CELL conference to improve Indiana’s education
The University of Indianapolis Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning (CELL) hosted the annual Indiana Education Transformation Conference on Dec. 7, 1-4 p.m, and Dec. 8, 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Indianapolis.
CELL is known for its ability to help improve Indiana’s education one leader and student at a time, according to CELL Director of Communications Lauren Howard and CELL Executive Director David Dresslar. At the conference, CELL collaborated with other schools on how education can improve internationally, nationally and locally. The conference is a way to work with different types of schools to achieve the bigger picture in education.
“I think when we consider the more than 900 people who attended the conference, and you multiply that by the number of students who are actually touched by what these people learn and take away from the conference and you are literally impacting hundreds of thousands of students in Indiana and across the country,” Howard said.
According to their Web site, “CELL’s conference unites teams of school, business, policy, and community leaders to build high-performance education systems that fuse 21st-century skills, knowledge and global connectedness with student learning, community values and economic development.”
“[The conference] had several transformational educational school models, and several sessions on successful practices in education,” Dresslar said.
The two-day conference covered 77 sessions of educational-based information. The System for Teacher and Student Advancement (TAP) presenter gave a couple of sessions on TAP. TAP is a system that CELL has been working on as a way to implement change in Indiana’s education.
“The conference itself was about a variety of innovative programs including TAP,” Dresslar said.
The conference also focused on “creating engaging 21st-century learning environments, promoting teacher quality and effectiveness, expanding postsecondary readiness, access, and attainment and navigating national trends and state policies for education reform,” according to the CELL Web site.
There were 904 people registered for the conference. According to Dresslar, the majority of counties in Indiana had representation at the Indiana Education Transformation Conference and hundreds of schools and school districts were represented, but no actual number is available regarding how many schools attended.
Dresslar said being part of the University of Indianapolis gives CELL the credibility it wouldn’t otherwise have.
“CELL’s success is in large part due to the fact that we are a part of the University of Indianapolis,” he said. “We enjoy tremendous support from the administration. We enjoy great relationships with the staff and faculty, and being at the university helps us make an impact on K-12 schools throughout Indiana.”
Dresslar also believes that not only does the conference benefit from UIndy’s affiliation, but CELL’s work all year long as well.
“The transformation and the learning don’t stop on Dec. 8,” Howard said. “That goes on and is going to impact the rest of the school year and students for years to come.”
