Speaker information
Mary Jean Gallagher
USA
Mary Jean Gallagher is an educator and leader with a passion for education improvement and a focus on excellence and equity.
Ms. Gallagher is the former chief student achievement officer and assistant deputy minister of the Ontario Ministry of Education, where she worked from 2008 to late 2015. In that role she led Ontario’s 5,000 schools in raising literacy and numeracy results by 18% and graduation results by 18.5%. Prior to the ministry, she served as director (Superintendent) of education of Canada’s southernmost school district, the Greater Essex County District School Board, and its predecessor, since 1995. Formerly a teacher of mathematics and computer science, she has also been chair of the Council of Ontario Directors of Education, CEO of the Ontario Education Improvement Commission, a secondary school principal and a school superintendent of staffing and development.
Ms. Gallagher now leads her own company, M.J. Gallagher and Associates, and is the senior lead for system improvement with Michael Fullan and Associates. She is currently named education advisor to the Department of Education for the state of Victoria, Australia and has provided presentations, advice and mentoring to school district leaders, ministries and departments of education in more than 26 countries on six continents. Dr. Gallagher has authored a number of publications on system reform in education. In recognition of her innovative leadership in education, she has received numerous professional awards, including an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Windsor in 2008, and Outstanding Educator of the Year Awards from the Ontario Phi Delta Kappan Association in 2013 and from the Ontario Principal’s Council in 2015. Most recently she was named Canada’s Outstanding Education Leader 2016 by The Learning Partnership of Canada. She also serves on the Professional Advisory Board of the Gerald H. Read Center for International and Intercultural Education at Kent State University.
Speaker presentations
Date: 12.11
Time:
14:00 – 15:30
Nur-Sultan time
Keynote speech
Excellence, Equity and Well-being in Secondary School: Working Together for Student Success
Our students need every school to deliver excellence, for every student every day, in an environment which supports their growth and well-being, now more than ever. This is the challenge we face together as educators: improve our professional practice every day in order to prepare our students for their “most richly imagined, best possible future”. For the past two decades school systems around the world have been learning how schools and the systems that support them can move forward with continuous improvement. Schools can become learning organizations, places in which everyone (students, staff, leaders and broader members of the community) can learn together to reach higher and succeed. This address will examine how we move forward in this quest, including providing practical examples to lead us forward.
Date: 12.11
Time:
12:15 – 13:00
Nur-Sultan time
Master-class
Success, Learning and Well-being: Making It Real in Our Secondary Schools
In this workshop we will examine what has been learned over the past two decades about how schools can reach higher, engaging students, staff, leaders and the community in creating a culture and a school in which everyone learns and improvement is continuous and sustainable. Participants will leave with the components of a plan to clarify their goal for improvement in their school or group of schools and an understanding of how to lead the way forward with implementation.