2026 GOCSD Innovation Summit

This session connects educators and leaders who are committed to supporting staff wellness. Through collaboration and shared ideas, participants will explore innovative, practical, and evidence-informed strategies to strengthen well-being in their schools and districts. This meeting will serve as the GOWellness Networks’s first meeting of 2026-2027.

This presentation will highlight how Administrative Probation and attendance incentives are transforming the culture of our Southeast Missouri high school. Administrative Probation provides a structured system of accountability and support for students who fall below expectations in academics, attendance, or behavior. Combined with positive attendance incentives, these strategies are helping create a school culture that values responsibility, engagement, and student growth.

Schools across the country are working to address chronic absenteeism and rebuild strong attendance habits. This session will highlight how one elementary school used PBIS systems to create a positive culture around attendance while engaging both students and families. Presenters will share practical strategies including incentive structures, family engagement ideas, and data tracking methods that helped increase attendance and strengthen school climate. Participants will leave with ready-to-implement ideas and tools that can be adapted for their own schools and grade levels.

Students often struggle with math when problems feel disconnected from their real lives. In this session, participants will explore how MagicSchool AI can be used to create personalized “rooms” and game-based practice spaces that act as on-demand tutors, meeting students where they are and helping them build understanding at their own pace while increasing engagement. Participants will also learn how ChatGPT can help teachers quickly create engaging, real-world math tasks that connect to experiences students recognize, making abstract concepts more accessible. Examples from Building Thinking Classrooms environment will highlight tasks built around familiar contexts like sports and everyday scenarios.

Do you ever feel like you grade harder or not hard enough compared to your teammates and you gave the same assignment or assessment? Are you wanting to create a more consistent grading environment for the students in your school? At the end of this presentation, participants will have research and examples of practices to take back to the classroom and their team on ways to calibrate the grading process to create consistency for their students.

Get ready to rethink the power of manipulatives! This hands-on session will show how giving students the opportunity to physically touch, move, and build with math tools can spark deeper understanding than screen-based practice alone. While manipulatives are often associated with early primary grades, they can be game-changing for upper elementary students—especially those who have struggled to connect with math in the past. Participants will explore how to use manipulatives to connect mathematical concepts to real-world situations, helping students make sense of what they are learning through building, modeling, and proving their thinking. This approach moves beyond rote memorization and drill-based learning, empowering students to develop lasting conceptual understanding. Teachers will leave with ready-to-use strategies, engaging lesson ideas, and interactive games they can implement immediately. This session is ideal for educators teaching grades 2–5.