Menu
The 2024 KSDE Great Ideas in Education Conference: “Lighting the Path Forward” provided educators across Kansas a deeper dive into structured literacy, high quality instruction, and data-driven strategies, to name just a few of the topics covered during the three-day event, held Oct. 23-25, in Wichita.
Chris Perry, co-founder and executive director of Cultivate Education, LLC, delivered the keynote address, focusing on the art and science of effective implementation. He cited research showing only 33% of educational initiatives and programs are successfully implemented and achieve their stated goals. He said implementation can be difficult, especially when it requires more staff and resources to sustain an initiative.
Panel discussion highlights six Kansas high school students’ thoughts on their teachers, cell phones and other topics
A highlight of the conference was a panel comprised of six Kansas high school students representing small and large districts from geographically different areas of the state. Drs. Ben Proctor and Jay Scott of the Kansas State Department of Education’s Division of Learning Services moderated the discussion.
Proctor and Scott asked the students what makes a great teacher and other questions related to their educational experiences.
What does your district or school do well?
Annika Nichols, a junior at Russell High School, Russell USD 407, said she feels her school has done a good job of offering career-ready courses and teachers care about making sure their students are “prepared to go into the workforce.”
“Our classes are all full,” she said.
“We embrace diversity really well,” added Gabrielle Evans, a junior at Olathe South High School, Olathe USD 233.
Kruce Liddeke, a senior at Norwich High School, Kingman-Norwich USD 331, said the district and community in south-central Kansas is a family.
“We do a really good job of coming together at a time of struggle,” he said.
What makes a great teacher?
Gaby Petersen, a senior at Sedgwick High School, said the best teachers “have a lot of structure to their class.”
“It’s about pushing their students to be the best they can be,” she said. “Not pushing them is going to hurt them in the real world. But if a student appears to be struggling, you can still be there for them.”
“Holding everyone to a high expectation is better for everyone,” added Liddeke.
Compassion and understanding are what Alayna Reese, a senior at Norwich High School, believes are qualities of a great teacher.
“They’re able to have a positive atmosphere and make school a better place to come to,” she said.
Do you know what you’re supposed to know at the end of a class (knowledge of standards) and are you prepared for what is after high school?
“I like to see the structure (of the class),” said Raegann McDonald, a senior at Clay County Community High School, Clay County USD 379. “It gives you a reason for what and why you’re learning it. It’s not just words or numbers on a paper.”
What is your opinion on taking the state assessment tests?
In a moment of levity, several of the students said teachers could do a better job of providing incentives (i.e., snacks) for taking the spring state assessments.
“Please don’t tell your students this is not for a grade,” Evans said, followed by laughter from the audience of educators.
“I personally don’t like state assessments,” added Reese.
“It has the potential to be a good measure (of learning),” said Petersen, “and you have to learn how to take tests.”
Are learning social-emotional skills important?
Liddeke said social-emotional skills are important to learn early so that one has the skills as an adult, “especially perseverance.”
“You can’t just shut down,” he said. “You may have a family depending on you.”
McDonald said even though social skills can be learned at home, social-emotional learning has its place in the school setting as well.
“School is such a big part of our lives and if I don’t learn it here, where am I going to learn it?” she said.
“At any job you’re going to have emotions,” Reese said. “We’re emotional people. We just need to learn how to control them.”
What is your school doing specific to cell phone policies and what is your opinion about how that policy is being implemented?
“I think a total ban, that’s hard, not being able to have contact for that long,” Petersen said. “Otherwise, (a ban) in the classroom, I think it would be beneficial.”
“I think it could be beneficial, but I don’t know if it’s a one-size-fits-all policy,” McDonald added. “It might be that schools decide it is a problem and needs to be addressed. It also just varies from school to school.”
Evans said her school, Olathe South, bans the use of cell phones most of the day except during lunch and during passing periods.
“Honestly, I think it’s been really effective,” she said. “A lot of students are paying more attention to the teacher.”
Student art winners recognized
The winners of the 2024 Great Ideas in Education Conference “Lighting the Path Forward” student art contest were recognized during the conference.
In addition to depicting a light bulb, mountains, building blocks and other things she remembers about learning as a child, Hempler said she drew inspiration for her art piece from an important marker in Kansas’ education history as well as an international education activist for women.
“We have Brown versus Topeka Board of Education which started in Kansas,” she said. “One of my role models is Malala Yousafzai who is an advocate for women’s education in Pakistan. I wanted to incorporate those two things.”
Schneider said she took bits and pieces of inspiration from winners of past Great Ideas art contests to create her art picture of a student sitting in a classroom in front of a chalkboard.
“There is a boy in the middle with thoughts coming out of his mind about his day during school,” she said. “I wanted to make it so you would think about it.”
Durham, the second-place winner, was unable to attend the conference.
Attendees offer a few thoughts on the conference and breakout sessions
Denice Scott, an English as a Second Language (ESL) academic coach for Arkansas City USD 470, is a member of her district leadership team (DLT). She said she purposely chose sessions where she would be able to take back information for designing USD 470’s school improvement action plan.
“I think these are some great materials that are very intentional,” Scott said, describing the information shared in the “Using Data and Collaboration for Literacy Success” breakout session. “I love how it’s involving the teachers and then taking that to the building level and then taking that to the district level. That’s the biggest thing I got out of this session. It has that alignment piece, and it makes everybody accountable.”
Marshall Nienstedt, principal at Anderson County Junior-Senior High School, Anderson County USD 365, said the conference “is a valuable use of resources” to have administrators attend the conference.
“It’s really easy as administrators to get stuck in the day-to-day in your office,” he said. “Providing the opportunity for young principals, it’s been really good.”
Nienstedt attended a breakout session on high-quality individual plans of study (IPS). After attending the session, he said he feels good about how the IPS program is going at his high school but believes his district could be more intentional with IPS in the lower grades.
“We could bring in more businesses from the community to talk to the kids,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of opportunities to expand what we’re doing beyond building a portfolio.”
John Nance, principal at Wellington High School, Wellington USD 353, also attended the IPS session. He said getting buy-in for the IPS process can sometimes be tricky but after attending the breakout session, he said he has more tools to take back to his district.
“That scope and sequence lines it all out from the state is a huge takeaway I can share with my teachers as we continue to refine the process,” Nance said.
Nancy Smith, a first-grade teacher at Heatherstone Elementary, Olathe USD 233, jokingly calls herself a hoarder but also a “resourcer.”
“I went to a social studies session,” she said. “It wasn’t new, but it brought to the forefront of mind as we do a ‘100th Day’ so now I go and get all this stuff that I’ve been hoarding and have my kids make a time machine. It wasn’t a new idea, but I went ‘a-ha,’ I have all this stuff and that’s what I should do.”
Darcey Bast, principal of Piper Prairie Elementary School, Piper USD 203, said she enjoyed the networking at the conference. She said she also found the session on artificial intelligence (AI) informative.
“(It) really charged my thinking about how all districts in the state are handling this, as well as nationwide,” she said.
*SAVE-THE-DATE: The next Great Ideas in Education conference will be July 27-30, 2025. Watch KSDEweekly for important information in the next several months.
The following individuals won door prizes during the 2024 Great Ideas conference:
Questions about this page contact:
Denise Kahler (785) 296-4876 dkahler@ksde.org
The Kansas State Department of Education does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, or age in its programs and activities. (more information...)
To accommodate people with disabilities, on request, auxiliary aides and services will be provided and reasonable modifications to policies and programs will be made. To request accommodations or for more information please contact the Office of General Counsel at gc@ksde.org or by 785-296-3201.