The Leadership and Learning Center Extends Common Core State Standards Tour in Response to Overwhelming Demand

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – A national tour led by The Leadership and Learning Center (The Center), a division of global education leader Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, has thus far embraced ten cities and brought thousands of educators from around the country together to learn practical implementation strategies for Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The Center has received such positive feedback that in addition to the existing one-day Summits, it will begin holding two-day Summits focusing on implementation.

The tour directly addresses an earlier poll and real-time feedback from the one-day Summits regarding on-site challenges and educators’ needs surrounding CCSS implementation. Feedback indicated that administrators and their CCSS teams wanted an additional day that spoke strictly to implementation.  Based on this demand, The Center continues to release additional dates for the existing one-day Summits and the first new, two-day Summits. The one-day Summits are scheduled for: Washington, D.C., April 13, 2011; Boston, Mass., April 26, 2011; Denver, Colo., May 11, 2011; Columbus, Ohio, May 19, 2011; Des Moines, Iowa, June 14, 2011; and the first two-day Summit is scheduled for Chicago, Ill. July 25-26, 2011. The full schedule of two-day Summits for 2011 will soon be released.

The Center is a premier provider of solutions for educators, schools and leaders. The Center not only offers a variety of web-based learning opportunities to aid in CCSS implementation, including webinars, videos and blog postings, but is the only provider of a U.S. professional development tour dedicated to CCSS as well as complete CCSS customized on-site team packages. The Center’s CCSS offerings are aimed at helping educators and administrators understand the big picture of CCSS but also at helping them apply and implement the CCSS standards in their own districts or school.

The Summits are led by a pioneer in research, world-renowned speaker and the author of more than 20 books, Douglas B. Reeves, who also delivers the keynote at each event. Dr. Reeves is joined around the nation by noteworthy people such as standards and assessment expert Larry Ainsworth, Cathy Lassiter, Maryann Wiggs and several other prominent education experts. The Summits will guide and empower educators at all levels, focusing on topics such as:

• Getting Ready for the Common Core: What Teachers, Administrators, and Educational Leaders Need to Know Now
• Implications for School Leaders While Implementing the Common Core
• Gap and Action Planning
• Spiraling the Common Core
• Assessing the Common Core
• Call to Action

Forty-eight  states have initially signed on to the CCSS initiative, however some have not yet formally adopted while Alaska and Texas have decided not to adopt the standards, which the 2010 Common Core Initiative states “provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them.” The standards were developed by the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Chief Council of State School Officers (CCSSO). The standards include a list of expectations in the areas of English and language arts and in math for students at all grade levels from kindergarten through 12th grade.

For more on The Leadership and Learning Center’s position on Common Core State Standards and the resource center that The Center provides, or to register for the U.S. tour, please visit www.leadandlearn.com/CCSS or call toll-free 1-866-399-6019.


About The Leadership and Learning Center 
The Leadership and Learning Center provides world-class professional development services, cutting-edge research, and innovative solutions for educators and school leaders who serve students from pre-kindergarten through college. The Center has worked in all 50 states and every Canadian province, as well as Europe, Africa, Asia, South America, and the Middle East. The Center works with public school systems, as well as religious and secular independent schools, charter schools, community colleges, technical schools, universities, state departments of education, national ministries of education, and international education associations. Center Professional Development Associates are experienced superintendents, principals, administrators, and educators who provide comprehensive practices for clients in the area of standards and assessment, instructional strategies, leadership and accountability, data analysis and collaboration. For more information please visit www.leadandlearn.com.  

About Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
With education products and services used by 57 million students throughout all 50 U.S. states and 120 countries, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is a global education and learning company. The world's largest provider of materials for pre-K–12 learning, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is leading the way with innovative solutions and approaches to the challenges facing education today. Through curricula excellence coupled with technology innovations and professional services, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt collaborates with school districts, administrators, teachers, parents and students, providing interactive, results-driven learning solutions. Its Educational Consulting Services group works to increase student achievement in underperforming schools by developing, implementing and supporting education transformation through sustained district partnerships.  With origins dating back to 1832, the Company also publishes an extensive line of reference works and award-winning literature for adults and young readers. For more information, visit www.hmhco.com.