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International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement 2017 - Collaborative Partnerships for System-Wide Educational Improvement

The International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement (ICSEI) 2017 will be held in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The theme for ICSEI 2017 is “Collaborative Partnerships for System-Wide Educational Improvement.” This theme gives prominence to the importance of partnerships between and among the various participants in international education systems -- students, parents, communities, schools, districts, government and academics -- to inform and impact student learning, practitioner professional learning, and system leadership.

Collaboration at all levels of the education system has been a hallmark of Ontario’s success of the past decade. Ontario is internationally recognized as an equitable, high-achieving and continuously improving jurisdiction focused on large-scale system-wide change in a pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12 publicly funded school system. Keynote speakers will offer international and local perspectives on systems effectiveness, including successes and challenges along the pathways to improvement.

Call for Proposals: ICSEI 2017 Ottawa CANADA

Collaborative Partnerships for System-Wide Educational Improvement The 30th Annual Conference of the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement will take place in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada from January 7-10, 2017. The theme for ICSEI 2017 will be “Collaborative Partnerships for System-Wide Educational Improvement.” This theme gives prominence to the importance of partnerships between and among the various participants in international education systems – students, parents, communities, schools, districts, government, and academics – to inform and impact student learning, practitioner professional learning, and system leadership.

Six types of proposals are being sought by the organizing committee:

Paper: A paper proposal can be submitted by an individual or small group of authors. Symposium: A proposal for a symposium should consist of three or four papers put forward as one proposal.

Round Table Discussion: A proposal for a round table discussion must be submitted by at least two authors. Poster: A poster should include both graphical and text presentation of the material. Innovate: A proposal for an innovate session should set out the format and approach(es) that will be used in the session to engage participants in the exploration of the area of practice.

Workshop: Workshops are more interactive and informal than formal paper sessions, and can involve extended discussion, group brainstorming sessions, mini-tutorials around key ideas, and proof-of-concept demonstration sessions.

Proposal Selection and Topics:

The selection process for all types will be blind refereed. Proposals should be submitted in response to one of the following six conference themes:

Engaging Students, Families, and Communities

Increasing Equity and Challenging Disadvantage

Connecting Research, Policy and Practice System

School Improvement Developing

Professional Capital

Measuring Educational Effectiveness

All proposals must indicate the ICSEI network to which the proposal most closely relates. This information will be used in the program to allow participants to more easily identify papers and sessions with different themes. Key Dates for Proposers: Proposals will be accepted from Monday, February 15th through Monday, May 30th, 2016. All persons submitting proposals will be informed as to their acceptance by Friday, July 22nd 2016.

Proposals can be submitted online. Please note that the submitted abstract will be made available to all participants should the proposal be accepted. Materials to be submitted with each type of proposal:

Paper Proposal

The paper proposal should be in the form of an abstract comprising a maximum of 500 words excluding references, which will be used to judge the merits of the proposed paper. The proposal should outline the issue being explored or area of research being reported on, the conceptual underpinnings of the paper, its findings and a conclusion. The conference strand the paper connects with should also be indicated.

The proposal should address the following as applicable:

Objectives or purpose

Perspective(s) or theoretical framework

Methods, techniques or modes of inquiry

Data Sources/evidence

Results and conclusions/points of view

Educational importance of this study for theory, practice, and/or policy

Connection to the conference theme

Symposium Proposal

The symposium proposal should begin with an introductory abstract of maximum 200 words that includes: a statement of the overarching theme of the symposium and the conference strand this relates to; the issue(s) or question(s) to be addressed; and an overview of how these will be addressed. This must be followed by abstracts of each paper, 500 word maximum, excluding references. Each abstract should indicate the issue or question, key ideas or conceptual approach, the main findings and conclusion. The two components of the proposal will be used to judge the merits of the proposed symposium and should, therefore, be submitted as a single document. The proposal should address the following as applicable:

Objectives or purposes of the symposium

Educational importance for theory, policy, research, and/or practice

For each presentation: role in symposium, contribution to the symposium topic, perspectives, research methods, results or conclusions Explanation of how the session will be organized Connection to the conference theme The evaluators will review the introductory abstract, abstracts of each paper, and references without the names of the authors and presenters (which will be submitted separately). Therefore, the names of the symposium organizers and presenters should not appear in the text of the proposals.

Round Table Discussion Proposal

The round table discussion proposal should be in the form of either a joint maximum 500-word starter paper, or two 250-word outlines offering different perspectives. The starter paper(s) will be available via the website prior to the session to inform the discussion. The conference strand the discussion topic connects with should also be indicated. The joint starter paper or the two outlines will be used to judge the merit of the round table discussion.

The proposal should contain the following as applicable:

Objectives or purpose

Perspective(s) or theoretical framework

Methods, techniques or modes of inquiry

Data Sources/evidence Results and conclusions/points of view

Educational importance of this study for theory, practice, and/or policy

Connection to the conference theme

Round table discussion proposals must be accompanied by an abstract of a maximum 200 words.

Poster Presentation Proposal

A proposal for a poster should be in the form of a maximum 500-word abstract and should include the research question or problem being investigated, overview of key ideas/concepts, methods, findings and conclusions, which will be used to judge the merit of the poster. The conference strand the poster connects with should also be indicated.

The following guidelines should be considered for preparing the posters:

Size: The poster surface will be approximately 1 metre x 1.5 metres.

Format: The format for poster displays is flexible; however, the following guidelines are suggested: The title of the presentation and the author’s name and affiliation should appear at the top of the poster. All the text and illustrations should be large enough to be viewed from a distance of more than one metre. Figures and tables should be kept as simple as possible to easily communicate the main messages to viewers. A large font size heading of no more than two lines should be provided with each illustration. It is helpful to highlight key points or conclusions in large font type in a distinct area of the proposal.

Innovate Session Proposal

A proposal for an innovate session should be in the form of a 500-word outline that describes the area of practice to be explored during the 30-minute session. The proposal should set out the format and approach(es) that will be used in the session to engage participants in the exploration of the area of practice. The proposal should also identify which conference strand the session connects with.

The proposal should address the following as applicable:

Objectives or purposes of the session Educational importance for theory, policy, research, and/or practice

Connection to the conference theme

Innovate session proposals must be accompanied by an abstract of a maximum 200 words.

Workshop Proposal Workshops offer a forum for discussions of broad range of emerging and specialized topics of interest to the ICSEI community. Workshops are more interactive and informal than formal paper sessions, and they can involve extended discussion, group brainstorming sessions, mini-tutorials around key ideas and proof-of-concept demonstration sessions. A proposal for workshop should be in the form of a 500-word outline that describes the area of practice to be explored during the workshop. Workshop proposals should make clear what knowledge, skills, tools, or insights participants might expect to gain from the session. Interdisciplinary and cross sector workshops are strongly encouraged. The proposal should also identify which conference strand the session connects with. The proposal should address the following as applicable: Objectives or purposes of the session Educational importance for theory, policy, research, and/or practice Connection to the conference theme Workshop proposals must be accompanied by an abstract of a maximum 200 words.

Formatting of Proposals

All abstracts, proposals, and references should use the following format specifications: Single spacing Font type Arial 12 point Abstracts: 500-word maximum for proposals of: individual papers; each paper in a symposium; and posters 200-word maximum for all other formats (including the symposium overview)

Outlines: 500-word maximum for proposals of: roundtable discussions; innovate sessions; and workshops (other types of proposals don’t require outlines) include outlines as attachments to the proposal submission References are not included in the word counts

Evaluation of proposals

Proposals will be blind reviewed and evaluated by members of the Program Committee and ICSEI Networks. Proposals will be judged in terms of their contribution to educational theory, policy, research, and/or practice, and the quality of explanation of the aims of the presentation, theoretical perspectives, methods of inquiry and analysis, strength of results and conclusions, and connections to the conference theme. Symposium proposals will also be considered in terms of the structure of the symposium format. For proposals based on studies of school effectiveness and improvement policies and practices, the Program Committee will give priority to completed research, or research that has progressed to the point of presenting preliminary findings.

More information on the conference website: http://www.icsei.net/2017/index.php?id=1793