Call for Proposals

ICSEI Congress 2009
International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement
New Departures for a Learning World of Quality and Equality

The Westin Bayshore Conference Centre, Vancouver Canada
January 4 -7, 2009

INFORMATION

ICSEI 2009 will be focusing on systematic approaches to combine high quality with equity.

Specifically presentations will be concerned with:

1. Transformation through innovation and networks
2. Improvement through leadership and learning
3. Success for learners through equity combined with quality
4. Moving from isolated efforts to community learning

Individuals or groups submitting proposals are asked to reflect on one or more of these themes in their papers or presentations.

All conference presentation proposals must be submitted by Friday, August 15, 2008.

An email to confirm receipt of proposals will be sent within a 48-hour period.

Submissions received after August 15 will be placed on the Reserve List for placement in the program only if space is available. Notification of this placement may not occur until early November.

ICSEI is a conference where different communities come together – researchers, policy makers and practitioners. It is not a traditional research conference so, while, there is the opportunity for proposals to be refereed, and for people to write research papers, effectiveness- and improvement-related policy and practice initiatives are also welcomed and encouraged.

Proposals are of two types – refereed and non-refereed. Refereed proposals (see A and B) may include individual and / or multiple authored papers and symposia. Non-refereed proposals (see C) may consist of a paper, poster session, roundtable session, interactive symposium or workshop, or symposium.

Paper sessions and multiple paper symposia are intended to report summaries of ongoing or final research results, to provide a brief analysis of issues of policy and practice or to report an effectiveness or improvement initiative.

Roundtables sessions are intended for small group-focused discussions of research in progress, practitioner experiences, school improvement initiatives and issues in school effectiveness and improvement.

During poster sessions, participants peruse at will among poster stations, a format maximizing interaction between participants and presenters.

Interactive symposia and workshops are intended to be interactive sessions where researchers, practitioners or policymakers present a theme without writing a paper. The intention is to maximise dialogue.

Notification will be sent by no later than Monday, September 22 regarding ACCEPTANCE/DECLINE.

All feedback from the refereeing process will be returned to submitters by mid October.

In order to create opportunities for many voices, authors are limited to no more than TWO presentations.

Submitting an Individual Proposal
To submit an individual paper (Including a paper with multiple authors), the proposal should provide a summary of up to 1,000 words or fewer (excluding the references) for use in judging the merits of the proposed paper. The summary should deal explicitly with as many of the following as are applicable, preferably in this order:

1. Objectives or purposes
2. Perspective(s) or theoretical framework
3. Methods, techniques or modes of inquiry
4. Data sources or evidence
5. Results and/or conclusions/points of view
6. Educational importance of this study
7. Connection to the themes of the congress

Submitting a Symposium Proposal
A symposium or panel discussion provides opportunities not afforded in a single paper to examine a specific problem or topic from a variety of perspectives, engage in intensive discussion, or draw on a wide range of experiences. The proposal should provide a summary of up to 2,000 words (excluding references) for use in the judging the merits of the proposed symposium or other type of session. The summary should explicitly deal with as many of the following as are applicable, preferably in this order:

• Objectives of the session
• Educational importance
• Connection to the themes of the congress
• For each presentation or participant: point of view represented, objectives, perspectives, methods, data sources, conclusions
• Discussion of how the session will be structured.

Alternatively, a session proposal summary may consist of a general description of the session (300 words) and a description of each presentation (500 words each) combined in a single document. A total length of a session proposal should not exceed 2,500 words

For each of the categories above, the full version of the paper must be submitted to proposals@icsei2009.org by December 7, 2008.

Submitting a Non-refereed Proposal
An individual or group may submit a non-refereed paper, poster, or workshop around a particular school practice or system policy. The proposal should deal explicitly with as many of the following as are applicable in 1000 words or fewer preferably in this order:

• Objectives of the paper, poster, or workshop
• Educational importance
• Connection to the themes of the congress
• Data (if applicable)
• Results and / or conclusions and points of view
• Implications for practice.

For all submissions, A, B, or C an abstract of 150 words maximum must be included. This abstract will be used in the program for a session description.

For non-refereed papers, a full version of the paper must be submitted by January 4 2009.

Criteria for Acceptance of Refereed Proposals
(Research, Policy or Practitioner Papers, Symposia etc.)

Topic: Originality, significance in choice of problem, importance of issues, relevance and appropriateness to conference theme/ICSEI
Contribution to Education: Scientific/educational importance, theoretical/ practical framework articulated, contribution to the field
Analysis and Interpretations: Significance of conclusions or work in progress, implications for research, practice, policy and development of ideas; relationship of conclusions to findings; generalisation ability or usefulness of findings or concepts
Opportunities for Interaction: Opportunities for interactions with the audience and exchange of multiple perspectives.

Criteria for Acceptance of Non-Refereed Proposals
(Research, Policy or Practitioner Papers, Symposia etc.)

Topic: Relevance and appropriateness to conference theme/ICSEI, importance of issue
Contribution to Education: Educational, practical and/or political importance, framework and significance
Description, Analysis and Discussion: Coherence, generalisability, implications and usefulness for practice, research and policy making, including outcomes/intended outcomes
Opportunities for Interaction: Opportunities for interactions with the audience and exchange of multiple perspectives.

All submitters will be notified by email by September 22 as to ACCEPTANCE / DECLINE into the program. The results from the reviewing process will be available in mid October. If a refereed paper is accepted for the program but then doesn’t pass the reviewing process, it is still eligible for placement in the program as a non-refereed paper.

REFEREED AND NON-REFEREED PAPERS

• All papers must be written in English
• Papers may not exceed 6,000 words including appendices, references and diagrams
• Single-spacing, tables within the text
• Font types preferred: Arial / Helvetica / Times New Roman
• Font Size preferred: 12 points
• References should be used in the text e.g. (Simon, 1990) and listed alphabetically by author at the end of the text

Please use APA formatting and please be consistent throughout the paper www.apastyle.apa.org

POSTERS

• The actual poster cannot exceed 1200mm in height and 1000mm in width
• Posters are to be attached to backings and mounted on easels, which will be supplied
• Set-up will be between 8-10 am on Monday January 5
  
  

GRADUATE STUDENTS

ICSEI encourages and welcomes proposals from graduate students. Please indicate in the space provided on the e-submission form if you are a graduate student.

On Saturday, January 3, ICSEI is pleased to offer a pre-conference session for graduate students facilitated by members of the MORE (Methods of Research effectiveness) Network. There is no cost for this session.

PRESENTATION GUIDELINES

All accepted presentations, which are supported by a paid conference registration by November 1st from the main presenter or submitter, will be published within a program outline on the congress website by mid-November. The titles and abstracts will then be used again in the printed congress handbook.

All sessions must allow time for dialogue and discussion between presenters and participants. This is an important feature of ICSEI conferences and should be built into planning of conference sessions. Presenters are also asked to avoid reading their paper. Emphasis should be on interaction with the audience, after a brief set of introductory points about the paper’s content and aim. Your audience will be a mix of researchers, policy developers and practitioners.

Papers should be presented in no more than 15 minutes and then allow a further 10 minutes for discussion and feedback. The format of the presentation is at the discretion of the author(s).

Each programmed symposium has 90 minutes total time allocated, which should allow for the presentation of 3-4 papers. The format of the presentation is at the discretion of the authors, and you will be asked to nominate a chairperson, who usually is the coordinator of the symposium.

Detailed information regarding presentation formats will be sent to presenters prior to the congress.

TIMELINE 2008

TIMELINE 2009