OPI SI 2024 Keynote Speaker:

Dr. Randy Russell

Dr. Randy Russell currently serves as the Freeman, WA School District Superintendent. Dr. Russell is a visionary and results-producing Education Leader with a career-long passion for serving others by focusing on relationships, leadership, and partnerships for educational excellence. His positive, outgoing personality enables him to interact, communicate, build relationships, and work successfully with a diverse range of students, staff, adults, and agencies. Randy has served thirty-five years in education as a teacher, coach, assistant principal, and principal in addition to his time as a superintendent in Washington, Idaho, and Montana. He has been the keynote speaker and presenter at numerous local, state, regional, and national conferences and symposiums. He is also the Founder and President of RLR Leadership Consulting.

SESSIONS: The 3 Ships: Relationships, Leadership, and Partnerships Keynote & Session; and Developing a Positive Culture and Climate

OPI SI 2024 Keynote Speaker:

Dr. Jo Boaler

Mathematics teaching and learning - in particular, how different teaching approaches impact students' learning, how to teach mathematics for a “growth mindset”, and how equity is promoted in mathematics classrooms. The role of group work and mathematical discussions in the development of understanding. The ways teachers may be supported in moving towards equitable and effective teaching environments. The importance of data science and ways to integrate data science into all subjects in school.

SESSIONS: Limitless Learning: Learn, Lead, and Live without Barriers and Teaching & Learning Multidimensional Mathematics

OPI SI 2024 Featured Speaker:

Dr. Zelphine Smith Dixon

Dr. Zelphine Smith-Dixon served as the Georgia State Special Education Director and the Board President for the National Association of State Directors of Special Education. She worked diligently to improve schools in both South Carolina and Georgia. Dr. Smith-Dixon leads with her heart and serves her local community as a voice of influence in national networks such as the IDEA Data Center, National Technical Assistance Center on Transition, CEEDAR Project, and Gates K-12 Education to Work Foundation. 

SESSIONS: Inclusive Leadership: The Heart of the Matter and A Tiered Framework of Supports: Keeping Students First

OPI SI 2024 Featured Speaker:

Dr. Tessie Rose Bailey

Tessie Rose Bailey, Ph.D., is the Director of the PROGRESS Center and an advisor for the MTSS Center. In addition, she supports states and districts in implementing special education requirements and MTSS/RTI through several other national centers--National Center for Systemic Improvement (NCSI) and National Center on Intensive Interventions (NCII)-- and state contracts. Dr. Bailey has conducted 100s educational workshops and presentations on effective implementation of MTSS/RTI, secondary MTSS/RTI and transition, special education law, and special education within MTSS/RTI in 46 states. 

SESSIONS: Taxonomy of Intervention Part 1: Selection of Interventions and TI Part 2: Intensifying Interventions; and Using Response to Intervention (RTI) to determine Specific Learning Disability (SLD)

Additional sessions from AIR MTSS Team Sara Evans and Sheila Lovato on Data Literacy and Progress Monitoring!

OPI SI 2024 Featured Speaker:

Dr. Daniel Hyson

Daniel M. Hyson, PhD, NCSP, is an Assistant Professor in the School Psychology Graduate Program at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Previously, Dr. Hyson was a school psychologist in Minnesota public schools. He then served as Data Management Coordinator for Hiawatha Valley Education District, a consortium of 13 school districts in southeastern Minnesota. In that role, he consulted with teachers and administrators to help them access, interpret, and use data from academic and behavioral assessments to improve instruction for all students. Dr. Hyson's research interests include teacher–student relationships and their association with student engagement and achievement, and the school psychologist’s role in systems-level consultation and data-driven decision-making.

SESSIONS: The Data-Driven School: Collaborating to Improve School Outcomes; Practical Strategies for Organizing and Presenting MTSS Data;  Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS)-Flavored FBAs: Ross Greene’s ASUP as an Alternative Interview Tool

OPI SI 2024 Featured Speaker:

Dr. Jennifer Pierce

Jennifer D. Pierce is a senior technical assistant consultant for AIR with thirteen years of experience working in public and private school settings as a teacher, coach, building leader, and district-level leader and four years of experience working in higher education as a research assistant and instructor. Dr. Pierce's areas of interest center on supporting the implementation of evidence-based interventions by teachers and schools, including professional development and coaching models to reduce the research-to-practice gap; Implementation Science, including frameworks across fields and factors associated with sustained use of evidence-based interventions; and the application of MTSS across general and special education, including Response-to-Intervention and School-Wide Positive Behavior Intervention Supports. She also has a background in literacy instruction for struggling learners.

SESSION: Coaching for Systems and Teacher Change