2012 PDI Highlights

The Data Difference: How to effectively use data to take your school to the next level.  Pre-conference session on Sunday March 4 at 2:00PM
Presenter:  Jonathan Ross 

Recently, school principals have had a significant and integral role added to their responsibilities: Data.  This session will provide principals and other school leaders with a framework for organizing various forms of data into a process that is efficient and meaningful to the educators who need it most.  Attendees will hear how one principal has gone from a “data denier” to a full-fledged convert in a short time all because of the positive results garnered from taking the information already at hand and using it to transform both the teachers and students perceptions of formative assessments.

Principles for Principals:
Presenters:  Leonard R. Ference, Joseph Galli and Jonathan Ross

Building administrators will have the opportunity to interact with 3 award winning Principals who have been recognized by the Pennsylvania Association of Secondary School Principals as middle level principals of the year.  This session will discuss the principles of:

• Influence
• Integrity
• Building capacity
• Core beliefs
• Communication
• Stewardship
• Culture/climate
• Organization improvements
• Efficiency

The attendees will gain insight into their leadership styles and take back suggestions and ideas to enhance the essential PRINCIPLES for them to become PRINCIPALS who lead.

Key Presenter: Joseph A. Galli Sr.

Joseph A. Galli Sr. is a mesmerizing speaker who will inspire you to make a difference in your life and the lives of those around you.  He delivers a profound yet simple message of optimism through the qualities of direction, respect, believing in others, and love.

He has spoken to educational and business leaders throughout the country and consults with private and public organizations about excellence in the workplace.  Recently retired as the Superintendent of Schools for the Upper Darby School District, Mr. Galli is a leader in the education reform movement in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  Serving as a teacher, assistant principal, and principal before becoming superintendent, he completed forty years of service and outstanding achievement winning both state and national honors.

In 1995, his school was awarded the National Safe and Drug Free recognition and presented with this achievement by President William Clinton at the White House. 

In 1996, he was recognized by the Pennsylvania Association of Secondary School Principals and the Pennsylvania Department of Education as "Principal of the Year" and later nominated for a "Principal in Residency" in Washington DC.  

Most recently, Governors Thornburgh and Rendell and Secretaries of Education Phillips and Zahorchak have visited his school district to extol the success of outstanding people and programs focusing on fiscal and academic excellence.

Since retirement, Mr. Galli has been active with consulting, at the Delaware County Intermediate Unit, coaching new principals and superintendents.

He served on a Pennsylvania State Senatorial Cost Savings Commission and on committees for The Association for Middle Level Education.  He works as an educational consultant to Johnson Controls Inc. in their Energy Solutions Division for the K-12 market.

Schools to Watch, a Research Based School Improvement Model:

Does your middle school demonstrate:

• Academic Excellence
• Developmental responsiveness
• Social Equity
• Organizational structures and processes to support and sustain trajectory toward excellence.

Schools to Watch is a process to measure your middle schools effectiveness in the key areas listed above.  It provides data and models to implement to great school reform and make the improvement plan one that will be evaluated and renewed on an ongoing basis.