The Principals' Center for Educational Leadership

Dr. Willard Daggett, President of the International Center for Leadership in Education, is recognized worldwide for his proven ability to move education systems towards more rigorous and relevant skills and knowledge for all students. He has assisted a number of states and hundreds of school districts with their school improvement initiatives, many in response to No Child Left Behind and its demanding adequate yearly progress (AYP) provisions. Dr. Daggett has also collaborated with education ministries in several countries and with the Council of Chief State School Officers, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Governors Association, and many other national organizations. He will combine two of his more successful topics

“ Preparing Students for the 21^st Century” which will describe what schools must do to meet these challenges in order to prepare students for their future rather than our past and “Rigor and Relevance for ALL Students” which will provide an in-depth look at the Rigor/Relevance Framework. This framework,  created by the International Center for Leadership in Education,  has become a cornerstone of curriculum and instruction for schools throughout the country and abroad.

Dr. Ross Greene is a world re-known Harvard professor and the originator of the Collaborative Problem Solving approach and author of the recently released book, Last at School: Why Our Most Vulnerable, At-Risk Kids Still Fall Through The Cracks and How We Can Help Them. He is also the author of the highly acclaimed book, The Explosive Child. His topic will be “Collaborative Problem Solving: Teaching, Parenting & Treating Challenging Kids”. This workshop presents a new model of psychosocial treatment called Collaborative Problem Solving. Participants in this workshop will leave with an understanding of the underpinnings of the CPS model and practical assessment and intervention tools that can be brought back to and used in these diverse settings.

Dr. Anthony Muhammad is a much sought-after education consultant. A practitioner for nearly 20 years, he has served as a middle school teacher, assistant  principal, middle school principal, and high school principal. Dr. Muhammad’s most notable accomplishment came as principal of Levey Middle School in Southfield, Michigan, a National School of Excellence, where student proficiency on state assessments more than doubled in five years. Dr. Muhammad and the staff at Levey used the Professional Learning Communities at Work model of school improvement, and they have been recognized in several videos and articles as a model high-performing PLC.     In his session he will discuss professional learning communities, their structures, processes and roles and responsibilities of team members and relate these to the states’ PLC’s initiatives.

Dr. Judy Willis is a presenter at educational conferences nationally and internationally in the field of learning-centered brain research and classroom strategies derived from this research. She was selected to be a Distinguished Lecturer at the ASCD national conference in March 2008. Dr. Willis writes extensively for professional educational journals and was honored as a 2007 Finalist for Distinguished Achievement Award for her educational writing by the Association for Educational Publishers. Her workshop entitled “Brain Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Memory, Focus and Motivation” will address the cognitive frameworks necessary for student achievement and the infrastructures needed for school-wide success.

Denise Hecht is presently the Assistant Executive Director for the New Jersey Principals & Supervisors Association (NJPSA) and Chief Financial Officer for the Foundation for Educational Administration, Inc. (FEA). Prior to this, she was the founder and president of DenTel Practice Management. Her firm offered professional and staff development in the fields of education, health care and business. She received her MBA from Wagner College in New York where she has served as an adjunct member of the graduate school business administration faculty. She has also served as an adjunct professor at Farleigh Dickinson University.

Sharon McCarthy is President of Envision, Inc., a consulting firm that specializes in the areas of group dynamics, behavioral engineering, quality teaching, and effective leadership. Ms. McCarthy is an expert in the fields of neurolinguistics, brain theory, and personality styles. She is often called upon to intervene with the student population labeled struggling, resistant, difficult and ADD/ADHD.

Dr. Anthony Scannella is presently Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation for Educational Administration, Inc. (FEA). Dr. Scannella, a former principal, assistant principal, director of curriculum and psychotherapist, is the author of a number of notable projects and texts including Sending the Right Signals, a program to eliminate sexual harassment; co-author of The Children We Share, a program for parents and principals, and the author of Changing Student Behavior: Comprehensive Learning and Interventions for Correcting Kids and Successful Interventions for Today’s Exceptional Kids: Cultivating a Passion for Compassion.