Dr. Stuart Ablon
Las Vegas
Harvard Professor, Author The School Discipline Fix, Founder Think:Kids
J. Stuart Ablon, Ph.D., is the Director of Think:Kids in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is also Associate Professor and the Thomas G. Stemberg Endowed Chair in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Ablon is author of the books Changeable: The Surprising Science Behind Helping Anyone Change, Treating Explosive Kids: The Collaborative Problem Solving Approach, and The School Discipline Fix.
Dr. Ablon received his doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of California at Berkeley and completed his training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. , Dr. Ablon was ranked #5 on the list of the world’s top rated keynote speakers in the academic arena. Dr. Ablon trains parents, educators, and clinicians, and helps organizations throughout the world implement the Collaborative Problem Solving approach.
Brian Mendler
Las Vegas
Co-Author Discipline with Dignity, Expert on Working With Disruptive Students
Brian Mendler trains tens of thousands of educators a year and is a highly regarded dynamic speaker. Through his affiliation with Teacher Learning Center, he provides staff development training for K-12 educators and youth service workers throughout the world with a focus on how to be successful with even the most difficult students.
Brian is a certified K-12 and special education teacher with extensive experience working with challenging students in general ed, self-contained, and inclusion settings. In his training sessions and books, he draws on his own experience as a very disruptive student with severe undiagnosed ADHD and reading difficulties.
Brian is the author of several books including That One Kid and The Taming of the Crew. He has also co-authored Strategies for Successful Classroom Management, Power Struggles 2nd Edition, and the bestseller Discipline With Dignity 3rd Edition: New Challenges, New Solutions.
Dr. Pedro Noguera
San Antonio
Scholar, Author & Expert on Urban Education
Pedro Noguera, PhD, is a Distinguished Professor of Education in the UCLA Department of Education and a renowned expert on issues in urban education including education and economic and social development, race and schooling, immigration/migration, leadership and school reform, and student achievement. He was formerly the Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education at New York University, where he was Executive Director of the Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools. He has held tenured faculty appointments at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he was named the Judith K. Dimon Professor of Communities and Schools and at the University of California at Berkeley, where he was also the Director of the Institute for the Study of Social Change.
Dr. Noguera has published more than 200 research and scholarly articles, monographs, research reports, and editorials on topics such as urban school reform, education policy, conditions that promote student achievement, the role of education in community development, youth violence, and race and ethnic relations in American society. His books include City Schools and the American Dream, Unfinished Business: Closing the Achievement Gap in Our Nation’s Schools, The Trouble with Black Boys…and Other Reflections on Race, Equity and the Future of Public Education, and Creating the Opportunity to Learn: Moving from Research to Practice to Close the Achievement Gap with A. Wade Boykin. His most recent book is Schooling for Resilience: Improving the Life Trajectories of African American and Latino Boys, which is co-written with Edward Fergus and Margary Martin.
Professor Noguera appears as a regular commentator on educational issues on CNN, MSNBC, National Public Radio and other national news outlets. Early in his career he served as a classroom teacher in public schools in Providence, RI, and Oakland, CA, and continues to work with schools nationally and internationally as a researcher and advisor. He earned his doctorate in Sociology from the University of California at Berkeley.
A sociologist whose scholarship and research focuses on the ways in which schools are influenced by social and economic conditions, as well as by demographic trends, Noguera says that schools are impacted by poverty in a myriad of ways, and that education should become a partner in systems that support poor students and families.
Larry Thompson
Las Vegas & San Antonio
School Discipline Innovator, Author Roadmap to Responsibility
Author of Roadmap to Responsibility and Give ‘em Five, Larry Thompson, M.Ed., is often called upon to deliver keynote presentations for state and national education conferences because of his knowledge, humor and passion for assisting today’s students. He has helped thousands of educators and schools throughout North America break away from their traditional discipline models to a model that creates a responsible climate and responsible students. Larry has served in a wide variety of roles in education – from special education teacher to alternative and traditional high school principal. As creator of the Responsibility-Centered Discipline program, Larry understands that systems must be created that can be realistically implemented and sustained.
Baruti Kafele
Las Vegas & San Antonio
School Turnaround Specialist & Bestselling Author Closing the Attitude Gap
Award-winning principal, internationally-renowned education speaker and best-selling author, Principal Kafele is on fire! He’s on a personal mission to close the ATTITUDE GAP, the world over.
A highly-regarded urban public school educator in New Jersey for over twenty years, Principal Kafele distinguished himself in the classroom and as a school leader. As a middle and high school principal, he led the transformation of four different schools, including “The Mighty” Newark Tech, which went from a low-performing school in need of improvement to national recognition by the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education, and U.S. News and World Report Magazine recognizing it three times as one of America’s best high schools. Currently, Principal Kafele is one of the most sought-after education speakers for transforming the attitudes of at-risk student populations in America. His newest book is titled, Closing the Attitude Gap: How to Fire Up Your Students to Strive for Success
Barbara Coloroso
San Antonio
International Speaker & Bestselling Author on Education & Parenting
Barbara Coloroso is an international bestselling author and for the past 40 years an internationally recognized speaker and consultant on parenting, teaching, school discipline, positive school climate, bullying, grieving, nonviolent conflict resolution and restorative justice.
She has appeared on Oprah, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, NPR, CBC, CTV and BBC and has been featured in the New York Times, Globe and Mail, Time, U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek, and other national and international publications.
Her uniquely effective parenting and teaching strategies were developed through her years of training in sociology, special education, and philosophy, as well as field-tested through her experiences as a classroom teacher, laboratory school instructor, university instructor, seminar leader, volunteer in Rwanda, and mother of three grown children.
She is the author of four international bestsellers: kids are worth it! Giving Your Child the Gift of Inner Discipline; Parenting Through Crisis—Helping Kids in Times of Loss, Grief and Change; The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander—From Pre-School to High School, How Parents and Teachers Can Help Break the Cycle of Violence; and Just Because It’s Not Wrong Doesn’t Make It Right—From Toddlers to Teens, Teaching Kids to Think and Act Ethically. Barbara’s latest book is Extraordinary Evil: A Brief History of Genocide…and Why it Matters. She also has two critically acclaimed video programs Winning at Parenting…without beating your kids and Winning at Teaching…without beating your kids.
School Discipline Conference
Over the past 20 years, educators have seen a transformation in many facets of school life. Curriculum has changed dramatically, technology continues to be implemented and assessment has become far more rigorous. Yet, in many schools, discipline remains relatively the same as it was in 1995.
Traditional exclusionary “consequences” – office referrals, in-school suspensions, out-of-school suspensions and expulsion – have the unintended result of removing the most academically at-risk students from the classroom. Citing current research in both the U.S. and Canada, advocacy groups and government agencies have supported an end to exclusionary and zero-tolerance policies, saying they are applied unfairly to minorities and student with special needs.
In recent years, schools have begun moving toward progressive discipline, restorative practices, PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions & Support) and other alternative methodologies. But which of these systems actually works? And how can they be successfully implemented?
Now in its eighth year, the School Discipline Conference provides a forum where educators can gather information on various approaches and philosophies. It will assemble internationally recognized experts and speakers and will feature evidence-based programs as well as promising new approaches developed by practitioners.
The School Discipline Conference is a must-attend gathering for principals, deans, teachers and counselors focused on improving academic performance by applying the most current innovations and research to behavior intervention and classroom management. Special focus will be given to supportive, non-exclusionary disciplinary practices.
Featured Topics at the School Discipline Conference:
- Exemplary Research-Based Programs
- Supportive, Non-Exclusionary Disciplinary Practices
- Common Mistakes Teachers Make with Classroom Control
- The Most Common Myths about School Discipline
- Updated Tools & Strategies for Behavior Interventions
- Do’s and Don’ts of Applying Positive Behavior Interventions
- Evidence-Based Advice for New & Experienced Educators
- Insights for School Administrators from Nationally Acclaimed Programs
- Keys to Working with Minority Students
- How to Handle Particularly Challenging Discipline Moments
- Legal Landmines Every Educator Should Understand
- Helping Teachers Thrive in Classrooms Filled with Highly Challenging Students
- Insuring Equity in Disciplinary Practices
School Discipline Conference Highlights
San Antonio, November 14-17
Orlando, March 26-29, 2020
San Antonio / Orlando / Atlanta / Las Vegas
The School Discipline Conference is part of the Innovative Schools Summit San Antonio (November 14-17), Orlando (March 26-29, 2020) and Atlanta (June 24-28, 2020) & Las Vegas (July 6-10, 2020) Conference attendees receive complimentary access to all Summit sessions (on a space available basis).
