Sessions and Presenters
Sessions are organized into five strands, each focused on a different area of school leadership. Select a strand to see its sessions, descriptions, and presenters.
| Session Title | Session Description | Presenter |
|---|---|---|
| It Starts with Us: A Practical Leadership Blueprint for Principals to Build Belonging and Prevent Burnout | Belonging isn’t a buzzword. It’s a leadership strategy. Principals are asked to address engagement gaps, staff burnout, student mental health, and retention —yet beneath each challenge is a deeper question: Do the people in our buildings feel safe, seen, and valued for who they are? This session will introduce a practical framework grounded in one core equation: Identity + Connection = Belonging. When students and adults feel secure in who they are and connected to others who value that identity, performance improves, stress decreases, and culture strengthens. Participants will explore:
| Lauren Young, Ed.D., Assistant Executive Director of Vermont Principals Association |
| From Crisis to System: Building a Proactive and Legally Defensible Mental Health Framework | Across the nation, school leaders face rising student mental health needs, increasing crisis incidents, and growing legal scrutiny. Reactive approaches leave schools vulnerable and staff overwhelmed. This session will present a comprehensive, tiered framework that shifts schools from crisis response to prevention-based systems grounded in trauma-informed practice, restorative approaches, and evidence-based screening. Participants will explore how universal mental health screening, structured risk assessment protocols, suicide gatekeeper training, and restorative practices can operate within a cohesive leadership model. Emphasis will be placed on building standard operating procedures that maximize student support while strengthening legal defensibility and resource alignment. Participants will leave this session able to:
| Steven Fiedeldey, Principal/Director of Special Education & Consultant |
| Ripples of Recognition: Strengthening SEL Through Core-Value Focused Leadership | This session will demonstrate how a leadership focus on core values builds social-emotional competency within students. Through branding, positive notes, monthly themes, and advisory, leaders create intentional opportunities for students to connect with core values, develop SEL skills, and strengthen their sense of belonging. By reinforcing these values and bridging the connection home with positive notes, leaders foster a culture where students feel seen, supported, and motivated. Participants will leave with practical strategies to integrate core values into daily practices, cultivating a school culture that prioritizes SEL, shared leadership, and student success. | Sabrina Miller, Principal Erik Lathen, Principal Matthew Knight, Assistant Principal |
| Centering Student Voice: Affinity Groups, Student Council Representation, and Equity Supports | Every student deserves to feel seen, safe, and supported, but schools often rely on reactive responses rather than everyday structures. In this session, participants will learn practical tools for supporting students through equity, inclusion, and identity-affirming practices that center student voice and leadership. The session will begin with a focus on why support must be proactive, not reactive, and introduces an approach for building everyday systems that affirm identity. Participants will explore how Glisten resources strengthen whole-school supports, then apply those ideas through real-world examples. The session will also clarify how affinity group representation can be integrated into student council to ensure voice and representation. Participants will then examine two key operational supports: an accessible bias incident reporting system and a student identity support system. By the end, participants will leave with ready-to-use strategies and templates to plan, launch, or improve supports that affirm identity and elevate student voice and leadership. | Damon Carbajal, M.A., Director of Chapter Network & Program Integration Brooke Mayo, M.S., Assistant Principal |
| We Can Ban Phones, but Can We Teach Self-Regulation? | As schools implement statewide phone mandates, campus leaders are discovering that compliance alone does not end distraction or prepare students for responsible technology use. This session will challenge educators to move beyond enforcement and explore how schools can intentionally build student self-regulation and durable technology habits. Participants will briefly unpack mandate expectations and instructional exceptions before engaging in experiential activities and real campus scenarios. Attendees will examine how structured phone use, digital citizenship learning, and practical implementation strategies can strengthen school culture, support focus, and help students develop the skills needed for graduation and workforce readiness. | Shannon Godfrey, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Commons Julia Gustafson, Chief Impact Officer of The Commons |
| Intentional and Purposeful Play | How does play foster meaningful social connection and a true sense of belonging for students? In this session, participants will explore how one school intentionally integrates purposeful play to positively impact school culture, climate, and overall wellness. Key practices, such as extended whole school recess, student clubs, structured and unstructured play experiences, and intentional efforts to build student independence at school and at home, will be highlighted. By the end of the session, participants will:
| Tri Nguyen, Ed.D., Principal |
| Being Cool and Making It HIP: How to Lead High-Impact Programs and Cultures of Connection, Engagement, and Belonging | American schools are facing a crisis of connection—rising student disengagement, chronic absenteeism, declining enrollment, increasing mental health needs, and record levels of principal and teacher burnout. The challenge isn’t a lack of effort. It’s that too many schools are still relying on outdated engagement models that no longer meet the emotional, cultural, and motivational needs of today’s students. This session will introduce the Cool + HIP framework. Participants will explore how making a connection (the Cool) combined with High-Impact Programming (the HIP) creates emotionally resonant, student-centered programming, lessons and culture where engagement becomes the norm, not the exception. At its core, this session will reinforce a powerful truth: Students engage when we design experiences worth engaging in—and when adults model the energy, love, trust, authenticity, and stability young people need to thrive. Participants will leave with a clear roadmap for co-creating vibrant, emotionally safe, culturally responsive programming that transform not just student engagement but school climate and culture. And that is both cool and hip. | Carlos Ojeda, Jr., Youth Empowerment Speaker and Founder of CoolSpeak |
| From “Have to” to “Get to”: Reframing the Leadership Burden Into Leadership Opportunity | This session will focus on how school leaders can navigate the daily weight of leadership responsibilities. Through relatable stories, reflective activities, and actionable strategies, participants will explore how mindset shapes the leadership experience. Rather than minimizing the challenges of discipline, staff tensions, parent concerns, and constant demands, this session will help leaders reconnect those responsibilities to purpose, influence, and impact. Attendees will learn how to shift from reactive survival mode to intentional leadership by reframing everyday tasks as opportunities to build culture, develop people, and support students. Special attention will be given to solo principals and leaders working without large administrative teams. | Meghan Redmond, Principal Greg Johnson, Ed.D., Principal |
| Connection as Prevention for "The Anxious Generation" | Students are growing up in an unprecedented mental health and attention crisis, accelerated by technology and isolation. Drawing from Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation and 26 years of evidence-based practice, this session will demonstrate how intentional connection can reverse these trends. This session will explore scalable, multi-tiered interventions that improve student well-being, reduce behavior issues, and strengthen focus through assemblies, digital tools, classroom activities, and student-led engagement of student voice. | Kristi Krings, Chief Executive Officer of Rachel's Challenge |
| Refuel: How PreK-12 School Leaders Stay Grounded When the Work Never Stops | The advice is familiar: Journal, take walks, practice gratitude. And yet many leaders who do all of it still feel depleted. That's not a discipline problem—it's an alignment problem. Real refueling isn't about adding better habits. It's about understanding what genuinely sustains you at the level of who you are, not what productivity culture says you should need. This session will create space to identify your actual sources of energy, release what's quietly draining you, and build a more honest, sustainable relationship with the work you're here to do. Participants will leave with:
| Liesl Sisson, Principal |
| Alongside: The Principal + Student Leadership Paradigm for Building Thriving, Belonging-Centered Schools | What becomes possible when principals and students lead alongside one another? This session will highlight the power of authentic principal and student partnerships to build thriving school cultures rooted in belonging, equity, and shared leadership. By connecting Association of Washington School Principals and Association of Washington Student Leaders frameworks, this session will offer practical strategies, real-world examples, and actionable tools to help school leaders and students strengthen culture, deepen voice, and create more connected, student-centered communities. | Kamrica Ary-Turner, Associate Director for the Association of Washington School Principals James Layman, Director of the Association of Washington Student Leaders |
| Behind the Backpack: Leveraging Targeted Safety Screenings to Identify Hidden Threats and Protect Learning Environments | School safety is no longer reactive, it must be intelligent, systematic, and adaptive. This session will provide a practical, field-tested framework for implementing targeted random safety screenings that identify concealed threats before they escalate into incidents. Participants will explore how structured observation protocols, data-informed screening strategies, and policy-aligned implementation can uncover emerging risks, including evolving concealment methods used to bypass traditional detection efforts. Rather than focusing solely on enforcement, this session will emphasize:
| Andrew Jones, Executive Director of Safety and Emergency Management Jennifer Wilson, Safety Operations Manager |
| Sharpen the Axe: Principal Care, the Invisible Backpack, and the Power of Small Impacts | School leadership is relentless. While the work is deeply rewarding, the demands, emotional labor, and invisible weight principals carry can gradually chip away at effectiveness, joy, and even identity. Using the evocative metaphor of an ax striking a redwood tree, this session examines how small, repeated impacts, both harmful and healing, leave lasting marks on leaders, schools, and communities. This session will focus on principal care and sustainability, anchored by seminal and recent research and firsthand experiences. Grounded in trauma‑informed leadership, participants will explore how the “invisible backpacks” carried by students, staff, families, and leaders themselves influence relationships and decision‑making. Through storytelling, reflection, and practical strategies, participants will leave with renewed clarity around protecting their own well‑being, leading with empathy, and cultivating school cultures where care is understood as a core leadership responsibility. | David Wiedlich, Ed.D., Principal Jonathan Minton, Principal |
| Everything I Didn’t Learn In Graduate School: School Leader Strategies for Improving Staff and Student Regulation | Every school leader has experienced it: Dysregulated student + Dysregulated adult = Challenging behavior. Perhaps a call comes for administrator support that results in a learner getting regulated away from the classroom. Later, when they return, however, an adult may be less than thrilled to welcome them back. Round and round the cycle of escalation goes. This session will outline a team approach that can help interrupt these lose-lose equations and in doing so, address a top factor contributing to teacher burnout, decrease crisis calls, and increase academic engagement for every learner. The best news? It doesn't involve any school leader becoming a staff member's therapist. Specifically, participants will learn practical, trauma-informed strategies to support educators in improving their own regulation skills while meeting needs associated with challenging behavior. First, the session will address in-the-moment skills every administrator needs to facilitate change. Then, the focus will shift to coaching tips for sustained adult regulation. Importantly, school leaders will also gain access to downloads for processing various situations with staff members. Finally, the group will wrap up with confidence, recognizing that every school leader can support student regulation at the same time they're helping educators set and meet their own professional goals. | Jen Alexander, M.A., NCC, SB-RPT |
| Building Systems of Collective Well-Being for Staff and Leaders | Individual self-care cannot solve a systemic retention crisis. It is time to shift the narrative from "bubble baths" to sustainable support structures. This session will provide a strategic blueprint for building collective well-being within school leadership and staff. Participants will learn how to design systems that protect leader capacity, mitigate burnout, and move beyond individual coping mechanisms toward a culture of systemic support that keeps high-quality educators in the building. | Carla Tantillo Philibert, Founder and Chief Executive Officer |
| Meet Their Needs, and They'll Succeed: Leaders Creating Villages That Transform Students' Lives | Every child needs a village. But who wants to be the villager? In this session that focuses on the future of education, participants will learn how leaders can build strong, sustainable connections and relationships with students, and create engaging learning cultures where adults lead with empathy, courage, and commitment. | Salome Thomas-El, Ed.D., Principal |
| From Burned Out to Fired Up: How Principals Reignite Staff and Raise Student Results | While most school-improvement solutions add another initiative to an already full plate, a more effective approach helps principals work smarter with the resources they already have. This session will show participants that the fastest path to results is reigniting adults' passion for education and giving students a reason to care—then wrapping both in a simple system a principal can launch without building a new department. Participants will leave with three ready-to-use tools: a five-minute staff-fire diagnostic, a student-motivation protocol for kids who have decided school is pointless, and a 90-day readiness map that connects culture work to the metrics school boards actually watch—attendance, academic growth, assessment, behavior, and graduation or postsecondary indicators, where applicable. This session is built for PreK–12 leaders who need tools by Monday morning, not another binder. | Jim Giovannini, CEO and Founder of Elevated Yuval Trachtenberg, Vice President of Partnerships of Elevated Minds |
| Session Title | Session Description | Presenter |
|---|---|---|
| 1+1 = 11: The Paradigm of Collective Leadership | This session will explore what happens when school leaders and students lead together, not separately. Grounded in the School Leader Paradigm, this session will demonstrate how the shared intelligences of personal, social, and systems leadership create powerful synergy between principals and students, amplifying culture, belonging, and impact across the school community. When adults and students work side by side as partners in leadership, their influence multiplies, proving that sometimes the most powerful equation in education is 1 + 1 = 11. | James Layman, Director of the Association of Washington Student Leaders Trisha Bemboom, Coordinator of Student Activities |
| Amplifying Student Voice | "It is not enough to simply listen to student voice. Educators have an ethical imperative to do something with students, and that is why meaningful student involvement is vital to school improvement." —Adam Fletcher, author of Meaningful Student Involvement: Guide to Students as Partners in School Change For principals, students must be at the heart of our "why." Adults breathe life into school culture, but we have to prioritize student voice in the process. Listening to students is not enough. You have to build systems to accelerate student involvement. This session will be packed with multiple examples of successfully enhancing student input. Participants will walk away with actionable strategies to leverage student voice and accelerate the positive transformation of school culture. | Todd Dain, Ed.D., Principal |
| Leading With Encouragement: Consistent Compassion for Teachers, Students, and Families | Discover how intentional encouragement can transform a school’s culture, strengthen relationships, and drive positive outcomes for students and staff. Drawing from real examples, daily leadership routines, and schoolwide systems, this session will reveal how encouragement—when practiced consistently and authentically—becomes a powerful leadership strategy rather than a feel-good extra. Participants will explore how encouragement can be woven into every layer of school leadership, from the structure and tone of staff meetings to the way lesson-observation feedback is delivered to how leaders celebrate progress toward building goals. Leaders will leave with a clear understanding of how small, consistent acts of compassion can create a ripple effect that benefits teachers, students, and families all year long. | Lara Bronson, Ed.D., Principal |
| Student-Led Systems for Equity, Voice, and Professional Learning | This session will explore the development and expansion of a student-led professional development model designed to disrupt human bias, amplify authentic student voice, and reimagine school systems through research, design, and public speaking. Participants will learn how this model, now entering its second year, challenges students to create engaging presentations that inform and interact with adult audiences—shifting the traditional paradigm of who leads professional learning. Participants will also leave with actionable strategies to create systems that not only acknowledge inequities in student experience but actively work to dismantle them. | Rosalind Henderson, Ed.D., Principal |
| Resonant Leadership: Building Sustainable Schools Through Personal Truth and Student Voice | To build schools that truly serve our communities, we need principals who are brave enough to be themselves and wise enough to let their students lead alongside them. Resonant Leadership provides the tools to move from "managing a building" to "cultivating a movement." Resonant Leadership explores the essential link between a leader’s internal authenticity—their "Personal Truth"—and their ability to cultivate and amplify student voice. By anchoring our leadership in a clear sense of self, we create the stability and credibility necessary to develop the next generation of courageous student leaders. This session will offer reflection on the core convictions and personal narratives that define each participant. We will facilitate the high-impact, vulnerability-driven sharing that builds a deep professional community and reconnects leaders with their "why." | Angie Charboneau-Folch, M.Ed., Principal Donna Hayward, Principal |
| Pivots and Taps: How Reflecting on Your Story Will Help You Grow as a Leader | James Baldwin once said, "Know from whence you came. For if you know from whence you came, there can be no telling where you can go." Have you ever paid attention to all of the pivotal moments and leadership "taps" that trace your leadership journey? Why is this important to know and how can it help you lead better? In this interactive session, participants will learn the power of reflection in order to make connections, create empathy, and gain clarity on beliefs and values to help them grow as leaders and to elevate their voices in educational advocacy. | Evelyn Edney, Ed.D., Principal |
| It Takes a Village! | As the old adage goes, it takes a village to raise a child. Educators know that without the support of everyone in the village, it is hard to have a successful school. Outstanding leaders find strong community support and increased academic success with a foundation built upon positive relationships. But what does that look like in action? How do relationships translate into academic success? To be a Top tier school, school leaders need to Trust the process, Own their story, and have a clear Plan. Excellence doesn’t happen overnight, it happens over time, and it requires intention and commitment. This session will help participants develop the right plan for their school and community, learn the tools needed to create and manage their own story, and show them the value of trusting the process. Attendees will walk away with easy-to-implement strategies used by practicing school and district leaders that will boost faculty, staff, student and community support, engagement, and buy-in through simple (and free!) techniques based on building relationships. Join our village and rise to the TOP today! | Larry Creasy, Ed.S., High School Coordinator Kyle Nix, Ed.D., Principal |
| Your Communication Will Make or Break Your Leadership! | What if the greatest challenge in your leadership isn’t your vision, but how clearly and intentionally you communicate it? From staff meetings and instructional feedback to family partnerships and difficult conversations, the quality of your communication shapes the culture you lead every day. In this session, award-winning former principal and bestselling author Thomas C. Murray explores why communication gaps so often exist and how leaders can overcome the “curse of knowledge” that often causes messages to miss the mark. Through humor, storytelling, reflection, and real-world examples, participants will examine how communication impacts trust, morale, collaboration, and school culture. Leaders will leave with practical strategies to improve clarity and connection with staff, learners, and families, while experiencing engaging activities and evidence-based approaches they can immediately replicate with their own teams. | Thomas Murray, Director of innovation for Future Ready Schools |
| Beyond Spirit Week: Student Leadership as a School Improvement Strategy | What if student leadership was more than a club, a title, or a resume builder? What if students became true partners in improving their schools? Drawing on more than a decade of experience integrating student voice into school and district level decision making in Hillsborough County Public Schools, this session explores how authentic student leadership can become a powerful driver of student success. Participants will learn how representative student leadership structures can amplify diverse voices, engage students in meaningful problem-solving, and support data-informed decision making. We will share practical strategies for developing student leaders who move beyond holding titles to becoming advocates for the success of all students, while also exploring the role adults play in sharing leadership and creating authentic opportunities for student partnership. | Melissa Erickson, Executive Director of the Alliance for Public Schools Debbie Pepe, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning |
| Community Partnerships That Make a Difference | This session will focus on how schools can leverage local resources and partnerships to support underserved students, families, and teachers. | Kevin Kastner, Principal DeReca Thomas, Community School Resource Teacher |
| Collaborative Leadership at Work: A Systems-Based Model to Improve Student Achievement Through Father Engagement | Strong student achievement is not driven by schools alone—it is strengthened through aligned, collaborative leadership that connects district priorities, school-based practices, and meaningful family partnerships. In alignment with Hillsborough County Public Schools’ strategic priorities, this session presents a systems-based model for strengthening father engagement as a lever for student success. “Collaborative Leadership at Work: A Systems-Based Model to Improve Student Achievement Through Father Engagement” explores how district and school leaders can work in coordinated ways to move father engagement beyond isolated events and into an intentional, sustained system of support. Participants will examine how leadership alignment, school culture, and family engagement structures can be designed to increase student attendance, strengthen behavior outcomes, and support academic growth. This session highlights practical strategies used across schools to build trust with fathers and father figures, increase consistent participation, and embed engagement practices into the daily operations of schools. Emphasis is placed on creating equitable, welcoming environments where families are seen as essential partners in the educational process and where engagement directly supports student success indicators prioritized in district improvement efforts. Participants will leave with a clear understanding of how to:
| Otis Kitchen, Principal William "Bill" Betts, II, District Resource Teacher |
| School, Community, and Family Voice: Building a Culture of Shared Responsibility | Students spend only 13% of their time inside a school building, while the remaining 87% is shaped by family, community, and lived experiences. School leaders who intentionally elevate and integrate these voices create more responsive, equitable, and effective schools. This session presents a systems-based approach to embedding student, family, and community voice into school leadership and decision-making. Participants will explore how to move beyond traditional parent involvement toward a culture of shared responsibility—where engagement is aligned to school improvement priorities and directly supports student achievement, attendance, and school climate. | Sandra Misciasci, Supervisor of Family and Community Engagement Ginette Hoze, Principal |
| When Funding Shrinks: Leveraging Community Partnerships to Sustain Learning | When funding disappears, do your programs disappear with it? And if funding doesn’t appear, do the programs never exist? If either of these is true, the problem isn’t the funding—it’s the model. This session will challenge school leaders to rethink how programs are built and sustained. Instead of relying solely on short-term grants, participants will explore how community partnerships can serve as long-term infrastructure, bringing not only additional capacity, but also access to resources, funding streams, and relationships schools cannot build alone. Through hands-on activities, participants will map real community assets, uncover overlooked partnership opportunities, and engage in a powerful “language translation” exercise that transforms community-based work into academic, attendance, and student support outcomes aligned with district priorities. Participants will leave this session with:
| Jodi Walker, Founder of Kids At Their Best |
| From Compliance to Community at the Elementary School: Building Authentic Family Partnerships Through Integrated MTSS and Mental Health Systems | Elementary schools are uniquely positioned to shape long-term student outcomes through early, intentional partnerships with families. Yet too often, family engagement is reactive—centered on behavior calls, academic concerns, or compliance-driven meetings. In this session, an elementary principal and school psychologist will share how they transformed family engagement from episodic communication into an integrated partnership model aligned within a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS). Together, they will explain how they built structures ensuring that every student with repeated behavior or academic concerns has a documented support plan, an assigned adult advocate, proactive communication systems, and family voice embedded in decision-making. Participants will explore practical strategies for:
| Carrie Cooper, School Psychologist Vanessa Kent, Principal |
| Are You the Narrator of Your Story or a Character In Theirs? | Every principal has been told to "tell your story." It's in every leadership book, every principal prep program, and every district strategic plan. The message has been watered down to a slogan, and somewhere along the way, the actual training disappeared. This session for secondary principals will move storytelling from slogan to skill, giving leaders the system, language, and weekly rhythm they were never trained to use. This will not be a social media session. This will not be a branding session. This will be a leadership session that explains why the principal who tells the story consistently and intentionally is the principal who succeeds. | Joe Sanfelippo, Ed.D., Retired Superintendent |
| Unlocking Student Voice in Middle School: Leadership As a Culture, Not a Club | What happens when student leadership moves beyond student government and becomes part of the everyday culture of a school? From walk and talk relationship-building activities to students serving as ambassadors at events like a classic car show, this session will showcase how middle and high schools can create authentic leadership opportunities that empower students to lead with purpose, confidence, and impact. Participants will explore practical, replicable strategies that elevate student voice within the school, strengthen school-community partnerships, and expand opportunities for civic engagement. Through real examples, collaborative discussion, and actionable takeaways, participants will discover how intentional leadership structures can improve school culture, increase belonging, and help students see themselves as contributors rather than spectators. | Deborah Dennie, Ed.D., Principal Kaci Marschall, M.Ed., Assistant Principal |
| From Student Voice to Ideas to Collective Impact | What happens when principals move beyond listening to students and begin leading with them? This session will focus on how school leaders and staff can intentionally partner with all students to turn their insights into meaningful, schoolwide impact. Participants will walk away with strategies to help create structures that elevate students’ voices and empower them to identify challenges across academics, policy, facilities, and school culture, where students are not just heard, but empowered to turn ideas into action and leave a lasting legacy. | Jimmy Casas, Former Principal Meg Simon, Principal |
| Better Together: Unleashing Student Voice and Agency | Student voice is more than a buzzword, it is a powerful driver of engagement, ownership, and school culture. In this session, school leaders will explore how to intentionally create systems and experiences that empower students to lead, contribute, and shape their school community. Too often, schools make decisions for students instead of with them. This session will challenge leaders to rethink traditional structures and discover practical ways to amplify student perspectives in everyday school life. Participants will learn how to move beyond token student involvement to authentic agency that impacts learning, climate, and culture. Participants will:
| Beth Houf, Ed.D., Principal |
| Session Title | Session Description | Presenter |
|---|---|---|
| Leveraging Gemini Notebook to Expand Bandwidth for Complex Tasks | As secondary school leaders face increasing demands, AI offers a transformative path to amplify voice, data use, and culture while reclaiming valuable leadership bandwidth. This session will provide a deep dive into Gemini Notebook, a mini-AI coach that enables principals to automate professional communications, generate instructional infographics, and brainstorm strategic school-improvement goals. This coach also transforms complex school data, such as IEPs, safety plans, and climate surveys, into actionable summaries, podcasts, and study aids without compromising data privacy. Participants will explore real-world K–12 applications, including:
| Brian Cox, Ed.D., Principal |
| Using AI to Leverage Inclusion and Differentiation | When AI becomes a differentiation engine, what once took years of teacher experience can happen in real time—driving inclusion rates from 30% to 90% of time spent in general education classrooms. This session will explore a central leadership question: How can schools accelerate teachers’ capacity to differentiate so that inclusion becomes the norm rather than the exception? This session will explore how targeted professional development in co-teaching and AI-driven instructional practices equipped general and special educators with practical, classroom-ready strategies that immediately increased their ability to support diverse learners in inclusive settings. Participants will learn how strategic adoption of AI platforms such as MagicSchool, Google Workspace for Education Plus, and Diffit enabled teachers to design personalized learning experiences, adjust instruction in real time, and provide scaffolded support—eliminating the years of trial-and-error traditionally required to build a robust differentiation toolkit. | Chad Johnson, Principal |
| AI Governance for Building Principals (Psst: It will be more fun than it sounds.) | Every week, another AI tool lands on a principal's desk. A teacher's pilot, a parent's question, a vendor pitch, a free app already being used in classrooms. Without a shared system for making decisions, principals are left improvising on tools that touch student data, instructional time, and community trust. This session will introduce building principals to AI governance as a leadership practice. Using a real-school scenario that escalates in layers, participants will work through five governance pillars: Risk and Compliance, Community Engagement, Incident Response, Decision-Making Systems, and a Dynamic Learning Culture. Participants at every stage of AI fluency will leave with a working vocabulary for AI governance, a diagnostic to assess their school's current state, actionable next steps, and connections with principals navigating similar questions. | Julie Foss, Founder and Principal Consultant at True Nexus Consulting LLC |
| Beyond Cheating: A Holistic Approach to Academic Integrity in an AI-Ambient World | Your students are using AI in ways your academic integrity policy never anticipated. The adults in your building are too, though the conversation rarely goes there. Some educators are frustrated, others avoid the topic altogether, and still others are searching for fairness and clarity. Building leaders are left to navigate the tension and rebuild trust. This session will equip school leaders with a holistic approach to academic integrity while modeling facilitation strategies for productive faculty conversations. Participants will examine current data on AI use and cheating, analyze real classroom scenarios using an academic integrity continuum, broaden their definition of academic integrity, and redesign an assessment through a design-thinking lens. Expect candid dialogue, practical tools, and structured protocols that turn reflection into actionable next steps. | Julie Foss, Founder and Principal Consultant at True Nexus Consulting LLC Daniel Kelley, Ed.D., Associate Teaching Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy |
| AI Isn't a Program. It's a Thought Process. Using AI to Grow Teachers Through Better Feedback | Artificial intelligence is changing education, but the biggest shift isn’t learning another tool—it’s learning a new way to think. In this interactive session, school leaders will explore how AI can become a thought partner that strengthens instructional leadership, improves teacher feedback, and creates more meaningful coaching conversations. Rather than focusing on prompts or the latest technology, participants will leave with a practical leadership framework they can immediately apply to support teacher growth, make better decisions, and create more capacity for the work that matters most. | Jeff Cooley, Principal |
| AI and Attendance: A Match Made for Impact | Chronic absenteeism remains above pre-pandemic levels, and principals are being asked to solve the problem with limited time and overextended teams. With an estimated 10.8 million K–12 students chronically absent during the 2024–2025 school year, the leadership challenge is no longer knowing which students are missing school. The challenge is knowing how to act sooner, respond more precisely, and build attendance systems that do not depend on teams doing more manual work. This session will explore how school leaders can strategically integrate AI to move from reactive response to predictive, proactive intervention. Drawing on field experience across more than 30 school districts, this session will demonstrate how AI tools can analyze attendance trends, surface attendance patterns and students who may need earlier support, automate early warning alerts, and suggest equity-centered interventions aligned to root causes without replacing professional judgment or human connection. | Beshon Trusty, Ph.D., MPA, Founder and Executive Director of The Educator’s Empowerment Center |
| Leading In the Age of Algorithms: Building an AI-Resilient School Culture | The rapid advancement of AI is fundamentally changing the educational landscape. To stay ahead, school leaders must move beyond simple tool adoption and focus on fostering a sustainable, AI-resilient culture. This session will explore how administrators can navigate the complexities of the algorithmic age by balancing technological innovation with human-centered leadership. Participants will examine strategies to empower staff, safeguard academic integrity, and ensure that AI serves as a catalyst for deeper learning rather than a substitute for critical thinking. | Eric Sheninger, Founder and CEO of Aspire Change EDU |
| AI Sees Patterns. You See People. Protecting Human Judgment In Instructional Leadership. | There are over 134 bills across 31 states trying to catch up to what instructional leaders are already doing: using AI for feedback, observations, and teacher development in a landscape with few frameworks and even fewer guardrails. You didn't become an instructional leader to generate faster documents. You became one to develop teachers, build feedback cycles, and keep students at the center of every decision. AI can create space for that work, but only if you know what to hand over and what to protect. <br></br>This session will focus on real strategies across five essential leadership tasks. It will also highlight the need for professional judgment and human insight to give teachers feedback they can trust. | Patrick Flynn, Co-Founder of Tepper & Flynn LLC Marijan Majic, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cosmos 89 LLC Amy Tepper, Co-Founder and Coach of Tepper & Flynn LLC |
| Session Title | Session Description | Presenter |
|---|---|---|
| Finding Our Way: Your Purpose and Why | What keeps educators going when the work gets hard? Purpose. Passion. Their "why." In this session, school leaders will explore how reconnecting educators to their why they chose this profession can reignite passion, strengthen resilience, and transform school culture. Grounded in real experiences from today’s classrooms, this workshop will invite participants to move beyond compliance-driven environments and into purpose-driven leadership. Participants will not just reflect—they will leave with tools to lead this work in their own buildings. In this session, leaders will:
| Amber Tos, Assistant Principal |
| From Vision to Execution: Driving District Improvement Through 100-Day Plans and a Strategic “CPR Card” | Most strategic plans look great on paper but struggle in practice. How do you move from vision to actual results? Grounded in Michael Fullan’s Coherence Framework, this session will highlight how one district translated its strategic priorities into daily action through a simple but powerful system: a “CPR Card” to define the work and aligned 100-day plans to drive it forward. This approach created clarity across teams, strengthened accountability, and kept the focus on what matters most for student learning. Participants will leave with practical tools and strategies they can immediately apply, including:
| Ryan Nelson, Ed.D., Central Office Staff Kelsey Carr, Instructional Coach Sarah Sabelko, Principal |
| If No One Knows Your Leadership Beyond Your School, Does It Exist? | Highly effective school leaders often produce significant results within their buildings, yet remain largely unknown beyond them, limiting access to collaboration, coaching, and advancement opportunities. This session will present a practical, field-tested framework for increasing leadership visibility in a way that supports talent development and succession planning at the school and district level. Participants will learn how to intentionally create and consistently communicate a clear professional narrative across key professional touchpoints, including resumes, LinkedIn, and professional social media. Rather than increasing workload, this approach focuses on aligning existing efforts into a clear, consistent leadership narrative that others can easily understand and recognize across contexts. Participants will:
| Guy Swenson, Ed.D., Assistant Principal |
| Leader Credibility | Leader credibility is the foundation of effective schools—without it, even the best initiatives struggle to take hold. This session will help site administrators who want to strengthen their influence by building trust, consistency, and instructional expertise. Participants will explore the key drivers of credibility, including demonstrating competence, communicating with clarity, and following through on commitments. The session will connect leader credibility directly to improved teaching and learning, showing how trusted leaders are better positioned to support change, provide feedback, and sustain high expectations. Through practical scenarios and tools, administrators will learn how to:
| Nancy Frey, Professor of Educational Leadership Douglas Fisher, Professor and Chair of Educational Leadership |
| Breakthrough Leadership: A Model That Works | Principal leadership is complicated. What if there was a brief, compact collection of strategies couched in a simple, replicable process that led to profound, sustainable success? There is. Principals don't need to do everything, try everything, and be everything in order to impact student learning outcomes in a positive way. In this session, a former award-winning principal and bestselling author will share the focused list of non-negotiable, high-leverage leadership actions that lead to success. Participants will learn the process for implementing effective strategies to create real change, make real progress, and enhance real sustainability. | Pete Hall, Former Principal |
| The Art and Science of Self-Mentorship: How Ruckus Makers Drive Their Own Development | Self-mentorship is the practice of driving your own development—clarifying your thinking on high-stakes moments instead of waiting for external validation. Not more books. Not another conference. The discipline of turning your own experience into wisdom, in real time, on the hardest decisions you face. The most effective principals have always practiced this. They just never had a name for it. In this session, participants will learn the difference between permission-based development and self-mentorship—and how to apply it immediately, with or without AI tools. Participants will leave able to:
| Daniel Bauer, Founder of Better Leaders Better Schools |
| School Climate and Culture By Design | What if the culture of your school didn't happen by accident, but by design? This session will challenge principals and school leaders to stop managing culture and start intentionally designing it. Drawing from his unique background as the founder of Bay High, a public high school built inside his own skate park, this presenter knows firsthand what it means to create a space where students feel seen, valued, and inspired to show up. Bay High wasn't just built with bricks and beams; it was built with empathy, creativity, and purpose. This session will introduce school leaders to the frameworks of design thinking and how these tools can be applied to reimagine school environments, strengthen relationships, and build a thriving community from the inside out. | Mike Smith, Professional Speaker |
| The Power of Story: Strengthening Collective Efficacy Through Leadership | Collective efficacy has one of the strongest impacts on student achievement; school leaders can intentionally strengthen collective efficacy through storytelling and everyday leadership practices. The beliefs educators hold about their collective ability to make a difference shape the culture of schools and influence how teachers, staff, and community members collaborate, approach challenges, and support students. This session will focus on the need for leaders to intentionally highlight examples of progress and effective practice and how doing so helps educators see the impact of their work while also reinforcing positive outcomes to the broader community. Based on lived leadership experiences and professional research, this session will ultimately help participants learn how shaping the narratives within a school community can build shared belief, strengthen collaboration, and positively impact student outcomes. | Brandon Mowinkel, Ed.D., Principal Anna Thoma, Ed.D., Assistant Principal |
| The 90-Day Discipline Reset: Why Good Schools Drift and How High-Performing Leaders Fix It Fast | Discipline does not collapse overnight. It drifts slowly and quietly until referrals spike, staff stop enforcing, and the principal is back to managing every crisis personally. This session will introduce the 90-Day Discipline Reset and the 3-System Breakdown framework— the three structural failures that silently erode discipline in secondary schools. Participants will identify exactly which system is failing in their building and begin the reset without adding programs, meetings, or compliance fatigue to an already stretched staff. They will also learn about the Leadership Reset Model—a structured 30-day stabilization sequence that restores staff enforcement consistency and rebuilds trust in school leadership. And they will earn to use the Discipline Drift Indicator to catch warning signs early, and build the Accountability Loop that sustains gains across the full 90 days. This is not a motivational session. It is a structural fix—built for principals who are done reacting. | Thomas Glanton, Ed.D., Founder of The Education Company |
| Lead From Who You Are | The hardest part of school leadership isn't the work, it's staying like yourself while doing it. Pressure, pace, and competing expectations quietly pull leaders away from the values that brought them into the role, until the version of them that shows up in the evening no longer matches the leader they intended to be in the morning. This session will introduce the Three Rhythms Framework—Personal, People, and Process — a practical system leaders can implement immediately to stay grounded, build trust through presence, and keep school culture aligned with stated values, even under pressure. Participants will leave with:
| Joe Sanfelippo, Ed.D., Retired Superintendent |
| Leadership By Design: Building a School Leader Talent Management System | School leader turnover is disrupting schools across the nation, weakening improvement efforts, increasing staff instability, and slowing student progress. What if districts approached leadership development, hiring, support, and retention as one connected system rather than a series of isolated practices? This session introduces the School Leader Talent Management System (SLTMS), a comprehensive framework grounded in the School Leader Paradigm that helps districts intentionally develop, hire, grow, and retain effective school leaders. Through authentic Illinois implementation examples, participants will explore how districts are building leadership pipelines, strengthening hiring practices, supporting leaders across career stages, and creating working environments that reduce leadership churn and promote long-term organizational growth. Attendees will examine how leadership development, succession planning, mentoring, coaching, evaluation, and professional learning can function as an aligned system designed to strengthen culture, systems, and learning across schools and districts. Through reflection, dialogue, and interaction with SLTMS tools, participants will identify practical strategies for building sustainable leadership systems that support continuous improvement and organizational stability. | Jason Leahy, Ed.D., Executive Director of the Illinois Principals Association Jill Griffin, Ed.D, Superintendent Janice Schwarze, Professional Learning Associate Susan Homes, Ed.D., Deputy Executive Director of the Illinois Principals Association |
| Simple Impact: 12 Daily Habits for Immediate and Lasting Results | What if the most powerful leadership move you could make this year wasn’t bigger, louder, or more complicated—but simpler? This session will introduce Simple Impact, a high-energy, real-world look at 12 daily habits that shape how people experience us as leaders and teammates. These are not grand initiatives or leadership theories—they’re the small, human actions that build trust, set tone, and create momentum from day one. The kind of habits that help new leaders establish credibility quickly, help experienced leaders reset with intention, and help teammates lead from wherever they are. Participants will leave with a clear, practical framework to use immediately in daily interactions—along with renewed energy and a reminder of why this work matters. | Carrie Jackson, Principal |
| From Compliance to Confidence: How Feedback Systems Transform Teacher Retention in Rural Schools | Rural school districts continue to face persistent teacher shortages, high turnover, and limited capacity for instructional leadership. Although evaluation systems are intended to support professional growth, instructional feedback is often experienced as infrequent, unclear, or compliance-driven, limiting its impact on instructional improvement and teacher retention. This session will examine how feedback systems influence teacher confidence, instructional decision-making, professional growth, and retention in rural schools. Participants will engage in structured reflection and collaborative discussion focused on identifying characteristics of effective instructional feedback and examining gaps within current feedback systems. Emphasis will be placed on practical strategies for creating feedback processes that are specific, actionable, growth-oriented, and sustainable within rural or capacity-limited settings. | Rhonda Palic, M.Ed., Principal Anthonya Kahrs, Ed.D., Director of Instruction |
| Beyond the Game: A Principal’s Guide to Building Co-Curricular Sports Programs for Whole Student Development | High school athletics may be one of the most overlooked leadership systems in education. Despite their influence on character development and connection to caring adults, sports frequently operate disconnected to schools’ educational missions. While 43% of athletic directors in a national survey strongly agree that sports are part of the teaching and learning experience, far fewer perceive that school leaders share this view, revealing a critical disconnect. This session will invite school leaders to view athletics as supportive of whole student growth. Attendees will examine the distinctions between extracurricular and co-curricular athletics models, including their implications for student experience, school culture, and leadership practices. Participants will leave with actionable tools and a framework for aligning coaching, communication, and structures to whole-student development goals. | Ann Kearns Davoren, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and Chief Science Officer at Prevention Strategies Russel Reetz, Principal Jody Redman, Co-Founder of the InSideOut Initiative |
| Be the Thermostat, Not the Thermometer | It is crucial to be intentional and purposeful in setting the culture of your school or classroom. We have to be the thermostat and not the thermometer. There is a clear and distinct difference. The thermometer reads what is going on, how the students interact, what the parents say, and how the building/classroom flows. The thermostat transforms what is going on, sets expectations, continues adjusting for student interactions, informs parents of what is going on, and initiates actions to set the culture of the building or classroom. In this session, participants will ask themselves, "Am I the thermostat or the thermometer?" They will be inspired with stories and action steps to help them be the thermostat in their schools. | Tron Young, Ed.D., Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services |
| Leader's Mindset: As We Go, So Go Our Schools | As leaders, we understand how difficult it is to initiate change. We see the "this too shall pass" eye rolls when new initiatives are introduced, usually resulting in stagnant progress and minimal growth. We might justify it all by blaming feeder schools, teacher commitment/ability, parents, money, or our district. What we don't do is look in the mirror and acknowledge our role in the status quo. It hurts to admit we may be our school's own worst enemy. This session will introduce ways to focus on personal growth, changing mindset, and improving reflective practice. Small changes lead to big changes, and this session will go a long way in starting the journey. | Shawn Suzuki, Former Principal Diane Spencer, Education Consultant |
| Stop the Spin. Own Your Day. Transform Your Life. | Does your day feel like a merry-go-round spinning faster than you can handle—with co-workers, deadlines, and demands all tugging you in different directions? What if you could step off the chaos and run the machine instead? This session will introduce a practical, four-layer framework for taking control of your professional and personal life.
| Michael Snell, Ed.D., Deputy Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Principals Association |
| From Status Update to Growth Conversation: Check-In Structures That Actually Drive Results | Too many leaders are holding check-ins that feel productive but produce nothing. When one-on-ones become status updates or a rundown of what happened and what is coming next they miss the most powerful opportunity a manager has: a structured, recurring space to grow people. This session will challenge leaders to rethink what a check-in is for, and it will offer a practical framework for transforming routine meetings into high-leverage coaching conversations. Participants will examine the difference between reporting and reflection, explore what it looks like to name a pattern, link it to impact, and coach toward a specific and observable change. | Lauren Ellis, Education Consultant |
| Leading inside the Tension: How School Leaders Navigate Competing Demands | What makes leadership decisions truly difficult? It's not lack of knowledge or skill—it's navigating tensions with no perfect answer. Accountability vs compassion. Transparency vs. privacy. Innovation vs. stability. Authority vs. collaboration. These competing demands aren't leadership failures—they're the work of leadership itself. This session will help school leaders recognize recurring leadership tensions, make decisions with greater clarity, and lead more sustainably through complexity. Through real leadership scenarios and structured protocols, participants will explore practical strategies for navigating difficult decisions without reactivity or burnout. Participants will:
| Kelly MacCall-Carter, M. Ed., Principal |
| Building Great Leaders Through High-Quality Leadership Teams | Leadership teams matter. Developing high-functioning leadership teams requires intentionality and a clear understanding of what learning leadership truly looks like in schools. Effective leadership teams create a consistent vision and alignment, ensure multiple perspectives are at the table to solve unique challenges, and share the responsibilities and workload required of leaders. Participants will:
| Paul Fleming, Ed.D., Chief Learning Officer at Learning Forward |
| Building Culture Through Learning: Job-Embedded PD That Inspires | Discover how to transform professional learning into a powerful tool for strengthening staff morale, fostering collaboration, and creating a positive school culture. This engaging session equips school leaders with practical strategies for designing job-embedded professional development that empowers teachers, builds collective efficacy, and cultivates a high-performing team committed to student success. Learn how meaningful, collaborative learning experiences can increase engagement, enhance trust, and make professional growth a cornerstone of a thriving school community. | Cynthia Crim, Principal |
| From Good to Great: Building the Culture and Systems That Sustain Continuous Improvement | Every principal wants to build a school that continues improving year after year, but sustained improvement doesn't happen by chance. Intentional leadership, a culture of continuous learning, and systems that empower teachers to grow together are the key ingredients to sustained success. In this session, leaders from an AVID Elementary and Secondary National Demonstration School will share the coaching structures, demonstration classroom model, and professional learning systems that transformed AVID from an initiative into the way we do school. Participants will leave with practical strategies they can immediately adapt to strengthen teacher learning, build collective efficacy, and sustain continuous improvement in their own schools. | Justin Youmans, Principal |
| From Practitioners to Policy Leaders: Building Principal Voice in State Advocacy | Who speaks for your schools when policy decisions are made? Too often, education policy is shaped without the consistent presence of practicing school leaders. This session will highlight a scalable model that positions principals as trusted, go-to experts for legislators.
In this session, participants will explore how to create a system ensuring principal presence throughout the legislative session. The model includes daily coverage, structured communication updates, and intentional preparation for meetings, testimony, and relationship-building with policymakers.
By embedding principals directly into the legislative process, schools strengthen both advocacy and implementation—ensuring policies are informed by practice and executed with clarity.
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
| Chase Christensen, Principal and Superintendent |
| Breaking Through Resistance | Resistance is one of the most misunderstood challenges in schools. When educators hesitate, push back, or struggle to follow through, leaders often respond with more pressure, more support, or clearer expectations. Yet the resistance remains. Why? Because resistance is rarely defiance. It is usually a signal of an unmet need. This session will introduces the Catalyst Mindsets framework, a human-centered approach to understanding and responding to resistance to change. Participants will explore the five root causes of resistance and learn how unmet needs around value, belonging, success, growth, and ownership shape educator behavior in schools every day. Through real-world examples, reflection, and practical coaching tools, participants will leave with strategies they can immediately apply in coaching conversations, team leadership, and school improvement efforts. | Becca Silver, M.Ed., Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Whole Educator |
| The Reset Lab: A Healing-Centered Practice for Leading With Clarity Under Pressure | Too many school leaders are making high-stakes decisions from a place of depletion rather than clarity. When urgency becomes the default, reflection feels like a luxury and reactive leadership quietly erodes the culture, systems, and vision leaders worked hardest to build. The session will introduce the RESET Lab, a disciplined, healing-centered framework designed to interrupt that pattern. Grounded in five reflective moves—Recall, Extract, Stop, Embed, and Transform—the framework helps school leaders slow the moment down without disengaging from the work. Through guided reflection, peer dialogue, modeled scenarios, and small group application, participants will examine the internal narrative and systemic pressures shaping their decisions and identify the high-leverage shifts that move leadership from reaction to intention. | TaraShaun Gipson, Executive Director of the Black Principals Network Powered by the Surge Institute Dalonte Burns, Program Director of the Black Principals Association Network Powered by the Surge Institute |
| From the Assistant Principalship to Systems Leadership: Lessons in Culture, Alignment, and Impact | Assistant principals are often viewed primarily as operational managers, yet sustainable school improvement requires far more. This session will explore how assistant principals can lead systems-level change through culture-building, instructional leadership, relational accountability, and strategic collaboration. Participants will leave with actionable leadership insights and practical strategies to strengthen school systems, staff capacity, and student outcomes. | Amanda Jamerson, Assistant Principal Bill Toungette, Ed.D., Assistant Principal |
| Integrating MTSS Work in High School: Practical Strategies for Sustainable Change | What happens when a high school stops treating academic, behavioral, and social-emotional supports as separate systems? Two high school administrators will share their school’s journey toward building an integrated Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) model within a 9–12 high school setting. Through real-world examples and measurable outcomes, presenters will demonstrate how aligning academic interventions, Tier 2 and Tier 3 behavioral supports, and alternatives to exclusionary discipline created more responsive systems for students and staff. Participants will examine case studies highlighting the implementation of targeted academic supports, restorative and accountability-based discipline practices, and collaborative data-based decision-making processes designed to improve student outcomes while reducing barriers to learning.
Participants will leave with:
| Brett Wilson, Ed.D., Associate Principal Danielle Ambrosia, Ed.D., Assistant Principal |
| Deep Listening: Creating Structures and Systems as a PreK-8 Leader That Truly Impact Stakeholders | Too often, schools build systems based on what leaders think stakeholders need rather than what students, staff, and families actually experience. The result can be initiatives that miss the mark, underused supports, and fractured trust. In this session, participants will explore how deep listening can transform leadership practice and system design. Participants will learn practical strategies for moving beyond surface-level feedback to create intentional structures that elevate authentic stakeholder voice. Using real-world examples and replicable tools, presenters will share approaches for gathering, analyzing, and acting on stakeholder input to strengthen relationships, inform decision-making, and create meaningful, sustainable change. Attendees will leave with concrete protocols and systems that can be immediately implemented in schools and districts. | Tracy Stegall, M.Ed., Retired School Leader Nick Vanderpol, Principal Wm. Bryant Shaw, Ed.D., Principal Frederick Buskey, Speaker, Podcaster |
| Courageous Conversations: Leadership in Action | Every school leader faces them: the conversation that gets rehearsed repeatedly, postponed repeatedly, and hoped away. It never disappears. School culture is shaped in the moments leaders choose to lean in rather than step back. This workshop will provide leaders with a clear framework to confidently navigate difficult conversations with staff, parents, and students while preserving trust and professionalism. Participants will learn how to replace avoidance with clarity, emotion with structure, and tension with productive dialogue. Through real-world scenarios and guided strategies, attendees will leave prepared to address accountability, conflict, and performance concerns in ways that strengthen relationships and improve outcomes.
Participants will leave able to:
| Kyle Dresback, Senior Director for Policy and Government Relations Jennifer Halter, Ed.D., Director of Secondary Curriculum |
| Cultivating a Sustainable Legacy | Your experience matters. As a veteran principal, you have navigated years of change and the lessons you’ve learned are invaluable to those who will follow. Join fellow experienced principals to reflect on your impact, shape your legacy, and prepare for a purposeful transition.
In this session, participants will engage with peers who are committed to strengthening schools, developing future leaders, and ensuring their work supports student success beyond their tenure. Grounded in adaptive leadership and change management, participants will explore three questions:
| Jerry Anderson, Pd.D., Principal Mary Pat Cumming, Principal Tom Brenner, Principal |
| What Your Brain Is Doing When You Lead: Neuroscience for School Principals | The most consequential thing a principal does every day is not the decisions they make or the policies they enforce. It is the neurological environment they create—the invisible conditions that determine whether the people in their building are operating in a state of threat or a state of growth. Drawing on the fields of educational neuroscience and organizational psychology, this session will translate brain research into practical leadership tools. Participants will explore why some faculty meetings produce energy and others produce shutdown, why certain teacher evaluations lead to growth and others lead to compliance, and why the most respected principals in a building are rarely the ones who give the most answers. The session covers David Rock's SCARF model—Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, Fairness—as a diagnostic framework for reading the neurological temperature of a school. | Carl Patton, Ed.D., Principal |
| Read the Room: Using Your School Environment to Drive Culture and Student Outcomes | What if a school building is sending messages leaders never intended? Too often, the physical environment is treated as background when, in reality, it is actively shaping culture, influencing behavior, and impacting outcomes every single day. In this session, participants will learn how leaders are using the school environment as a powerful lever to drive culture and improve student outcomes. They'll also explore a practical framework for “reading” school spaces and using them as a lever for improvement.
Through real-school examples and guided analysis, participants will uncover how hallways, classrooms, and common areas communicate expectations, belonging, and priorities, especially for students of color and those from underserved communities.
Participants will:
| Letishia Seabrook Jones, Ph.D., Managing Partner of Milestone Education |
| Support and Celebrate: Creating a Culture Where Staff Thrive | How do you truly support and celebrate your staff in ways that inspire them to be the best version of themselves? In this session, school leaders will explore how intentional daily actions create a culture where teachers feel valued, motivated, and proud of their work. This session will provide practical, ready-to-use strategies utilized by two National Principals of the Year to elevate their staff culture through both support and celebration. Participants will learn when to lean in with support, when to amplify celebration, and how to balance both to maximize impact. Through real-world examples—including over 4,000 peer observations, over 1,500 annual walkthroughs, and over 100 staff-led professional development sessions—this session will highlight how consistent, purposeful leadership moves can lead to a powerful culture of pride. | Tony Cattani, Principal Andrew Farley, Principal |
| Shifting the Conversation From Evaluation to Ongoing Reflection and Growth | Looking for the best way to get everyone rowing in the same direction and speaking the same language of leadership? Worried about supporting and keeping assistant principals, principals, and central office leaders? Looking for resources to help engage all leaders in ongoing intentional professional growth conversations instead of an end-of-year compliance-based evaluation conversation? If the goal is to create hope in our schools while improving student outcomes, then the focus needs to be on supporting leaders through ongoing leadership development. In this session, join colleagues from around the country in an exploration and discussion of how the School Leader Paradigm establishes the foundation of leadership development with a common and universal language for all. As the role of school leaders continues to grow in demand and complexity, the need to approach supporting and sustaining our leaders must also change. The School Leader Paradigm supports leaders in the ongoing journey of self-reflection and becoming, while simultaneously doing the work. The Paradigm immediately shifts the conversation away from evaluation as everyone engages in a "becoming- while-doing" practical growth mindset. | Scott Seaman, Ed.D., Executive Director of the Association of Washington School Principals |
| Beyond the Title: The Real Journey of School Leadership | In every leader's journey, there are moments that test confidence, purpose, and perseverance. This session will explore the personal and professional journeys of two award-winning school leaders who navigated challenges, embraced growth, and discovered the power of authentic leadership. Through stories of resilience, mentorship, and impact, participants will reflect on how leadership is shaped not only by success, but by the willingness to lead through uncertainty, inspire others, and remain grounded in purpose.
This session will motivate aspiring and current leaders to reignite their passion, strengthen their leadership identity, and intentionally cultivate influence within their schools and communities. Participants will:
| Sonia Ruiz, Principal Jason Johnson, Principal |
| Leading Change That Lasts: Building Alignment Across Every Level of Your Organization | Too often, change efforts fail—not because the idea is wrong, but because leaders aren’t clear about what they’re trying to accomplish or why it matters. Effective change requires more than a strong vision. It requires leaders to understand how change moves through an entire system. In school districts, every layer—central office, building leadership, classrooms, and students—is both part of the larger organization and a system of its own. When one layer operates in isolation, change stalls. When every layer is aligned, change becomes scalable and sustainable. This session will help leaders understand how to create that alignment by building leadership capacity at every level. Rather than driving change to schools, district leaders will learn how to equip principals to lead change within their own buildings—and empower them to develop others to do the same. | Jimmy Casas, Former Principal |
| Beyond the Status Quo: Bold Policy Shifts for Inclusive Excellence | Is your school’s culture built for every student to thrive, or just a select few? Research suggests that while traditional educational systems work for some, they leave far too many behind. It’s time for a bold redesign.
This session will focus on intercultural competency: the vital capability to shift perspectives and adapt behaviors to bridge cultural differences. By focusing on deep self-awareness and individual developmental orientations, participants will learn to move beyond surface-level diversity to create environments where both students and staff truly belong. | Damon Qualls, Consultant Carlos Grant, Ed.D., Executive Director of School Leadership Edward Anderson, Ed.D., Founder of Responsive Ed Consulting, LLC |
| Fight, Flight or Facilitate: Navigating Conflict as a Leader | Conflict is inevitable, but how we respond determines whether culture thrives or deteriorates. In this session, school leaders will explore the instinctive fight or flight response and why it often leads to regrets instead of results. Using vivid stories, practical strategies, and neuroscience insights, we'll uncover the third option: facilitation. Participants will learn how to manage moments of tension, address "mosquito sized" behaviors before they become "moose sized" crises, and turn conflict into a catalyst for connection. | Shane Naterman, Ed.D., Leadership Development Strategist |
| Session Title | Session Description | Presenter |
|---|---|---|
| From Data to Direction: A Principal’s Playbook Using the DWG Framework | What if your next data meeting actually led to clarity and confident action instead of more confusion? Principals are flooded with dashboards, benchmark results, walkthrough data, and accountability pressures, yet many leadership teams still struggle to translate information into focused instructional moves. In this session, participants will learn about the DWG Framework (Discover • Work • Grow), a practical leadership system designed to help principals move from analysis to aligned implementation without overwhelming teachers. Participants will learn how to identify root causes instead of surface trends, prioritize high leverage strategies, align PLC conversations to campus goals, and build accountability structures that strengthen teacher capacity. Leaders will leave with a 30-day campus action blueprint that turns numbers into next steps and transforms data meetings into leadership moments. | Alicia Martin, Ed.D., Data Strategist |
| Place-Based Education: Engagement for Urban and Rural Schools | What happens when learning begins with the places students call home? This presentation will explore how place-based education can transform student engagement in both urban and rural schools by connecting classroom learning to the communities, environments, and cultures that surround students every day. When lessons move beyond textbooks and into the real world, students begin to see relevance in what they are learning, which strengthens motivation, belonging, and curiosity. Drawing from real school experiences and leadership work in implementing place-based programs, this session will highlight how schools can intentionally build engagement through meaningful connections to place. Participants will leave with actionable ideas for integrating local context into instruction, strengthening student ownership of learning, and building deeper relationships between schools and their communities. | Charles Longshore, Principal |
| Ditch the Doubt: Leading Instruction With Confidence | Many school leaders feel pressure to be instructional leaders but lack the knowledge to do it with confidence. This session will address that hidden struggle, offering strategies to move beyond insecurities and comfort zones. Participants will discuss practical methods for understanding unfamiliar content, writing effective evaluations for teachers in diverse subjects, and prioritizing instructional leadership amid competing demands. Ultimately, participants will gain actionable techniques to confidently lead instruction, regardless of personal expertise, and make a real impact on teaching and learning. | Jen Schwanke, Ed.D., Central Office Staff |
| Raising Achievement Without Lowering the Bar: Equity in Elementary Math Instruction | What if the strategies designed to help struggling learners are actually limiting their access to grade-level success? In many elementary schools, well-intentioned practices lead to lowered rigor, leaving gaps that persist year after year. This session will explore how principals can lead equity-centered instructional systems that ensure all students engage in meaningful, grade-level mathematics every day. Participants will examine how to shift from remediation-heavy models to acceleration-focused practices that prioritize access, discourse, and high expectations. Through analysis of classroom scenarios and leadership moves, attendees will identify how instructional decisions impact student outcomes and teacher beliefs. By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
| Elizabeth Van Hoesen, Principal |
| Piedmont Promise Project: Equipping Middle and High School Students for College or Career | Discover what is possible when high expectations meet intentional systems. In this session, the team from an award-winning high school in Alabama will unpack the structures behind their success. Participants will learn how a schoolwide ACT preparation model builds student confidence, increases scores, and aligns instruction across grade levels, including the middle and high school. Participants will also explore the Piedmont Promise Project, an experience in middle and high school designed to ensure every student leaves prepared for life beyond high school. Through a rigorous 31-step rubric, yearlong seminars, and an intensive AdvantagePlus Day, students develop real-world skills, refine postsecondary plans, and demonstrate readiness. Participants will leave with practical strategies, replicable systems, and inspiration to elevate outcomes in their own schools. | Brandi Todd, Guidance Counselor Adam Clemons, Ed.D., Principal Keena Cox, College and Career Coach |
| How to Get All Teachers to Become Like the Best Teachers | There are dramatic differences in the quality of teachers in every school. If all teachers could be more like the best teachers, then we would have significant improvement in every setting. Every building has special teachers who connect with all students and consistently engage them in learning. This session will focus on what educational leaders can do to get all of their teachers to become like their best teachers. | Todd Whitaker, Professor of Educational Leadership |
| From Number Two to Number One: Mentoring Your AP for the Principalship | Moving from the number two spot to the center chair is more than a promotion—it’s a total shift in frequency. While assistant principals often master the art of discipline and logistics, they are frequently shielded from the hidden domains of school leadership that define a principal’s success. This session will help lead principals become intentional architects of their AP’s growth. In this session, we will identify the fiscal, political, and strategic gaps that often go unaddressed in the AP role. Participants will examine their own leadership styles to determine if they are acting as catalysts or bottlenecks for their assistant’s development. Using a gradual release framework, participants will learn to transition APs from shadowing to full accountability in high-stakes areas like schoolwide budgeting, grant management, and stakeholder relations. Participants will also learn how to provide a safety net and course-correct without micromanaging or undermining their authority. | Phillip Crisostomo, Ed.D., Principal |
| Leveraging Data Systems to Improve Your School | Most schools collect data. High-performing schools systematize it. What happens when PLC conversations, intervention systems, behavior trends, attendance patterns, and student goal-setting all connect and “talk” to one another? Schools become more proactive. Teams become more aligned. Students become more connected. And outcomes improve. This session will showcase replicable systems including schoolwide early warning processes, minor behavior tracking, PLC protocols for analyzing student work, and quarterly student data meetings that build ownership and motivation. Participants will:
| Elizabeth Nelson, Assistant Principal Kelly Szesterniak, Principal |
| Leading Math Without Being the Math Expert: What Principals Should Look For, Ask, and Do | Many principals want to improve math instruction but hesitate to enter math classrooms because they do not feel like content experts. That hesitation can leave one of the most important instructional areas undersupported. This session will offer school leaders a practical, confidence-building lens for leading math instruction without needing to solve every problem. Participants will learn how to identify what matters most during math walkthroughs: student thinking, meaningful tasks, mathematical discourse, teacher questioning, use of representations, and alignment between curriculum, standards, and instruction. Through examples, simulations, and leadership tools, participants will examine how to determine whether students are reasoning or simply following steps, how teachers surface misconceptions, and how coaching conversations can move beyond compliance into instructional growth. | James O'Neal, M.Ed., Educator |
| The Road to Success Is Always Under Construction | Have you ever found yourself thinking, “I can’t do this—I’ll never be able to make it happen”? As educators, many of us face these moments of doubt every day. Too often, we equate setbacks or failures with being unsuccessful, when in reality, challenges are often the very experiences that lead to growth, resilience, and meaningful progress. This session will remind participants that there will always be bumps in the road, but choosing what to do with those bumps affects school culture and relationships, and ultimately teaching and learning. | Julie Arnold, Principal |
| Visiting Classrooms Is Not Enough! (a deep dive into pre & post observation coaching) | It is quite normal for busy principals and assistant principals to stress over the challenges of finding space in their busy days to spend quality time in their teachers' classrooms. Classroom visits are only half of the instructional leadership process however. The other half is the ongoing coaching. In other words, as you mold and shape the school's culture to supporting instructional leadership, that will include the time to coach on an ongoing basis formatively. This session will take a deep dive into the particulars of coaching your teachers effectively toward ensuring a correlation between coaching and the continued improvement of instruction in your classrooms. | Baruti Kafele, Principal |
| The Power of Student Goal Setting and Data Conferences | Discover how student goal setting and meaningful data conferences can transform learning by empowering students to take ownership of their academic growth. In this session, participants will explore practical strategies for helping students analyze data, set attainable goals, monitor progress, and reflect on their learning journey. Attendees will leave with tools and resources to build a culture of accountability, motivation, and student and family agency that leads to increased engagement and achievement for all learners. | Christa Richardson, Math Coach Amanda (Mandy) Sierra, Ed.D., Principal |
| Data With Direction | How can schools turn student data into meaningful action? This session will explore how principals can support teachers in analyzing student achievement data to drive instruction, engage students in setting meaningful learning goals, and empower families to understand their child's progress. Participants will learn practical strategies for using data to foster student ownership of learning, build strong school-home partnerships, and equip parents to support learning and student success beyond the classroom. | Skylaar Guyer, Principal Julie Florin, Principal |
| Leading Teacher Clarity | Teacher clarity has one of the highest impacts on student learning—but it doesn’t happen by chance. It requires intentional leadership. This session will help site administrators move beyond surface-level implementation and lead teacher clarity as a coherent, schoolwide priority. Participants will explore what teacher clarity looks like in practice, including the use of clear learning intentions, meaningful success criteria, and aligned explanations and modeling. More importantly, leaders will learn how to build the conditions that support this work: developing a shared language, calibrating expectations, and using classroom observations and feedback to strengthen instructional precision. Through practical tools and real-world examples, administrators will examine how to:
| Douglas Fisher, Professor and Chair of Educational Leadership Nancy Frey, Professor of Educational Leadership |
| What Principals Won’t Say Out Loud: A Conversation for District Leaders | Principals across the nation are being asked to lead school improvement efforts while managing increasing operational demands, staffing shortages, initiative overload, constant communication, and pressure from every direction. Most principals are not struggling because they lack passion or leadership ability. They are struggling because the systems surrounding them often create fragmentation, complexity, and overload instead of clarity and support. This session will take an honest look at one of the most overlooked topics in education leadership today: what principals actually need in order to lead effectively and sustainably. Participants will explore how leadership systems, communication structures, competing priorities, and organizational expectations directly impact a principal’s ability to focus on teaching, learning, staff development, and student outcomes. By the end of the session, they will walk away with practical strategies for reducing initiative fatigue, strengthening instructional focus, building collective efficacy, and creating systems that better support school leaders. | Rachael George Gutierrez, Ed.D., Executive Director of Elementary Programs |
| How Assistant Principals Can Be an Instructional Leader and a Firefighter: Growing Teachers Amidst the Heat | We became assistant principals because we wanted to create better outcomes for kids. But how can we be instructional leaders when we are consumed with fighting fires? How can we engage in a coaching cycle when we can barely find time to get into a classroom? In this active session, we will learn the keys and will actively practice:
| Frederick Buskey, Speaker, Podcaster |
| What Great Principals Do Differently | What are the specific qualities and practices of great principals that elevate them above the rest? This session will reveal what the most effective principals do differently than their colleagues. Participants will leave knowing why these practices make great principals more effective and how to immediately implement them in their own schools. | Todd Whitaker, Professor of Educational Leadership |
| Students as Researchers: Using Youth Participatory Action Research to Drive Meaningful School Change | Traditional approaches to student voice, advisory councils, satisfaction surveys, focus groups, rarely produce the institutional change they promise. Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) offers a different model, one in which students become the primary researchers of their own school experience, generating data that informs real decisions. This session will introduce YPAR as a structured inquiry methodology. It will walk participants through each phase of a practitioner-implemented cycle: problem identification, student-led data collection, collaborative analysis, and the translation of findings into actionable recommendations. Drawing on a live implementation in which student research directly influenced school scheduling decisions, the session will examine what it takes to move from student insight to institutional response—and what school leaders must be willing to do when student data challenges existing practice. | John Bird Ed.D., Assistant Principal |
| The 10 Moments That Make or Break Your School’s Culture | You're doing everything you've been told to do to build a strong school culture. And yet, you're watching teachers leave PD unchanged, a few toxic voices setting the tone for everyone else, and initiatives that never quite take hold no matter how well you launch them. The problem isn't you or your staff. The problem is that the traditional culture playbook no longer works with today's teachers and today's students. Today, culture doesn't break all at once. It breaks in moments. How teachers accept or deflect accountability. Which voices shape the direction, and which ones go unheard. Whether decisions get executed or abandoned. When these moments go unaddressed, they produce a culture of "good enough," one that limits results no matter how good your people are. This session will cover the Culture Core 10: the 10 moments where school culture either holds or breaks. Participants will run their school through the Culture Core 10, surface the moments silently threatening culture, and leave knowing exactly how to shut them down. Participants will also get a concrete roadmap for building a culture where people do the right work, the right way, for the right reasons, even when no one is looking. | Robyn Jackson, Ph.D., Founder of Buildership University |
| Reflective Leadership: Empowering Your Growth to Build Stronger School Cultures | Effective school culture starts with reflective leadership. This session will help school leaders explore how their values and daily practices shape teaching, learning, and school culture. Using New Jersey’s Leaders’ Compass framework, this session will link leadership to building student-centered environments where everyone can thrive. Through targeted reflection and dialogue, participants will identify their core values and personal mission and consider how these beliefs shape decision-making and relationships. Leaders will build capacity by sharing best practices, strengthening collective efficacy, and supporting high expectations for teaching and learning. | Karen Bingert, Executive Director of the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association Heather Moran, Coordinator of Professional Learning |
| Let's Be Clear: Enhancing Teacher Clarity With Depth of Knowledge | What does learning look, sound, and feel like? How can you ensure your students are learning at the levels demanded by academic standards, assignments, or assessments? In this session, participants will explore how to enhance teacher clarity using Depth of Knowledge. They'll examine how it clarifies the complexity of learning expectations and experiences and how it helps establish a clear and common language that ensures the expectations for student learning are specific, measurable, and visible. | Erik Francis, Consultant |
| Play with a Purpose: A Principal’s Blueprint for Transforming Early Learning Spaces | Experience rooms are immersive, play-based learning environments designed to build foundational knowledge, language, and curiosity in pre-K through first grade students. This session will highlight how one elementary campus transformed traditional instructional spaces into intentional experience rooms that integrate early literacy, math, science, and social-emotional learning through hands-on exploration.
Participants will explore how experience rooms support developmentally appropriate practice while strengthening academic foundations and student engagement. The session will outline the planning process, instructional design, scheduling structures, and staff collaboration needed to successfully implement experience rooms without abandoning standards-based instruction. | Jana Clark, Principal Cortnie Bryan, Assistant Principal |
Questions?
Email the NPC Conference Planning Team.
