National Summit on Improvement in Education 2025: Full Schedule

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9:00am PDT

4A-Chronic Absenteeism Improvement Review with New Visions for Public Schools Filling

Tuesday April 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT

High Tech High Room 148

A powerful routine where improvement teams reflect on their data and learning, share a dilemma, and receive feedback from experts who can provide a fresh perspective and push. Join this fishbowl type session to experience this routine, learn more about a team’s work, and glean insights to inform your own improvement efforts.

New Visions works with 71 school teams across New York to identify different types of chronic absenteeism, and provide targeted and differentiated support. A subset of these schools are piloting regular 1:1 “check-ins” as the core intervention for “butterfly” students – students who want to be at school, but consistently miss a day or two each week. Come learn more about this work, grapple with a dilemma together, and glean insights to inform your own improvement efforts.

Celebrate and push on the work: Give feedback on this session.

Speakers

Ryan Gallagher

HTH GSE

Sola Takahashi

WestEd

Sandra Park

Edgar Rodriguez

VP of School Support, New Visions for Public Schools, New Visions for Public Schools (Cohort 3)

Jonathan Green

Lead Continuous Improvement Coach, New Visions for Public Schools

Tuesday April 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High Room 148

Sessions

Strand Improvement Review
Areas of Focus Chronic absenteeism
Target Audience District leaders, Higher education faculty or administrators, Network leaders, School leaders, Teachers, Community stakeholders, County or state level leaders, Policy makers, Researchers, Technical assistance providers

9:00am PDT

4B-Improvement as a Field: Where have we been? Where are we going?

Tuesday April 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT

High Tech High International Commons

Let’s have deep conversations on issues that matter to improvers. No slide decks, just real talk. Fireside chats are places for attendees to connect with luminaries, hear transformative stories, and ask questions. This is not a panel, but a free-flowing conversation where a pair of educational leaders interview one another and pursue their wonderings together.

Improvers 💜 data: Complete the Session Survey.

Speakers

Manuelito Biag

Improvement Advisor, National Center for School-University Partnerships

Louis Gomez

Senior Partner, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

Louis Gomez holds the MacArthur Chair in Digital Media and Learning in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California Los Angeles. Gomez has served since 2008 as a senior partner at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching... Read More →

Alicia Grunow

Co-Founder; Improvement Specialist, Improvement Collective

Alicia Grunow is an educational improvement expert, specializing in how to apply the science of improvement to help teams, organizations and networks reach their improvement goals. Alicia started her career as a bilingual teacher in Denver Public School and then in New York City... Read More →

Tuesday April 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High International Commons

Sessions

Strand Fireside Chat
Areas of Focus Leadership actions
Target Audience District leaders, Higher education faculty or administrators, School leaders, Teachers, Network leaders, Policy makers, Researchers, Technical assistance providers, Community stakeholders, County or state level leaders

9:00am PDT

4C-Learning from Public Chronic Absenteeism Data: An Interactive Control Chart Dashboard

Tuesday April 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT

High Tech High International Room 205

Discover a fresh perspective on Chronic Absenteeism with the NCIE data team’s interactive control chart dashboard, designed from California’s public data to drive improvement rather than accountability. In this hands-on session, participants will explore absenteeism data across California schools and districts, learning from variation and “bright spots” of success that can inspire actionable insights. For those interested in the technical side, we’ll also dive into the code and tools behind the dashboard, offering practical guidance for creating similar solutions. Join us to see how public data can be leveraged for learning and improvement.

We cannot improve what we can’t measure: Share your feedback on this session.

Speakers

Ben Sanoff

High Tech High GSE

Erica Geary

Data Scientist, HTH GSE

Julio Garcia-Granados

High Tech High Graduate School of Education

Brandon Bennett

Improvement Advisor, Teacher and Author

Brandon Bennett is an advisor, teacher and author who helps organizations in health care, education and social welfare improve outcomes for the communities and individuals they serve. As the founder of ISC LLC, Brandon Bennett teaches advanced improvement methods and partners on a... Read More →

Tuesday April 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High International Room 205

Sessions

Strand Leadership and Field Building
Areas of Focus Chronic absenteeism, Scale or spread practices
Target Audience District leaders, Network leaders, School leaders, County or state level leaders, Policy makers, Researchers

9:00am PDT

4G-Interrogating Improvement: Reimagining Improvement Science for Equity and Justice Filling

Tuesday April 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT

High Tech High Room 137

In this session, participants will explore the crucial role of equity and justice in the field of improvement science (IS). Participants will learn from a group of equity and justice-centered improvers about how they designed learning experiences for their team to critically evaluate and refine IS methods. The session will 1) equip participants with approaches, skills, and lenses for interrogating IS tools and methods; 2) provide a space to delve into vital connections between IS work and educational equity; and 3) help participants apply a justice-oriented framework to the design and execution of improvement projects.

Celebrate and push on the work: Give feedback on this session.

Speakers

Isiah Iniguez

Carlos Sandoval

Rebecca Neri

Tuesday April 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High Room 137

Sessions

Strand Leadership and Field Building
Areas of Focus Equity Diversity and Belonging, Improvement field-building strategies
Target Audience Teachers, School leaders, District leaders, Higher education faculty or administrators, Community stakeholders, County or state level leaders, Researchers, Technical assistance providers, Network leaders, Policy makers

9:00am PDT

4J-Empowering Educators: How Community-based Partnerships can Help Sustain Improvement Filling

Tuesday April 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT

High Tech High Room 108

Context is king when it comes to schools and driving change. In this session, participants will hear stories about school improvement in StriveTogether Network Communities, as well as how we are seeing place-based partnerships support sustainable CI capability building in schools.
You’ll also explore our open-source District Improvement Toolkit, composed of lessons, templates, and an AI powered goal-setter designed to support district and building leaders, classroom teachers, and supporting partners as they train the trainers in their own unique local context.
We have designed this workshop so that anyone, regardless of role, can walk away with an actionable next step toward understanding or furthering the readiness of schools in your community to engage in this work.

Celebrate and push on the work: Give feedback on this session.

Speakers

Melissa McCoy

CI Coach, Consultant and SME, Representing StriveTogether

Marquice Clark

Suzy Thomas

Continuous Improvement Coach, StriveTogether

Tuesday April 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High Room 108

Sessions

Strand Leadership and Field Building
Areas of Focus Building the pipeline of improvers, Improvement field-building strategies
Target Audience District leaders, Higher education faculty or administrators, School leaders, Teachers, Community stakeholders, Network leaders, Policy makers

9:00am PDT

4L-Hardwiring Improvement for the Student and System Results Filling

Tuesday April 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT

High Tech High Room 146

Improvement cycles are the engine to realize improved results. Learn alongside executive leaders building the capacity to scale student learning and system results based on a decade of evidence within the field. These leaders are scaling what was learned within the School District of Menomonee Falls and leading the way to improved outcomes in highly diverse communities. They will share how they are reducing the impact of fragmented system processes and spreading improvement capability across every classroom. These executive leaders are demonstrating their ability to remove systemic barriers, ensure student access, and demonstrate improved results, system wide.

We cannot improve what we can’t measure: Share your feedback on this session.

Speakers

Jennifer Marroquin

Assistant Superintendent (Educational Services), Tulare City School District

Adam Leckie

Superintendent, CGESD

Casey Blochowiak, Ph.D.

Senior Director, Huron|Studer Education

Casey helps educational leaders create people-first organizations where individuals want to be, thrive, contribute, and grow — all while achieving results. She draws upon decades of K-12 experience as a teacher, literacy specialist, and leader in school administration. Prior to... Read More →

Whitney Holton

Tuesday April 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High Room 146

Sessions

Strand Leadership and Field Building
Areas of Focus Leadership actions
Target Audience District leaders, Higher education faculty or administrators, School leaders, Teachers, County or state level leaders, Network leaders, Policy makers, Researchers, Community stakeholders, Technical assistance providers