a growing threat. This workshop provides essential strategies to maintain your building’s operations in the face of such an incident. What if your teachers have non-digital resources and textbooks? What if you're hit by a cyber attack during state testing? Learn actionable steps to ensure the continuity of critical services like communication, instruction, and student safety during an internet outage caused by a cyber event. Participants will gain insights into offline communication protocols, data backup solutions, emergency power plans, and other best practices to safeguard operations and minimize downtime. Participants should bring a fully charged device to this session. After this session, we will debrief with IARSS, ISBE, ROE # 50 and local district updates.  Registration will close 4-5 days prior to the event.

PDC Member District $350.00, Non PDC Member $375.00 (lunch is included on site)

To be eligible to attend, each participant (initial or retraining) must complete and submit ISBE-required pre-work at least 72 hours (December 5, 2025 3:00pm) before the training. Registrants will receive handouts and detailed instructions for the pre-work at least one week prior to the workshop. 

Participants will need to bring a fully charged laptop to this academy.  Attendees will synthesize the School Leader Paradigm to understand the personal intelligences, knowledge, and skills necessary for school leaders to effectively lead a learning organization; evaluate the research base to communicate the impact that effective school leaders have on a learning organization; analyze the School Leader Evaluation Plan to discern how the process grows school leaders' personal intelligences and leadership skills that actualize school improvement and student growth goals; and critique Professional Practice and Student Growth Cycles of Inquiry to assess the approaches of each to a school's Problems of Practice.

The Illinois Performance Evaluation Advisory Council (PEAC) selected the School Leader Evaluation Plan as the state’s new default principal and assistant principal evaluation plan beginning July 1, 2024. Developed by the Illinois Principals Association in collaboration with 13 other state principals’ associations from across the United States, the School Leader Evaluation Plan (based on the School Leader Paradigm) was developed to assist school districts with the implementation of a school leader evaluation system that is relevant and useful. While Illinois school districts have the opportunity to choose whether to adopt the School Leader Evaluation Plan to evaluate their principals and assistant principals, the state-required principal and assistant principal evaluator training has been rewritten and will focus on the School Leader Evaluation Plan.

Starting on July 1, 2024, this two-day, in-person academy (AA#4050) will serve as the official training for educators seeking initial training qualification or retraining to be legally qualified to conduct evaluations of principals and assistant principals. The previous principal evaluator training (#2000, #1865, and #3000) will be discontinued as of June 30, 2024.

Registration closes Friday, November 28, 2025. Cancellations must be made on or before Tuesday, December 2, 2025 or the amount will be non-refundable.

Join District Math Consultant Kelly Green in this full-day session that will support teachers in shifting toward student-centered mathematics instruction. Together, we’ll explore mindset shifts, build strategies for creating strong mathematical communities, and learn how to use instructional and language routines that promote discourse, reasoning, and access for all learners. Teachers will engage in hands-on experiences, collaborate with peers, and leave with practical tools to launch meaningful math learning in their classrooms. The ROE will be raffling off copies of the book  5 Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematics Discussions. Time will be given for lunch (on your own).

Registration will close January 27 at 12:00pm.

Join District Math Consultant Kelly Green in this hands-on session. Who should attend? Instructional Coaches, Content Specialists, Interventionists & any related support personnel. As math instruction continues to evolve, instructional coaches play a key role in leading the shift toward student-centered learning. In this session, grounded in Diane Sweeney’s Student-Centered Coaching model, you'll learn how to structure coaching cycles that focus on student outcomes. We’ll explore setting meaningful goals, unpacking standards, and using engaging math tasks through modeling, co-teaching, and planning. You’ll also have time to collaborate with fellow coaches to share ideas and build capacity. Leave with practical strategies and a supportive network to lead impactful, student-driven coaching in mathematics. Various copies of the book: Teaching Student Centered Mathematics (K-2), (3-5) & (6-8) will be raffled off to attendees. Registration will close January 28 at 12:00pm, time will be given for lunch (on your own) the day of the event.

This course will allow participants to learn effective skills and strategies for using Charlotte Danielson’s Instructional Framework in an evaluation setting in order to more effectively: 1. Identify evidence at the component level during formal and informal observations; 2. Use evidence, with minimal bias, to effectively rate staff on the levels of performance for each component in domains 2 and 3; 3. Increase inter-rater reliability in all phases of the evaluation process; 4. Acquire strategies to support effective collaborative conferencing around formal and informal observations; and 5. Learn techniques, strategies, and protocols to use when conferencing with staff to promote improvement in instructional practice. Attendees can earn pd credit, academy credit or ceu credit.  Participants should bring a fully charged laptop to this event, additionally the application/dissemination must be submitted prior to departure on the day of the event. Registration closes January 30 at 3:00pm, cancellations must be made by Friday, January 30 at 3:00pm or the event is non-refundable.