National Summit on Improvement in Education 2025: Full Schedule

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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

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

9:00am PDT

4M-Leading to Build and Sustain PLCs for Student Growth and Teacher Empowerment

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

High Tech High International Room 124

In this interactive session, participants will learn how the Tea Area School District utilizes improvement science principles to enhance instructional practices through weekly Elementary Professional Learning Community (PLC) meetings. Attendees will engage in hands-on activities that illustrate the use of student-driven Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles and effective goal-setting strategies.Through group discussions, role-playing scenarios, and real-life improvement studies, attendees will collaborate with peers to share insights and develop actionable strategies. The session will incorporate feedback loops and guidelines used in the Tea Area PLCs, highlighting the gradual release of ownership to teachers and the importance of feedback cycles in fostering teacher agency and increasing teacher collective efficacy.

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

Speakers

Dr. Samantha Walder

Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment, Tea Area School District

John Westhoff

School Improvement Coach

Tracy Schmidt

Continuous School Improvement Coach, Tea Area School District

Tuesday April 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High International Room 124

Sessions

Strand Leadership and Field Building
Areas of Focus Scale or spread practices, Educator development, Leadership actions
Target Audience County or state level leaders, District leaders, Teachers, School leaders, Community stakeholders

9:00am PDT

4P-Sustaining Improvement Practices in the NYC Multi-year Journey to Improve Student Literacy

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

High Tech High International Room 120

Experience the Bilingual Bicultural Mini School’s multi-year improvement story as a window to the power of highly effective instructional leadership teams (ILTs) to increase student outcomes. This systems-thinking approach leverages ILTs as engines for school-wide and district-wide change. In this workshop, participants will be introduced to two mental models that were instrumental in quickly building ILT capacity to shift literacy outcomes for all students at this site, and will work through how to apply these generalizable models to high quality Tier 1 instruction.

Improvers 💜 data: Complete the Session Survey.

Speakers

Chad Vignola

Kami Lewis Levin

Chief Learning Officer, Literacy Design Collaborative

Tuesday April 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High International Room 120

Sessions

Strand Improvement for Impact Stories
Areas of Focus Literacy, System transformation, Leadership actions
Target Audience District leaders, Network leaders, School leaders, Teachers, Community stakeholders, Researchers