NASBE’s 2014 annual conference was themed: “Leaders Learning From Leaders.” Dynamic speakers covered such hot topics as standards, new accountability models, student discipline policies, college and career readiness, school leadership, and much more. As always, participants in the Denver conference learned from each other by sharing policymaking experiences across states.

Keynote Address & Book Signing by Aneesh Chopra,  former White House Chief Technology Officer, Co-founder and Executive Vice President at Hunch Analytics and author of Innovative State: How New Technologies Can Transform Government. 

As our nation’s first chief technology officer and a former secretary of technology in Virginia, Aneesh Chopra has seen first-hand how the technology revolution, which is having such a significant impact in our classrooms, can also transform the work of government. Inspired by private sector trailblazers, Chopra wrote the playbook for governmental open innovation. He offered attendees an absorbing look at how open government can establish a new paradigm for the internet era and allow us to tackle our most challenging problems. Presentation.

General Session: The New Accountability for the 21st Century

Three national thought leaders discussed new approaches to school accountability that move beyond the score on a single test: Linda Darling-Hammond, who has developed a model for what she calls the “51st state” accountability system; Craig Jerald, who suggests that the inspectorate model used in England might offer a better approach; and Chris Steinhauser, who shared the experiences of the California Core Districts. Presentation.

General Session: “We Got This”: State Boards and Local School Boards Working Together

Recently, a spate of legislation at the state level has challenged the traditional roles of state boards of education. On the local level, mayoral takeovers of schools have sometimes eliminated local school boards. NASBE Executive Director Kristen Amundson and NSBA Executive Director Thomas Gentzel discussed these trends . . . and how state and local boards can and should work together.

General Session: What’s in Store on Election Day and What Does It Mean for Education?

NASBE’s Annual Conference took place just a few short weeks before the 2014 midterm elections. Republican pollster Alex Bratty of Public Opinion Strategies, and Democratic pollster Jeffrey Plaut of Global Strategy Group, joined forces for a bipartisan look into the electoral crystal ball.

Select Concurrent Sessions:

Building a Stronger Nation by Investing in Early Learning. Experts shared evidence on what makes for best state policies for pre-K programs. Presentations by Dr. W. Steven Barnett  and Harriet Dichter.

State Policy and Practice for Turnaround Schools. How can state boards of education promote systemic change to enable turnaround performance? Presentations by Dr. Robert Balfanz, Morgan Barth, and Heather Kinsey.

Improving the Principal Pipeline. In a demanding environment, how can state boards support the recruitment and preparation of school leaders? Presentations by Jacquelyn O. Wilson and Dr. Monica R. Martinez.

See the full program here.

Continuing Legal Education Session: Student Data Privacy

NASBE offered a pre-conference session on student data privacy on Wednesday, October 15, the day before the annual conference began. The meeting  included sessions on federal and state student data privacy laws, how to recognize dangerous contract provisions that could violate the law or harm student privacy, and how to write a good privacy law or policy.

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