National Summit on Improvement in Education 2025: Full Schedule

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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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

9:00am PDT

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

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

High Tech High International Room 205

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

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

Speakers

Ben Sanoff

High Tech High GSE

Erica Geary

Data Scientist, HTH GSE

Julio Garcia-Granados

High Tech High Graduate School of Education

Brandon Bennett

Improvement Advisor, Teacher and Author

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

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

Sessions

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

9:00am PDT

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

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

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