Over the past year, key questions have emerged about California’s public education system as schools, districts, and institutions of higher education face substantial challenges:

• How do we engage students and improve their outcomes, especially for our state’s most vulnerable children and youth?
• How do we productively engage communities and diverse stakeholders to improve education?
• How do we balance state vs. local control in navigating the current challenges?
• How do we take advantage of new technologies and opportunities to transform our education systems?

At this critical juncture, we are bringing together over 250 California policymakers, researchers, and education leaders to address these questions, while taking stock of our education system at this point in pandemic recovery. The conference will share research insights about transformative actions that can drive improvement at all levels of the system—from early childhood through higher education.

This event is sold out!  Full video from the annual conference, keynote address, and breakout sessions will be posted on the PACE event page after this event.

Highlights

• Keynote address by Tyrone Howard, Pritzker Family Endowed Chair, School of Education & Information Studies; Director, Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children and Families; and Co-Faculty Director, Center for the Transformation of Schools at the University of California, Los Angeles | President, American Educational Research Association
• Analysis of what we know about student learning and well-being, the status of the educator workforce, and progress toward system transformation at this point in pandemic recovery

Breakouts on:

• The transformative power of generative AI in education
• Addressing the challenge of post-pandemic district leadership
• Building systems to support high quality teaching and learning
• Improving student attendance and engagement
• Leveraging state investments for high school transformation
• Strengthening coherence and impact in early learning
   
• A consideration of the arguments in balancing state and local control in education by the Leland High School debate team from San José Unified School District

Speakers

• Brooks Allen | Executive Director, California State Board of Education and Education Policy Advisor, Office of California Governor Gavin Newsom
• Jerry Almendarez | Superintendent, Santa Ana Unified School District; Board member, CORE Districts
• Joseph Bishop | Executive Director, UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools
• James Bridgeforth | Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Community Schools Learning Exchange
• Hedy Chang | Executive Director, Attendance Works
• Jennifer Perry Cheatham | Senior Lecturer and Co-chair of the Public Education Leadership Project, Harvard Graduate School of Education
• Carl Cohn | Professor Emeritus, Claremont Graduate University School of Educational Studies
• Benjamin W. Cottingham | Associate Director, Strategic Partnerships, PACE, Stanford University
• Alix Gallagher | Director, Strategic Partnerships, PACE, Stanford University
• Roneeta Guha | Principal, Education First
• Jessica Gunderson | Co-Chief Executive Officer, Partnership for Children and Youth
• Heather Hough | Executive Director, PACE, Stanford University
• Alexandria Hurtt | Research Fellow, California Education Lab, University of California, Davis
• Stephanie Kloos | Executive Director of Elementary Education, San Rafael City Schools
• Michal Kurlaender | Faculty Director, PACE and Professor of Education Policy, University of California, Davis
• Mark LeNoir | Assistant Superintendent, Val Verde Unified School District 
• Julie Marsh | Faculty Director, PACE and Professor of Education Policy, USC Rossier School of Education
• Cresta McIntosh | Associate Superintendent of Educational Services, Monterey Peninsula Unified School District
• Gustavo Morales | Director, California Labor Management Initiative
• Jeannie Myung | Director of Policy Research, PACE, Stanford University
• Chris Piech | Assistant Professor of Computer Science Education, Stanford University
• Sherrie Reed | Executive Director, California Education Lab, University of California, Davis
• Lucrecia Santibañez | Co-Faculty Director, UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools; Professor of Education, UCLA School of Education & Information
• Samantha Tran | Founder and Executive Director, California Policy Collaborative
• Pam Vachatimanont | Director, Partnerships & Operations, Code.org
• Rachel White | Assistant Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, University of Tennessee

Event inquiries: events@edpolicyinca.org | Media requests: press@edpolicyinca.org