Elevating Educators: A Look Inside the NIET 2023 National Conference

Each year, the NIET National Conference brings together educators from different parts of the country who share a mission to build strong instructional practices and improve student achievement. On March 23-24, we will gather with 1,200 educators and leaders in Indianapolis to explore how we elevate educators to provide great classroom teaching and learning. 

NIET's National Conference will offer hands-on, interactive training, and educators will collaborate and learn with NIET specialists and peers through a variety of professional learning sessions. In every session across the five learning strands, educators will be trained on tools and techniques they can use right away. Here’s a peek into what to expect in each strand.

Unleashing Teacher Leadership

Teacher leadership is a powerful driver of schoolwide instructional improvement efforts. Sessions focus on ways to maximize the impact of teacher leadership to strengthen teaching and learning. Participants will explore strategies to enhance instructional coaching, lead engaging and collaborative professional learning, and elevate teacher practices across the school.

Transforming School Leadership

Transformative leadership positively impacts teacher effectiveness and student achievement. The learning in these sessions will build strong collective leadership, and empower educators to be reflective practitioners who lead with a student-first mindset. District and school leaders will build their skills to guide leadership teams to coach and empower their administrators and teachers while keeping student achievement front and center. 

Ensuring Success through Robust Instructional Practices

Robust instructional practices are the key to ensuring all students have rigorous, grade-level learning. Participants will examine ways to elevate instructional practices that increase the impact of high-quality curriculum implementation. Hands-on learning will focus on learning walks, ELA and math-specific coaching, and differentiation to achieve greater impact on student learning.  

Establishing Positive Environments

Instructional and academic excellence begins with trust, relationships, and support for everyone in the learning environment. Sessions will elevate a positive environment, relationship-building, and coaching approaches that create a shared investment in the teaching and learning process. Participants will learn to establish a positive school culture of learning for both educators and students. 

Building the Educator Pipeline

These sessions address foundational strategies used in preparation, induction, and mentoring for aspiring and novice teachers as they transition successfully from preparation to practice. Participants will examine the learning progression of novice teachers and the support needed for success entering the profession.

Bubble Sessions and Panel Discussions

In addition to the five strands of learning, participants will also have an opportunity to attend "bubble" sessions, where they will observe fellow district and school leaders model best practices in collaborative meetings. Panel discussions will feature NIET partners on the topics of high-quality curriculum implementation, leadership of learning acceleration strategies, best practices from award winning schools and districts, and more.

NIET's National Conference also includes general sessions that spotlight stories of success and share ideas that other schools can consider to advance their progress. Opening sessions will feature reflections from NIET Chairman and Founder Lowell Milken, NIET Chief Executive Officer Joshua Barnett, as well as NIET's partners. During the conference, NIET will present the NIET Founder's Award to a top-performing school, and the NIET District Award of Excellence for Educator Effectiveness to a top-performing district.

We look forward to seeing more than 1,200 educators in Indianapolis on March 23-24. Look for takeaways on social media using the hashtag #NIET2023.