2019 MAIS Conference

This October 30–November 3, Senior Associate Bill Turner joined 250 participants at the annual conference of the Mediterranean Association of International Schools (MAIS) at the Crowne Hotel Plaza, Rome.

MAIS serves schools from 17 countries: Austria, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Italy, Lebanon, Malta, Morocco, Oman, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. Supportive of the organization, some schools outside the Mediterranean region, colleges, businesses, and interested individuals have also joined MAIS because of its ability to act as a liaison among schools, member organizations, and other regional, professional, and in-service organizations.

The conference, which provides the most recent research findings, trends, and best practices, offers powerful learning experiences and practical applications for busy teachers and administrators. The Houghton Mifflin Harcourt website describes the event:

Top professional consultants in various specialized areas of education . . .  empower teachers and staff and . . . stimulate deeper exploration and growth. Sessions include pre-conferences, keynotes, many extended session, and full-day workshops, and a post-conference.

Search Associates was proud to sponsor Keynote Speaker Dr. Tom Guskey, who, back in the 70s, began as a middle school teacher in Erie, Pennsylvania. He went on to become an administrator in the Chicago public schools as well as the first director of the Center for the Improvement of Teaching and Learning, a national research center. Dr. Guskey has been Senior Research Scholar in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Louisville and Professor Emeritus in the College of Education at the University of Kentucky.

With over 20 awards and 25 award-winning books and many chapters, articles, and professional papers, Dr. Guskey brings passion and rigor to the seemingly dry subject of assessment and learning. He begins by posing these simple questions: Do we assess it because it is important? Or is something only important because we assess it? He then raises our awareness to the reverberating impact assessments have—on students’ academic progress and well-being as well as on the relationships between student and teacher, school and family, and family and local community.

At the MAIS conference in Rome, Bill enjoyed re-connecting with Search Associates Principals and Heads of School (HOS) Wayne Rutherford, American School Milan; Sarah Gallagher, Marymount International School Rome; Mike Callan, American Overseas School Rome; Kevin Thomas, American Cooperative School of Tunis; Les Potter, American International School Cairo; and Bill Delbrugge, Dunecrest American School Dubai. SEARCH has been supporting these schools with their international recruitment for many years.