National Summit on Improvement in Education 2025: Full Schedule

Please share your Spring Summit feedback while your thoughts and experience are fresh. We truly appreciate you taking the time to help us improve.

9:00am PDT

1A-Literacy & Math Improvement Review with Teaching Matters Full

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT

High Tech High International Room 120

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.

Teaching Matters works with 23 school teams across New York City, with a focus on increasing 6-8th grade ontrack for post-high school success. A core tenet that undergirds our work is ensuring student belonging and engagement, while increasing math and ELA proficiency. 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

Kiran Purohit

VP of Curriculum & Instruction, New Visions for Public Schools, New Visions for Public Schools

Project-Based LearningScience curriculum designUrban high schools

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 →

Jacobē Bell

NSI Director, Teaching Matters

Jeff Kitrosser

Associate Director of Research and Evaluation, Teaching Matters

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High International Room 120

Sessions

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

9:00am PDT

1B-Liberatory Improvement: Reimagining the Intersections of Improvement, Equity and Justice

Monday March 31, 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

Amanda Meyer

Senior Director of Improvement, CORE Districts

Carlos Sandoval

Brandi Hinnant-Crawford

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High International Commons

Sessions

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

9:00am PDT

1C-Harnessing the Power of Understanding Variation Full

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT

High Tech High Room 148

In the pursuit of educational improvement, understanding variation is key to making informed decisions that drive real change. This interactive session will explore the power of Shewhart Charts to distinguish common from special cause variation. Using case examples, we will demonstrate how organizations, teams and networks can use these methods to accelerate their improvement efforts.

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

Speakers

Erica Geary

Data Scientist, HTH GSE

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 →

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High Room 148

Sessions

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

9:00am PDT

1D-Supporting Network Leaders: Unpacking the Work and Challenges of Hub Leadership Filling

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT

High Tech High Room 146

Improvement networks seek to solve complex problems in education, but little is known about how hub leaders build and manage these temporary learning organizations. In this workshop, hub leaders will use The Network Health Study’s Hub Leadership Framework to reflect on their own leadership practice, engage in collaborative problem solving around hub team design and common challenges leaders face, and engage in a reflective routine to strengthen hub leadership practice. We explicate the complexities of hub leadership practice while supporting leaders’ professional learning, providing tools, routines, and collaborative space to learn from each other.

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

Speakers

Kelly McMahon

Director, Center for Public Research and Leadership

Jennifer Sherer

Project Lead, Partners for Network Improvement

Donald Peurach

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High Room 146

Sessions

Strand Methods of Improvement
Areas of Focus Leadership actions, Networks
Target Audience District leaders, Network leaders, Technical assistance providers

9:00am PDT

1E-Experimenting for Improvement

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT

High Tech High International Room 123

How do you know which changes will lead to real improvement? In this interactive session, participants will apply planned experimentation—a structured approach to testing changes that increases both the efficiency and effectiveness of PDSA cycles. Through a hands-on activity, attendees will design, run, and analyze PDSA cycles, uncovering insights to drive better decision-making. Whether tackling student outcomes, operational processes, or instructional strategies, this session will introduce you to practical tools to test multiple changes and learn about their individual and combined effects.

Improvers 💜 data: Complete the Session Survey.

Speakers

Daisy Sharrock

Director, CARE Network, HTH GSE

Lloyd Provost

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High International Room 123

Sessions

Strand Methods of Improvement
Areas of Focus Improvement measurement & analytics
Target Audience District leaders, Network leaders, Researchers, School leaders

9:00am PDT

1G-All Of Us > Any Of Us: Math Teachers Getting Better Together Filling

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT

High Tech High International Room 215

What gets in the way of building a great math classroom? A network of math teachers are defining and improving on common problems of practice. Join us to explore the range of tools & routines we’ve developed to structure collaborative improvement across a state-wide practice-research NIC.

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

Speakers

Joanna Burt-Kinderman

Project Lead, Mountaineer Mathematics Master Teachers (M3T)

Joanna Burt-Kinderman has been a math teacher and teacher of math teachers for the last 25 years. She is a project lead and developer of Mountaineer Mathematics Master Teachers (M3T), a network improvement community of local improvement team led by math teachers across 37 West Virginia... Read More →

Breck Loudermilk

Mountaineer Mathematics Master Teacher, Marion County Schools, WV

Jason Massie

Mountaineer Mathematics Master Teachers, Monroe County Schools WV

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High International Room 215

Sessions

Strand Improvement for Impact Stories
Areas of Focus Educator development, Mathematics, Leadership actions, Networks
Target Audience Community stakeholders, County or state level leaders, District leaders, Higher education faculty or administrators, Network leaders, Policy makers, Researchers, School leaders, Teachers, Technical assistance providers

9:00am PDT

1H-From Zero to Data Hero: Co-Designing Data Measurement Strategies for Improvement

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT

High Tech High International Room 218

“How will we know that a change is an improvement?” An effective answer lies in the collection and analysis of data from measures across all levels of a system; however, schools and districts sometimes begin their improvement journey with limited data systems and strategies, or they experience significant changes along the way. In this session, learn how New Tech Network developed effective practices for co-designing college access data measurement systems and coaching teams to use data for improvement. Reflect on and share your experiences, and engage in a data skill-building activity that you can bring back to your network.

Improvers 💜 data: Complete the Session Survey.

Speakers

Ann Helfman

Senior Director of Continuous Improvement & College Access, New Tech Network

Zoe Fowler

NTN Data Project Lead, New Tech Network

Elda Armendariz

Continuous Improvement & College Access Coach, New Tech Network

Elisa Castillo

Continuous Improvement & College Access Coach, New Tech Network

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High International Room 218

Sessions

Strand Improvement for Impact Stories
Areas of Focus College access, Scale or spread practices, Leadership actions
Target Audience District leaders, Network leaders, School leaders, County or state level leaders

9:00am PDT

1I-Leading to Improve: Using Community Action to Address Chronic Absenteeism Full

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT

High Tech High International Room 205

This session will guide participants through a community-driven approach to addressing chronic absenteeism, drawing on lessons learned from ImpactTulsa’s successful Community Action Forums. Participants will engage in hands-on activities, leveraging data to identify key barriers to attendance—such as safety, mental and physical health, transportation, and housing—and co-design interventions to combat these challenges. Through collaborative discussions and case examples, attendees will learn how to mobilize community partnerships, lead cross-sector efforts, and drive improvements in attendance and student outcomes. This session is ideal for leaders focused on systemic, results-driven change through field-building and community collaboration.

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

Speakers

Aubrey Flowers

Head of Cradle to Career Initiatives, ImpactTulsa

Aubrey serves as ImpactTulsa's Head of Cradle to Career Initiatives. Aubrey is a passionate advocate seeking to facilitate meaningful change for youth, families, and communities of Tulsa. In service to all children and adults, Aubrey is also proud to be an innovator, reimagining the... Read More →

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High International Room 205

Sessions

Strand Leadership and Field Building
Areas of Focus Chronic absenteeism, Improvement field-building strategies
Target Audience Community stakeholders, County or state level leaders, District leaders, Network leaders, Policy makers, School leaders, Teachers

9:00am PDT

1J-From Spark to Flame: Cultivating Improvement Practices That Ignite a Culture of CI Full

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT

High Tech High Room 105

Educators often hear, “Improvement can’t be done in isolation” but what does it truly take to shift from individual improvement efforts to sustainable, collective, and equitable improvement cultures? How do leaders create conditions for improvement to thrive in everyday collaboration? In this workshop, participants will explore innovative strategies for fostering a culture of continuous improvement that extends beyond individual team leads to impact entire educational organizations. Drawing from the impactful Freshman Success Improvement Community (FSIC) model developed by the University of Chicago’s Network for College Success, participants will engage in experiential learning and discussions that demonstrate how to build the necessary conditions, dispositions, and cultures for improvement work to thrive beyond an individual improver.

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

Speakers

Joyce Randall

NCS

Lauren Perez Pietruszka

Transformation Coach, UChicago Network for College Success

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High Room 105

Sessions

Strand Improvement for Impact Stories
Areas of Focus Leadership actions, On-track to graduate K-12, Equity Diversity and Belonging
Target Audience Network leaders, School leaders, Teachers

9:00am PDT

1K-Enhancing Voice and Equity in Strategic Planning: An Improvement Science Approach Filling

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT

High Tech High International Room 127

Discover how improvement science can transform strategic planning in education by amplifying stakeholder voices and promoting equity. Participants will learn to align strategic goals with stakeholder input, utilize data-driven decision-making, and foster a culture of continuous improvement. This session offers practical strategies for effective planning and implementation, empowering educators, administrators, and policymakers to drive meaningful progress and equitable outcomes. Join us to enhance stakeholder engagement and ensure equity in your strategic planning and implementation efforts.

Improvers 💜 data: Complete the Session Survey.

Speakers

Darcie Jamieson

Assistant Director of Teaching and Learning, Educational Service District 105

Emily Nelson

Executive Director of Student Support, ESD 105

Emily Nelson is the Executive Director of Student Support at Educational Service District 105 (ESD 105) in Yakima, WA. Emily has over 16 years of experience with school based behavioral health integration and co-launched Together 105, ESD 105’s Licensed Behavioral Health Agency... Read More →

Shane Backlund

Superintendent, Educational Service District 105

Brandon Riddle

Assistant Director of Student Support, Educational Service District 105

Brandon is committed to advancing educational equity by coaching and training evidence-based strategies and frameworks. With a solid background in Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS), Interconnected Systems Framework (ISF), Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS... Read More →

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High International Room 127

Sessions

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

9:00am PDT

1M-From Compliance to Connection: Cultivating Relational Trust to Drive Improvement

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT

High Tech High International Room 219

Explore the role of relational trust in transforming leadership and fostering system-wide improvement. In this session, led by New Tech Network and Hardin County District leaders, learn how district leaders utilized improvement science tools to help foster relational trust and shift from directive leadership approaches to fostering vulnerability, inquiry, and collaboration in their system. Participants will explore research around relational trust, engage in relationship-building activities and practice feedback protocols that supported trust-building within the district. Reflect and share your own experiences, then consider how to apply these strategies to strengthen relationships and support continuous improvement in your own work.

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

Speakers

Kim Frankel Marsh

District Community and Network Design Specialist, New Tech Network

Kim Frankel Marsh serves as a District Community and Network Design Specialist for the New Tech Network where she uses tools and habits from improvement science to support district-level leadership development and systems change . Prior to joining NTN, she spent 20 years on school... Read More →

Tanya Jury

Director of High School Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment, Hardin County Schools

Dr. Tanya Jury graduated with a broadcasting degree from Western Kentucky University. After graduating with a Bachelors in Broadcasting and Political Science, Tanya worked in the media at various Louisville TV stations and local radio stations for five years before changing careers... Read More →

Brandy New

Director of Innovation, Hardin County Schools, KY

Brandy started education as an elementary classroom teacher, then Instructional Technology Coordinator and high school Computer Science teacher, before taking on the role of Director of Innovation in 2020. She has spent her entire career in Hardin County Schools in Ky, which she also... Read More →

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High International Room 219

Sessions

Strand Leadership and Field Building
Areas of Focus Leadership actions
Target Audience County or state level leaders, District leaders, Network leaders, School leaders, Teachers

9:00am PDT

1N-Values, Data and Relationships: Insights on Scaling CI Practices in Chicago

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT

High Tech High Room 108

Scaling continuous improvement work is not easy. Doing this work well requires clarity on your non-negotiables in alignment with your values, scalable data tools, and strategic relationship management. In this session, the UChicago To&Through Middle Grades Network (MGN) will share insights about their efforts, as a small organization, to scale their continuous improvement model for middle grades success in partnership with Chicago Public Schools.

Improvers 💜 data: Complete the Session Survey.

Speakers

Ashley N. Leonard

Director, To & Through Middle Grades Network, University of Chicago

Ashley N. Leonard is the Founding Director of the UChicago To&Through Middle Grades Network (MGN), an initiative focused on helping Chicago Public Schools educators create equitable and supportive learning environments for middle school students. Through her leadership, MGN has worked... Read More →

Naomi Wilfred

Jen Ciok

Manager of Coaching and Improvement, To&Through Middle Grades Network

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High Room 108

Sessions

Strand Leadership and Field Building
Areas of Focus Networks, On-track to graduate K-12, Scale or spread practices
Target Audience District leaders, Network leaders, School leaders, Teachers

9:00am PDT

1O-Increasing Engagement, Growth, and Achievement through Student-Centered Teaching Practices

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT

High Tech High International Room 124

Join us to learn about our network’s six-year journey to put student thinking at the center of instruction and the growth in student literacy achievement that resulted. Our work is grounded in a core set of student-centered instructional practices that are generalizable across content areas and have been central to the improvement. Network leaders will share examples of how educators adapted the practices to their specific contexts, how they tracked student metrics alongside implementation to understand the impact of the practices on student learning, and the surprises they encountered along the way. Experience one of the practices and reflect on opportunities to learn from the process of adaptive integration.

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

Speakers

Anthony Petrosky

Director, Institute for Learning

Glenn Nolly

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High International Room 124

Sessions

Strand Improvement for Impact Stories
Areas of Focus Educator development, Student engagement
Target Audience District leaders, Network leaders, Researchers, School leaders, Teachers

9:00am PDT

1P-How 12 Systems of Public Higher Education Improved their way to Transfer Student Success

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT

High Tech High International Room 222

80% of community college students enroll intending to transfer and earn a bachelor’s degree–unfortunately, only 33% of these students will enroll in a 4–year institution, and only 16% will attain a bachelor’s degree within six years. The National Association of Higher Education Systems brought together 12 public higher education systems into a structured improvement community and has seen breakthrough results at campuses all across the country–84% of participating institutions saw year-over-year improvement in transfer student enrollment. By using rigorous improvement methods, networked learning, and building local improvement capacity, this collaborative has moved the dial for this often-overlooked population of students.

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

Speakers

Juliette Price

Senior Improvement Coach, National Association of Higher Education Systems (NASH)

Tracy Schoolcraft

Associate Provost and Interim Dean of Exploratory Studies

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High International Room 222

Sessions

Strand Improvement for Impact Stories
Areas of Focus Networks, Postsecondary innovation
Target Audience District leaders, Network leaders, Researchers, School leaders, Teachers, County or state level leaders, Community stakeholders, Policy makers, Higher education faculty or administrators, Technical assistance providers

11:00am PDT

2A-9th Grade On-Track Improvement Review with CORE Districts

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT

High Tech High International Room 120

Speakers

Ryan Gallagher

HTH GSE

Jarrod Bolte

CEO, Improving Education

Brandi Hinnant-Crawford

Dr. Doug Kriedeman

Senior Improvement Coach, Core Districts

Juli Coleman

Chief of Improvement, School Networks, CORE Districts

Juli Coleman is the Chief of Improvement, School Networks, for The CORE Districts. She leads a multi-district network of 45 high schools across eight large urban districts focused on improving 9th grade on-track rates.With over 25 years of experience in education, Juli has served... Read More →

Amanda Meyer

Senior Director of Improvement, CORE Districts

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT
High Tech High International Room 120

Sessions

Strand Improvement Review
Areas of Focus On-track to graduate K-12
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

11:00am PDT

2C-Navigating Uncertainty: Learning and Leading Through Mistakes in Networked Improvement Filling

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT

High Tech High Room 108

In this session, we invite you to explore the story of an innovative improvement network that embraced the motto “Fail Forward” to make substantial strides in educational outcomes. This session will explore how network teams—from diverse contexts—collaborated to measure outcomes, scale effective practices, and create structures for sustained growth. We’ll discuss lessons learned from early missteps, like overlooking user perspectives, and how these experiences shaped our approach. Discover the struggle of refining change ideas, the challenges of sustaining efforts at scale, and strategies for keeping teams energized. Engage with examples, key learnings, and practical applications to inspire your own improvement journey.

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

Speakers

Beverley Jenkins

Coordinator, System Improvement Leads (SIL) Project

Teresa Patel

Improvement Facilitator, System Improvement Leads Project

Brandon Bennett

Improvement Advisor, Teacher and Author

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT
High Tech High Room 108

Sessions

Strand Improvement for Impact Stories
Areas of Focus Leadership actions
Target Audience County or state level leaders, District leaders, School leaders, Teachers, Network leaders

11:00am PDT

2D-Prioritizing for Impact: Using Pareto Analysis to Select a High Leverage Focus Filling

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT

High Tech High Room 105

Not all problems are created equal—some have a far greater impact than others. In this hands-on session, participants will learn how to apply Pareto analysis, a simple yet powerful tool for identifying the most frequently occurring causes of the problems we seek to address and focusing efforts where they matter most. Using real-world education data, attendees will practice creating Pareto charts, uncovering root causes, and making data-driven decisions that maximize improvement. Walk away with practical skills to streamline your efforts, reduce inefficiencies, and drive meaningful change in your school or district.

Improvers 💜 data: Complete the Session Survey.

Speakers

Curtis Taylor

Director, Meta Network, HTH GSE

Kelly McMahon

Director, Center for Public Research and Leadership

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT
High Tech High Room 105

Sessions

Strand Methods of Improvement
Areas of Focus Tools of improvement, Leadership actions
Target Audience District leaders, Network leaders, School leaders, Teachers, Community stakeholders, County or state level leaders

11:00am PDT

2E-Cooking Up a Measurement System for a School Network

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT

High Tech High International Room 218

How do you build a shared set of measures that truly supports learning and improvement across a network? In this interactive session, participants will explore key principles for selecting meaningful measures and apply them to a real-world challenge from a math improvement network. Through discussion and insights from improvement advisors, attendees will leave with practical strategies to design a measurement system that drives continuous learning and impact.

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

Speakers

Kiran Purohit

VP of Curriculum & Instruction, New Visions for Public Schools, New Visions for Public Schools

Project-Based LearningScience curriculum designUrban high schools

Jennifer Kim

Lead Instructional Continuous Improvement Coach, New Visions for Public Schools (Cohort 3)

Russell West

Director of Curriculum & Instruction and Counsel, New Visions for Public Schools (Cohort 3)

Alicia Grunow

Co-Founder; Improvement Specialist, Improvement Collective

Marc Stein

Executive Director, Improvement Colaboratory, Improving Education

Danielle Hayden

Lloyd Provost

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT
High Tech High International Room 218

Sessions

Strand Methods of Improvement
Areas of Focus Improvement measurement & analytics, Routines and structures for social learning, Networks
Target Audience District leaders, Network leaders, School leaders, Technical assistance providers, Teachers

11:00am PDT

2F-Growing Habits into Mindsets: Building Improvement Capability in an Urban School District Full

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT

High Tech High Room 109

As Baltimore City Public Schools started its continuous improvement journey, improvement leaders adopted a “mindsets first” orientation, prioritizing building improvement dispositions to fundamentally change the way work was done within the organization. We hypothesized that, by designing tools to apply and reinforce improvement mindsets, people’s improvement habits would grow. Some of the district’s most successful tools include training on improvement dispositions, a tool to develop a theory and measures, and PDSA lab notebooks. Initial qualitative data gathered from district staff supports the district’s hypothesis – specifically, consistent application of the improvement tools by teachers led to growth in their improvement mindsets.

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

Speakers

Natasha Japanwala

Manager, Continuous Improvement, Baltimore City Public Schools (Cohort 3)

Amiee Winchester

Director, Continuous Improvement, Baltimore City Public Schools

Amiee is a Lifelong learner and educator with over 15 years of experience navigating and leading change in complex organizations. She began her career as a fourth-grade teacher, where she continually confronted a system that reliably failed to produce transformative outcomes for all... Read More →

Zachary Jaffe

Manager, Continuous Improvement (Cohort 1 Network Co-lead), Baltimore City Public Schools (Cohort 1)

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT
High Tech High Room 109

Sessions

Strand Leadership and Field Building
Areas of Focus Scale or spread practices
Target Audience District leaders, Network leaders, Technical assistance providers, School leaders

11:00am PDT

2G-Going Far by Going Together: Collective Efficacy in Improvement Systems Full

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT

High Tech High Room 137

Continuous improvement can produce more equitable student outcomes across a school and across multiple schools within a system. Tension can exist, however, between the convergence towards shared practice and consistent implementation, and the divergence of educators taking ownership and innovating in ways that lead to variation. Through building the collective efficacy of teams, leaders can balance convergence and divergence to increase impact. This session uses texts, cases, participant reflection, and discussion to investigate the balance of convergence and divergence in building teams that believe in the power of their collaboration to achieve more within and across schools.

Improvers 💜 data: Complete the Session Survey.

Speakers

Aurora Kushner

VP, School Programming and Impact, NYC Outward Bound Schools

Always looking for the joyful convergence between equity-centered deeper learning and improvement.

Tom Rochowicz

NYC Public Schools

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT
High Tech High Room 137

Sessions

Strand Leadership and Field Building
Areas of Focus Leadership actions, Networks
Target Audience Researchers, School leaders, Teachers, Network leaders

11:00am PDT

2H-Habits of Excellence: Systems Change through Simplicity Full

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT

High Tech High International Room 215

When the KIPP national network shifted to a united strategy around standard work (“One KIPP”) in its 28 regions, we needed an expanded toolkit for building improvement capability outside of programmatic NICs. This has included building our ability to “see, solve, spread” with a focus on distilling the core habits we need to encourage at every level of our system. In this session, we will share KIPP’s early learnings from Year 1 of this approach, and participants will practice with a suite of artifacts to walk through this journey themselves.

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

Speakers

Jen Stocklin

Senior Director, Continuous Improvement, KIPP

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT
High Tech High International Room 215

Sessions

Strand Leadership and Field Building
Areas of Focus Leadership actions, Scale or spread practices
Target Audience District leaders, Network leaders, School leaders, Teachers, Technical assistance providers, County or state level leaders, Researchers

11:00am PDT

2I-Improvement Doesn't Happen By Accident

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT

High Tech High Room 148

Improvement doesn’t happen by chance—it requires intentional effort. Since 2018, the City Year Network for School Improvement (NSI) has collaborated with educators to transform schools with trust, respect, and humanity. Our Milwaukee network, rated “achieving” across all Network Health Survey domains, highlights how investing in culture and mindset early fosters lasting improvement for educators and students.

Central to this success is the CLEAR protocol, a framework for advancing collective work. In this session, participants will explore our improvement journey, engage hands-on with CLEAR, and leave with actionable strategies to strengthen collaboration and apply these insights in their own contexts.

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

Speakers

Paola Deliz Felix Encarnacion

Vice President, Network for School Improvement, City Year - 1

E Her Vang

Managing Director, Milwaukee, City Year - 1

Mary Halling

External Affairs, Learning & Engagement Director, City Year

Maribeth Kinnick

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT
High Tech High Room 148

Sessions

Strand Leadership and Field Building
Areas of Focus Educator development
Target Audience District leaders, Higher education faculty or administrators, School leaders, Teachers, Community stakeholders, Network leaders, Technical assistance providers

11:00am PDT

2J-Data that Works: Effective Data Systems for School Improvement

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT

High Tech High International Room 219

Are you confident that every improver on your team has access to the data systems they need and uses them as effectively as they can? Neither were we, which is why we’ve spent the past eight years building data tools for school improvement and sharing them with our partners. Come to our session to practice using a Data for Improvement Maturity Framework to assess your own data systems and identify a way to strengthen them. You’ll hear stories directly from our partner districts. You’ll also see our flagship tool, the Data Hub, and hear where we’re taking it next.

Improvers 💜 data: Complete the Session Survey.

Speakers

Blake Garfinkle

Growth Product Manager, CT RISE Network

I'd love to chat about all things data for school improvement.I'm dedicated to bringing powerful, actionable data tools to educators and schools to drive student success. For 7 years I have worked with educators and RISE to hone our data tools and processes. In our session, we will... Read More →

Kristin Schmitz

Director of School Improvement, Norwalk Public Schools

Chris Lewine

Chief of Data Strategy and Product Innovation, CT RISE Network

Alan Thorne

Product Manager, CT RISE Network

Alan is the Product Manager at the RISE Network where he leads the development of the RISE Data Hub, a data platform that helps educators collaborate and support student success. A long-time data and IT leader, Alan has worked in- and with dozens of schools across the Northeast to... Read More →

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT
High Tech High International Room 219

Sessions

Strand Leadership and Field Building
Areas of Focus On-track to graduate K-12, Scale or spread practices, Leadership actions
Target Audience District leaders, Network leaders, School leaders, Teachers, County or state level leaders, Policy makers, Technical assistance providers

11:00am PDT

2K-Coaching for Improvement: Navigating Common Coaching Dilemmas Filling

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT

High Tech High International Room 124

Organizations using improvement science to guide change efforts often look to improvement coaches to support their work. Coaching can be essential to build individual and team capabilities and support progress towards an improvement goal, but there are few resources that describe this nuanced work. In this session, four categories of common improvement coaching dilemmas will be introduced, as well as ways to explore them and identify potential actions to take. Participants will engage in a scenario-based simulation to practice responding to challenges that routinely arise during coaching and also reflect on a challenge from their own practice.

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

Speakers

Edit Khachatryan

Senior Associate Networked Improvement Science, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

Edit Khachatryan is a Senior Associate at the Carnegie Foundation, supporting system transformation work through improvement science. Edit is an improvement facilitator, researcher, and educator with a mission to create lasting educational improvements by facilitating, strengthening... Read More →

Barbara Shreve

MD Network Improvement Science, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

Barbara Shreve serves as managing director of the Networked Improvement Science team at the Carnegie Foundation. In this role, she leads strategy to advance access to and use of improvement science to address challenges in education and enable system transformation. As a senior associate... Read More →

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT
High Tech High International Room 124

Sessions

Strand Methods of Improvement
Areas of Focus Leadership actions, Routines and structures for social learning
Target Audience County or state level leaders, District leaders, Network leaders, School leaders

11:00am PDT

2M-Embedding CI Practices: Lessons Learned & Sustainability Wins Filling

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT

High Tech High Room 146

Bank Street Education Center (Bank Street) will highlight how to embed sustainability practices into CI work. Bank Street will share examples from their 5 + year partnership with Yonkers Public Schools (YPS). This session will share examples of how Bank Street navigated the local context and leadership transitions, cultivated a coalition of the willing among a network of schools, and supported district leaders in embedding CI practices into district-wide structures including their five-year strategic plan, math vision, PLCs, job descriptions, and data collection systems. Participants will hear examples from the field including course corrections in implementation, lessons learned, and sustainability wins.

Improvers 💜 data: Complete the Session Survey.

Speakers

Tracy Fray-Oliver

Vice President of Bank Street Education Center, Bank Street (Cohort 3 - Brooklyn)

Tarima Levine

Managing Director of Content & Design, Bank Street (Cohort 3 - Brooklyn)

Michael McDonald

Executive Director of Math, Yonkers Public Schools

Shannon Craig

Math & Continuous Improvement Coach, Bank Street Education Center

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT
High Tech High Room 146

Sessions

Strand Leadership and Field Building
Areas of Focus Routines and structures for social learning, System transformation, Networks
Target Audience District leaders, School leaders, Network leaders, Technical assistance providers

11:00am PDT

2N-The Core 4 (and Beyond): Monitoring Progress to Graduation in a Post COVID World

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT

High Tech High International Room 205

In a post-COVID world, there are a new set of challenges facing educators and students, all while pre-COVID expectations and policies are shifting back into place. In this session, we will share how continuous improvement has helped us evolve our strategy over the last 10 years to be responsive to the ever changing environment to ensure all NYC students succeed academically, mentally, socially, and professionally. Join us for a hands-on session of diving into multi-agency data around the “core 4” obstacles to graduation, and walk away with new ideas for using data to define holistic supports for students.

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

Speakers

Nikki Giunta

Chief of Staff / Project Manager, New Visions for Public Schools (Cohort 1)

Mark Dunetz

President, New Visions for Public Schools (Cohort 1)

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT
High Tech High International Room 205

Sessions

Strand Improvement for Impact Stories
Areas of Focus On-track to graduate K-12
Target Audience District leaders, Network leaders, Researchers, School leaders, County or state level leaders, Policy makers, Technical assistance providers

11:00am PDT

2O-Elevating Student Voice: Co-Designing for Well-Being, Engagement, and Belonging Filling

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT

High Tech High International Room 127

This session explores the transformative power of student voice and co-design in creating more inclusive and equitable learning environments. We will begin by exploring a case study from a California district that successfully used student-centered, community-driven improvement efforts to enhance well-being and belonging. Participants will then dive into national data from the Challenge Success survey and consider trends with their school or community in mind. Participants will leave with practical strategies for engaging students as active participants in the improvement process, empowering them to co-create solutions that drive meaningful and lasting school improvements.

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

Speakers

John Nickerson

Superintendent, Acalanes UHSD

Megan Pacheco

Executive Director, Challenge Success

Megan Pacheco, M.A., is the Executive Director for Challenge Success. She has more than 20 years of experience helping to transform schools. She has served in a variety of roles, including teacher, school coach, and organizational leader. Prior to joining Challenge Success, she was... Read More →

Matthew Swenson

Director of Educational Partnerships, Challenge Success

Matthew Swenson is the Director of Educational Partnerships at Challenge Success, where he leads national outreach to help K-12 schools foster student well-being, engagement, and belonging. With experience as an English teacher, assistant principal, and principal, he has a background... Read More →

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT
High Tech High International Room 127

Sessions

Strand Improvement for Impact Stories
Areas of Focus Student engagement, System transformation
Target Audience District leaders, School leaders, Teachers, Network leaders, Policy makers, Researchers, Community stakeholders, County or state level leaders

11:00am PDT

2P-Student-Led Improvement: Stories from the NWRESD Student Network

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT

High Tech High International Room 222

Join us for stories of bright spots and hurdles gathered over four years with Oregon’s NWRESD Student Network. In partnership with adults in the NWRESD 9th Grade Success Network, Student Interns investigate their own systems, design and implement plan-do-study-act cycles, and advocate for more caring, connected, and inclusive school cultures. Interns receive stipends for participating in convenings, workshops, and coaching to develop the skills and mindsets to become agents of change. Session participants will develop their own pilot proposal for partnering with students using key lessons learned from the NWRESD Student Network and resources from Student-Powered Improvement.

Improvers 💜 data: Complete the Session Survey.

Speakers

Annie Tronco

9GS Professional Learning Co-Lead, Northwest

Hilary Clark-Hassinger

9th Grade Success Network Professional Learning Co-Lead, Northwest Regional ESD

Monday March 31, 2025 11:00am - 12:30pm PDT
High Tech High International Room 222

Sessions

Strand Methods of Improvement
Areas of Focus Equity Diversity and Belonging, Tools of improvement
Target Audience District leaders, School leaders, Teachers, Network leaders, Community stakeholders

1:45pm PDT

3A-College Access Improvement Review with KIPP Public Schools

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT

High Tech High International Room 120

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.

KIPP is a national network of public charter schools that includes 49 high schools. Our Match and Counseling community aims to increase the number of KIPP graduates enrolling in well-matched postsecondary options. After several years of running an improvement community with a subset of schools, the Match and Counseling playbook is now being scaled as standard work for all high schools. Improvements are supported through 1:1 coaching of all high schools' Directors of College and Career Counseling (DCCCs) and a continued community of practice. Come learn more about this work, grapple with a dilemma together, and glean insights to inform your own improvement efforts.

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

Speakers

Stacey Caillier

Director, National Coalition for Improvement in Education, High Tech High Graduate School of Education

Dr. Michelle Sadrena Pledger

Director of Liberation/Founder, High Tech High Graduate School of Education/Living for Liberation

Dr. Michelle Sadrena Pledger is the Founder of Living for Liberation, an organization that supports the liberation of self, systems, and society. She is also the Director of Liberation at the High Tech High Graduate School of Education, an institution that brings together practitioners, researchers and youth to address complex problems of practice... Read More →

Jen Stocklin

Senior Director, Continuous Improvement, KIPP

Katie Suter

Camille Lafayette

Director, Data & Analytics, KIPP Foundation

Brandon Bennett

Improvement Advisor, Teacher and Author

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT
High Tech High International Room 120

Sessions

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

1:45pm PDT

3B-How Do We Catalyze and Accelerate a Movement?: Lessons from Healthcare and the Social Sector

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT

High Tech High International Commons

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

Speakers

Ben Daley

President, High Tech High Graduate School of Education

What do we want? Deeper Learning!How will we get it? Improvement!

Cathy Casserly

Casserly Consulting & Coaching

Lloyd Provost

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT
High Tech High International Commons

Sessions

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

1:45pm PDT

3C-Data That Moves: Designing Actionable Displays for Improvement Leaders Filling

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT

High Tech High International Room 123

Educators are regularly given data that highlight problematic outcomes without providing clues for how to improve. Seeking a different approach, CORE’s 9th grade on-track network has learned to display grade and attendance data in new ways that support improvers to act. We will share emergent insights from our work with urban districts across California and improvement-focused data displays we’ve used with schools, including control charts and pareto charts. Session activities will surface participants’ collective wisdom about how to display familiar data in novel ways that catalyze action. Attendees will leave with insights to apply to data in their own context.

Improvers 💜 data: Complete the Session Survey.

Speakers

Juli Coleman

Chief of Improvement, School Networks, CORE Districts

Amanda Meyer

Senior Director of Improvement, CORE Districts

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT
High Tech High International Room 123

Sessions

Strand Methods of Improvement
Areas of Focus On-track to graduate K-12, Routines and structures for social learning
Target Audience District leaders, Higher education faculty or administrators, Network leaders, Researchers, County or state level leaders, Technical assistance providers

1:45pm PDT

3D-Racing to Scale: Accelerating Development of Education’s Breakthroughs Together Full

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT

High Tech High Room 146

Breakthrough Collaboratives are increasingly seen as promising strategies for advancing and spreading evidence-based interventions and transforming practice at scale. Most of the common professional knowledge about breakthroughs draws from IHI’s Breakthrough Collaborative model, but through this interactive session, participants will engage with design dilemmas related to launching and leading education-focused collaboratives. Participants will leave with practical insights about our shared opportunity to build requisite professional knowledge and supports for using this model to scale effective practices.

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

Speakers

Jennifer Sherer

Project Lead, Partners for Network Improvement

Kelly McMahon

Director, Center for Public Research and Leadership

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT
High Tech High Room 146

Sessions

Strand Leadership and Field Building
Areas of Focus Scale or spread practices
Target Audience District leaders, Researchers, Network leaders, County or state level leaders, Technical assistance providers

1:45pm PDT

3E-Equity-focused Improvement: Making the Implicit Explicit

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT

High Tech High International Room 218

When the world of education races through initiatives at a breakneck pace, how can we slow down to do the personal and interpersonal work necessary to keep equity at the core of our continuous improvement work? We believe that we can create more equitable systems that drive improvement work in a more grounded, values-driven, and authentically collaborative way. In this session, we will do this by asking participants to 1) engage in the reflective work of drafting a personal equity stance; 2) practice building a collective theory of equity-focused improvement; and 3) apply these tools and processes to their own practice.

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

Speakers

Eliza Moeller

Transformation Coach, NCS

Eliza Moeller is the Director of Research and Continuous Improvement with the Network for College Success as well as a Research Analyst at the UChicago Consortium. In an ongoing effort to make research live in schools, Eliza works with NCS data strategists and Consortium researchers... Read More →

Amiee Winchester

Director, Continuous Improvement, Baltimore City Public Schools

Zachary Jaffe

Manager, Continuous Improvement (Cohort 1 Network Co-lead), Baltimore City Public Schools (Cohort 1)

Beth Brown

Transformation Manager, NCS

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT
High Tech High International Room 218

Sessions

Strand Leadership and Field Building
Areas of Focus Equity Diversity and Belonging, Improvement field-building strategies
Target Audience District leaders, Network leaders, Technical assistance providers

1:45pm PDT

3F-Leading a Learning Hive: Building Adaptive Governance for Equity

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT

High Tech High Room 109

Despite a deep commitment to equity and improvement, many education leaders use traditional, inherited governance models fundamentally mismatched to the complexity of education systems and their challenges. Leaders who succeed in enabling progress toward equity fundamentally rewire how and with whom they identify, choose among, and implement policies and strategies, treating daily work as an opportunity for inquiry, improvement, and innovation. In this session, participants will explore the governance approaches at play within their own systems, identify opportunities for transition toward a model well-matched to their goals, and learn from district leaders advancing this work in New York City.

Improvers 💜 data: Complete the Session Survey.

Speakers

Alan Cheng

High School Superintendent, New York City Public Schools

Alan Cheng is a high school superintendent in the New York City Public Schools, responsible for a network of 50 schools that includes members of the New York Performance Standards Consortium, Internationals Network, and NYC Outward Bound Schools. His work focuses on supporting school... Read More →

Elizabeth Chu

Executive Director, Center for Public Research and Leadership

Elizabeth Chu is the Executive Director of CPRL and a lecturer of law at Columbia Law School. At CPRL, her focus is on readying graduate students and clients to use Evolutionary Learning to enhance the education sector’s capacity to improve and serve all children, particularly those... Read More →

Tom Rochowicz

NYC Public Schools

Meghan Snyder

Director of Research Policy and Strategy, Center for Public Research and Leadership at Columbia University

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT
High Tech High Room 109

Sessions

Strand Leadership and Field Building
Areas of Focus Leadership actions
Target Audience District leaders, School leaders, Network leaders, Researchers, County or state level leaders, Policy makers

1:45pm PDT

3G-Driving Impact Through Collaborative Practices Filling

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT

High Tech High Room 137

In this interactive session, participants will learn about our story of impact, including the improvement challenges we faced and the practices we refined to drive shifts in student outcomes. Central to our success were the internal processes of democratizing decision-making and, at the school level, the use of collaborative tools like our new classroom-level measurement tracker. Participants will engage with real data and our tools through simulations and case studies. Then reflect on how to customize tools for their own contexts, and explore actionable steps to implement.

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

Speakers

Jacobē Bell

NSI Director, Teaching Matters

Reshma Ramkellawan

Ariel Ortiz

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT
High Tech High Room 137

Sessions

Strand Improvement for Impact Stories
Areas of Focus Routines and structures for social learning, Leadership actions
Target Audience District leaders, Higher education faculty or administrators, Network leaders, Researchers, School leaders

1:45pm PDT

3H-The Engine for Improvement: Coaching PDSA Cycles Filling

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT

High Tech High International Room 124

The Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle is the engine for learning in networked improvement work, and improvement coaches play an important role in ensuring that the learning from these inquiry cycles benefits the network. In this session, participants will learn about models and approaches to improvement coaching, with a focus on how coaches can help teams build efficient and effective inquiry routines. Participants will examine and reflect upon common dilemmas in coaching PDSAs and practice identifying specific coaching moves to support the team moving forward.

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

Speakers

Beverley Jenkins

Coordinator, System Improvement Leads (SIL) Project

Sandra Park

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT
High Tech High International Room 124

Sessions

Strand Methods of Improvement
Areas of Focus Tools of improvement, Routines and structures for social learning
Target Audience District leaders, Network leaders, School leaders, Teachers, Technical assistance providers

1:45pm PDT

3I-Beyond the Anecdote: Strengthening Empathy Interviews for Systemic Change Filling

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT

High Tech High International Room 215

Increase your improvement team’s capacity to meaningfully plan for and use empathy interviews in this hands-on session. Participants will learn how to identify a clear and specific purpose for empathy interviews and backwards plan towards that purpose. We’ll discuss the common missteps of empathy interviews and how to avoid them. Participants will practice analysis and application of interview findings. Strategies from this session can be modified and applied to other qualitative data teams collect such as listening sessions. Previous experience with empathy interviews is not required.

Improvers 💜 data: Complete the Session Survey.

Speakers

Kari Nelsestuen

Co-Founder, Community Design Partners

Kari Nelsestuen brings creativity, leadership, and curiosity to Community Design Partners, an organization she co-founded in Portland, Oregon. As a skilled facilitator and advisor, she is motivated by “light bulb moments” when teams uncover root causes of problems on their path... Read More →

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT
High Tech High International Room 215

Sessions

Strand Methods of Improvement
Areas of Focus Tools of improvement
Target Audience District leaders, School leaders, Teachers, Higher education faculty or administrators, County or state level leaders, Network leaders, Researchers, Community stakeholders, Technical assistance providers

1:45pm PDT

3K-Leading Instructional Improvement: Building an Infrastructure for Equity in Classrooms

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT

High Tech High International Room 219

This session addresses the infrastructure that leaders must cultivate to sustain system-wide instructional improvement. With an evergreen aim to reduce variation in the quality of instruction students experience–both within and across classrooms–we will share our approach to shifting how building and district leaders think and act within their systems. Core principles include creating a shared definition of equitable and adaptive instruction, leveling power structures, reversing the flow of feedback, lowering the stakes for engaging in real-time improvement work, providing practical support for collaborative learning through teacher teams, and changing beliefs about teachers, about students, about data, and about improvement.

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

Speakers

Andrew Volkert

Partners for Educational Leadership

Isobel Stevenson

Rydell Harrison

Tom Nobili

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT
High Tech High International Room 219

Sessions

Strand Leadership and Field Building
Areas of Focus Equity Diversity and Belonging, Leadership actions
Target Audience Teachers, District leaders, Network leaders, School leaders, Researchers

1:45pm PDT

3L-Building Systems Capacity for Equity-Driven ILTs: Lessons Learned, Relearned and Unlearned Filling

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT

High Tech High Room 148

In this session, participants will explore effective strategies for supporting Instructional Leadership Teams (ILTs) across diverse school districts. Facilitators will share lessons learned in building networked improvement communities for ILTs and what happened when those lessons were applied in new contexts. Attendees will reflect on these lessons and adapt them for their contexts and use practical tools including strategy banks and self-assessments aimed at ILT skills and growth areas. Overall, the session highlights successful adaptations of ILT models across various districts, approaches that drive school improvement, and actionable insights and resources to strengthen ILTs.

Improvers 💜 data: Complete the Session Survey.

Speakers

Karisa Gonzales

Jenay Enna

Assistant Superintendent, Educational Services Division, Oak Grove School District

Jesse Roe

Paula Espinoza

Senior Improvement Partner, Partners in School Innovation

I'm passionate about my work in schools. I love helping people find the connection between continuous improvement and social justice. I've spent a lot of the last year learning about bias and trying to disrupt my own. Ask me about the antibias, antiracist work I did with a school... Read More →

Reena Patel

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT
High Tech High Room 148

Sessions

Strand Leadership and Field Building
Areas of Focus Leadership actions
Target Audience District leaders, Network leaders, School leaders, Teachers, Technical assistance providers

1:45pm PDT

3M-Raising the Bar: Improving Graduation Rates for Students with Disabilities

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT

High Tech High International Room 222

In 2023, seven California school districts joined forces to address a shared challenge: improve graduation rates for students with disabilities by at least 10%. The System Improvement Leads project brought these districts together to leverage shared learning to reach this goal. Join us to hear directly from one of the districts, Anaheim Union High School District, about how they tested new strategies to achieve meaningful system improvements.

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

Speakers

Teresa Patel

Improvement Facilitator, System Improvement Leads Project

Lauren Klatzker

Ashley MacGavin

Grant Coordinator, SELPA System Improvement Leads Project

Ashley MacGavin has worked in the field of special education for over 10 years and currently serves in the role of Grant Coordinator at Riverside County SELPA in Perris, CA. She holds a Master’s Degree in Education and an Administrative Services Credential, Education Specialist... Read More →

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT
High Tech High International Room 222

Sessions

Strand Improvement for Impact Stories
Areas of Focus On-track to graduate K-12
Target Audience County or state level leaders, District leaders, Network leaders, School leaders, Teachers

1:45pm PDT

3O-Coordinating Cross-sector Work Through a NIC to Meet the Needs of Underserved Students

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT

High Tech High Room 108

Discover how a Networked Improvement Community (NIC) is driving transformational change across four Fresno County school districts. In partnership with local organizations, these districts are achieving significant gains in attendance and literacy for underserved students and influencing countywide policy. Learn about essential practices, including engaging the right stakeholders, implementing clear processes, building routines with feedback loops, and using "Learn by Doing" cycles. See how tracking key data supports sustainable improvement. Join us to explore the Improvement Science framework and tools, and consider how these strategies might apply in your own work through table discussions and Q&A.

Improvers 💜 data: Complete the Session Survey.

Speakers

Abby Petropulos

Executive Leadership Coach, Office of the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools

An Executive Leadership Coach with Fresno County Superintendent of Schools. She has been a teacher, principal, and district-level administrator. Abby leads the accountability team in the FCSS model.

Justin Paredes

Executive Leadership Coach, Office of the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools

Alyson Rocco

Executive Leadership Coach, Fresno County Superintendent of Schools (FCSS)

Julie Shafer

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT
High Tech High Room 108

Sessions

Strand Improvement for Impact Stories
Areas of Focus Networks, System transformation
Target Audience District leaders, Network leaders, School leaders, Researchers, Community stakeholders, County or state level leaders, Policy makers

1:45pm PDT

3P-Equity in Action: Improving Relational Trust for Instructional Alignment and Coherence

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT

High Tech High International Room 127

This session emphasizes both practical math instruction improvement and building conditions for improving relational trust. Participants will reflect on ways in which they can create conditions for supporting data driven instruction, and instructional alignment and coherence that promotes equity driven results. Participants will explore ways to foster relational trust among students and staff, as well as strategies for instructional planning and authentic collaboration. The goal is to cultivate a culture of courageous conversations about equity and constructively engage in ways to develop alignment and coherence across change ideas within schools and teams.

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

Speakers

Kurt Kaaekuahiwi

LAUSD Network Team Lead, Partners in School Innovation - 1

CHRISTINE ARVIZO

Assistant Principal, Los Angeles Unified School District

Aaron Carter

Elizabeth Esparza

Math Instructional Coach, Los Angles Unified School District

Monday March 31, 2025 1:45pm - 3:15pm PDT
High Tech High International Room 127

Sessions

Strand Improvement for Impact Stories
Areas of Focus Curriculum and instruction, Mathematics
Target Audience District leaders, Network leaders, School leaders, Teachers

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

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

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

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

4D-System Mapping: Making Work Visible Full

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

High Tech High International Room 123

Improving outcomes requires changing the systems that produce them, but systems can be hard to see. This session introduces systems mapping as a method to visualize work as interdependent processes, uncovering key connections, dependencies, and leverage points for improvement. Through real-world case examples, we’ll show how system mapping can reveal how work happens and guide more strategic decisions. Participants will practice creating system maps and leave with practical insights for applying this tool to drive school improvements.

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

Speakers

Amanda Meyer

Senior Director of Improvement, CORE Districts

David M. Williams, PhD

Senior Improvement Advisor, DMW / Austin

Senior Improvement Advisor I Author, Quality as an Organizational Strategy I Former Senior Lead of Leadership and Improvement Science and Methods at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement | Former Paramedic and Ambulance System Expert I Creator, Mr. Potato Head and Coin Spin PDSA... Read More →

Tuesday April 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High International Room 123

Sessions

Strand Methods of Improvement
Areas of Focus Tools of improvement
Target Audience District leaders, School leaders, Teachers, Higher education faculty or administrators, County or state level leaders, Network leaders, Technical assistance providers

9:00am PDT

4E-Transforming a Large Urban High School to a Culture of Improvement: Lincoln High School

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

High Tech High Room 109

Discover how Lincoln High School transformed its culture and dramatically improved student success through evidence-based changes and the power of continuous improvement. Once facing a reality where 60% of 9th graders were off-track and credit recovery was commonplace, Lincoln embarked on a bold journey to reimagine its approach. By shifting from a culture of blame to one of collective ownership, the school empowered teachers to unleash their problem-solving potential and tackle systemic challenges.

Through the use of data-driven strategies and PDSA cycles, Lincoln reduced its off-track rate by over 20 percentage points, with even greater gains among Black students. This session will provide a deep dive into their inspiring story—how they moved from a narrative of underperformance to one of collaboration and sustained improvement. Join us to explore actionable insights and tools you can use to create meaningful change in your own context.

Improvers 💜 data: Complete the Session Survey.

Speakers

Stephanie Brown

Principal, Lincoln High School

I am deeply passionate about creating educational environments where all students, especially those from historically marginalized communities, can thrive. With over 20 years of experience in high-needs public schools, I’ve dedicated my career to leading transformative school initiatives... Read More →

Juli Coleman

Chief of Improvement, School Networks, CORE Districts

Tuesday April 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High Room 109

Sessions

Strand Improvement for Impact Stories
Areas of Focus On-track to graduate K-12
Target Audience District leaders, Network leaders, Teachers, School leaders, County or state level leaders, Technical assistance providers

9:00am PDT

4F-Beyond Change Packages: Strategies for Creating Dynamic, Silo-busting Resource Hubs Full

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

High Tech High Room 105

Join HTH GSE’s CARE Network team and their design partner, Friday, as they challenge us to acknowledge the drawbacks of PDF change packages and the benefits of a digital approach. Together, you’ll dive into the principles of atomic design, explore the benefits of consistent messaging structures, and consider how filtering and tagging strategies can break down silos between district, school, and classroom teams. Lessons will be grounded in their own work to build a more dynamic resource hub, efforts you’ll be invited to join as we work together to spread and scale improvement routines and change ideas.

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

Speakers

Daisy Sharrock

Director, CARE Network, HTH GSE

Elizabeth Cameron

Co-founder & Partner, Friday

Elizabeth has over 10 years of experience partnering with mission-driven organizations to develop brands and communications that match the magic of what they do. She excels at seeing the big picture, defining the steps and strategy needed to get there, and bringing others along to... Read More →

Tuesday April 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High Room 105

Sessions

Strand Leadership and Field Building
Areas of Focus On-track to graduate K-12, Scale or spread practices
Target Audience County or state level leaders, District leaders, Network leaders, Technical assistance providers

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

4H-Designing for High Engagement: Balancing Structure & Agency in Improvement Networks

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

High Tech High International Room 219

Building a meaningful experience for network members is a pressing challenge for leaders who support networked improvement. Whether or not educators are told to participate in an improvement network, they voluntarily engage at variable levels. This session provides an overview of lessons learned from the Network Health Study about strategies leaders used to design participation structures that support member engagement. Leaders will grapple with how to balance structure and agency in their work and learn about a tool to measure how individuals value network participation.

Improvers 💜 data: Complete the Session Survey.

Speakers

Jennifer Sherer

Project Lead, Partners for Network Improvement

Jennifer Russell

Project Lead, Partners for Network Improvement

Angel Li

Associate, Impact Lab, Carnegie Foundation

I am an associate on the Impact Lab team at the Carnegie Foundation, supporting teams and networks in leveraging data and analytics for continuous improvement and system transformation. Prior to joining the Foundation, I worked for Denver Public Schools as an innovation and improvement... Read More →

Tuesday April 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High International Room 219

Sessions

Strand Methods of Improvement
Areas of Focus Networks, Routines and structures for social learning
Target Audience District leaders, Network leaders, School leaders, Technical assistance providers

9:00am PDT

4I-Hidden in Plain Sight: Illuminating a Pernicious Equity Issue in a Large Urban District

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

High Tech High International Room 222

In this session, participants will hear the story of the College Ready on Track (CRoT) hub team’s effort to set up and run a networked improvement community dedicated to providing Long Term Multilingual Learner students in Denver Public Schools high schools with the conditions to be successfully prepared for college, career, and life. Presenters will share learnings about the power of data in helping the CRoT team go from identifying an equity problem to improve, fostering collaboration across central office teams to successfully launching a network in two month’s time.

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

Speakers

Caitlin Osugi

Teacher, Senior Team Lead, Denver Public Schools

A public school math educator passionate about cultivating positive math identities and supporting strong conceptual understanding and language skills in math classrooms.

Jeremy Cooper

Program Manager, Improvement Networks, Denver Public Schools

Jeremy has more than 20 years of experience in the field of education. A lifelong learner, Jeremy brings systems thinking, curiosity, and creativity to his work with educators. In his many years with Denver Public Schools, Jeremy has taught High School Language Arts, supported teachers... Read More →

Marc Stein

Executive Director, Improvement Colaboratory, Improving Education

Tuesday April 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High International Room 222

Sessions

Strand Leadership and Field Building
Areas of Focus On-track to graduate K-12, Routines and structures for social learning
Target Audience District leaders, Network leaders

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

4K-Beyond Firefighting: Solving Problems to Root Using Real-Time Problem Solving (RTPS)

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

High Tech High International Room 218

Education leaders often find themselves firefighting — addressing immediate issues only to see them resurface. Real-Time Problem Solving (RTPS) offers a method that tackles problems at their root, focusing on individual incidents, rather than problem generalizations, to uncover and address their underlying causes, then sharing these solutions across the system. Guided by the principles “systems, not people” and “solve, don’t fix,” RTPS fosters sustainable solutions that reduce inequitable outcomes. In this session, participants will engage in hands-on RTPS activities, developing practical skills and mindsets to implement meaningful, lasting improvements in their own work.

Improvers 💜 data: Complete the Session Survey.

Speakers

Tomás Molfino

Improvement Specialist, WestEd

Jon Dolle

Josh Stern

Tuesday April 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High International Room 218

Sessions

Strand Methods of Improvement
Areas of Focus Tools of improvement, Routines and structures for social learning
Target Audience School leaders, Network leaders, Teachers, District leaders, County or state level leaders, Technical assistance providers

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

4N-From Innovation to Impact: Designing for Sustainable Scaling in a Networked Community

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

High Tech High International Room 215

Our session shares the journey of evolving from an innovation-focused network to a scaling initiative, driven by a commitment to expand effective practices reliably across diverse schools and regions. We’ll discuss how we built and refined infrastructure to support routines for data collection, fostered cross-regional collaboration, and developed onboarding systems to welcome new teams while honoring the work of founding partners. Join us to explore strategies and tools that not only spread proven methods but also create a pipeline of skilled practitioners to sustain field growth and impact.

Improvers 💜 data: Complete the Session Survey.

Speakers

Stephanie Lassalle

Director of Improvement Programs, Marshall Street

Kim Burdi

Director of Continuous Improvement, Marshall Street

Tuesday April 1, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High International Room 215

Sessions

Strand Leadership and Field Building
Areas of Focus Scale or spread practices, Networks
Target Audience County or state level leaders, District leaders, Network leaders, School leaders, Technical assistance providers

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