2025 Schedule
Day 1 Summit
Summit Hours: 8:00 AM – 4:50 PM
Registration & Breakfast: Begins at 7:00 AM
Cocktail Hour: 5:00 – 5:45 PM
Day 2 Summit
Summit Hours: 8:00 AM – 3:30 PM
Breakfast: Starts at 7:00 AM
Session Descriptions
Agenda subject to adjustments as we finalize the details.
I am More than a Test Score: Reframing Achievement in Education
Jamila Lyiscott, aka Dr. J Aspiring Way-Maker, Social Justice Education Scholar, Author & Spoken Word Poet | TED talk Speaker with 5M+ Views
Deficit-focused perspectives of testing and evaluation question students’ abilities rather than the ways that high-stakes testing has corrupted the true spirit of teaching and learning, especially for students of color. In this keynote and subsequent workshop, Dr. J will draw on over 15 years of her community-engaged research to illuminate the dehumanizing nature of reducing students to test scores, and to grapple with the possibilities of reframing assessment and achievement through a liberatory lens.
Bias Disrupted: Rewiring Our Decisions & Strengthening Our Hiring Practices
Chaka Booker Author of Mastering the Hire and The Empowered Candidate | Chief People Officer, The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation
Nearly a decade ago, Chaka began a journey to identify practices that effectively and consistently disrupted biases during interviewing. Understanding how to make more effective hiring decisions was only the beginning and it evolved from interviewing into a wide range of people practices from onboarding to delivering feedback, and even how to think about artificial intelligence. During his keynote, he will share the broader implications and during his breakout sessions, Chaka will lead an interactive training in which you’ll learn bias-disrupting interview practices so accessible that you can put them into action today.
Unpacking the Value of the Black American Experience: Let Me Explain Black Again
Pepper Miller Recognized Market Researcher | Author | Black-American Subject Matter Expert & Thought Leader | Award-Winning Speaker | Author | Conversation Starter
In this presentation, Pepper Miller delves into the rich yet often misunderstood Black American experience. She highlights the ‘why’ behind cultural beliefs, behaviors, values, and business leaders’ blind spots. Pepper emphasizes the importance of understanding the motivations and history that drive the Black community and offers a deeper understanding of how these insights can spark transformative change in education and beyond.
A Journey of Radical Re-Membering
Liliana Sanchez UC Merced Sophomore | Co-Presenter at the 2024 Language Policy Conference for "Silenced Language" Paper
Through this talk, I will share my story—how I came to be who I am today—and the journey I had to travel to find and affirm my roots to reconnect and re-member my multiple identities. This journey involved confronting and disrupting some of the fearsome institutional barriers designed to silence me, diminish and limit me, and, to some extent, make me invisible. I’ll share my experiences as well as lessons learned and the implications for how we can better support our students.
Measuring Impact with Parsec Clarity
Marshall Baker Education Analytics Director at Parsec Education
Discover how Clarity simplifies goal tracking and measures the effectiveness of your actions. This session will explore fidelity monitoring, actionable insights, and interactive LCAP visualizations to help you stay on track and achieve lasting impact.
Facing Facts: How we found out the truth about our district and what we did about it
Todd Collins School board member in Palo Alto, CA
Palo Alto Unified is one of the top rated (and best funded) school districts in the nation. But digging into our student achievement data, we found out that, in fact, we were failing the student who relied on us the most. Learn how we discovered the truth about our school district’s performance and what happened when we faced the facts.
Unlocking Insights from SBAC Data
Tony Alpert Executive Director, Smarter Balanced
Dive into the world of Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) data with Tony Alpert, a founding leader in educational assessment. In this interactive session, attendees will gain expert guidance on analyzing and processing SBAC data to uncover actionable insights for their schools and districts.
Participants are encouraged to bring their own SBAC data, which will be decomposed in real time to highlight trends, identify opportunities, and address challenges. Tony will also share an exclusive look at upcoming innovations in assessment tools and methodologies, offering a glimpse into the future of data-driven education.
Don’t miss this unique opportunity to learn from one of the visionaries behind SBAC and leave with practical strategies to elevate your approach to data analysis.
Accelerating Middle School Math Success: Real Stories from Educators and Students on Building a Pathway to Algebra
Sheryl Sisil & Ismael Serrano Madera Unified School District and University of California, Merced
Conference attendees will gain insights into the successful partnership between Madera Unified School District and the University of California, Merced, which focused on accelerating students’ math achievement beginning in middle school. This summer math program helped students significantly advance in math and exemplified a collaboration model built on solid relationships and analyzing data. Guided by the principle of ‘making decisions based on what is right for students, supported by research and data,’ this initiative prioritized student outcomes through targeted, strategic interventions. We will hear directly from the teachers and students involved in the course, providing firsthand perspectives on how they achieved meaningful math acceleration. Attendees will also learn practical strategies for implementing similar programs in their districts, enabling middle school students to enhance and accelerate their math skills and to complete Algebra 1 or Integrated Math 1 before entering high school. The session will explore the challenges and the rewards of such initiatives, showcasing how strategic planning and dedicated support can lead to impressive gains in student math achievement.
Elevating student voice through the Postsecondary Culture Survey
Heather Zoll, Dr. Kayla Ritter Rickels and Symone Morales OneGoal Coaches
This session by OneGoal explores a more holistic approach to assessing school quality and student success by going beyond traditional metrics. Rather than relying solely on standard data points, OneGoal advocates for tools that capture complex changes in school culture and systems to guide improvement. The session will present a landscape analysis of common success metrics in college and career readiness and introduce practical tools: Student & Adult Postsecondary Culture Surveys and the Postsecondary Readiness Rubric Assessment. These tools allow practitioners to triangulate data, better understand the conditions impacting student outcomes, and define success uniquely for their contexts. Through interactive visualizations and case examples, participants will learn how these tools differ from traditional metrics and discuss their use to elevate stakeholder voices. Ultimately, the session encourages leaders to assess their current accountability systems, adopt these tools for deeper insights, and foster continuous improvement in their institutions.
Student Panel Discussion: Student Involvement on Campus
National Student Board Member Association (NSBMA)
Hear directly from students serving on school boards as they share their unique experiences and perspectives. This interactive panel will provide insights into how they approach real-world challenges and decision-making in schools.
Unlocking Insights from SBAC Data
Tony Alpert, Executive Director, Smarter Balanced Smarter Balanced
Dive into the world of Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) data with Tony Alpert, a founding leader in educational assessment. In this interactive session, attendees will gain expert guidance on analyzing and processing SBAC data to uncover actionable insights for their schools and districts.
Participants are encouraged to bring their own SBAC data, which will be decomposed in real time to highlight trends, identify opportunities, and address challenges. Tony will also share an exclusive look at upcoming innovations in assessment tools and methodologies, offering a glimpse into the future of data-driven education.
Don’t miss this unique opportunity to learn from one of the visionaries behind SBAC and leave with practical strategies to elevate your approach to data analysis.
