Make No Small Plans: Innovation, collaboration and confidence during challenging times

Produced and hosted by Grantmakers for Education
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PLENARY SESSIONS AND SPEAKERS

From the U.S. Secretary of Education to one of the world’s most respected thinkers on organizational innovation, join us for plenaries that will compel you to rethink your approach, offer strategies to improve your craft and inspire you to focus and persevere.

Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday

Monday, October 5: Plenary Session: 8:15 AM – 10:15 AM

(T)ED

Today's turbulent times require each of us to step outside of our usual roles, think in new ways and break out of traditional solution sets. The economic crisis demands our focused attention to present needs -- but it also provides an unprecedented opportunity to pursue far-reaching reforms of our education systems. What fundamental changes must we make to these systems to prepare young people for success in this rapidly evolving world? What new models of learning will prepare them to confront daunting global challenges?

Inspired by TED, the global conference organized around "ideas worth spreading," we've brought together three provocateurs to inspire boldness and creativity as we reconceive our work.

The Tyranny of Dead Ideas: Letting Go of the Old Ways of Thinking to Achieve New Results What are the "dead ideas" we must discard for better results? Author and provocateur Matt Miller will challenge our long-held assumptions and identify new ways of thinking that, although controversial today, are destined to shape our country going forward.

Using the Science of Innovation to Reconceive Education System Design How can we harness the power of innovation in education, given its high failure rate? Globally-respected innovation expert Larry Keeley will identify ways to dramatically increase success in crafting smarter programs and systems to improve outcomes for all kids.

Rethinking Learning for the Digital Age: Preparing Kids for a Future We Can't Imagine How can technology transform learning today -- and how must learning evolve to prepare children for tomorrow's technologies? Researcher and educational innovator Nichole Pinkard will offer strategies for how grantmakers can help our education system prepare children for a digital future.

Speakers

Larry Keeley, Co-Founder and President, Doblin Inc.

Larry Keeley is a strategist who has worked for thirty years to develop more effective innovation methods. Keeley serves as president and co-founder of Doblin Inc, an innovation strategy firm known for pioneering comprehensive innovation systems that materially improve innovation success rates. Since 1979, Keeley has worked with many global companies on innovation effectiveness and lectures frequently and publishes regularly on strategic aspects of innovation. He has written a book on innovation effectiveness, “The Taming of the New,” now in press, that is an exhaustive analysis of innovation and the superior methods that drive ROI. Keeley was a senior fellow of the Center for Business Innovation, in Boston. He is also a board member for Chicago Public Radio, where he has charted strategy for what has become an innovation engine for public radio across the US.

Matt Miller, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress

Named one of journalism’s “most original thinkers” by The McLaughlin Group, Matt Miller brings agenda-setting ideas and creative, practical solutions to America’s most urgent social and political concerns. Miller writes a monthly column for Fortune magazine and is the author of two books, “The Tyranny of Dead Ideas: Letting Go of the Old Ways of Thinking to Unleash a New Prosperity” and “The 2% Solution: Fixing America’s Problems In Ways Liberals and Conservatives Can Love.” Miller is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and an award-winning contributor to The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Fortune and other national magazines. He hosts public radio’s popular week-in-review program Left, Right & Center, and is a consul¬tant to corporations, governments and nonprofits.

Susan Patrick, CEO, International Association for K-12 Online Learning

Susan Patrick is the President and CEO of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning. INACOL is the non-profit association providing advocacy, research, national quality standards and best practices for K-12 online learning. In 2009, Susan Patrick was selected as one of the “Top 10 Education Leaders under 40” in the U.S. Susan served as the Director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education and published the National Education Technology Plan in 2005. Prior, Susan worked for Arizona’s Governor Hull on technology policy. Patrick holds a master’s degree from the Annenberg School for Communication at USC.

Nichole Pinkard, Director of Innovation, Urban Education Institute

Nichole Pinkard is the director of innovation for the University of Chicago's Urban Education Institute (UEI). Pinkard has led efforts to implement 1:1 computing in urban schools, integrate new media into core instruction, and create new media learning opportunities outside of the school day. Pinkard is a recipient of the Jan Hawkins Award for Early Career Contributions to Humanistic Research and Scholarship in Learning Technologies and an NSF Early CAREER fellow. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, and on the National Advisory Committee for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Health Games Research program. Pinkard current scholarly interests include the design and use of pedagogical-based social networks, new media literacy learning outcomes and ecological models of learning. She holds a B.S. in computer science from Stanford University, an M.S. in computer science from Northwestern University and a Ph.D. in Learning Sciences from Northwestern University.

Tuesday, October 6: Plenary Session: 12:30 PM – 2:00 PM

No Small Plans: Translating Bold Vision to Broad Action

The complex needs of our nation's poorest children defy simple responses. Nearly 20 years ago, Geoffrey Canada hatched a vision for a comprehensive cradle-to-college initiative to dramatically increase opportunities and outcomes for children in a 100-square-block neighborhood in Harlem. The result was the Harlem Children’s Zone. Integrating educational, parenting and neighborhood supports, the Harlem Children’s Zone stands as one of America’s most ambitious and important experiments in urban education. Hear from Canada about the need for bold plans that work across silos to address children’s needs -- and learn what it takes to turn those plans into reality.

Speakers

Geoffrey Canada, President and CEO, Harlem Children's Zone

In his 20-plus years with Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ), Inc. as president and CEO, Geoffrey Canada has become nationally recognized for his pioneering work helping children and families in Harlem and as a passionate advocate for education reform. In 1997, the agency launched the Harlem Children’s Zone Project, which targets a specific geographic area in Central Harlem with a comprehensive range of services. The Zone Project today covers 100 blocks and aims to serve over 10,000 children by 2011. The work of Mr. Canada and HCZ has become a national model and has been the subject of many profiles in the media. In 2006, Canada was selected by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg as co-chair of The Commission on Economic Opportunity, which was asked to formulate a plan to significantly reduce poverty. In 2007, he was appointed co-chair of New York State Governor’s Children’s Cabinet Advisory Board. Currently, he’s the East Coast Regional Coordinator for the Black Community Crusade for Children. The Crusade is a nationwide effort to make saving black children the top priority in the black community. Canada has written two books and is the recipient of many awards including the first Heinz Award. He received a B.A. from Bowdoin College and a M.A. in education from the Harvard School of Education.

Wednesday, October 7: Plenary Session: 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM

America's Education Reform Roadmap: Designing Systems of Excellence

During his confirmation as President Obama’s Secretary of Education, Secretary Duncan identified education as “the most pressing issue facing America,” adding that “preparing young people for success in life is not just a moral obligation of society” but also an “economic imperative.” As Secretary, he has been honest about the challenges facing American education, bold in his belief about what we can— and must—accomplish to ensure America remains globally competitive, and collaborative in the way in which he is working with education philanthropy to improve educational achievements for all. With a long list of challenges and opportunities facing American education, Secretary Duncan will expand on the Administration’s comprehensive roadmap for transforming Pre-K through postsecondary education and speak to the ways that grantmakers, policymakers and educators must work together to build systems of excellence that prepare all children for future success.

Speakers

Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education, U.S. Department of Education

Arne Duncan was nominated to be secretary of education by President-elect Barack Obama and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2009. Prior to his appointment as secretary of education, Duncan served as the CEO of the Chicago Public Schools, a position to which he was appointed by Mayor Richard M. Daley, from June 2001 through December 2008, becoming the longest serving superintendent in the country. Prior to joining the Chicago Public Schools, Duncan ran the non-profit education foundation Ariel Education Initiative, which helped fund a college education for a class of inner-city children under the I Have A Dream program. He was part of a team that later started a new public elementary school built around a financial literacy curriculum, the Ariel Community Academy, which today ranks among the top elementary schools in Chicago. Duncan graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1987, majoring in sociology.