What Works!

is designed to shine a spotlight on strengths-based approaches to preschool teacher–driven change in early childhood learning environments.

The conference will be conducted entirely online, so participants may attend whenever their schedules permit.

Co-sponsored by a wide range of agencies and organizations dedicated to the education and welfare of California's youngest children, this online conference is underwritten in part by a grant from the Packard Foundation to the Institute for Teaching and in part by additional funding from the California Teachers Association.

What Works! Conference Overview 

Conference Outline

What Works!  Fostering Collaboration

A Welcome from the Speaker of the California State Assembly:

• Karen Bass, Speaker, California State Assembly

A Welcome from the CTA's Executive Director:

• Carolyn Doggett, Executive Director, California Teachers Association

Framing the Issues:

• Yale Wishnick, Ph.D., former Manager, Institute for Teaching

What Works!  Reflecting on What Matters

Panel #1: Discovering Our Strengths and Capacities

• Practitioner: Linda Fiddler, Teacher/Resource Specialist in Bakersfield, CA, City School District
• Policy Maker: Delaine Eastin, Former Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State of California
• Researcher: Alan Daly, Professor of Education at UC San Diego
• Bios of panelists

What strengths can we draw upon to create uplifting experiences in our preschool classrooms? Instead of looking beyond our classrooms, how can we energize the strengths that already exist within ourselves, our colleagues and the extended families of the children under our care?

Panel #2: Envisioning the Best for Tomorrow

• Practitioner: Robert Lynch, Chair of the ECE Committee, California Teachers Association
• Policy Maker: Catherine Atkin, President, Preschool California
• Researcher: Alison Wishard, Assistant Professor of Education at UC San Diego
• Bios of panelists

Building on the strengths identified by the first panel, what can we envision for the care and education of our youngest children in tomorrow's world? An opportunity to dream about the future as we would like to see it.

Panel #3: Leveraging Our Strengths – Starting Today!

• Practitioner: Susan Kohl, Director of Preschool, The White Pony
• Policy Maker: Howard Levine, Dean, School of Education, UC Davis
• Researcher: Peter Mangione, Ph.D., Co-Director of the Center for Child & Family Studies, WestEd
• Bios of panelists

We have discovered our strengths and envisioned our future: now we must design the path from here to there. This is where we explore the techniques, approaches, and strategies that result in preschool teacher–driven change.

What Works!  Building Our Skills

Online workshops for building skills in a variety of strengths-based approaches to working in early learning environments with young children, parents, and colleagues.

Workshop topics include:

• Appreciative Inquiry — Workshop Preview
• Nurtured Heart Approach — Workshop Preview
• Resilience — Workshop Preview
• Positive Deviance

Find out more about each workshop...

What Works!  Learning From Each Other

• Presentations of shining examples of existing strengths-based programs that can serve as models of what is already working well in California.
• Conference attendees can nominate teachers, classrooms, and programs to be recognized as exemplars in fostering ideal environments for early childhood education and care.

Nominate a school, a colleague, or even yourself!

What Works!  Building Connections

Engage with ECE colleagues from around California in a variety of professional and social networking activities. Build connections that affirm, validate and expand the invaluable work you perform with young children every day.