2025 Utah Rural Schools Conference

Welcome to URSA 2025 at Park City High School!

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9:45am MDT

Maintaining Privacy Through the Whistleblowing Process

Thursday July 10, 2025 9:45am - 10:45am MDT

This presentation examines the essential role of whistleblowing with a focus on whistleblower protection in the context of education. It aims to discuss how transparency and privacy work together to protect students, parents, teachers, and staff. Creating a culture of whistleblowing in schools helps identify fraud and unsafe practices at an early stage. It also promotes a secure environment for everyone involved.
Attendees will discover best practices regarding adequate privacy measures—such as properly safeguarding the identity of individuals who report issues and establishing clear reporting guidelines—that can empower both staff and students to raise concerns without fear of retaliation. Presenters will also discuss lessons learned and the most common challenges arising from implementing whistleblower hotlines in organizations of varying maturity and complexity.
The session will also examine the problem of “indirect identification” and provide best practices for developing effective internal reporting systems. It will explore strategies to balance the demand for transparency with the necessity of protecting individual privacy. Examples of effective tools will be discussed and the State Privacy Auditor function and its reporting mechanisms will be introduced.

Participants MUST HAVE one of the following platforms/devices in order to participate in this session: Not Applicable

Participants MAY FIND IT USEFUL to have one or more of the following platforms/devices during this session: Not Applicable

Speakers

Mark Meyer

Assistant State Privacy Auditor, Office of the State Auditor

Thursday July 10, 2025 9:45am - 10:45am MDT
Room #133 1750 Kearns Blvd, Park City, UT 84060

1 hour traditional lecture/audience participation, Beginner - limited to no experience; no prerequisite skills required.

Learning Strand or Track Assessment & Data Management
Subject Area Leadership
Audience District / School Administrators, All of the above
Grade Level All Grade Levels

11:10am MDT

AI for a Rise and Something to Aspire to!

Thursday July 10, 2025 11:10am - 12:10pm MDT

Room #143

Come see what how educators are able to mimic the k-8 Rise Test questions and High School Aspire plus questions. Practice all Year using the one tool we all have access to, Canvas! Nothing here to buy you already have all you need! This is a colaborative project, if you don't see what you need, Lets make it together!

NOTE: This session repeats on Thursday, July 10 at 1:40 pm in Room 131.

Participants MUST HAVE one of the following platforms/devices in order to participate in this session: Not Applicable

Participants MAY FIND IT USEFUL to have one or more of the following platforms/devices during this session: Mac Laptop, Windows Laptop, Android Tablet / Smartphone, iPad / iPhone, Windows Tablet / Smartphone, Chromebook

Speakers

Jason Snow

Digital Teaching and Learning Coach, Northeastern Utah Educational Services

Jason a reformed middle school science teacher and the last 7 years spreading the good NUES to North Eastern Utah Teachers as a regional trainer. Trying to personalize the PD to only what matters in your classroom.

Thursday July 10, 2025 11:10am - 12:10pm MDT
Room #143 1750 Kearns Blvd, Park City, UT 84060

1 hour BYOD (Bring Your Own Device): Hands-On-Activities, Beginner - limited to no experience; no prerequisite skills required.

Learning Strand or Track Utah Core Curriculum, Assessment & Data Management
Subject Area Language Arts, Mathematics
Audience Teachers, EdTech Coach/Digital Teaching & Learning Specialists, Instructional Coaches, Curriculum Specialists
Grade Level All Grade Levels

11:10am MDT

Learning How to be Diagnostic. Evidence-Based Interventions Made Easy and How to Intensify Them for Each Tier.

Thursday July 10, 2025 11:10am - 2:40pm MDT

Room #145

This collaborative learning opportunity will present the research-based information obtained from Matt Burns's book Effective School Interventions and combine it with research by Stevenson and Reed 2017 (Instruction for intensify interventions), The National Center for Intensify Instruction, The Taxonomy of Intensify Instruction by Fuch et al. 2017 and the High-Level Practices (CDC). So when a teacher returns to their classroom, they will be able to pinpoint what intervention each student needs (through diagnosis) and then adjust its intensity. Attendees, please be prepared to share information about successes and failures with the intervention, in confidence.

Participants MUST HAVE one of the following platforms/devices in order to participate in this session: iPad / iPhone

Participants MAY FIND IT USEFUL to have one or more of the following platforms/devices during this session: Mac Laptop, Windows Laptop, iPad / iPhone

Speakers

Sheryl Vernon

School Psychologist, CUES - Central Utah Educational Services

Sheryl Vernon is a School Psychologist Ed.S. at CUES, where she covers diagnostic testing and Trust Based Relationship Intervention for the region. She received her degree from Brigham Young University.
Before working at CUES, Sheryl ran the Crayon Academy Preschool from her home for 16 years. Before that, she was a Special Education Teacher in the Nebo district for five years. She earned an associate's degree from Utah Valley University and a dual Bachelor of Science in special... Read More →

How to be Diagnostic URSA 2025 pdf

Thursday July 10, 2025 11:10am - 2:40pm MDT
Room #145 1750 Kearns Blvd, Park City, UT 84060

2 hour BYOD (Bring Your Own Device): Hands-On-Activities, Intermediate - basic core competency; some prerequisite skills required.

Learning Strand or Track Instructional Coaching, Professional Learning Communities (PLCs & PLNs), Assessment & Data Management, Other
Subject Area Language Arts, Performing Arts / Visual Arts, Music, Computer Science, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, World Languages, Special Education
Audience Teachers, District / School Administrators, Instructional Coaches
Grade Level All Grade Levels

1:40pm MDT

AI for a Rise and Something to Aspire to!

Thursday July 10, 2025 1:40pm - 2:40pm MDT

Room #131

Come see what how educators are able to mimic the k-8 Rise Test questions and High School Aspire plus questions. Practice all Year using the one tool we all have access to, Canvas! Nothing here to buy you already have all you need! This is a colaborative project, if you don't see what you need, Lets make it together!

NOTE: This session repeats on Thursday, July 10 at 11:10 am in Room #143.

Participants MUST HAVE one of the following platforms/devices in order to participate in this session: Not Applicable

Participants MAY FIND IT USEFUL to have one or more of the following platforms/devices during this session: Mac Laptop, Windows Laptop, Android Tablet / Smartphone, iPad / iPhone, Windows Tablet / Smartphone, Chromebook

Speakers

Jason Snow

Digital Teaching and Learning Coach, Northeastern Utah Educational Services

Thursday July 10, 2025 1:40pm - 2:40pm MDT
Room #131 1750 Kearns Blvd, Park City, UT 84060

1 hour BYOD (Bring Your Own Device): Hands-On-Activities, Beginner - limited to no experience; no prerequisite skills required.

Learning Strand or Track Utah Core Curriculum, Assessment & Data Management
Subject Area Language Arts, Mathematics
Audience Teachers, EdTech Coach/Digital Teaching & Learning Specialists, Instructional Coaches, Curriculum Specialists
Grade Level All Grade Levels

1:40pm MDT

Nearpod 2.0: Renaissance Next Connection

Thursday July 10, 2025 1:40pm - 2:40pm MDT

Room #244

Discover the transformative potential of Nearpod's integration with Renaissance Next. This presentation explores how these powerful educational platforms combine to create a seamless learning ecosystem that enhances student engagement, provides real-time assessment data, and personalizes instruction. Learn how this integration empowers educators to deliver dynamic content while tracking growth through Renaissance's robust analytics—bringing together the best of interactive teaching and data-driven instruction for today's digital classroom.

Session repeats on both Friday sessions in this same room.

Participants MUST HAVE one of the following platforms/devices in order to participate in this session: Not Applicable

Participants MAY FIND IT USEFUL to have one or more of the following platforms/devices during this session: No

Speakers

Faith Smith

National Academic Advisor, Renaissance

Renaissance is a global leader in assessment, reading, math, early literacy, and data-driven solutions for pre-K–12 schools and districts. We are committed to providing teacher-facilitated instructional delivery with resources to help students build a strong foundation for succ... Read More →

Thursday July 10, 2025 1:40pm - 2:40pm MDT
Room #244 1766 Kearns Blvd, Park City, UT 84060

1 hour traditional lecture/audience participation, Beginner - limited to no experience; no prerequisite skills required.