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

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

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

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

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