Opportunities and Supports 

Description of development offerings

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There are a number of additional opportunities for professional development and networking, including:

• Power Lunches
• Central Office Leadership Brown Bag Series
• Coffee Talks
• Wrap Sessions
• Mentor Program
• Donuts and Discussion
• And other community building opportunities!

Power Lunches

Power Lunches offer associates a chance to hear from the biggest players within and outside of DC Public Schools. These are mandatory for associates – but who wouldn’t want to go to them!

Past Power Lunches featured:

Central Office Leadership Brown Bag Series

Central Office Leadership Brown Bag Series is a Central Office offering the UELIP associates are invited to attend. This quarterly speaker series features local and national educational leaders talking about critical issues at the forefront of education reform. Past Brown Bags have included:

Movie Showing – “The Providence Effect”
A major new theatric documentary that will change the way America thinks about teaching our children.

What to Look for in a School: DCPS School Scorecards
Michael Moody, DCPS Interim Chief Academic Officer and
Erin McGoldrick, DCPS Chief of Data & Accountability  

The DC Public Schools Teaching Experience
Panel of Six DCPS Teachers (Teachers Central To Leadership Fellows)
Teachers from: Woodson, Bruce Monroe, Montgomery, HD Cooke, Savoy, and Columbia Heights will share their experiences at the school-level.  

How We Are Engaging Our Communities
Peggy O’Brien
DCPS Chief of Family and Public Engagement

The Widget Effect:
Our national failure to acknowledge and act on differences in teacher effectiveness
Tim Daly
President, The New Teacher Project

Theatrical Performance: “Catalyst”
An unflinching portrayal of the power of teachers to change students’ lives.
Brooke Haycock
Playwright & Activist, The Education Trust

Special Education Reforms at DCPS
Richard Nyankori
DCPS Deputy Chancellor of Special Education

Education Oversight
Kerri Briggs
Acting State Superintendent of Education, Office of the State Superintendent for Education

The National Context of Education Reform
Andrew Rotherham
Founder, Education Sector

Coffee Talks

A variety of Coffee Talks provide associates with the chance to hear and ask questions of leaders in the field from all sectors: public, nonprofit, and private. These smaller forums usually feature a short presentation or talk by the speaker and then associate directed Q&A.

Past Coffee Talks have featured the following topics and speakers:

Wrap Sessions

Wrap Sessions give associates a chance to share and learn about their experiences across their cohort.

For these mandatory sessions, associates are divided into two groups: Senior Associates (fellows, graduate students, post-college associates) and Junior Associates (college students and high school students).

Mentors

Associates are assigned in groups of 5-6 to Mentors who are typically mid-level DC Public Schools employees. These mentors serve as an approachable, accessible resource for associates throughout their internships.

Mentors host lunches, discussions on the UELIP reader, and are generally good sources of institutional knowledge.

Donuts and Discussion

Donuts and Discussion is another great way for associates to dig into the UELIP reader, which contains articles on education reform, generally and specific to DC. Associates are expected to read the articles and are encouraged to dive into the optional ones.

Each Friday, associates meet for coffee and donuts while discussing a particular article in small groups. Guided by discussion questions, these groups are a chance for associates to interact amongst themselves, exchanging ideas and opinions about cutting edge topics in education reform.

Read some of the articles we’ve discussed:

• “Improving the Instructional Core”
• “What No School Can Do”
• “The Next Kind of Integration”
• “Business is Brisk for Teacher Training Alternatives”

Back to The Associate Experience.