Miss Porter's School • 60 Main Street • Farmington, CT 06032 • 860-409-3500 • admission@missporters.org
Miss Porter's School • 60 Main Street • Farmington, CT 06032 • 860-409-3500 • admission@missporters.org
At Miss Porter’s School, we have made sweeping and ambitious changes in a short period of time to our schedule, grading system, and curriculum. We have experienced the pain points of rapid, innovative school change, and we want to share our network of experts and all that we have learned!
We offer year-round, professional development opportunities to do a deep dive into every aspect of school change, including shifting to competency-based curriculum development, mastery learning, assessment, changing your school’s schedule, and more.
We invite you to join us at our next workshop to connect with like-minded educators, become part of a professional learning community, and find innovative pathways to successfully navigating your and your institution’s challenges.
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Independent School Management (ISM) has partnered with Miss Porter’s School and Grant Lichtman, an internationally recognized thought leader on K–12 educational transformation, to deliver a two-day, hands-on change management workshop grounded in the Kotter Model of Change, a proven framework for achieving sustainable, system-wide results.
Designed to give school leaders insight into the on-the-ground challenges posed by bold and progressive school change, this workshop will examine obstacles faced in implementing school change and learn how to get around, past, over, or through them.
Participants will engage in a highly interactive experience, working through the complexities of turning ambitious educational goals into concrete, actionable steps. Through guided planning sessions, peer collaboration, and expert coaching, school leaders will design road maps tailored to their school’s unique culture, constraints, and opportunities.
When: Sunday, March 29, 2026 through Tuesday, March 31, 2026
Where: Miss Porter’s School, Farmington, CT
Lodging available at the Farmington Inn.
Schedule, details, and registration is available on the ISM website.
What if changing just one practice could transform how your students learn? Join us for two days of learning, reflection, and collaboration as we explore competency-based approaches that create lasting change in student engagement, achievement, and agency.
Discover how to meaningfully center learners through small, specific shifts to assessment practices, course design, classroom instruction, or feedback practices. Every session features practical tools and frameworks you can implement immediately!
When: Friday, November 14 and Saturday, November 15, 2025
Where: Miss Porter’s School, Farmington, CT
Cost: $375 per person
Lodging available at the Farmington Inn.
Registration is now closed.
Hear from educational leaders about the significance of a competency-based approach to teaching and learning and learn simple ways to apply this approach at the classroom level, regardless of how traditional your school structure may be.
Connect with active educators who will share their authentic stories of transformation, such as:
Generating effective structures for peer to peer learning experiences.
Increasing student ownership through intentional feedback looping.
Giving students the power
to design the direction of a course.
Engaging in community partnerships to bring students into the world.
Shifting learner mindsets through conferencing and competency-based portfolios.
You’ll walk away with practical tools, action steps, and ideas about small changes you can make at your own institution. You will also leave with connections to a network of educators who are transforming their classrooms – one strategic shift at a time.
This PD is for middle- and high-school educators, instructional designers, and learning leaders eager to deepen their understanding of competency-based, student-centered learning, be inspired by peers, and explore practical pathways for change.
Dr. Karin Hess, is an internationally recognized leader in education. She has written numerous books and articles related to brain-based learning and competency-based systems. As the author of the Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrices, Dr. Hess has developed practical, accessible approaches to formative, interim, and performance-based assessment through the use of depth of knowledge (DOK), cognitive rigor, and learning progressions.
Her twenty-six years working in schools includes fifteen years as a classroom teacher, and as an elementary and middle school principal and district curriculum and Title I director. Her work includes contributing to Maine’s early thinking about how to design and assess graduation exhibitions and supporting the development of New Hampshire’s K-12 model competencies in ELA, math, and science, and the New Hampshire Learning Initiative in guiding the design of performance-based assessments and the BEST work study habit rubrics (collaboration, communication, self-direction, and creative thinking).
Dean of Curriculum & Instruction, Humanities Teacher, Miss Porter’s School
Principal,
Centerbrook Architects
School Administrator and Founder & President of
Grow Beyond Grades
Author and Competency-based Learning & Assessment Specialist
Director of Member Engagement, Mastery Transcript Consortium
Languages Department Chair, Miss Porter’s School
Head of Upper School,
Kingswood Oxford School
School Administrator and Educator
Math Teacher,
Miss Porter’s School
Math Department Chair,
Miss Porter’s School
| Friday, November 14, 2025 | |
|---|---|
| 2:00 p.m. | Registration with light refreshments and snacks served |
| 2:30 p.m. | Welcome & Keynote by Dr. Karin Hess Making Competency-based Learning a Reality: The WHAT and the WHY, Before the HOW |
| 3:45 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. | Choice of three 75-minute workshop sessions: Designing Authentic, Competency-based Assessments in the Age of AI Presenter: Maureen Lamb, Languages Department Chair, Miss Porter’s School Leading Competency-Based Learning from the Classroom: Moves Any Teacher Can Use Presenter: Jason Cummings, Director of Member Engagement, Mastery Transcript Consortium Student-led Conferencing and Competency-based Portfolios: Shifting Learner Mindsets Presenter: Nelle Andrews, Dean of Curriculum & Instruction, Humanities Teacher, Miss Porter’s School |
| 5:15 p.m. | Cocktail Reception |
| Saturday, November 15, 2025 | |
| 8:45 a.m. - 9:15 a.m. | Light breakfast Including coffee, tea and juices |
| 9:30 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. | Choice of three 75-minute workshop sessions: Designing a Coherent System for Teaching and Learning in a Competency-based Learning System Presenter: Rose Colby, Author and Competency-based Learning & Assessment Specialist From Teacher-led to Self-directed: Building Independent Learners Through Targeted Instructional Shifts Presenter: Michael Prater, School Administrator and Educator Not Just the Teacher’s Job: How Students Share the Work of Assessment Presenter: Arthur Chiaravalli, School Administrator and Founder & President of Grow Beyond Grades |
| 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. | Student Panel Moderated by Dean of Curriculum and Instruction, Nelle Andrews |
| 12:00 p.m. - 12:45 p.m. | Lunch |
| 1:00 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. | Choice of three 75-minute workshop sessions: Competency-based Feedback in Action: Moving Beyond 'Here You Go’ Presenters: Ian Rumsey, Math Teacher, Miss Porter’s School & Hur-Shiu Webb, Math Department Chair, Miss Porter’s School Elevating IMPACT: Actionable Assessment, Defensible Evidence, Equitable Grading Presenter: Dr. Karin Hess Small Changes in Agency, Big Impact on Culture: How Shifts to Curricular Design Can Transform a School Presenters: Lisa Loeb, Head of Upper School, Kingswood Oxford School, and Todd Andrews, Principal, Centerbrook Architects |
| 2:30 p.m. | Snacks Including coffee, tea and sodas |
| 2:45 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. | Closing Remarks |
Workshop session titles and descriptions coming soon!
Profile of a Graduate. Personalized learning. Proficiency-based education. These are different terms that reimagine how schools operate so that students have more choices about what and how they learn; learn through multiple pathways; and progress based on mastery of material, rather than seat time. While most educators want to jump immediately into the HOW of implementing competency-based learning (CBL), this presentation begins by exploring implications of the 7 design principles of CBL (the WHAT) and lays out the rationale for WHY schools across the country are choosing to make these shifts.
Attendees will:
What does feedback look like in a competency-based class and how can you be sure students actually use it to grow? This session addresses common challenges with competency-based systems: students struggling to use feedback effectively and inconsistent growth across learning objectives. Discover how two teachers from Miss Porter’s School transformed their competency-based grading practices by implementing a “Feedback Action” process in their math classrooms. This structured approach ensures students actively engage with teacher feedback rather than passively receiving it and it is adaptable for any discipline. Attendees will view concrete examples from mathematics courses and explore assessment design principles that support active feedback engagement. Presenters will share implementation strategies, address time and technology challenges, and provide immediately applicable techniques for shifting from feedback delivery to genuine feedback engagement in any educational setting.
This session will guide you through a practical framework for transitioning from traditional, disconnected K-12 systems to a powerful, coherent competency-based model. We will examine the critical evolution from content-driven curricula to explicit academic and personal competencies, from traditional test approaches to rich performance assessments, from standardized instruction to truly personalized learning, and from traditional grading to meaningful communication of the learning journey. Participants will discover how these components work together to create a coherent system that prepares every student to be a successful graduate and they will leave with concrete ideas about how to engage in this work.
As generative AI transforms education, teachers face new challenges in designing meaningful assessments. This session explores practical strategies for creating AI-resilient assessments that prioritize authentic thinking, ethical reasoning, and creativity. Participants will engage with examples across subject areas, including math, humanities, science, and languages, demonstrating how small shifts in task design can safeguard integrity while deepening learning. Grounded in best practices and strategic approaches, this session highlights how thoughtful assessment design can empower students to demonstrate genuine understanding. Attendees will leave with adaptable frameworks, concrete examples, and strategies for balancing innovation with academic honesty.
This workshop provides practical strategies, examples, and hands-on activities demonstrating how teachers at any grade level can design and assess complex tasks that transfer academic and personal skills learning so that students can build a defensible body of evidence within competency-based systems. Several design and assessment tools will be explored.
Meaningful learning moves across multiple modes: sometimes we need guidance; other times, we learn by exploring. Middle and high school classrooms rely almost exclusively on a single quadrant of the learning experience: teacher-led guided practice. While effective, it’s just one piece of a larger landscape. This workshop introduces a simple framework—a four-quadrant map of learning experiences—which can help educators visualize instructional design and expand impact without overwhelming teachers. Through practical examples, participants will learn how the most impactful learning strategies—such as structured peer teaching, scaffolded exploration, and metacognitive reflection— are underused, discover what makes them powerful, and leave with plug-and-play techniques to integrate them meaningfully. A small shift in classroom structure can lead to big gains in student engagement, self-direction, and achievement.
Competency-based learning (CBL) shifts the focus from seat time and grades to meaningful evidence of mastery, and lasting change begins in the classroom. This workshop is designed for teachers who want to actively shape that transformation and drive change in their schools. Together, we will explore the seven elements of CBL, identifying both strengths and growth areas within our current practice. We will unpack both the technical challenges of implementing CBL (such as assessment design, tracking, and reporting) and the adaptive challenges (like shifting mindsets, building equity, and rethinking traditional roles). Participants will consider how to align classroom strategies with their school’s mission and Portrait of a Graduate so that big-picture goals are reflected in daily instruction. Attendees will leave with practical strategies for making learning goals explicit, designing experiences that empower student choice, and using assessment and feedback as tools for growth.
Isn’t assessment something only teachers are qualified to do? This session challenges that assumption by showing how students can meaningfully share responsibility for assessing, grading, and reporting their own learning. When students take on this work, they gain agency and metacognitive insight, while teachers are freed from carrying the full burden alone. Drawing on Margaret Wheatley’s insight that organizations grow healthier when “we connect the system to more of itself,” this session explores how classrooms become stronger and more connected when assessment involves both teachers and students—and, by extension, the wider learning community. With practical examples and strategies drawn from over a decade of work with educators through his nonprofit organization, Grow Beyond Grades, Arthur Chiaravalli demonstrates how shared assessment practices deepen relationships, foster ownership, and make learning more authentic.
What happens when students are invited to drive real-world, eco-conscious design and the adults follow their lead? This session explores how a hands-on course in sustainable construction and design led students to renovate a mobile outreach vehicle, partner with professional architects, and learn about the planning of Kingswood Oxford’s new Community Commons. More than a STEM project, the course became a launchpad for student agency and strategic school impact. Presenters will share key strategies for anchoring curricular innovation in student-centered outcomes and aligning it with a school’s long-term vision. Participants will learn how small shifts in ownership and purpose can lead to transformative change and they will walk away with a practical framework for this process.
How frequently do students have time to reflect on who they are as learners at your school? When are they encouraged to pause to think about their progress, their skill building across disciplines, or their future goals? Metacognition is such an important part of the learning process, and yet, in many schools, there are few structures and supports in place to develop this meaningful skill. Often, our high school students are so focused on outcomes and doing whatever it takes to get into college, that they lose sight of the many ways in which they are learning and growing over time, both in and out of the classroom. Documenting, reflecting on, and communicating about evidence of learning through competency-based portfolios and student-led conferences helps students to see themselves as more than just passive participants in school. Participants will learn about the tools we are utilizing at Miss Porter’s School to shift student mindsets and help them take greater ownership of their learning process. They will also hear about the challenges and successes of this process, see examples of student work, and get access to templates and strategies they can adapt for their own school contexts.
Join us for an engaging and dynamic conference dedicated to the principles of comprehensible input in language education! This event brings together expert teachers and passionate educators to explore effective strategies for enhancing language acquisition through clear, understandable communication.
When: Saturday, February 1, 2025 from 8:00 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.
Where: Miss Porter’s School, Farmington, CT
Cost: $200 includes light snacks, refreshments and lunch. If the cost prohibits your attendance please email Sophie Paris. Presenters attend for free.
Registration has closed for this event.
Whether you’re a seasoned teacher or new to the field, this one day conference will inspire you to deepen your understanding of comprehensible input and enhance your teaching practices. Come ready to learn, collaborate, and connect with fellow language educators!
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 8:00 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. | Registration and Networking Opportunities |
| 8:30 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. | Keynote Address by Jennifer Degenhardt, language teacher and multilingual author |
| 9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. | Workshop #1 |
| 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. | Workshop #2 |
| 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. | Lunch |
| 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. | Opt-in Discussions (Unconference Style) |
| 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. | Roundtable with Presenters (30 minutes followed by Q&A) |
| 2:30 p.m. - 2:45 p.m. | Closing |
Schedule subject to change
Jennifer Degenhardt taught middle and high school Spanish for 24 years. She is the author of over 100 comprehensible novels written for students learning languages. While her books highlight cultural, social, economic and political themes necessary for continued conversation, both in- and out of the classroom, all of them deal with identity to some degree and how important it is to know who you are. Jennifer is passionate about helping students learn more about themselves through storytelling and writing, and is currently sharing this passion with her students at the college level at UCONN Stamford.
Join us in fostering a collaborative environment that empowers educators to enhance their teaching practices and enrich language learning experiences. We invite educators, researchers, and practitioners to submit proposals for Transforming Language Learning: Strategies for Lasting Impact. This event aims to gather innovative voices in language education to explore and share effective strategies for implementing comprehensible input in the classroom.
Submission Guidelines:
Proposals will be evaluated based on:
Proposals must be submitted by December 15, 2024.
Please send your proposals to Maureen Lamb with the subject line “Comprehensible Input Conference Proposal.”
We look forward to your innovative ideas and contributions!
Bring your leadership team and join us this summer at Miss Porter’s School, centrally located in Farmington, CT, for a two-day workshop series focused on school change.
Dates: Monday, July 14 – Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Location: Miss Porter’s School, Farmington, CT
Lodging: Must book your own lodging; suggested hotels are the Farmington Inn, Homewood Suites by Hilton, and the Marriott Courtyard Farmington.
We encourage you to bring a team of leaders and teachers from your school so that you can work collaboratively and benefit the most from these workshops.
This workshop is designed for educational leaders who believe that traditional educational models no longer suffice in preparing students for the complexities of the modern world and who genuinely want to make bold changes to their schools. School leaders who powerfully articulate a vision for a more progressive, student-centered, authentic, and engaging educational experience remain faced with tremendous obstacles standing in the way of the substantive and lasting changes needed to make that vision a reality. Thus, this workshop is designed to give school leaders insight into the on-the-ground challenges posed by bold and progressive school change.
In this workshop, we will examine challenges faced in implementing school change and learn how to get around, past, over, or through them. We’ll focus on change in the following three areas:
Flexible scheduling to accommodate more engaging learning experiences, prioritizing depth over breadth.
Interdisciplinary and project-based curriculum that is relevant to students and focuses on real-world issues.
Authentic assessment methods that emphasize mastery over memorization and growth over grades.
We’ll delve into challenges posed by each of the following constituencies: faculty, students, families, and alumni, while also acknowledging the important partnerships needed with your communications, admissions, and college offices.
You’ll hear from educational thought leaders, learn from the stories of those engaged in this transformative work, and hear from organizations that support schools in championing and implementing educational change. This workshop will also present an opportunity for coalition building that will provide valuable support networks for school leaders looking to pioneer educational innovation. Ultimately, you will be inspired and more prepared to do the hard work of making your school a dynamic hub of forward-thinking educational practices that will prepare students to live socially productive and fulfilling lives. Participants will leave the workshop with a multi-year “road map” for school change.
We encourage you to bring a team of leaders and teachers from your school so that you can work collaboratively on your road maps.
Dr. Timothy Quinn, the Chief Academic Officer and Dean of Faculty at Miss Porter’s, will lead the series of workshops for "From Vision to Reality." Tim has worked in independent schools for almost twenty-five years, both in the U.S. and abroad, and has led change initiatives at multiple boarding and day schools. He is the author of On Grades and Grading: Supporting Student Learning through a More Transparent and Purposeful Use of Grades, as well as numerous other articles in educational journals and periodicals, including one to be published this summer by Independent School Magazine (co-authored with Amy Rogers) on how changing schools to center what is best for student learning pays off in the classroom, in life, and even in the college process. Recently earning his educational and organizational leadership doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania, he completed a dissertation entitled Equitable Elites and Exclusive Inclusivity: Examining the Pursuit of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice at Well-Resourced, Elite Private Boarding Schools.
Grant Lichtman is an internationally recognized thought leader in the drive to transform K-12 education. He speaks, writes, and works with fellow educators to build capacity and comfort with strategic innovation in response to a rapidly changing world. He has visited and worked with school and community teams at more than 275 public and private schools, helping them to develop their imagination of schools of the future, and their places in that future. He is the author of three books, #EdJourney: A Roadmap to the Future of Education, Moving the Rock: Seven Levers We Can Press to Transform Education, and Thrive: How Schools Will Win the Education Revolution. His new book, Wisdom Road, will be out in 2025.
For almost 15 years, Grant was CFO and COO at one of the largest and oldest K-12 independent schools in California. Grant graduated from Stanford University with a BS and MS in geology. Before working in education, he directed business ventures in the oil and gas industry in the former Soviet Union, South America, and the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Jason is a dedicated education leader with extensive experience in designing and scaling systems that prioritize personalized and mastery-based learning, who supports MTC member schools and districts in their evolution toward competency-based approaches to teaching, learning, reporting and credentialing.
Danielle is an experienced college counseling and admissions professional with a career spanning over two decades in secondary and higher education. Currently serving as Dean College Counseling at Miss Porter's School, she brings a strategic, student-centered approach informed by previous leadership roles at Tufts University, UC San Diego, and NYU.
Roxanne is an expert in optimizing time, space, and personnel to help each school deliver a mission-appropriate program developed around the needs of its students. She has worked onsite with more than 400 schools in North America, South America, Asia, and Europe — more than once with many of them. In her role at ISM, Roxanne provides scheduling and space consulting services for schools of all types, sizes, and grade levels.
Eric Hudson is a facilitator and strategic advisor who helps schools navigate change in education, specializing in learner-centered assessment, human-centered leadership, and strategic program design. With a background as a classroom teacher and a decade at Global Online Academy as Chief Program Officer, he has designed impactful professional learning experiences for schools around the world and currently serves on the ATLIS board.
| Day 1 | 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. | Day 2 | 8:15 a.m. - 3:15 p.m. |
|---|---|
| Registration | Breakfast |
| Welcome & Introduction | Keynote Address – Obstacles and Allies |
| Discussion | Constituent Focus 1 – Faculty |
| Keynote Address – Finding Your North Star | Constituent Focus 2 – College Counseling |
| Activity #1 – What’s Your North Star | Panel Discussion with School Leaders |
| Lunch | Lunch |
| Focus Area 1 – Schedule | Activity #3 – Developing a Road Map for Change |
| Focus Area 2 – Curriculum | Sharing of Road Maps and Feedback |
| Focus Area 3 – Assessment, Feedback, and Reporting | Closing Remarks |
| Activity #2 – Setting Goals and Anticipating Obstacles | |
| Reception - Network while enjoying a beverage and light bites by the Farmington River |
This workshop is designed for school leaders who are ready to move beyond vision and inspiration to the hard work of planning and executing bold changes in their schools. Having explored the challenges and opportunities of progressive school transformation in the first part of this workshop, participants will shift their focus from ideas to implementation, developing detailed, customized action plans for school change.
Participants will engage in a highly interactive experience, working through the complexities of turning ambitious educational goals into concrete, actionable steps. Through guided planning sessions, peer collaboration, and expert coaching, school leaders will design road maps tailored to their school’s unique culture, constraints, and opportunities. This workshop will center on:
Structuring a multi-year implementation plan that ensures meaningful and sustainable change.
Anticipating and overcoming resistance from key constituencies, including faculty, families, and trustees.
Aligning school messaging, admissions priorities, and external partnerships to support transformation.
Identifying and leveraging key early wins to build momentum and secure long-term success.
Rather than a traditional conference format, this workshop will function as a working session, with participants dedicating significant time to developing actionable strategies and receiving feedback from peers and experienced school change leaders.
Participants will leave not just with ideas, but with a tangible, detailed plan for implementing change in their schools.
Those attending with a team from their school will have the added advantage of collaborative planning, ensuring greater alignment and buy-in from the start.
| Day 1: Building the Blueprint | 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. | Day 2: Packaging and Polishing the Plan | 8:15 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. |
|---|---|
| Registration | Breakfast |
| Welcome & Introduction | Inspirational Stories of Change |
| Sharing the Vision for Your School | Team Session: Obstacles, Allies, and Resources |
| Case Studies in School Change | Team Session: Strategic Communications Planning |
| Team Session: Establishing Core Initiatives | Presentations and Feedback Rounds |
| Lunch | Lunch |
| Team Session: Laying Out a Multi Year Plan | Team Session: Finalizing the Plan |
| Presentations and Feedback Rounds | Presentations and Feedback Rounds |
| Team Session: The First 100 Days | Final Team Session |
| Presentations and Feedback Rounds | Conclusion: Commitments, Accountability & Next Steps |
| Reception - Network while enjoying a beverage and light bites by the Farmington River |
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