{"id":14,"date":"2019-12-05T14:45:05","date_gmt":"2019-12-05T19:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/symposium2020.qa.aurora-institute.org\/?page_id=14"},"modified":"2022-01-26T21:53:09","modified_gmt":"2022-01-26T21:53:09","slug":"keynote-speakers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/symposium2023\/agenda\/keynote-speakers\/","title":{"rendered":"Keynote Plenaries"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Keynote Speakers<\/h2>\n

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Keynote Speakers<\/span><\/h5>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″ offset=”vc_col-lg-3″][vc_column_text]Strands & Sessions<\/a>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/3″ offset=”vc_col-lg-4″][vc_column_text]Presentation Opportunities<\/a>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section][vc_section full_width=”stretch_row” css=”.vc_custom_1579966805531{padding-top: 60px !important;padding-bottom: 60px !important;background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}”][vc_row el_class=”container” css=”.vc_custom_1579906673173{margin-top: 60px !important;margin-bottom: 60px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_text_separator title=”Monday, October 25, 2021″ color=”custom” accent_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.2)”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Opening Keynote: 11:00 \u2013 11:45 AM ET<\/h5>\n

Building a Brighter Tomorrow: Redesigning Education and Innovating Systems to Enable Each Child to Thrive<\/h3>\n

Secretary Cardona\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Join this keynote to hear the U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona\u2019s 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.[\/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner el_class=”reveal” width=”1\/2″ offset=”vc_col-lg-3″][vc_single_image image=”1885″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_circle_2″][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner el_class=”reveal” width=”1\/2″ offset=”vc_col-lg-9″ css=”.vc_custom_1579966410601{margin-left: 40px !important;}”][vc_column_text]Miguel Cardona, Secretary, U.S. Department of Education<\/strong>
\nDr. 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\u2019s degree and UCONN where he completed Master\u2019s in Bilingual\/Bicultural Education, Administrator Preparation Program, Doctorate in Education, and Executive Leadership Program (Superintendent) Certificate.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s oversight – despite the pandemic – Connecticut launched a statewide FAFSA Data Dashboard; procured a comprehensive statewide Special Education Data System (CT-SEDS); announced the State\u2019s 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\u2019Neill, 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.<\/p>\n

His greatest source of pride, however, is his family. Secretary Cardona and his beautiful wife Marissa are the proud parents of two children.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Meeting the Moment to Build a Better Future<\/h3>\n

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\u2019s systemic racism in the creation and implementation of these education policies and to drive equitable futures. We can\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

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:<\/p>\n