EPIC Agenda

The Dialogue-Driven Classroom: Practices to Spark Student Voice

  Grand Ballroom G/H

What is the intersection between future-ready skills, collaborative learning and modern tools? Join our workshop as we share specific routines from different subject areas to help your classroom be more dialogue driven. Leave with a toolkit to transform passive learners into active collaborators.

District: Cucamonga School District (Calif.)

Presenters:

• Darren Alcala, District Technology Instructional Coach
• Lisa Baltierra, District Literacy Instructional Coach
• Crystal Cammon, District Math Instructional Coach

From Vision to Evidence: Building Systems That Measure What Matters

     Grand Ballroom I/J

Vicksburg Warren School District, AASA, and SpacesEDU share a candid, multi-partner story of transforming a Portrait of a Graduate into systemwide practice. Learn how VWSD aligned vision to action through POG frameworks, Leader in Me dispositions, and authentic cornerstone and capstone experiences tied to real-world outcomes (the Four E’s). Explore how a purpose-built evidence architecture enables student voice, scalable assessment, and district coherence—without increasing teacher burden. Walk away with replicable strategies to operationalize student-centered learning, define measurable competencies, and ensure every learner develops and demonstrates the skills that matter.

Presenters:

• Tori Holloway, Superintendent, Vicksburg Warren School District (Miss.)
• Sierra Holtzheuser, VP, Partnerships, SpacesEDU
• Shannon King, Vice-President, Leadership Network, AASA

Scaling The Profile of a Graduate: Lessons from Louisa County Public Schools

  Junior Ballroom A

Since 2017, Louisa County Public Schools (Va.) has transformed teaching by embedding the "Five C's" (Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Creativity, Citizenship) division-wide. Driven by the Ignite Team, this eight-year journey utilized teacher and student voices to foster innovation. Through "Think Differently Days," Professional Learning events, student showcases, and Instructional Supports, the district worked to establish a differentiated, teacher-led approach that empowers educators to equip students to be life-ready.

District: Louisa County Public Schools (Va.)

Presenters:

• Justin Grigg, Assistant Superintendent for Instruction
• Tom Smith, Director of Assessment and Accountability
• Julie Bryant, Director of Teaching and Learning
• Dave Blanchard,, Director of Secondary Education

The Internal Compass: Charting a Course for Student Agency

    Junior Ballroom B

Are you ready to hand your elementary students the compass? To realize our Graduate Profile and vision for authentic, innovative, connected, and inspired experiences, this session explores how the Howard-Suamico School District empowers young learners to chart their course as self-directed creators. You will walk away energized and equipped with practical tools to transform these high-level goals into daily classroom reality.

District: Howard-Suamico School District (Wis.)

Presenters:

• Amanda Waldo, Director of Teaching and Learning
• Kara Bunkelman, Instructional Technology Coordinator
• Miranda Zygiel, Instructional Innovation Coach

From Pathways to Purpose: Designing Authentic Learning Through Capstones and Community Connections

   Lilac B/D

How can high schools create learning experiences that move beyond coursework into authentic application? Grounded in Eden Prairie Schools’ (Minn.) Inspired Journey, this session highlights a pathway and capstone model that helps students discover interests, explore possibilities, and pursue meaningful work aligned with their future. Using the Civics in Action capstone as an anchor example, participants will see how educators, district leaders, and community partners create real-world learning through authentic projects and partnerships. Presenters will share how pathways and capstones can strengthen agency across curricular areas. (Examples: Aviation, Marketing, Science Research)

District: Eden Prairie Schools (Minn.)

Presenters:

• Joshua Swanson, Superintendent
• Sam Bearak, Social Studies Teacher
• Karen Brettigen, Industry Partnership Coordinator
• Jaysen Anderson, High School Principal

Purpose Over Platform: A District’s Journey to Balanced Technology Use

       Grand Ballroom G/H

District leaders are navigating increasing pressure around screen time, AI, digital wellness, and instructional technology use without clear, research-informed guidance. This session shares HCPS's journey in developing a division-wide framework for purposeful and balanced technology use through research, stakeholder engagement, and a cross-functional task force. Participants will explore leadership strategies, grade-level expectations, communication practices, and implementation structures designed to support student learning, wellness, safety, and LifeReady outcomes while balancing innovation with responsible use.

District: Henrico County Public Schools (Va.)

Presenters:

• Lesley Hughes, Chief Learning Officer
• Kourtney Bostain, Director of Innovation
• Laura van Bylandt, Innovation Specialist

Systemic Implementation of Academic Return on Investment

 Junior Ballroom A

Academic Return on Investment (AROI) is a framework that helps districts make strategic decisions about how to use their resources to improve student outcomes. Leaders reflect on the results of their programs and use those insights to refine or redesign supports and services. AROI involves ongoing, structured program evaluation, where districts regularly analyze both the impact and cost of initiatives on a defined cycle aligned with planning and budgeting processes.

District: Fresno Unified School District (Calif.)

Presenters:

• Zerina Hargrove-Brown, Assistant Superintendent
• Ann Loorz, Executive Director, Purchasing
• Tonisha Hargrove-Williams, Executive Officer, Instructional Division
• Mony Ward, Manager III, Analysis, Measurement, and Accountability

The Agency Audit: Before We Teach Them AI, We Need to Teach Them Hope

 Junior Ballroom C

In the keynote, we named the human advantage. In this workshop, your team finds it inside your own system.

Every district has a graduate profile. Every profile names characteristics worth developing. But when students are now developing those characteristics alongside AI, not just alongside people, the question becomes: where in our system are young people actually practicing the belief that they can figure things out?

Your leadership team will use design thinking to answer that question together. You'll start where design thinking always starts, with empathy, listening to the real experiences of the students and educators inside your buildings. From there you'll map the moments in your system where agency is alive, name the places where it's quietly being replaced by compliance, and design something new for the spaces in between. You'll leave having experienced the same process you want your graduates to carry into the world.

Presenter:

• Sabba Quidwai, CEO, Designing Schools

Spark Conversations: Igniting Leadership Potential Through Intentional Human Connection

 Lilac B/D

This session introduces "Spark Conversations," a relationship-driven process for cultivating leadership from within. Participants will learn to identify latent potential in staff and elevate it through intentional dialogue. We move beyond transactional "check-ins" to authentic interactions that "speak life" into others. Attendees will explore a three-part framework—Preparation, The Conversation, and The Ripple Effect—to transform school culture, build trust, and empower staff to step naturally into leadership roles, creating a sustainable leadership pipeline and a positive impact on the entire school community.

District: Durango School District (Colo.)

Presenter:

• C. Riley Alderton, Principal

Turning Learning Into Action: Our Teacher Rounds Story

 Grand Ballroom G/H

Follow Gurnee School District 56’s journey from Portrait of a Graduate competencies to Pathways Fairs and Teacher Rounds. Learn how instructional coaches and teachers transformed professional learning from strategy exploration into focused classroom observation, reflection, and action. Hear directly from educators about the impact of Teacher Rounds on instructional practice, collaboration, and teacher ownership.

District: Gurnee School District 56 (Ill.)

Presenters:

• Mary Lee Xenos, Instructional Coach
• Shelia Wells, Instructional Coach

Celebrate, Reflect, Grow. Small Steps Toward a Big Promise, Together

 Grand Ballroom I/J

Members of the EdLeader Promise Network will join AASA’s Strategic Insight Partner ThoughtExchange in an immersive, team-oriented session using ThoughtExchange’s adaptive technology to take a collective pulse on the network’s progress across all 5 Principles of the Public Education Promise. The session will open by celebrating the Network’s proudest wins through a storytelling exchange. The group will then shift into honest reflection on where the work feels the hardest, via a short AI-guided personal reflective interview, and surface the network's most pressing shared challenges. The group will close by digging into the top challenges in small-group table talks, turning individual reflection into collective problem-solving that advances the network's shared promise.

Presenters:

• Tim Dawkins, Assistant Superintendent, South Glens Falls School District (N.Y.)
• Lea Scherck, VP of Customer Success & People, ThoughtExchange

Designing a Future-Focused Life Ready Graduate System

   Junior Ballroom A

This presentation outlines Ephrata’s shift to a Life Ready Graduate (LRG) model, aligning instruction, assessment, and culture around knowledge, skills, and dispositions. The LRG dashboard provides transparent tracking of student growth. Professional learning is aligned to ensure educators experience and model these practices, including becoming AI-ready. Cornerstones are rigorous, real-world projects with community connections and student voice, while Design Challenges promote innovation, collaboration, and creativity. Together, these systems create a student-centered, authentic learning environment that are future-focused.

District: Ephrata Area School District (Pa.)

Presenters:

• Brian Troop, Superintendent
• Peter Kishpaugh, Coordinator of Instructional Programs
• Matt Schuck, Middle School Assistant Principal

Outcomes AND Experiences: Designing for Deeper Learning Every Day

 Junior Ballroom B

LASD shifted from an outcomes-first approach to focusing on the design of daily student experiences. We built a shared framework that defines what deeper learning looks like in practice, including core principles, teacher moves, and observable indicators. This session examines the decisions, challenges, and refinements behind that shift. Participants will analyze classroom examples and leave with practical tools to better align student experiences with meaningful outcomes.

District: Los Altos School District (Calif.)

Presenters:

• Sarah Gerlinger, Coordinator of Curriculum and Instruction
• Greg Drummond, Director of Teaching and Learning
• Sandra McGonagle, Superintendent

Deploying the Promise: Portrait Competencies and Community Mentorship

  Grand Ballroom G/H

How do we move a "Portrait of a Graduate" from a poster on the wall to a lived experience for every student? This session explores how one district team—a Superintendent, Principal, and Student Success Liaison—leveraged the Public Education Promise to bridge the gap between classroom competencies and real-world readiness. This session directly addresses: Principle 2 (The New Basics): Focusing on real skills for real life. Principle 4 (Community Partnerships): Building an engaged alliance of families, businesses, and schools.

District: Mechanicsburg Exempted Village Schools (Ohio)

Presenters:

• Danielle Prohaska, Superintendent
• Sarah Shepherd, Student Success Liaison
• Marlo Schipfer, Middle School Principal

From Compliance to Ownership: How One Rural District Put Students in the Driver's Seat

  Grand Ballroom I/J

What does it look like when a Portrait of a Graduate moves from a poster on the wall to a plan a student can actually defend in front of their parents? Superintendent Dan Stecken shares how Seneca Township High School, a rural Illinois district, rebuilt its Student Success Plan process around student voice, culminating in senior presentations and exit interviews that hold students accountable to their own goals. Attendees leave with a scalable model for shifting from "adults doing the work" to "students driving the plan," regardless of district size or resources.

Presenters:

• Dan Stecken, Superintendent, Seneca Township High School District 160 (Ill.)
• Jared Ward, SchooLinks
• Samantha Styles, SchooLinks

Real Skills, Real Success: Empowering Portsmouth Entrepreneurs

 Junior Ballroom A

This session explores how Portsmouth Public Schools’ Youth Entrepreneurship Program transforms student learning into a launchpad for future business leaders. The initiative prepares students to be "Future Ready" through sequential pathways, university and industry immersion, and community partnerships. By aligning classroom competencies with the division's Graduate Profile, Portsmouth ensures graduates possess the durable skills needed to employ, enlist, or enroll.

District: Portsmouth Public Schools (Va.)

Presenter:

• Nicole DeVries, Chief Academic Officer

Creating a Quality Profile to Tell Your District’s Story

 Junior Ballroom B

Every school district has a story that goes far beyond test scores and rankings. In this session, participants will learn how to develop a Quality Profile that highlights the experiences, opportunities, achievements, and outcomes that matter most to their community while creating a more complete picture of district success. School leaders will leave with practical strategies and tools to tell their district’s story in a high-impact, no-cost way that builds trust, strengthens engagement, and celebrates what makes their schools unique.

District: South Fayette Township School District (Pa.)

Presenter:

• Michelle Miller, Superintendent

Every district can name its values. The Public Education Promise Labs are your chance to see, with real evidence from your own system, where those values actually show up in practice and where there's still work to do.

Each lab uses one principle of the Public Education Promise (PEP) as a lens, giving your team a focused, concrete way to examine a specific part of your system rather than trying to take in everything at once. Across five 60-minute labs, one for each PEP principle, you'll work with a small team to explore real, current examples from your district and see what patterns emerge. As you choose which lab to join, consider picking the principle you're most curious (or least certain) about, rather than the one you already feel confident in — that's often where you'll learn the most. And if you're attending with colleagues, consider splitting up: with one team member per lab, you'll come away with a fuller picture across all five principles to compare notes on together afterward.

Lab 1: Student Agency Scan

 Junior Ballroom A

Where does student voice actually live in your system and how deep does it go? Using a four-zone spectrum running from Compliance to Leadership, teams start placing real, current examples of student input with one hard rule: a practice only counts as "Agency" if a student could point to a decision they actually made. In this session, you'll begin surfacing where your district talks student-centered and where the evidence says otherwise.

Led By: Shannon King, Vice President, Center for Leadership & Learning, AASA

Lab 2: Prioritization Prototype

 Junior Ballroom B

If there's no time to teach adaptability, critical thinking, or self-regulation, where does the time actually go? Teams start inventorying what fills the instructional day and begin sorting it against a hard constraint — no more than half can stay "Keep" — surfacing the trade-offs your system has been avoiding. You'll leave with an early read on where real room might exist for the New Basics.

Led By: Beth Silveira, Senior Director, Center for Leadership & Learning, AASA

Lab 3: People Strategy Scan

 Grand Ballroom I/J

A student-centered system can't run on people hired, onboarded, and rewarded for something else. Teams begin auditing real touchpoints — job postings, interviews, onboarding, recognition — against the dispositions they say they want in educators, marking early evidence green or red as it surfaces. You'll start to see which dispositions your district claims to value but nothing in the system actually screens for.

Led By: Colon Lewis, Vice President, Center for Leadership & Learning, AASA

Lab 4: Reciprocal Alliance Scan

 Grand Ballroom G/H

Not all partnerships are equal. Teams begin placing community, family, and business relationships on a four-tier ladder from Episodic to Co-Educator Alliance, testing each one against a single question: does this partner actually shape what or how students learn? You'll come away with an initial read on which relationships hold real, untapped potential.

Led By: Jessica Harding, Senior Director, Center for Leadership & Learning, AASA

Lab 5: Evidence-of-Impact Scan

 Junior Ballroom C

How much of what you call "success" is proving the past versus improving the future? Teams start sorting real dashboard metrics into Proving and Improving categories, beginning to test each one against a simple question: does anyone actually act on it, or is it just reported? You'll leave with an early signal of where your biggest measurement blind spot may be.

Led By: Shane Haggerty, Senior Director of Brand & Client Strategy, AASA

From Vision to Reality: Aligning AI, Workforce, and Deeper Learning Through Student-Centered Design

   Grand Ballroom G/H

Many districts struggle to move from isolated initiatives to a cohesive system that truly prepares students for the future. This session addresses how to align student-centered learning, AI, workforce readiness, and Portrait competencies into a clear, actionable framework.

District: Willoughby Eastlake City Schools (Ohio)

Presenters:

• Patrick Ward, Superintendent
• Katy Nagaj, Director of Teaching Learning and Innovation
• Vicki Morley, Director of Workforce Development

From Hire to Inspire: Building Force Multipliers in Your District

 Junior Ballroom B

Come learn how Henrico County Public Schools established a sustainable talent development system through job-embedded professional learning. Teacher Leader Ambassadors, Teacher Fellows, and Start Strong Henrico showcase a new way of thinking to deliver professional learning and create force multipliers.

District: Henrico County Public Schools (Va.)

Presenter:

• Michael Dussault, Director of Teaching and Learning

Living Your Portrait: Building the Systems That Make It Real

 Grand Ballroom G/H

This panel is about what happens next — the alignment work, the systems-building, and the daily practice that turns a shared vision into something students actually experience. Four districts at different points in that journey — from early implementation to more than 10 years in — share what's working, what's hard, and how they're building coherence across curriculum, instruction, leadership development, and community engagement. Expect candid, practical talk: real strategies alongside honest lessons from work that's still very much in progress.

Panelists:

• Brian Troop, Superintendent, Ephrata Area School District (Pa.)
• Cedric Magee, Deputy Superintendent, Vicksburg Warren School District (Miss.)
• Kalia Reynolds, Deputy Superintendent, West Chester Area Schools (Pa.)
• Rachel Savage, Superintendent, Moline-Coal Valley School District (Ill.)
• Beth Silveira, Senior Director, Center for Leadership & Learning, AASA