2020 National Migrant Education Conference
Albuquerque, New Mexico  
Sunday, May 3 – Wednesday, May 6, 2020

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WORKSHOP PRESENTATION PROPOSAL GUIDELINES

INTRODUCTION


Each year, the National Association of State Directors of Migrant Education (NASDME) sponsors the National Migrant Education Conference to provide a critically important, high quality, one-of-a-kind, and cutting-edge professional development opportunity to all who work in migrant education and others who offer services to, and advocate for, migratory children and their families. It is by far the largest migrant conference of any held in the U.S. each year. The conference provides a broad array of workshops in many different areas of interest.


For the 2020 conference, NASDME is looking for solid workshop proposals with strong substantive content that will enrich and strengthen the work of conference attendees and which will energize all who work on behalf of migrant children and families.

NASDME prides itself on the very large number of outstanding and important workshops offered each year at the National Conference. We plan to offer 175 workshops at the 2020 Conference.

We are especially looking for educational strategies, models that have worked in implementing the program in all its aspects, and new, creative or innovative ideas that will spark discussion and expand approaches to the Migrant Education Program. The workshop presentations should focus on educational solutions which will ensure that migratory children are given equal access to all educational resources. Research-based and pragmatic experience-based presentations that provide answers to common questions and concerns are especially encouraged.

To conduct those workshops, we are looking for well-informed, organized, well-prepared, and dynamic speakers. Therefore, we are asking educators, practitioners, administrators, advocates, parents, and others to provide training, share expertise, teach skills, and build professional capacity for carrying out the broad mission of the Migrant Education Program.

We are recruiting presenters who can deliver the very best in professional development workshops and demonstrations of best practices for the expected 1,500 teachers, administrators, support staff, parents, and other attendees.

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I.    We welcome presentations on a wide range of topics….


The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)/Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides the authority and framework for the Title I, Part C Migrant Education Program. We encourage sessions which discuss the challenges and opportunities involved in meeting the educational needs of the children of mobile agricultural workers and fishers under the law, federal policies, and state accountability standards and policies. This may include coping with state-to-state differences in standards and assessment, the use of Common Core (or similar) curriculum (where applicable), and the challenges of joint planning within a state and state-to-state. We also welcome sessions which discuss the strategies of coping with limited resources. The range of topics is very broad and may include: 

  • Access to Post-Secondary Education
  • Assessment
  • Bi-national Education
  • Comprehensive Needs Assessment
  • Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment
  • Dropout Prevention
  • Early Childhood
  • English Language Learning
  • Family Literacy Services
  • Guidance Counselor/Advocacy Services
  • Health (including Mental Health issues)
  • HEP/CAMP
  • Identification and Recruitment
  • Interagency Coordination
  • Interstate Coordination
  • Legal/Policy Issues
  • Matching Needs with Services
  • Multiculturalism
  • Out-of-school Immigrant and Non-Immigrant Youth
  • Parent Involvement
  • Parenting Skills
  • Program Planning and Management
  • Reading/Language Arts
  • Secondary Programs
  • Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)   
  • Student Records Transfer
  • Summer Programs
  • Technology    

II.    Highlighted Workshop Strands for the 2020 National Conference


We want workshop sessions on all of the above topics and areas. For the 2020 National Conference, NASDME also wants to highlight two Workshop Strands successfully debuted a few years ago:


  • Guidance Counselor Track

As more migrant students embrace the possibility of college attendance, it becomes increasingly important that school counselors, whether funded with Migrant Education Program funds or not, become more aware of the educational challenges and unique educational and psychological needs of migrant students, including credit accrual, immigrant access to post-secondary institutions, migration patterns resulting in early withdrawal and late arrival, and a variety of other issues.

We encourage school counselors to present successful models and strategies in workshop sessions on these issues for other counselors as well as migrant staff in general. We also encourage migrant staff to present sessions on what issues are important to understand when counseling a migrant student.


  • English as a Second Language Track

While the National Migrant Education Conference has always provided a full array of sessions in this area, we want to encourage a large number and great variety of sessions on this topic. We would like to see sessions on ESL/bilingual educational theories, strategies, and approaches; practical problems and issues regarding ESL services; how to engage general content teachers in effectively instructing English Learners; and how to encourage school and district administrators to fully support these programs.

There are two other tracks, which we have had traditionally as part of the National Conference, for which we want to encourage additional proposals this year.


  • Management/Program Administration

With the increasing paperwork demands of the Migrant Education Program taking administrators’ time from program planning, we welcome workshop proposals which focus on the creative aspects of managing a program, workshops which discuss program planning and the development of focused program content and new approaches to service delivery. Further, how do we best integrate services and measurable program goals and outcomes? How do we ensure Migrant Education Program funds supplement, not supplant funds from other programs?


  • Health

The National Conference has always included substantive workshops on health issues for migratory students and families. We would like to increase our offerings in this area, and welcome workshop sessions on a variety of health issues and concerns and especially encourage sessions regarding mental and emotional health issues presented by students and families.


III.    Looking to the future...


As we look at a changing educational landscape for all children, how do migratory students fit in? How will they benefit from new ideas and educational innovation? How can we be sure they benefit from new initiatives? How can we be sure they are not hurt disproportionately by budget cuts? How can we encourage migratory students to be open to and pursue STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) curriculum offerings?


WHAT KIND OF PRESENTATION IS MOST SUITABLE?


Proposals will be reviewed closely and carefully by experts in the field of migrant education and related topics. Suggestions may be made by these reviewer experts regarding additional topics to be included in accepted workshop proposals. The committee will evaluate proposals based on the importance and relevance of the topic to the audience, the expertise of presenters, and the quality of the presentation. All presenters are expected to provide participants with handouts or other tangible products summarizing their presentations. Please note that not all proposals may be accepted.

All workshops are 90 minutes in length.


SELECTION CRITERIA FOR PRESENTATION PROPOSALS


  1. DESCRIPTION/ABSTRACT (A short narrative, not an outline): The description of the presentation provided on the proposal form must be fully and logically developed. It must be in narrative form and not be an outline. It should fully describe the session; should summarize expected outcomes of the session; and should refer to presentation techniques. The abstract must be at least 75 and no more than 250 words in length, and must provide an accurate description of the presentation.

IMPORTANT, PLEASE NOTE:  The abstract should be clearly written in the LANGUAGE (English or Spanish) in which it will be presented (with correct spelling, grammar, and construction) and should be complete so it can be published "as is" in the conference program. If the presentation is in Spanish, the title and description must be in Spanish. Please note: If the presentation is in both English and Spanish, the title and description must be in both languages.

  1. RELEVANCE: The proposal and presentation should be consistent with the topic areas outlined on the presentation proposal form. The title, objectives, and content should be clearly and logically aligned. We ask you to please read the explanation of the topics carefully.  Please check all topic areas listed on the accompanying proposal form that are to be discussed. 
  1. OTHER EXPECTATIONS: As stated above, all presenters are expected to have handouts for distribution to participants and should be prepared to distribute up to 75 sets. Presentations delivered in Spanish must provide handouts in Spanish. Additionally, all presenters must be willing to present at any time during the Conference on any of the workshop days, as scheduled by the Program Committee. (Workshops will be scheduled Monday, May 4; Tuesday, May 5; and the morning of Wednesday, May 6.)


PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF THE FOLLOWING:


  • Proposals must be received no later than Friday, January 10, 2020, in order to allow sufficient time to review the proposals and provide timely notification of workshop approval.
  • To ensure consideration for inclusion in the program, please complete the entire proposal. Incomplete proposals will NOT be reviewed.
  • Please do not call NASDME or the Conference Management Office regarding the status of your proposal. We will make every effort to complete review of workshop proposals submitted on or before the Early Bird Registration deadline of January 24, 2020. Any proposals received after the deadline of Friday, January 10 are not guaranteed review by the Early Bird Registration deadline.
  • Only the Lead Presenter listed will receive communications from NASDME regarding the workshop. It is the responsibility of the Lead Presenter to inform all co-presenters about the status of the proposal, and, once the scheduling is announced, when and where the workshop will be held.
  • We very strongly prefer that proposals be sent online, but we will accept proposals by mail where that is not possible.


Instructions for Submission of a Workshop Proposal


1.  You must enter an email address and create a password to Log In.

2.  You must complete the the Lead Presenter Profile. 

3.  You can then complete the Workshop Form with all required information. 


You may start your proposal and come back to it, by saving your Workshop Form and then later logging in to complete it. 


You must hit the Submit button to submit the proposal. The email provided for your log in will receive an emailed confirmation that we have received your Workshop Submission.  If you do not receive the a confirmation, please go back, log in, make sure the email address is correct, and make sure you hit the Submit button.  


PLEASE READ THE FAQ PAGE BEFORE CONTACTING US WITH ANY QUESTIONS.