National Summit on Improvement in Education 2025: Full Schedule

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9:00am PDT

1L-Building a Pipeline of Leaders to Transform School Improvement Planning Filling

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

High Tech High Room 109

The University of Maryland “School Improvement Leadership Academy” (SILA) will serve as a Case Study for this session’s exploration of how to build a pipeline of improvers from the principal and assistant principal ranks across Maryland. SILA faculty will showcase how they utilized a “braided” curriculum to help administrators unpack the intersectionality of three concepts - equity, instruction, and improvement. Additionally, the session will provide participants with the opportunity to sample and apply two or more of the improvement-science based tools which were introduced through the Academy to transform traditional school improvement planning into equity-focused continuous improvement.

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

Speakers

Segun Eubanks

Director, UMD Center for Educational Innovation and Improvement

Jean Snell

Senior Faculty Specialist, UMD Center for Educational Innovation & Improvement, University of Maryland, College Park

Leslie Anderson

Co-Owner and Principal, Policy Studies Associates

Monday March 31, 2025 9:00am - 10:30am PDT
High Tech High Room 109

Sessions

Strand Leadership and Field Building
Areas of Focus Leadership actions, Building the pipeline of improvers
Target Audience District leaders, Higher education faculty or administrators, School leaders

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

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

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

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 →

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