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Symposium Video Recordings, Slides, and Resources

Access Symposium 2021 video recordings, slides, and other resources shared by presenters by clicking the links below.

Day 1 Opening Keynote Plenary

11:00 AM – 11:45 AM ET

Building a Brighter Tomorrow: Redesigning Education and Innovating Systems to Enable Each Child to Thrive

Secretary Cardona’s opening keynote will draw from his own experiences as a lifelong educator while creating a vision for the future of education with a specific focus on personalized learning, competency-based pathways, and innovations that seek to advance equity. This inspirational talk will share insights for future-focused district and school leaders, teachers, and other educators who are reimagining education and redesigning local systems to drive educational equity and excellence for all students. Incremental change is not enough. It is time to transform learning environments to give every student the personalized competency-based pathways, modern resources, and student-centered learning opportunities they need to succeed.

To advance equity, we must innovate, share promising practices, and work together to create the education system that all of our students deserve, a system where students are at the center. This is a moment in education to boldly address inequities in the system. This is our opportunity to ensure that we rethink, redesign, and reimagine how teaching and learning should be and engage students in co-designing their future. These new student-centered learning designs shift structures of ranking and sorting our youth, shift pedagogy to be active and engage student voice and choice differently, and shift culture to demand that students become powerful future makers with more agency, and adapt our systems to be more responsive and better than ever before.

Join this keynote to hear the U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona’s call to action to lead transformation in education, to redesign toward highly personalized, competency-based learning systems that create equitable pathways for each child to thrive. Secretary Cardona will discuss the federal education priorities in place to advance innovations.

Secretary Cardona Portrait

Miguel Cardona, Secretary, U.S. Department of Education
Dr. Miguel A. Cardona currently serves as the 12th Secretary of Education. Secretary Cardona is a lifelong resident of Meriden, Connecticut and is proud alumnus of Meriden Public School. Following his time in Meriden Public Schools, he attended CCSU for his bachelor’s degree and UCONN where he completed Master’s in Bilingual/Bicultural Education, Administrator Preparation Program, Doctorate in Education, and Executive Leadership Program (Superintendent) Certificate.

Since beginning his journey as an educator, Secretary Cardona has served as an elementary school teacher, school principal, the Performance and Evaluation lead administrator, Assistant Superintendent, and most recently Commissioner of Education for the State of Connecticut. Under Secretary Cardona’s oversight – despite the pandemic – Connecticut launched a statewide FAFSA Data Dashboard; procured a comprehensive statewide Special Education Data System (CT-SEDS); announced the State’s highest ever extended graduation rates for students with disabilities and English Learners; reached a new stipulated agreement in the landmark school integration case Sheff v. O’Neill, established the first national requirement for high schools to provide courses on Black and Latino studies; and initiated systemic improvement protocols that can reach every corner of the state. His focus on equity and excellence for all learners has driven his work at all levels.

His greatest source of pride, however, is his family. Secretary Cardona and his beautiful wife Marissa are the proud parents of two children.

Plenary II

11:00 – 11:45 AM ET

Meeting the Moment to Build a Better Future

We have to think bigger and bolder to ensure that we can help every student move further, faster. There is increasing demand from parents and momentum for change. Ninety-one percent of parents believe we should be reimagining K-12 education. Today, we have a window of opportunity to move some state funding systems toward more equitable funding formulas and resources that can support truly student-centered learning. We need to deepen expertise and broaden the context of these discussions to account for our country’s systemic racism in the creation and implementation of these education policies and to drive equitable futures. We can’t tutor our way out of the challenges. The loss of learning time has affected every student. We need to develop approaches that will accelerate student learning and get to grade level and beyond.

The time to change is now. The upheaval of the past year is driving calls for change beyond the usual communities of education reformers and researchers, providing a unique opportunity to push for transformation at scale. Join us for this opening keynote address for a discussion around:

  • Recognition of how long standing weaknesses of our education systems are reaching a tipping point.
  • Renewed calls for racial and social justice are revealing flaws the current system can’t address.
  • Advancements in the learning sciences research and new technologies are strengthening the impetus for change.
  • A historic influx of federal funding provides an unprecedented opportunity for investing in the future of learning and modernization.
  • Demand for change is coming from all directions.

The COVID-19 pandemic, compounded by inadequate reckoning with addressing systemic racism in our country, and unprecedented recovery investments by the federal government, are opening historic opportunities to fundamentally rethink our education systems and structures to create the conditions for all students to thrive. There has never been a greater time to reimagine education systems.

Susan Patrick Portrait

Susan Patrick, President and CEO, Aurora Institute
Susan Patrick is the President and CEO of Aurora Institute and co-founder of CompetencyWorks, providing policy advocacy, publishing research, developing quality standards, and driving the transformation to personalized, competency-based education forward. She is the former Director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education, and served as legislative liaison for Governor Hull from Arizona. She served as legislative staff on Capitol Hill. Patrick holds a master’s degree from the University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree from Colorado College. She is a Pahara-Aspen Fellow and an USA Eisenhower Fellow in 2016.

Fred Jones Portrait

Fred Jones, Policy Director, Aurora Institute
Fred Jones is Policy Director at the Aurora Institute. He leads the Center for Policy team, conducting federal and state policy analysis, providing technical assistance to elected officials, and offering strategic guidance to advance the Aurora Institute’s mission. Fred began his career at the U.S. House of Representatives, working for the Education and Labor Committee. He also worked as a Legislative Associate for the Alliance for Excellent Education and the Director of Government Affairs for the United Negro College Fund. Prior to joining the Aurora Institute, he served as the Director of Government Affairs and Public Policy for the Southern Education Foundation. Fred holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Tufts University, and he earned an MBA from the University of Maryland, College Park Robert H. Smith School of Business. He has a beautiful wife, a toddler son, and an infant daughter.

Day 1 Sessions

12:00-1:00 PM ET – Breakout Sessions

A Journey – Lessons About Student Learning During COVID-19 and Implications for Current Practice

October 25, 2021, 12:00-1:00 PM ET

Presenters:

Ann Curtis | Javier Guzman | Irene Narvaez | Moises Gil

Details

Aligning Systems Change in Three Urban Districts - Rethinking the District Role in Leading for Student Agency

October 25, 2021, 12:00-1:00 PM ET

Presenters:
Nancy Gerzon | Jessica Jolliffe | Kierstan Barbee | Jeni McIntyre | Cheryl Niehaus

Details

Centering Young People in Pathways Systems Change

October 25, 2021, 12:00-1:00 PM ET

Presenters:

Isa Ellis | Joshua Poyer | Soumeya Aboulaye | Ayele Shakur | Michaela Leslie-Rule | Emmanuel Yeboah

Details

Personalizing State-Wide Transformation

October 25, 2021, 12:00-1:00 PM ET

Presenters:

Virgel Hammonds | Amanda Burke | Ann Ellefson | Stephanie DiStasio

Details

Taking an Ecosystem Approach to Meeting the Diverse Needs of Learners in Response to COVID-19 and Beyond

October 25, 2021, 12:00-1:00 PM ET

Presenters:

Erin Mote | Tasha Booker | Reggie Lynn Agulto | AJ Gutierrez | Craig Robinson | Robert Balfanz, Ph.D.

Details

1:15-2:15 PM ET – Breakout Sessions

Connections at the Center: Innovative Approaches to Relationship-Centered School Designs

October 25, 2021, 1:15-2:15 PM ET

Presenters:

Julia Freeland Fisher | Phyllis Lockett | Elizabeth Santiago | Tom Vander Ark

Details

Equity-Seeking Transformation as a Core COVID-19 Recovery Strategy

October 25, 2021, 1:15-2:15 PM ET

Presenters:

Paul Leather | Gene Wilhoit | Jenny Poon

Details

One Good Question: How Three New School Models Shifted from Redesign to COVID-19 Implementation

October 25, 2021, 1:15-2:15 PM ET

Presenters:

Rhonda Broussard | Kimberly Neal-Brannum | Stefin Pasternak | Tony Monfiletto

Details

Ready for the Challenge: How Student-Centered Schools Have Innovated, Adapted, and Gauged their Success in a Global Pandemic

October 25, 2021, 1:15-2:15 PM ET

Presenters:

Lars Esdal | Sara Kemper | Chris Terrill | Rebekah Kang

Details

Reimagining Washington’s Education System Through Mastery-Based Learning and a Profile of a Graduate

October 25, 2021, 1:15-2:15 PM ET

Presenters:

Alissa Muller | Ashley Lin | Senator Lisa Wellman | Ron Mayberry | Rhett Nelson

Details

The Future of Accountability: Learning Lessons from Local Accountability Pilots to Inform Transformational Change

October 25, 2021, 1:15-2:15 PM ET

Presenters:

Rebecca Holmes | Lori Cooper | Bree Jones | Julie Oxenford O’Brian

Details

Transformative Learning Experiences in Post-COVID-19 School: Lessons from an Alternative School on Re-Engaging Youth in their Learning

October 25, 2021, 1:15-2:15 PM ET

Presenters:

Geoffrey Schmidt | Izayah Rivera | Jacob Ortiz Rosario | Isaiah Acevedo | Kenneth Daviau | Christy Kingham

Details

2:30-3:30 PM ET – Breakout Sessions

Agency by Design: Making Learning Engaging

October 25, 2021, 2:30-3:30 PM ET

Presenters:

Derek Wenmoth | Marsha Jones | Shelly Poage | Joseph DiMartino | Miller | Audrey | Jevin

Details

Designing a Personalized, Competency-Based Learning System of Professional Learning: Placing Collaboration, Flexibility, and a Bias Towards Action at the Core

October 25, 2021, 2:30-3:30 PM ET

Presenters:

Ann Ellefson | Kim Hanisch | Lori Phillips | Tom Klapp | Erin Lacina | Kate Solberg | Greg Dobitz

Details

Elevating Student Experiences to Build Equitable Learning Environments and Outcomes Together: Learn How to Utilize a Free Research-Based Survey to Highlight and Support 6th-12th Grade Student Voices

October 25, 2021, 2:30-3:30 PM ET

Presenter:

Mitzi Iniguez

Details

Equitable Access to Learning through Competency-Based School Choice Models

October 25, 2021, 2:30-3:30 PM ET

Presenters:

Claudette Trujillo | Jeni Gotto | Brenda Martin | Russ Warwick

Details

From Standards-Based to Competency-Based Learning: One District's PK-12 Story

October 25, 2021, 2:30-3:30 PM ET

Presenters:

Jeanette Westfall | Scott Heeke | Carrie Gabriel | Amanda Primm

Details

Our Journey to Equitable Community Engagement in Springfield

October 25, 2021, 2:30-3:30 PM ET

Presenters:

Christina Horner | David Ruff | Paul Foster | Azell Cavaan

Details

Supporting All Teachers as Teachers of English Learners: A Micro-Credential, Competency-Based Approach to Teacher Professional Learning

October 25, 2021, 2:30-3:30 PM ET

Presenters:

Laureen Avery | Christopher Clouet | Jason Lange | Andrea D’Aiuto

Details

3:40-4:00 PM ET – Power Sessions and Programs to Watch

Colorado's Graduation Guidelines: An Implementation Study

October 25, 2021, 3:40-4:00 PM ET

Presenter:

Amy Spicer

Details

Diversifying the Teaching Profession through AmeriCorps Service: City Year’s Teacher Pathway Initiative

October 25, 2021, 3:40-4:00 PM ET

Presenters:
Jeanette Rojas | Rosalyn Rice-Harris

Details

Leveraging Integrated and Holistic Learning Solutions to Support Literacy

October 25, 2021, 3:40-4:00 PM ET

Presenter:

Cameron White

Details

Leveraging Open System Leadership to Create Equitable Pathways with Authentic Shared Ownership – and Redefined Roles – Across K-12, Higher Education, Workforce, and Community Partners

October 25, 2021, 3:40-4:00 PM ET

Presenters:

Alex Carter | Marcus Bratton | Jared Anthony

Details

Reimagining Civic Education Through Museum and Community-Based Learning

October 25, 2021, 3:40-4:00 PM ET

Presenters:

Fernande Raine | Rashawn “Shawnee” Caruthers | Mallek Dyer, Lee’s Summit North

Details

#RethinkCurriculum: A Model That Increases Learners’ Engagement and Success with High-Quality, Culturally-Relevant, Competency-Based Learning Experiences

October 25, 2021, 3:40-4:00 PM ET

Presenter:
Antonia Rudenstine

Details

Shovel the Ramp Not the Stairs: Turning Inequality into Inclusive Instruction

October 25, 2021, 3:40-4:00 PM ET

Presenters:

Treah Hutchings | Elizabeth Hartmann | Dr. Deborah Taub

Details

Speak Truth to Power: Action Research of Graduation Pathways

October 25, 2021, 3:40-4:00 PM ET

Presenters:

Grace Granillo | Ian Esquibel | Brandon Garcia-Arvizo | Tiara Sibley

Details

The Student Experience Survey: Actionable Data Connected to Culturally Responsive Teaching

October 25, 2021, 3:40-4:00 PM ET

Presenter:

Karina Rodriguez

Details

Whole-Child Design: How To Use The Science of Learning and Development to Redesign Classrooms, Schools, and Systems and Accelerate Healthy Development, Learning, and Thriving

October 25, 2021, 3:40-4:00 PM ET

Presenters:
Gretchen Livesey | MenSa Ankh Maa

Details