With a renewed focus on health and well-being, nature is emerging as a powerful ally—supporting physical and mental health, strengthening social connections, and inspiring lifelong learning and stewardship. Outdoor, place-based experiences offer meaningful opportunities to step away from constant screen use, helping students and educators develop healthy habits around technology—using it purposefully when appropriate while learning how and when to disconnect. Participants will explore how regular interaction with natural environments impacts physical health, mental well-being, stress reduction, attention restoration, and overall academic performance. This session highlights a statewide model that connects students and teachers to the outdoors through curriculum-integrated learning, youth leadership programs, and educator support. Participants will explore how state agencies, school systems, and nonprofit organizations collaborate to deliver hands-on, standards-aligned experiences that support student academic success while building environmental literacy and civic responsibility. Presenters will engage participants in lessons learned in building sustainable partnerships and aligning this work with broader education priorities such as improved student engagement and attendance, career-connected learning, and student AND educator well-being. Participants will leave with actionable strategies to bring nature into classrooms, policies, and communities—rooted in the belief that what’s good for nature is also good for people.

Margie Vandeven
Education Branch Chief, Missouri Department of Conservation

Margie Vandeven

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Education Branch Chief, Missouri Department of Conservation

Margie Vandeven, Ph.D., serves as the Education Branch Chief for the Missouri Department of Conservation, where she applies her prior leadership experience to conservation education initiatives. A lifelong educator dedicated to improving lives through education, she has shaped educational policy and practice at the classroom, school, state, and national levels throughout her career. In her current role, Margie helps Missourians connect with nature, believing that conservation education can inspire stewardship, enhance well-being and create meaningful opportunities for learning across all ages. Margie served as Missouri’s Commissioner of Education for over eight years, first appointed in December 2014 and reappointed in January 2019, with an interim period at the SAS Institute as Director of Educational Partnerships. Before joining the Department of Conservation, Margie participated in the Visiting Scholar program at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University where she continues to serve on the Hoover Education Success Initiative Practitioner Council. She has served as an appointed ECS Commissioner for over a decade and is also a member of the Cross-Partisan Policy Network with the Aspen Institute, contributing to collaborative solutions for complex educational challenges. Margie began her career as a Missouri teacher and went on to teach and serve as an administrator in Maryland before returning to her home state. She holds degrees from Missouri State University, Loyola University Maryland, and Saint Louis University and has been recognized as a distinguished alumna by both Missouri State and Saint Louis University. In her free time, Margie enjoys exploring the outdoors, hiking, and spending time with friends and family.

State education leaders are entering a new financial era shaped by “The Big Shrink”—the convergence of sustained enrollment declines and rising cost pressures across K–12 education. This session presents updated cross-state research on six major K–12 finance trends state policymakers should closely monitor in 2026, examines how states are responding, and highlights opportunities to improve student outcomes despite tighter budgets. Drawing on newly updated national datasets linking enrollment, spending, federal, state, and local revenues, and policy context, presenters will examine: (1) growing fiscal stress in districts; (2) fragile federal funding and increased pressure on state and local revenues; (3) declining enrollment and the expansion of hold-harmless policies; (4) labor commitments; (5) rising healthcare and pension costs; and (6) rapidly increasing special education spending. For each trend, the session will highlight state strategies, targeted investments, and unintended consequences that have emerged. Examples will span states with varying political and governance contexts, illustrating how policy choices differ across environments and the tradeoffs leaders face. Throughout the session, presenters will discuss implications for key student populations, including students with disabilities, low-income students, and students in communities experiencing enrollment decline. Emphasis will be placed on practical lessons for state leaders related to fiscal sustainability and political feasibility. Designed for governors’ education advisors, legislators, chiefs, and state board members, this session translates data and policy into actionable insights to support decision-making as states adapt K–12 finance systems. Presenters will also share data tools and public resources that participants can use to explore these trends within their own states and inform ongoing policy conversations.

Maggie Cicco
Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy

Maggie Cicco

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Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy

Across the country, states are reexamining a foundational question: what should a high school diploma actually signify in today’s economy? For too long, high schools have unintentionally reinforced a false divide between “college prep” and “career prep,” leaving too many students without a clear pathway to a high-value postsecondary option. This session will explore how states are reimagining the meaning of a high school diploma to ensure readiness and personalize learning so that every student graduates on a clear path to their postsecondary aspirations. K-12 chiefs from Indiana and Rhode Island—states at the forefront of these efforts—will highlight their work to modernize graduation requirements, put all students on a pathway to a high-value career, and provide more learners with a “core three” of critical experiences: early college coursework, meaningful work-based learning, and a credential of value, all aligned with their pathway of choice. At a moment when states face mounting pressure to strengthen talent pipelines, respond to rapid labor market change, and improve student outcomes, redefining the high school diploma is both timely and urgent. Attendees will gain insight into policy strategies states are using to align K–12, postsecondary, and workforce systems; avoid tracking while expanding opportunity; and make the diploma a more powerful signal of readiness. The session will surface lessons learned, implementation challenges, and concrete examples that policymakers can take back to their states.

Matt Gandal
President & CEO, Education Strategy Group

Matt Gandal

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President & CEO, Education Strategy Group

Matt Gandal founded Education Strategy Group in 2012 to support states, national organizations, and foundations committed to dramatically improving the capacity and performance of the U.S. education system. He brings over 30 years of experience leading policy development, advocacy and implementation work in both the K-12 and higher education sectors. He also currently serves as a columnist for Forbes, covering innovations in education that increase economic competitiveness and expand economic mobility. Gandal previously served as a senior advisor to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, where he led a new division responsible for providing policy and implementation support to states. Gandal worked with state schools chiefs, governors, district leaders and other key stakeholders to identify and address their most pressing implementation and capacity challenges. He also served as a member of the Secretary’s Advisory Team that met regularly with the Secretary to take stock of progress and establish priorities for the Department of Education. Before joining the Department of Education, Gandal was executive vice president of Achieve, the national organization formed by governors and business leaders to help states raise educational standards. He helped found the organization and was responsible for overseeing its major initiatives, including the American Diploma Project which helped 35 states advance college and career readiness policies; the Common Core State Standards Initiative which resulted in 45 states adopting rigorous academic standards; and National Education Summits that brought together governors, CEOs and education leaders from across the country to commit to ambitious reforms.

Angélica Infante-Green
Rhode Island Department of Education

Angélica Infante-Green

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Rhode Island Department of Education

Angélica Infante-Green has served as the Rhode Island Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education since April 29, 2019. As Commissioner, she has instituted several major efforts to improve PK-12 education across the state. Commissioner Infante-Green helped lead Rhode Island’s state education system in responding and mitigating the impacts of COVID-19 and reopening schools with a full return to in-person learning. In the midst of the pandemic, the Commissioner convened the Learning, Equity & Accelerated Pathways (LEAP) Task Force, a group of local and national education experts, which released its report and recommendations in April 2021 to help guide accelerated learning opportunities to rebuild Rhode Island’s educational system post-pandemic. Commissioner Infante-Green has also spearheaded efforts to reimagine the high school experience through the successful passage of readiness-based graduation requirements, which were approved unanimously by the Rhode Island Council on Elementary and Secondary Education in November 2022, after an 18-month robust public engagement process. Notably, the Commissioner also led a comprehensive review of the Providence Public School District (PPSD). She is now leading the state intervention in the capital city’s schools to overcome decades of neglect and poor performance. Prior to joining RIDE, she served as the Deputy Commissioner of the New York State Education Department’s Office of Instructional Support. Infante-Green began her career as a bilingual classroom teacher in the South Bronx.

Katie Jenner
Indiana Department of Education

Katie Jenner

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Indiana Department of Education

As Indiana’s first Secretary of Education and the state’s top education official, Dr. Katie Jenner is responsible for establishing a unified, student-centered vision across the full spectrum of education, from K-12 to college. As one of eight secretaries in Governor Mike Braun’s cabinet, Dr. Jenner oversees eight state agencies and boards which comprise approximately 60% of the state budget, or approximately $26 billion over the biennium. This includes leading the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) and the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, chairing the State Board of Education (SBOE), and overseeing the Charter School Board, Education Employee Relations Board, Indiana School for the Deaf, Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and Indiana State Library.

The new Workforce Pell rule goes into effect in July 2026 and states have either already found a way to implement the rule or are in the process of doing so. Administering Workforce Pell requires states to assess multiple outcome metrics; determine which programs meet employers’ hiring needs, and provide training for high-skill, high-wage or in-demand occupations. This work cannot be done without data; Workforce Pell represents an opportunity for states to develop more robust P–20W data systems with strong data governance across sectors. In this session, the Data Quality Campaign and representatives from leading states will explore how strong governance and P–20W systems help states implement Workforce Pell and provide participants with actionable next steps they can take to strengthen their own governance and P–20W data systems—so that Workforce Pell can meaningfully support the education and career journeys of as many individuals as possible across the country.

For too long, the national conversation about teaching has been dominated by crisis—burnout, shortages, and what’s broken. A closer look reveals a more hopeful truth: talented educators are still choosing this profession, and many want to stay. What’s missing are the structures that allow them to grow and thrive over time. This session shifts the narrative from scarcity to design—exploring how we can build a teaching profession that is sustainable, respected, and future-ready. Participants will engage with findings from the latest Teaching for Tomorrow study by Gallup and the Walton Family Foundation. Drawing on three nationally representative surveys of approximately 2,000 K–12 public school teachers each, the research highlights what educators say matters most: strong professional learning, time to collaborate, and the resources needed to do their best work. Together, these insights point toward levers for strengthening satisfaction, engagement, and commitment. The session will feature perspectives from the Bipartisan Policy Center, informed by a selective convening of 12 educators who were invited to reimagine what the profession could be and its Commission on the American Workforce.. Alongside a teacher from that cohort, leaders from BPC and Gallup will explore how well-intended state and federal policies sometimes create friction—and how thoughtful redesign can unlock opportunity instead. A clear throughline emerges: teachers are not asking for lower expectations. They are calling for a profession defined by rigor, meaningful career pathways, and the structural supports that make excellence possible. Together, speakers and participants will explore how state and federal policy can support promising pathways forward, including strategic staffing, flexible work, and removing mobility barriers. This session invites state leaders and advocates to move beyond short-term fixes toward long-term systems building—reimagining teaching as a profession where talented peop

Christy Wolfe
Director, K-12 Education, Bipartisan Policy Center

Christy Wolfe

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Director, K-12 Education, Bipartisan Policy Center

Christy Wolfe is director of K-12 policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, where she works to identify policy solutions that all sides can support to improve the future of education. She has more than 30 years of experience working on federal education policy and legislation in Congress, the executive branch, and policy advocacy organizations. Before joining BPC, Wolfe was senior vice president for policy, research, and planning for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. There she managed federal policy and advocacy efforts, including ESSA, on behalf of nearly four million students in public charter schools nationwide, as well as multi-million-dollar policy and technical assistance grants. Wolfe served for eight years in the George W. Bush administration as the associate deputy secretary for policy at the U.S. Department of Education. In this role, she managed policy development and implemented regulations for all elementary, secondary, and special education programs. Previously, she was a professional staff member for the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Education and the Workforce, where she worked on major education legislation including the No Child Left Behind Act. She began her career in policy at The Heritage Foundation. A native of South Carolina, Wolfe holds a B.A. in American government from the University of Virginia, where she met her husband Paul, and where her three children are currently students.

As states work to expand access to early childhood education, policymakers face a persistent challenge: how to grow statewide pre-K programs without sacrificing quality. This Policy Feature session examines how Alabama, North Carolina and North Dakota have addressed that challenge through sustained policy investments that intentionally link access, quality and outcomes. Over the past decade, each of these states has expanded participation in statewide pre-K while maintaining—and strengthening—quality standards. Alabama’s First Class Pre-K has tripled enrollment while remaining anchored in rigorous, research-based benchmarks. North Dakota’s Best in Class initiative has rapidly scaled access to high-quality early learning environments, producing significant gains in literacy, math and whole-child development in just one school year. North Carolina’s long-standing pre-K program continues to demonstrate strong returns on investment, improving kindergarten readiness and supporting workforce participation. The session will explore policy levers that have enabled scale without sacrificing quality, including investments in evidence-based curriculum, aligned assessment systems, sustained professional development and coaching, and intentional family engagement strategies. Speakers from each state will discuss how legislative funding decisions, cross-agency collaboration and continuous improvement structures supported expansion over time—across different political, geographic and governance contexts. This session will translate research and state data into clear policy insights for education leaders and policymakers. Attendees will leave with concrete examples of how states can align funding, accountability and quality supports to expand early learning opportunities while delivering measurable results for children and families.

Nicole Boone
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services: Division of Child Development and Early Education

Nicole Boone

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North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services: Division of Child Development and Early Education

Nicole Boone is the B-3 Policy Advisor/PDG B-5 Project Coordinator for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services: Division of Child Development and Early Education. Nicole’s role at the division is to conduct research, analyze data, and review policies related to best practices to ensure high quality services are accessible to children and their families, provide technical assistance and oversight to agencies receiving CCDF & PDG B-5 funding for the support of children in early childhood settings and provide ongoing communication and collaborative planning with internal and external partners related to early care and education quality initiatives. Nicole has diverse experience in coaching, consultation, planning and implementation of various techniques with both administrators and teachers as well as grant management, and compliance monitoring. Nicole remains dedicated to ensuring that North Carolina’s youngest children and their families receive access to high quality early childhood experiences and services. Nicole has an M.A. degree in Education from Ashford University, now known as the University of Arizona Global Campus.

Ami Brooks
Secretary, Alabama Department of Early Childhood

Ami Brooks

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Secretary, Alabama Department of Early Childhood

Ami Brooks is the Secretary of the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education. Until June 2025, she served as director for the P-3 Partnership at the Department where she administered all aspects of the P-3 program, the foundation of Governor Ivey’s Strong Start, Strong Finish education initiative. She also has a background as a coach facilitator with the Department and was one of the state’s first coach facilitators. Ms. Books has been a key leader in the success of the Alabama First Class Pre-K program which has been ranked as the nation’s highest quality state pre-kindergarten program for nineteen consecutive years. She managed the implementation of a statewide assessment tool, as well as leading the revision of the Kindergarten Entry Assessment, and has been a major driver in the growth and improvements made to benefit Alabama’s earliest learners. Ms. Brooks began her career in the classroom and taught Alabama students ranging from the youngest in Pre-K to fourth graders. In 2017, Ms. Brooks was selected as a finalist for Alabama Teacher of the Year.

Kay Larson
North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services

Kay Larson

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North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services

Kay Larson is the Director of North Dakota Health and Human Services’ Early Childhood Section, established in July 2021 to align and focus state programs and resources around a central department priority: ensuring high-quality early childhood experiences for children birth to age five, their families, and the workforce that supports them. The section Kay leads oversees child care licensing; provider training and technical assistance; the early childhood workforce registry and quality rating and improvement systems; family support and school engagement; the Best in Class year-before-kindergarten experience; Child Care Development Fund administration; and coordination of early childhood data systems. Prior to her current role, Kay served as Team Lead for Child Care Aware of North Dakota from 2016 to 2021 and led professional development services from 2007 to 2016. Her career also includes teaching and administrative roles in Head Start, Early Head Start, child care, and the nonprofit sector, with a consistent focus on program quality improvement and workforce development. Kay is deeply committed to supporting child care providers through consultation, training, and quality initiatives, and to strengthening North Dakota’s workforce by improving access to reliable, high-quality child care. Kay holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary and early childhood education from the University of North Dakota

As artificial intelligence rapidly reshapes learning, work, and civic life, states are beginning to confront whether AI literacy should be treated as a foundational literacy alongside reading, writing, and numeracy. This Policy Feature session examines how states are responding to this question through legislation, standards, guidance, and statewide initiatives, informed by research and emerging practice. Grounded in the AI Literacy Framework (Empowering Learners for the Age of AI), developed by the OECD and European Commission with support from Code.org and the TeachAI community, the session will translate research into policy-relevant considerations for state leaders. Facilitators will highlight how states are approaching AI literacy through multiple entry points, including graduation requirements, profiles of a graduate, computer science and media literacy standards, and responsible AI guidance. Rather than promoting a single policy model, the session will surface patterns across states, identify common challenges, and examine how different policy levers can be aligned to support equitable, coherent implementation. Participants will explore tradeoffs related to local control, educator capacity, assessment, and the risk of widening opportunity gaps if AI literacy is addressed unevenly. Attendees will gain practical insight into how peers across states are framing AI literacy as a policy priority, what strategies are emerging, and how state leaders can adapt lessons learned to their own political, geographic, and governance contexts.

Anthony Owen
Head of Policy / President of Code.org Advocacy Coalition, Code.org

Anthony Owen

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Head of Policy / President of Code.org Advocacy Coalition, Code.org

Anthony Owen is a nationally recognized leader in computer science education policy and currently serves as Head of Policy at Code.org and President of the Code.org Advocacy Coalition. With over two decades of experience across local, state, and national education systems, he has played a central role in advancing equitable access to K–12 computer science nationwide. At Code.org, Anthony leads state and federal policy strategy, builds bipartisan coalitions, and guides legislative campaigns that have secured computer science graduation requirements, dedicated funding, and long-term policy protections in states including Louisiana, Alabama, Minnesota, and Arkansas. He is widely regarded as a trusted advisor to governors, legislators, state education leaders, and advocacy organizations. From 2015 to 2022, Anthony served as Arkansas’s, and the Nation’s, first State Director of Computer Science Education, partnering closely with Governor Asa Hutchinson to design and implement the state’s nationally recognized CS initiative. During his tenure, student enrollment in computer science grew from just over 1,000 to more than 13,000, while the number of certified high school CS teachers increased from fewer than 20 to more than 700. Anthony has served on several national boards and advisory bodies, including the Computer Science Teachers Association, the K–12 Computer Science Framework, the Southern Regional Education Board, and the National CTE Advisory Council. A former math and science teacher, his work remains grounded in classroom experience and a commitment to student opportunity. He holds degrees in Mathematics, Educational Leadership (building and district levels), and Law, and lives in Bryant, Arkansas with his wife, Michele, and their two sons.

This session will highlight the District of Columbia’s Advanced Technical Centers (ATCs). Building on data that demonstrates the value of meaningful work-based learning experience for students and dual enrollment, DC piloted and is now scaling the ATCs as a high-quality CTE program that supplements DC’s school-based CTE programming, offering programs of study that are often difficult for schools to offer due to their high equipment and instructional costs and/or access to qualified faculty across the public and public charter sector. The ATC allows high school students from public schools across the city to participate in a two-year CTE dual enrollment program where they can specialize in cybersecurity or one of three healthcare pathways. The programs are designed to allow students to remain enrolled in the high school of their choosing while also taking career-focused coursework in high-demand fields. DC has leveraged federal, local, and philanthropic funding to expand the program, with continued increases in enrollment, as well as strong retention and completion rates, reflecting significant interest from students and families.  This session will highlight program successes, challenges, and lessons learned from building out the ATCs and how the ATCs are part of a broader pathways strategy, Compact 2043. 

Wherever your state is on the continuum of developing the next generation of CTE programming and increasing work-based learning for students, this session will provide inspiration, data to support this type of model, and concrete recommendations on how to develop this type of programming and attract additional resources to support it. 

Clara Botstein
Chief of Staff, Deputy Mayor for Education, District of Columbia

Clara Botstein

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Chief of Staff, Deputy Mayor for Education, District of Columbia

Clara Haskell Botstein serves as Chief of Staff for the DC Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education (DME), where she advances the office’s strategic priorities for DC’s education and workforce development systems. Clara previously served as the DME’s Senior Director of Policy and Legislative Director, leading efforts to expand college and career pathways for students and overseeing the office’s legislative and political priorities. Prior to the DME, Clara worked in leadership at the Bard Early College, a network of public early colleges that allow high school students to earn college credits up to an associate degree, free of charge, alongside a high school diploma. Clara established new schools in Baltimore, Cleveland, and Washington, D.C. and led policy and advocacy work at the local, state, and federal levels. Clara has nearly two decades of experience in policy and advocacy work in the field of education and youth development. Clara holds a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelor's degree in history from Princeton University. She lives in Petworth neighborhood of Washington, D.C. She co-founded Petworth PorchFest, DC’s largest neighborhood music festival, and serves on the board of the Uptown Main Street.

This engaging session will feature interactive lectures and small-group work. Facilitators will share best practices for study design, data collection, and effective reporting; commonly used resource and pricing databases; and a discussion guide to help states explore ECE cost information and determine what is most useful in setting funding priorities. Attendees will explore cost estimation challenges and develop actionable strategies tailored to their state’s context. Facilitators will use the extended workshop time to foster collaborative problem-solving, nuanced discussions, and connection-making around shared lines of inquiry. Cost information is critical for determining funding and policy priorities. This workshop addresses states’ needs for accurate ECE cost estimates, particularly those considering child care subsidy rates based on costs, under Administration for Children and Families (ACF) allowances. While at least eight states with ACF approval use cost-based information to set child care subsidies, others seek cost-based information to inform funding priorities broadly. Geared toward policymakers and researchers, this session will engage any attendee interested in ECE costs, regardless of team composition or stage on inquiry. Facilitators are experts engaged in state-level policy consulting, research, and cost estimation, which ensures authentic and actionable insights. Cost estimates can be a single point-in-time estimate or a cost model tool that allows a user to adjust assumptions and investigate costs. States may be interested in the cost of care provided currently (in a single setting or mixed-delivery system), or cost of higher quality care, additional or different services, etc. The shared best practices and discussion guide acknowledge the complexity of estimating costs of mixed-delivery systems, and are designed to help states create or contract for (including evaluate the merit of proposals) accurate estimates for any of these goals.

Amanda Danks
American Institutes for Research

Amanda Danks

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American Institutes for Research

Senior Researcher

Karen Manship
American Institutes for Research

Karen Manship

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American Institutes for Research

Karen Manship is a managing director with AIR focusing on early childhood and K-12 education policy and finance. She currently serves as project manager of the First 5 California Dual Language Learner Pilot Study and of a national study of the Montessori preschool model funded by the Institute for Education Sciences. She also served as the director of the Study of California’s Transitional Kindergarten Program and led the case studies task for a U.S. Department of Education study of programs successful at sustaining the effects of preschool. Manship has conducted research and cost analyses for a number of additional projects during her time at AIR, including the current U.S. Department of Education study to the implementation of weighted student funding (WSF) systems, a randomized control trial of the HighScope preschool curriculum, and multi-year Packard Foundation-funded Preschool for All technical assistance projects. She has assisted local governments and other organizations in California to compile and analyze demographic and enrollment data to plan for expanding early care and education services, and helped oversee the development of AIR’s Early Learning Needs Assessment Tool. Manship is skilled in quantitative and qualitative analyses, evaluation design, cost analysis, project management, and writing for various audiences. Before joining AIR, she was an analyst for the School Finance Redesign Project at the University of Washington and a statistician and Presidential Management Fellow at the National Center for Education Statistics.

Schools are increasingly expected to address nonacademic barriers to learning – chronic absenteeism, housing instability, and mental health needs – and doing so at scale requires coordination across state agencies and local partners. This session offers an implementation case study of Maryland's ENOUGH Act (Engaging Neighborhoods, Organizations, Unions, Governments, and Households) -- the nation's only state-led legislative framework funding community partnerships to deliver cradle-to-career services that improve academic outcomes and student wellbeing. Two years in, 28 partnerships across 12 Maryland counties are operational, spanning rural, suburban, and urban contexts and serving students facing poverty and related barriers to learning. Maryland Special Secretary Carmel Martin will be joined by leaders from Harlem Children's Zone, whose cradle-to-career model inspired the ENOUGH Act's design, and Blue Meridian Partners, whose Place Matters initiative provides philanthropic co-investment in ENOUGH communities. Together, they will address critical state policy decision points: - Funding design: How should states balance planning vs. implementation funding, competitive vs. formula allocation, and flexibility vs. accountability? - Accountability: What outcomes are realistic to measure in early years? How should data-sharing across agencies and community partners be structured? - Technical assistance: What infrastructure and partnerships did Maryland develop to ensure communities were equipped to implement effectively? - Philanthropic engagement: How can states and philanthropy partner to expand resources for youth? Attendees will receive case study materials documenting Maryland's legislative strategy, implementation plan, and emerging outcome data. The session concludes with Q&A for state leaders to explore aspects relevant to their contexts and share opportunities with peers.

Cecilia Gutierrez
Blue Meridian Partners

Cecilia Gutierrez

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Blue Meridian Partners

Cecilia Gutierrez is Managing Director and Portfolio Lead at Blue Meridian Partners, where she provides strategic and executional leadership on critical business priorities, leads innovation efforts that expand Blue Meridian’s work, and oversees the Place Matters portfolio of place‑based investments aimed at improving economic mobility for children and families in communities across the United States. She explores new philanthropic investment opportunities, leads due diligence on prospective investees, and manages relationships with current partners. Previously, Gutierrez served as Deputy Director of My Brother’s Keeper Alliance at the Obama Foundation, co‑leading the development and launch of the MBK Framework to Affect Systems Change and helping certify and onboard more than 180 cities, towns, and tribal nations into the MBK Network. Before that, she was President and CEO of the Miami Children’s Initiative, a cradle‑to‑career, place‑based strategy in Liberty City, Miami, and earlier held leadership roles with National Academic Educational Partners and Breakthrough Miami. Gutierrez earned a Master of Public Administration from Baruch College and a B.A. in sociology from Boston College and is a National Urban Fellow.

Carmel Martin
Special Secretary, Governor’s Office for Children; Senior Advisor to the Governor for Economic Mobility, State of Maryland

Carmel Martin

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Special Secretary, Governor’s Office for Children; Senior Advisor to the Governor for Economic Mobility, State of Maryland

Carmel Martin is the Special Secretary leading the Governor's Office for Children and a Senior Advisor to the Governor for Economic Mobility. She chairs the Governor's Children's Cabinet, works to improve services to support Maryland's children and families, and drives policy action to reduce child poverty, including leading implementation of the Governor's ENOUGH initiative focusing on neighborhoods with the highest concentration of poverty across the state. Prior to this role, Martin held various appointments in the Biden-Harris Administration including Domestic Policy Advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris, Deputy Director at the White House Domestic Policy Council, and Deputy Assistant to the President for Economic Mobility. Martin also served in the Obama Administration as the Assistant Secretary for Policy and Budget at the U.S. Department of Education. Martin was one of the founding staff members at the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank in Washington, D.C., where she subsequently served as Executive Vice President leading teams spanning across domestic, economic, climate and national security policy. She also worked in the United States Senate focused on legislation tackling education, workforce, economic, and healthcare issues. Martin began her career as a civil rights lawyer in private practice and at the United States Department of Justice. Secretary Martin believes in bridging the gap between policy and community by building coalitions across sectors to uplift children and families and to eradicate child poverty.

Christian Rhodes
Harlem Children's Zone

Christian Rhodes

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Harlem Children's Zone

Christian Rhodes is Chief National Impact Officer at Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) where he leads the organization’s national impact work, including support for place‑based, cradle‑to‑career partnerships across the country through the William Julius Wilson Institute and related initiatives. Over more than 15 years, he has been a trusted advisor to education leaders nationwide. Most recently, he served in the Biden Administration as Senior Advisor to U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and previously as Chief of Staff for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, where he helped oversee the distribution of more than $122 billion in American Rescue Plan funds and stewardship of major K–12 programs such as 21st Century Community Learning Centers, Full‑Service Community Schools, and Promise Neighborhoods. Before his federal service, Rhodes was Chief of Staff for a large urban school district and policy advisor to multiple superintendents, mayors, governors, and state and municipal leaders in Maryland, following earlier roles with educator and advocacy organizations focused on improving equity in public education. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and American University in Washington, D.C.

This session will spotlight the work the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) has done to create a pipeline of support from new teachers to school board members. ADE gathered feedback from stakeholders on the types of support teachers and leaders need. A 2023 survey of the 18% of Arizona teachers who left the classroom in 2022 showed that the top reasons were pay and lack of administrative support. In the 2023–24 school year, ADE launched multiple cohorts of the Principals’ Leadership Academy. Some principals received coaches while others did not. To date, more than 300 principals have attended the six‑day academy. Feedback from coached cohorts was so positive that all principals now receive a coach. ADE has continued to add trainings and academies, most of which include ongoing support. All training content is aligned so districts can build systems focused on what matters most—recognizing that effective schools change when they need to, while ineffective schools change only when they must. The academies emphasize key practices such as anchoring decisions to a vision and goals, strategically managing time and money, and building trust and relationships. Trainings are designed to be short on theory and long on practical strategies, offering concrete actions that can be implemented immediately. Examples include tools for building trust—such as get‑to‑know‑you cards (teachers), consultancy protocols (instructional coaches), opinion meetings (principals), and Four Agreements (school boards). Time‑management tools include calendar color‑coding for school and district leaders. Since its inception in 2023, the menu of trainings has grown from four to fourteen, and attendance has more than quadrupled--8,000+ attendees to date. Surveys show that more than 99% would recommend the training, and 95% report increased knowledge and skills. One participant shared, “Fifteen years as a principal and I learned more here than I learned in my entire schooling experience.

Sid Bailey
Associate Superintendent of Public Instruction, Arizona Department of Education

Sid Bailey

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Associate Superintendent of Public Instruction, Arizona Department of Education

Sid Bailey has been a high school administrator in Arizona for over 40 years, including 11 years at the helm of Washington High School, a nationally recognized school chronicled as a highly effective school in a promotional series produced by the “Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development” (ASCD). He too had the honor of being the principal of another nationally recognized school. Sid has served at the District level having been in charge of athletics, student conduct, long term suspension and expulsion hearings, transportation, assistant principal development and more. He has been an Educational Consultant for many schools though out Arizona. Currently Sid is an Associate Superintendent over Effective Teachers & Leaders, Certification, School Safety, and Charter Schools at ADE.

Kelly McQuaid
Arizona Department of Education

Kelly McQuaid

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Arizona Department of Education

Dr. Kelly McQuaid serves as Deputy Associate Superintendent of the Effective Teachers & Leaders unit at the Arizona Department of Education, providing professional development and support for teachers and school leaders. Dr. McQuaid holds a B.A. in elementary education from Arizona College of the Bible, an M.F.A. in writing popular fiction from Seton Hill University, and a Ph.D. in General Psychology with an emphasis in cognition and instruction from Grand Canyon University. She also holds a Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from Cambridge and a Certificate in School Management and Leadership from Harvard. Prior to joining ADE, she served as a teacher, English language arts & English language learner director, school development director, and principal.

HB 2’s Preparing and Retaining Educators Through Partnership (PREP) Program was enacted in response to chronic teacher turnover, poor teacher preparation quality, and a rapidly growing reliance on uncertified teachers. Rather than provide incremental fixes, Texas leaders systemically redesigned teacher preparation pathways. By incentivizing high-quality, practice-based preparation through district-EPP partnerships, the PREP program ensures that more teacher candidates can reach certification in a cost-effective and timely manner. Additionally, HB 2 included increases in strategic compensation systems, incentives for Grow Your Own programs, support for strategic staffing, and funding for teacher mentoring, which together create a comprehensive approach to transforming the teacher workforce in Texas. This session will explore how the PREP program evolved from policy to practice. A state legislator will first emphasize why statewide reform was necessary and how PREP was designed to scale year-long residencies, strengthen teacher mentorship, and improve nontraditional pathways into the profession. Top agency staff will then explain key tenets of the program, including how its corresponding allotment provides sustainable funding to EPPs, districts, mentor teachers, and candidates and how these reforms can work together to transform teacher talent systems. Lastly, a leading educator preparation provider will share implementation lessons: how successful partnerships are designing residency models, selecting and supporting mentor teachers, and using the allotment to reduce financial barriers. The session will close with a candid discussion of challenges that arose during policy and implementation stages. Attendee participation will be crucial: throughout the session, participants will be asked to reflect on their own state contexts, engage with panelists through Q&A, and receive take-home, actionable strategies that replicate or adapt similar reforms.

Dr. Stacey Edmonson
Sam Houston State University

Dr. Stacey Edmonson

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Sam Houston State University

Dr. Stacey Edmonson has served as Dean of the College of Education at Sam Houston State University since 2014. She previously served as chair of the Department of Educational Leadership and Counseling for 5 years and has been a professor of educational leadership since 2000. She has also served Texas public schools as a teacher, principal, and central office administrator. Dr. Edmonson has served in a variety of leadership and service roles, including president of the Teacher Education Council for State Colleges and Universities (TECSCU) and president of the Texas Association of Colleges of Teacher Education (TACTE), the national and state organizations that represent deans of colleges of education, respectively. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Texas A&M University and Master’s and Doctorate of Education in Educational Administration from Texas A&M University-Commerce. She has authored a number of books and articles on topics including trust, stress and burnout among educators, legal issues in education, and educator ethics.

Tracy Johnson
Senior Director, Policy & Advocacy, Center for Strong Public Schools

Tracy Johnson

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Senior Director, Policy & Advocacy, Center for Strong Public Schools

Tracy Johnson is the Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy at the Center for Strong Public Schools, where she leads the organization’s policy and legislative strategy, partnering with lawmakers, state agencies, and coalition partners to advance reforms across K–12 and postsecondary education systems. Tracy’s career spans roles in the Texas Legislature, the Texas Education Agency, and Texas public schools, giving her deep insight into the state policymaking process from idea to implementation. Most recently, Tracy played a crucial role in advancing major statewide legislation, including Texas’s $8.5B comprehensive school finance package. Tracy’s policy portfolio includes educator preparation and compensation systems, early literacy and numeracy strategies, assessment and accountability reform, charter schools and public school choice, college and career readiness programs, and strategic education funding. She serves on the boards of The Texas Girls School, an all girls, STEM-focused public charter school, and of the Council for At-Risk Youth, a Central Texas nonprofit serving high-needs students. Tracy holds a Master’s of Public Affairs from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin. She resides in Austin, TX with her husband and three beloved animals.

Kelvey Oeser
Texas Education Agency

Kelvey Oeser

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Texas Education Agency

Kelvey Oeser is the Deputy Commissioner of Educator and System Support at the Texas Education Agency where she serves as a Cabinet level leader and leads statewide initiatives focused on recruiting, supporting, and retaining effective teachers and principals and on supporting school systems to innovate and continuously improve in order to serve the 5.5 million public school students in Texas. A graduate of Emory University, Kelvey began her career as a middle school English teacher in East Los Angeles. She holds a Master’s degree in secondary education from Loyola Marymount University and a Master’s degree in public affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. Kelvey has previously served in senior leadership roles at national education nonprofits including Teach For America, TNTP, and Leading Educators. Kelvey also served as a founding board member of Montessori for All, Austin’s first public Montessori school. Kelvey lives in Austin with her husband, two kids, and her dog.

Property taxes remain a foundational source of public education revenue in most states, providing a relatively stable and locally-controlled source of funding for schools. Yet they also sit at the center of some of the most politically sensitive debates in education policy: Heavy reliance on local property taxes can contribute to deep inequities in school funding across communities, and property taxes also face backlash from voters who fear rising residential property values will lead to higher taxes. In states and communities where charter schools are part of the public education landscape, differences in access to local revenues can drive both inequity in funding between school types and acrimony between the sectors. This is a live conversation in states: --An OH ballot initiative would eliminate property tax via a constitutional amendment, while a FL proposal would eliminate non-school property taxes. --States like MS, TN, and AL have revised their school funding formulas without considering updates to state-local revenue-sharing structures, suggesting that even wholesale state funding formula reform is easier than changing the local revenue status quo. As states grapple with affordability concerns and wealth gaps across school districts and communities, policymakers face a difficult question: how to preserve the fiscal benefits of the property tax while mitigating its challenges? This session convenes tax policy experts, state advocates, and education finance researchers to discuss the future of the property tax in school funding systems. Panelists will explore how states currently use property taxes to support public education – including for rural and agricultural areas – the tradeoffs of various policy approaches, and the political dynamics shaping reform efforts. The discussion will highlight policy strategies such as equalization formulas, circuit breakers, and targeted relief that can protect schools and taxpayers.

Rebecca Firestone
Open Sky Policy Institute

Rebecca Firestone

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Open Sky Policy Institute

Working at the intersection of data, evidence and policy impact for over 20 years, Dr. Rebecca Firestone is executive director of OpenSky Policy Institute, where she leads a team focused on fiscal policy research and analysis that promotes shared prosperity and opportunity for all Nebraskans. OpenSky Policy Institute is a state thought leader on education funding, tax policy and the consequences of persistent inequity. Following Nebraska’s successful private school voucher ballot referendum in 2024, Rebecca, along with former campaign partners at Stand for Schools, identified the need for a permanent, durable coalition to sustain equitable funding for public schools in the state. Nebraska’s education equity coalition was officially formed in 2025, bringing together a diverse group of statewide advocacy organizations that centers the needs of Nebraska’s students in education finance policy. Before joining OpenSky, Rebecca supported research and evaluation initiatives at the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, and she served in leadership roles with Population Services International and the Harvard Global Equity Initiative. Rebecca holds a Doctor of Science in Health and Social Policy from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, a Master of Public Health from the University of Washington and Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Asian Studies from Vassar College.

Bonnie O'Keefe
Partner, Bellwether

Bonnie O'Keefe

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Partner, Bellwether

Bonnie O’Keefe is a partner at Bellwether and leads the organization’s work on school finance and resource allocation. Bonnie has spent her career advancing equitable and effective policies to build systems that support better outcomes for children and families. In her role, she leads teams that answer educational policy questions for advocates, foundations, districts, and policymakers across the country. Bonnie also co-leads Bellwether’s state K-12 school finance portfolio and has expertise in state pre-K through grade 12 policy, early childhood education, assessment and accountability, and resource equity. Since joining Bellwether in 2016, Bonnie’s research and commentary includes more than 30 publications that have been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Politico, NBC News, USA Today, and The 74, among others. Prior to Bellwether, Bonnie was an assessment specialist at the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education. Bonnie led assessment policy development and delivered training and technical assistance for schools in the successful transition to new, computer-based state assessments. She also worked for DC Action, a child advocacy organization with a birth through age eight policy focus. There, Bonnie authored reports on topics such as child care and early intervention, advocated for improvements in resource allocation, and coordinated the DC KIDS COUNT project, including launching an interactive, neighborhood-level map of child well-being in the District of Columbia. Bonnie’s interest in education policy began in politics, while supporting women running for public office as political programs coordinator for She Should Run. Bonnie earned a master’s degree in public policy from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor’s degree from Williams College.

Kim Rueben
Independent

Kim Rueben

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Independent

Kim Rueben, Ph.D., is the president of the National Tax Association, the leading association dedicated to advancing the theory and practice of public finance including public taxing, spending and borrowing. She is also an adjunct fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC). In 2025, she was a senior advisor at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Through 2023, Rueben was the Sol Price fellow and director of the State and Local Finance Initiative at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. Rueben is an expert on state and local public finance and the economics of education. Her work examines issues of state and local public finance and focuses on state budget and tax issues, intergovernmental relations, fiscal institutions, and the economics of education, including federal and state financing of both K–12 and postsecondary education and how decisions affect different individuals across states. Rueben has worked closely with state officials and has served on state tax advisory boards including in California, Colorado, Kansas, New York and Washington, DC, and has testified before congressional and state legislative committees. She was a consultant for the Washington DC Tax Revision Commission in 2023. She was a member of the National Academy of Sciences Panel that examined The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration and was on the executive board of the American Education Finance Association and the board of the National Tax Association. Rueben also volunteers doing taxes for low-income families through the VITA program. Before joining Urban, Rueben was a research fellow at the PPIC. Rueben received a BS in applied math-economics from Brown University, an MS in economics from the London School of Economics, and a PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

As more states consider industry-recognized credentials as part of graduation pathways, policymakers face a critical question: Which credentials actually build critical, durable skills and lead to sustained employment, high wages, and postsecondary success, such that these credentials should directly support earning a high school diploma? Ohio is leading the charge in answering this critical question. This session will spotlight emerging research and Ohio’s new, data-driven effort to redefine what constitutes a “high-value” credential. Through a three-year initiative led by nonprofit organization Ohio Excels and the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, in partnership with Watershed Advisors and Accelerate, the state is aiming to use labor-market demand, wage outcomes, postsecondary success, and national best practices to inform a credential eligibility framework with clear criteria and thresholds for credential eligibility. Participants will learn how rigorous credential evaluation methodologies can strengthen aligned pathways that build durable skills, align education with workforce needs, and promote access to economic opportunity. The session will highlight how Ohio is testing its current credential list against these research-based benchmarks and creating tools to support ongoing, evidence-based decision-making. Designed for state education and workforce leaders, this session will translate complex data into practical policy insights. Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how research-grounded credential systems can improve graduation pathways, employer trust, and return on investment—and how similar approaches can be adapted in their own states.

Chynna Hartmann
Accenture

Chynna Hartmann

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Accenture

Chynna Hartmann is a Senior Manager in Accenture’s Strategy & Consulting practice, where she leads complex transformation initiatives for state and local government agencies and higher education institutions. With more than a decade of experience in public sector consulting, she brings deep expertise in talent and workforce strategy, organizational design, and enterprise wide process modernization. Her work centers on helping government and education leaders strengthen operational effectiveness and enhance their ability to equitably serve constituents. She holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Industrial and Systems Engineering from The Ohio State University.

Cassandra Palsgrove
Ohio Excels

Cassandra Palsgrove

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Ohio Excels

Cassandra Palsgrove is the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Government Affairs at Ohio Excels. She is dedicated to public policy development, state advocacy, and research efforts at the critical intersection of education and workforce development with the goal of improving educational outcomes for all K-12 Ohio students. Cassie brings more than 15 years of experience in education, most recently with the Ohio Department of Education where she led the Office of Graduate Success. In this role, she focused on projects that engage stakeholders and partners from higher education, business & industry, workforce and other state agencies to help support school and district leaders to develop and implement systemic K-12 strategies to help students consider their post-high school paths and ensure they are well prepared to pursue them. The Office of Graduate Success team coordinates efforts to support schools in systemic K-12 career advising, graduation requirements, early career & college programming and business-education partnerships. As a classroom agriculture educator prior to her work at the Ohio Department of Education, she engaged students in meaningful experiential learning and career exploration opportunities. Cassie holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Agriculture and a Masters of Arts in Educational Administration from the Ohio State University.

Graham Wood
Ohio Department of Education and Workforce

Graham Wood

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Ohio Department of Education and Workforce

Graham Wood leads the Office of Graduate Success at the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. Graham has been a member of the team at the Department for almost a decade, beginning his career for the state in the Office of Career-Technical Education. Graham began his career in education as a 2015Teach for America Corps Member in Dayton, Ohio. As a Kindergarten and 5th grade math teacher, Graham grew to understand the complexities of supporting students to achieve their potential. Graham is a proud graduate of the Ohio State University and hails from Sylvania, Ohio, but currently resides in Worthington, Ohio.

As America celebrates its 250th birthday, we must invest in the rising generation of citizens, ensuring the strength and sustenance of our constitutional democracy for our posterity. To this end, states are adopting civic diploma seals programs to recognize student excellence in civic learning and incentivize their civic development. The civic skills they acquire along the way are critical not only to students’ lifelong engagement in our communities, but also college success and as contributors to the 21st Century workforce. To date, twelve states offer civic diploma seals, most of them rewarding students for strong performance in civics courses and/or assessments and completion of related community engagement projects. Civic seals offer a carrot-based approach to civic learning in contrast to course mandates and high-stakes assessments. They help cultivate critical civic skills like deliberation, public speaking, information literacy, and working within diverse groups to solve community problems. This session will provide an overview of existing state programs and early returns on their implementation. It will also engage participants in conversation about civic skills seals programs should cultivate. Later, attendees will develop a plan for potential adoption in their respective states. These plans will consider implementation challenges and existing and prospective resources to draw upon to mitigate them. Dr. Shawn Healy, Chief Policy and Advocacy Officer at iCivics, will detail the free technical assistance his team offers to state policymakers as they consider civic seals programs and other policies to strengthen K-12 civic education. His colleague Mya Baker, iCivics Chief Learning Services Officer, will articulate the implementation supports her team offers to teachers, schools, districts, and state agencies as they implement civic seals and other policy innovations.

Mya Baker
iCivics

Mya Baker

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iCivics

Mya Baker joined iCivics in 2024 as the Chief Learning Services Officer, leading business strategy and the design of learning services for teachers, leaders, and districts. Prior to this, Mya was Vice President in the Consulting division at TNTP, where she oversaw work across 14 states, significantly expanding TNTP’s impact and revenue—from $3 million to $15 million in four fiscal cycles—supporting over 3 million students. Her leadership encompassed curriculum adoption, instructional improvement, school turnaround, community engagement, talent management, and leadership development. She also developed an academic diagnostic process used in hundreds of schools annually. Previously, Mya served as Senior Director of Curriculum and Instruction at Uplift Education in Dallas-Fort Worth, managing five academic teams and overseeing curriculum development, academic programming, English as a Second Language support, and instructional coaching across 40 schools serving over 18,000 students. She was instrumental in the certification of 32 International Baccalaureate programs, making the district the largest group of IB continuum schools in North America. Mya’s career began in school-based roles, progressing from a 5th-grade teacher to a Principal and Principal Manager in Washington, DC. During her early years, she also trained new teachers through Teach for America and DC Teaching Fellows. Mya holds a Bachelor of Science in Communications and a Bachelor of Arts in Government from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Master’s Degree in Teaching & Learning from American University. Mya is a dedicated servant leader with a passion for fostering positive environments and advancing education through strategic planning and development. Her extensive experience in instructional and district leadership informs her innovative approach to business strategy.

Shawn Healy
Chief Policy and Advocacy Officer, iCivics

Shawn Healy

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Chief Policy and Advocacy Officer, iCivics

Shawn Healy, PhD, leads iCivics’ state and federal policy and advocacy work through CivxNow and oversees civic education campaigns in several key states. Since Healy joined iCivics in 2021, 24 states strengthened civic education policies, Congress quadrupled funding for K-12 civics, and the CivxNow coalition grew to 410+ viewpoint and geographically diverse organizational members. Healy chaired the Illinois Task Force on Civic Education in 2014 and later led separate, successful legislative campaigns for a required civics course in Illinois in middle and high school. He also chaired the Illinois Social Science Standards Task Force. The State Board of Education adopted its recommendations in 2015. Healy speaks regularly at conferences across the country, contributes to local and national media, and produces original scholarship on political participation and civic education. He also serves as an adjunct professor in Public Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and on the Board of Directors of the Legislative Semester, Inc. and the Student Press Law Center. Previously the Democracy Program Director at the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, Healy began his career as a high school social studies teacher in Wisconsin and Illinois. A 2001 James Madison Fellow, he holds a MA and PhD from UIC in Political Science and earned a bachelor’s degree with distinction in Political Science, History and Secondary Education from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

This State Spotlight highlights Maine’s coordinated, statewide approach to computer science and artificial intelligence education policy, including the creation of the Maine AI taskforce and the development and implementation of Maine AI Guidance for schools. As states confront rapid AI adoption in classrooms, policymakers face urgent questions around student data privacy, academic integrity, instructional quality, workforce preparation, educator readiness, and equity of access. Maine responded by establishing a cross-sector AI Task Force, aligning AI guidance with its existing computer science education strategy, and investing in educator capacity and instructional resources to ensure responsible, student-centered implementation. State leaders will present a policy case-study examining: The specific challenges that prompted policy action The governance structures used to develop consensus; How stakeholder input shaped policy design; and How guidance was operationalized through professional learning and statewide supports. Presenters will share implementation data, early outcomes, and policy trade-offs, including balancing innovation with safeguards for rural districts, low-income communities, multilingual learners, and students with disabilities. Participants will engage in a structured policy scenario activity using Maine’s framework to analyze how similar guidance could be developed or adapted in their own states. Attendees will leave with practical tools, including a policy development checklist, stakeholder engagement map, and AI-CS alignment framework. This session is designed for governors’ education advisors, legislators, state education agency leaders, and state board members seeking concrete examples on how a state can move from high-level principles to actionable, scalable policy while centering student outcomes and educator support.

Allison Braley
Maine Department of Education

Allison Braley

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Maine Department of Education

Allison Braley is the Computer Science Specialist at the Maine Department of Education. She previously taught computer science and served as a technology integrator for nine years, supporting students and educators in innovative technology use. In 2022, she was recognized as the CSTA/Infosys Foundation USA CS Teaching Excellence Award winner for New England. A former Vice President of the Maine CSTA chapter, Allison is part of the leadership team for Maine’s ECEP and PrepareCS initiatives, working to expand equitable and engaging CS education statewide. She has presented at numerous state and national events focused on computer science and AI.

Nicole Davis
Maine Department of Education

Nicole Davis

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Maine Department of Education

Nicole Davis is the Emerging Technology Digital Specialist for the Maine Department of Education and a former classroom teacher with over 20 years of experience in math and science education. She leads statewide efforts around artificial intelligence and emerging technologies, including the development of Maine’s AI Guidance Toolkit. Nicole designs professional learning experiences that emphasize ethical, responsible, and inclusive AI throughout the state of Maine and has presented nationally at FETC, CSTA and ISTE.

Beth Lambert
Chief Teaching and Learning Officer, Maine Department of Education

Beth Lambert

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Chief Teaching and Learning Officer, Maine Department of Education

Beth Lambert serves as Chief Teaching and Learning Officer at the Maine Department of Education, where she leads statewide strategy across curriculum, instruction, educational technology, literacy, numeracy, computer science, and interdisciplinary learning. In this role, she provides executive oversight of Maine’s computer science expansion efforts and the development and implementation of the state’s artificial intelligence guidance for schools. Beth has worked closely with the Maine AI Task Force, policymakers, district leaders, and educators to ensure that emerging technology policy is grounded in classroom realities, aligned with existing computer science initiatives, and responsive to the needs of diverse student populations, including rural communities, multilingual learners, and students with disabilities. Her work emphasizes coherence across policy, professional learning, and instructional supports so that innovation strengthens, rather than fragments, teaching and learning systems. With nearly 25 years of experience as a teacher, school administrator, and state education leader, Beth brings a system-level perspective on how state policy decisions translate into district implementation, educator practice, and student outcomes. She frequently collaborates with governors’ policy advisors, legislators, higher education partners, and national organizations to advance responsible, equitable approaches to computer science and AI in education.

Across the country, communities are grappling with how to recruit, support, and retain a stable, well-compensated early childhood education (ECE) workforce—one that reflects the communities it serves and provides meaningful, family-sustaining career pathways. These challenges are deeply tied to issues of racial and gender equity, and solutions must be both innovative and grounded in community realities. In Louisiana, the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children (LPIC) has taken a bold step by investing $1.3 million in seven locally led demonstration projects designed to improve early educator compensation. These projects, launched in diverse regions across the state, test place-based strategies that aim to increase compensation, enhance workforce stability, and support educator well-being. This session will present the Louisiana demonstration projects as a case study for other states and communities—offering real-world insights, early lessons learned, and ideas for adaptation. To support deeper systems change, LPIC also launched a statewide Community of Practice (CoP)—a collaborative learning space for grantees, state-level stakeholders, and mid-level systems leaders, including representatives from Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (CCR&Rs) and local early childhood networks. The CoP fosters shared learning and practical problem-solving, creating opportunities for members to reflect, share tools, and co-develop sustainable compensation solutions rooted in community context.

Danica Brown
DL Research Solutions

Danica Brown

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DL Research Solutions

Danica Brown, Ph.D., founder of DL Research Solutions, is an experienced researcher based in New Orleans. She partners with organizations to transform data into meaningful community impact through mixed-methods evaluation and consulting. With expertise across education, youth programs, and community health, she supports capacity building, sustainability, and equity-centered decision-making. Dr. Brown’s work spans the Gulf South and beyond, helping organizations navigate challenges and drive systems change with a focus on educational justice and community empowerment.

Candace Weber
Louisiana Policy Institute for Children

Candace Weber

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Louisiana Policy Institute for Children

Candace Alfred Weber, Ph.D., serves as the Chief of Partnerships at the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children, where she spearheads the creation, management, and implementation of strategic partnerships to support coalitions of early care and education advocates across Louisiana. A recognized thought leader, Dr. Weber is frequently consulted for her insights on enhancing early education workforce compensation in the state. Utilizing data and research, she advises businesses, chambers of commerce, advocacy organizations, and early care and education professionals on initiatives to boost workforce participation and strengthen the economy. Before joining the Policy Institute, Dr. Weber was a Fellow in the Broad Residency in Urban Education Program at the Louisiana Department of Education. As Director of Early Childhood Strategy and Operations, she focused on data analysis and worked to expand the reach of the State’s Child Care Assistance Program to serve more families and children. In her final rotation, she served as Director of Education Finance, overseeing the management of the agency’s multi- billion-dollar budget. Dr. Weber has over 15 years of experience in Corporate America, holding several leadership positions within two Fortune companies before she transitioned to the public sector. During her doctoral studies, Dr. Weber was selected by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation as a 2022–23 scholar for her work in public policy research. Her research explores early childhood education policy, particularly strategies to improve access to early childhood systems at scale. She is especially interested in the economic implications of child care and policies that support young children, their families, and the early education workforce. Dr. Weber earned her Ph.D. in Public Policy from the Nelson Mandela College of Government and Social Sciences at Southern University and A&M College. She also holds a Master's in Educational Leadership from the Broad Center at Yale School of Management, an MBA from Pepperdine University, and a Bachelor's in Business Administration from Xavier University of Louisiana. Throughout her career, Dr. Weber has remained committed to advancing educational opportunity as a pathway to economic mobility and strong outcomes for families and communities with young children.

Under Governor Brian P. Kemp’s leadership, Georgia has executed a comprehensive transformation of its talent pipeline through the Top State for Talent initiative. This session will examine how state leaders designed, enacted, and operationalized a cross-agency policy framework that aligns K–12 education, postsecondary pathways, and workforce development with current and future labor market needs. The initiative dismantles institutional silos, establishes shared accountability, and advances a unified vision for talent development statewide. Presenters will first demonstrate how Georgia MATCH, the state’s direct admissions program, simplifies the college transition for high school seniors by proactively connecting students to postsecondary options aligned with their academic profile. Speakers will explain how Georgia MATCH expands access, promotes equity, and strengthens the connection between secondary education, postsecondary enrollment, and workforce readiness. The session will then analyze the creation and application of the High-Demand Career List, a data-driven tool that prioritizes occupations with strong wage growth and regional labor demand. Attendees will learn how this list informs program approval, funding decisions, advising practices, and employer engagement, ensuring education and training investments remain responsive to industry needs. Next, presenters will detail the role of cross-sector collaboration and the work of the Strategy Team in advancing articulation agreements, stackable credentials, and institutional adaptability. The discussion will highlight how shared governance structures and aligned incentives support data-informed responses to evolving workforce demands. The session will conclude by previewing forthcoming initiatives, including enhanced student navigation tools, positioning Georgia’s model as an evolving, scalable framework for statewide talent alignment.

Ian Caraway
Georgia Governor’s Office of Brian P. Kemp

Ian Caraway

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Georgia Governor’s Office of Brian P. Kemp

Ian Caraway currently serves as the Director of Policy and External Affairs in the Office of Governor Brian P. Kemp. He previously served as Senate Liaison and Senior Policy Advisor, Policy Advisor, and Local Government Liaison for the Governor’s Office. He has also served in multiple capacities on campaigns across the state, including as Deputy Campaign Manager for Kemp for Governor.

Miki Edwards
Governor’s Office of Student Achievement

Miki Edwards

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Governor’s Office of Student Achievement

Miki Edwards, PhD, serves as Senior Advisor to the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement, where she supports statewide education and workforce alignment efforts in Georgia. In this role, she works closely with state leaders on initiatives such as the Top State for Talent strategy, advancing collaboration across education, workforce, and economic development systems to strengthen career pathways for Georgians. With more than 32 years of experience in education, including 25 years in leadership, Dr. Edwards brings deep expertise in secondary education, career readiness, and system-level transformation. Her career includes service as a teacher and principal, CEO of Rockdale Career Academy, leadership within the College and Career Academy movement, and helped launch the Georgia College and Career Academy Network, where she served as founding Chair. She most recently served as Principal and CEO of Morgan County High School: A Georgia College and Career Academy.

Chris Green
Georgia Student Finance Commission

Chris Green

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Georgia Student Finance Commission

Chris serves as President of the Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC), where he leads the state agency responsible for administering more than 20 student financial aid programs, including the HOPE Scholarship. In this role, he advances statewide strategies to expand access to postsecondary education and align student financial aid with Georgia’s workforce and economic development priorities. Chris brings more than a decade of experience in Georgia state government and higher education policy. His prior roles include Director of Economic Development at the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia and Director of Government Relations at Georgia State University. He began his public service career at the Georgia Department of Agriculture, serving as Deputy Policy Director and Special Assistant to the Commissioner.

This session focuses on one of the most persistent challenges in state education policy: how to scale statewide access, security, and data systems while preserving strong local control. At a time when states are investing in cybersecurity, digital learning, and workforce readiness, leaders must balance statewide consistency with district autonomy. This session is timely because more states are pursuing statewide initiatives, yet adoption often stalls when local flexibility is not respected. Using side-by-side examples from six states with strong traditions of local control, including Delaware, North Dakota, and South Carolina, participants will see how district independence can become a catalyst rather than a barrier to statewide success. The session will explore how trust, voluntary participation, and phased implementation strategies led to high adoption without heavy mandates, while still delivering statewide visibility, security, and efficiency. Attendees will learn how states aligned policy goals, funding approaches, and operational supports to encourage district participation, how statewide access models can improve cybersecurity posture and data quality, and how consistent infrastructure enables better instructional and workforce readiness outcomes. The session will also highlight practical lessons learned, common pitfalls, and the role of strong partnerships between state agencies, districts, and vendors. This session is especially valuable for state legislators, Chiefs of Education, CIOs, CTOs, and policy leaders responsible for creating statewide solutions that districts will actually use. Participants will leave with concrete strategies for building trust, designing incentives, and implementing statewide systems that achieve lasting impact without sacrificing local decision-making.

John Gieser
North Dakota Department of Instruction

John Gieser

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North Dakota Department of Instruction

John Gieser is recognized for strengthening and modernizing educational technology across North Dakota. He leads K–12 IT services statewide, overseeing implementation, training, and support for student information systems, data integration, and consulting services that improve consistency, security, and usability for districts of every size. With decades of experience in government and education, he is a proven leader of people, processes, and technology with deep expertise in IT service management and process improvement. He was named SETDA State Leader of the Year in 2025.

Kristi Kristi
Delaware Department of Education

Kristi Kristi

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Delaware Department of Education

Kristi Pelezo is the Director of the Technology Office at the Delaware Department of Education, bringing over 23 years of experience in educational technology and statewide solution delivery. She leads the implementation of enterprise systems used by all Delaware Local Education Agencies (LEAs), including ClassLink for Single Sign-On (SSO), Infinite Campus as the Student Information System (SIS), and PowerSchool Schoology as the unified Learning Management System (LMS). Under her leadership, Delaware has advanced the adoption of interoperability standards such as Ed-Fi and OneRoster to improve data quality, enable personalized learning, and equip educators and leaders with actionable insights that drive better student outcomes.

Paige Mitchell
South Carolina Department of Education

Paige Mitchell

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South Carolina Department of Education

Dr. Paige Mitchell is a Education-Associate of Instructional Materials for the SC Department of Education and a Subject Matter Expert for SCETV. When she isn’t sharing technology tips with educators, you can find her reading or watching her kids compete in various sports.

State leaders are increasingly focused on strengthening the value of postsecondary education by ensuring institutions deliver meaningful outcomes for students. At the same time, policymakers seek accountability systems that support improvement rather than compliance and that respect institutional mission. This session will explore how data and outcomes-focused frameworks that can help states and institutions translate mission into measurable impact. Using WSCUC’s approach as a case example, the session will examine how clearly defined expectations for evidence, student success, and continuous improvement can drive stronger student outcomes while avoiding one-size-fits-all performance metrics. Speakers will discuss how states and accreditors are measuring outcomes, including those related to affordability, workforce preparation, and post-graduation earnings, and how these measures can provide meaningful insight for state policymakers. The session is timely as states revisit postsecondary accountability, affordability strategies, and workforce alignment in response to demographic and policy shifts and economic change. Attendees will gain a practical view into how outcomes based accountability can complement state policy goals, strengthen transparency, and support long-term institutional effectiveness. The discussion will highlight lessons that can be applied across different governance structures and political contexts, making it relevant for bipartisan audiences.

Mike Duffey
Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE)

Mike Duffey

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Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE)

Mike Duffey was appointed by Governor Mike DeWine the eleventh Chancellor of the Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE) in January 2024. As Chancellor, he oversees the state’s two-year and four-year colleges and universities and Ohio Technical Centers. In addition, the Chancellor provides policy guidance to the Governor and the Ohio General Assembly and carries out state higher education policy. Prior to being named Chancellor, Mike Duffey served ODHE as Senior Vice Chancellor for five years, collaboratively working on policy proposals for the administration, including tuition guarantees, transcript release, student debt relief, short-term credentials, Ohio’s new merit scholarship, increases to need-based aid, and support for innovation and technology commercialization, among other topics. Before the DeWine-Husted administration, Duffey served eight years in the Ohio House of Representatives, where he chaired the Higher Education and Workforce committee, vice-chaired the legislature’s Joint Committee on College Affordability, and co-chaired the Ohio Tuition Trust Authority. Duffey currently serves as the Governor’s designee on the Midwestern Higher Education Compact. From November 2021 to August 2022, he chaired the State Committee on Computer Science. And from 2019 to 2021, he also served as deputy director of InnovateOhio, an initiative led by Lt. Governor Jon Husted in support of innovation and entrepreneurialism. As State Representative, Duffey sponsored legislation that established the Chancellor’s authority to review special fees, and the state auditor’s authority to conduct performance audits of Ohio’s public colleges, and he led efforts to involve students in college governance. Duffey was the primary sponsor of HB1, the legislation that created JobsOhio in 2011. Among sports fans, Duffey is known for having initiated the legal theory and evidentiary basis for the state lawsuit that saved the Columbus Crew Major League Soccer franchise. For this work, he received the Spirit of Columbus award from The Columbus Foundation. Duffey has a Master of Business Administration from The Ohio State University and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Michigan. He graduated as a Weidler Scholar at The Ohio State University. Prior to serving in the legislature, Duffey was twice elected to Worthington City Council and worked in the private sector in external relations, communications, and journalism. Duffey and his wife, Lindsay, a public-school teacher and librarian, live in Worthington and are the parents of two children, Jack and Annie. The family has two goldendoodles, Comet and Clover.

Maria Toyoda, Ph.D.
WSCUC

Maria Toyoda, Ph.D.

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WSCUC

Maria Toyoda is the president and CEO of the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC). She began her tenure in March 2025. Toyoda brings strategy expertise and business and political acumen cultivated over nearly three decades as a higher education scholar, professor, and administrator. As executive vice president and provost at Western New England University, Toyoda led institutional strategy and financial sustainability efforts, overseeing accreditation, assessment, student success, and other key areas. She previously held faculty and administrative roles at Stanford, Villanova, and Suffolk universities. A distinguished international finance and government scholar, Toyoda has spearheaded interdisciplinary programs domestically and abroad. She has been a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the Social Science Research Council and was a visiting researcher at the International Monetary Fund. Toyoda earned a bachelor’s degree in human biology from Stanford University and master’s and doctorate degrees in government from Georgetown University.

Kim Hunter Reed, Ph.D.
Louisiana Board of Regents

Kim Hunter Reed, Ph.D.

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Louisiana Board of Regents

Dr. Kim Hunter Reed is Louisiana’s commissioner of higher education. She is currently the only woman in the country to have served as a state higher education leader in multiple states. Reed is a proven advocate for students who has worked effectively at campus, state, and federal levaels. In 2023, she successfully led efforts to secure additional state funding of more than $180 million, the most significant strategic investment in Louisiana higher education to date. Along with the Louisiana Board of Regents, Reed leads the state’s talent development efforts, focused on increasing educational attainment, erasing achievement gaps, and increasing prosperity. In support of that vision, Louisiana’s institutions are focused on strengthening the state’s education-to-employment pipeline, accelerating student success, reskilling and training those seeking new career opportunities, finding solutions through research and discovery, and contributing significantly to the state’s post-pandemic economic recovery. In April 2023, Reed was named co-chair of the national Higher Education Climate Action Task Force, which is part of the Aspen Institute’s This is Planet Ed initiative. In January 2023, Reed was named as one of the nation’s Top 10 Black higher education leaders by Forbes. She was recognized nationally as the 2020 Exceptional Leader by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO). Previously, Reed served in the Obama administration as deputy undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Education and led the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Collectively, Reed has served four governors in various senior leadership roles. Reed holds a PhD in public policy from Southern University and A&M College, as well as a master’s degree in public administration and a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from Louisiana State University.

School climate isn’t only culture and relationships. It is also the physical environment students and educators experience every day. Unhealthy air, temperature swings, and dampness can make schools uncomfortable or unsafe. These conditions can trigger symptoms, disrupt instruction, and reduce well-being, especially in high-need communities, but they are often overlooked in school climate policy discussions. Facility responsibilities and funding vary widely across states. Legislators and state leaders set expectations and allocate dollars, but information on building conditions, spending, and policy can be hard to find and compare. This workshop helps participants connect school climate goals to policy levers for school facilities. Rhode Island offers a practical case example of sustained state work on PK–12 facilities, showing what a long-term approach can look like. RIDE School Building Authority leaders Dr. Joseph da Silva and Brian Lemay will describe Rhode Island’s state roles and policies, with a focus on Healthy Environments Advance Learning (HEAL). HEAL helps high-need districts use data and partnerships, including the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) and the State Energy Office, to address indoor environmental conditions that affect comfort and health. HEAL supports measurement, prioritization, and follow-through to strengthen operations and preventive maintenance. Mary Filardo will facilitate table discussions using National Center on School Infrastructure (NCSI) resources for policy and data comparisons. Participants will draw on a searchable database of state facilities policies and programs, organized by governance, management, data, planning, funding, accountability, and standards. They will also use an interactive dashboard that brings together facilities data on inventory, investment, spending, and debt, enabling comparisons across states and district contexts. Guided prompts will help attendees identify policy levers, gaps, and roles.

Mary Filardo
21st Century School Fund/National Center on School Infrastructure

Mary Filardo

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21st Century School Fund/National Center on School Infrastructure

Mary Filardo is the Executive Director of the 21st Century School Fund and founder of the Rebuild America’s School Infrastructure Coalition. She is a national authority on equitable public school facilities policy and serves on the National Center on School Infrastructure (NCSI) team. Over three decades, she has led research and technical assistance on facilities data, planning, governance, and stewardship, including the State of Our Schools reports. In this session, she will connect Rhode Island’s HEAL initiative to national policy options and highlight replicable state decision points for strengthening school climate through facilities.

Brian LeMay
Rhode Island Department of Education School Building Authority - Healthy Environments Advance Learning (HEAL)

Brian LeMay

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Rhode Island Department of Education School Building Authority - Healthy Environments Advance Learning (HEAL)

Brian Lemay is the Senior Project Manager for Healthy Environments Advance Learning (HEAL) within the Rhode Island Department of Education’s School Building Authority. With more than 25 years of construction experience in Rhode Island, he works at the intersection of facilities practice and state support for districts. Through HEAL, he helps coordinate building-condition and indoor environmental quality improvement efforts in high-need districts, supporting partnerships, assessment-to-action planning, and implementation steps that translate building performance findings into practical improvements that strengthen school climate and learning environments.

Joseph da Silva
Rhode Island Department of Education School Building Authority - Healthy Environments Advance Learning (HEAL)

Joseph da Silva

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Rhode Island Department of Education School Building Authority - Healthy Environments Advance Learning (HEAL)

Dr. Joseph da Silva is a senior leader within the Rhode Island Department of Education’s School Building Authority, where he has spent the past two decades shaping the state’s approach to public school facilities. With over four decades of experience in architecture and construction, he has played a defining role in building Rhode Island’s institutional capacity for planning, designing, and sustaining high-quality school environments. As School Construction Coordinator and Architectural Design Reviewer for the School Building Authority and Project Director for Healthy Environments Advance Learning (HEAL) program, Dr. Joseph da Silva has helped position Rhode Island as a national leader in healthy, sustainable, and high-performance school facilities, advancing the integration of the built environment as a core element of educational quality and long-term public investment.

As states move beyond federal pandemic relief, policymakers face difficult questions about whether (or perhaps more urgently, how) to sustain effective academic interventions at scale. High-impact tutoring has one of the strongest evidence bases in education, yet state approaches to supporting it vary widely in funding, policy design, and implementation expectations. This session will highlight findings from a forthcoming 2026 update to a 50-state scan of tutoring policies, including an interactive map, documenting how states are shifting from short-term relief funding toward more durable policy strategies. Drawing on interviews and research across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, the session will surface national trends alongside concrete state examples that illustrate different policy pathways. A state leader (Arkansas is in the process of confirming they are available) will share how tutoring is being embedded within literacy initiatives, multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS), and broader instructional frameworks rather than treated as a temporary or standalone intervention. For example, Arkansas has combined state policy, higher education partnerships, and federal grant funding to support high-impact tutoring at scale, including through a recent federal Education Innovation and Research (EIR) award. A second state example (to be decided) will provide a contrasting or complementary approach, such as a state-led grant model or sustained technical assistance strategy. The session will emphasize practical policy considerations, including funding mechanisms, implementation guardrails that preserve quality, and lessons learned as states adapt to a post-ESSER landscape. Attendees will leave with actionable insights to inform policy decisions in their own states. See 2024-25 State Policy Snapshot and interactive map here for reference: 

Almost every state has invested in expanding publicly funded preschool and developing early childhood teaching credentials. Early childhood teaching credentials can help build a strong teaching workforce with specialized knowledge and skills in early childhood development and learning. However, when developing credentials requirements, states need to consider who will be required to hold a credential, the key content covered, potential overlap with other credentials, and workforce conditions. The choices that state policymakers make impact the design of early childhood teacher credential preparation programs, who attends, candidates’ experience, and their future job options. This session will describe state-level policies governing the credentialing of early childhood teachers in Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York and illustrate how states can support a high-quality preschool workforce through thoughtfully designed and implemented credentialing systems. A presenter from the Learning Policy Institute will provide (1) an overview of national early childhood credentialing trends, (2) state early childhood credentialing choices, (3) pathways to support access, and (4) policy considerations to ensure that states develop candidates’ knowledge and skills to be effective teachers, recruit candidates from diverse backgrounds, make the credential accessible, and support working candidates’ success. A state education leader will then discuss lessons learned from their state’s early childhood credentialing efforts—specifically how decisions were made about the age spans credentials cover, content and clinical experience required for each credential, and the assessments used to ensure that candidates meet state standards. Participants will then have an opportunity to share how their states have approached early childhood credentialing, discuss successes and challenges, and ask questions to presenters and other participants in attendance.

Cathy Yun
Learning Policy Institute

Cathy Yun

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Learning Policy Institute

Cathy Yun is the Deputy Director of EdPrepLab and Senior Researcher at the Learning Policy Institute. She is a member of LPI’s Early Childhood Learning and Educator Quality teams, where she is working to translate research on teacher preparation and child development to inform policy and practice, particularly as they pertain to higher education and teacher development. She is committed to working to promote equity and inclusion throughout the birth-to-higher education pipeline. Prior to LPI, Yun was an associate professor and department chair at California State University (CSU), Fresno, where she led comprehensive continuous improvement efforts in the teacher preparation program. While at CSU Fresno, Yun also worked closely with community organizations and entities to promote local policies that positively impacted the early childhood community. She joined LPI with experience in large-scale research, including evaluations of preschool curricula and a state-funded public prekindergarten program, as well as smaller, collaborative inquiry cycles for decision-making and continuous improvement. Yun’s previous experience also includes teaching in early childhood classrooms. She holds a PhD in Learning, Teaching, and Diversity from Vanderbilt University, an EdM in Neuroscience and Education and MA in Reading Specialist from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a BA in Psychology and English from Wellesley College.

As college enrollment faces national headwinds and shifting demographics, the traditional opt-in admissions model is being replaced by a more proactive, student-centered approach. However, simplifying the admissions process is only half the battle. To truly close equity gaps, states must bridge the chasm between being admitted and being able to afford it. This session explores the next frontier of college access: the integration of financial aid into direct admissions programs. Moderated by the Lumina Foundation, architects of The Great Admissions Redesign, this panel showcases two pioneering states - Tennessee and Washington - that are moving beyond application simplification to create seamless gateways to postsecondary education. Tennessee and Washington both launched direct admissions programs in recent years and are now working to embed financial aid into admissions notifications. In the wake of recent national FAFSA challenges and a growing skepticism regarding the ROI of a degree, students need clarity on affordability earlier than ever. This session is critical for policymakers who recognize that admission without an affordable path is a hollow promise. Attendees will gain a roadmap for: Policy & Governance: Navigating the cross-agency data-sharing agreements required to link K-12 performance with financial aid eligibility. Equity in Action: Shifting from opt-in to opt-out systems that capture students who traditionally fall through the cracks. Scalability: Identifying the legislative levers and funding models used in TN and WA that can be replicated in other state contexts. Join us to learn how to transform the admissions process from a bureaucratic hurdle into a powerful tool for economic mobility and state workforce development.

Steven Gentile
Tennessee Higher Education Commission

Steven Gentile

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Tennessee Higher Education Commission

Dr. Steven Gentile currently serves as the Executive Director at the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC), where he started as the Assistant Director of Fiscal Policy in 2013 prior to serving as Chief Policy and Strategy Officer. Before joining THEC, Steven served as the Assistant Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at his alma mater, Davidson College, in North Carolina. In addition to his THEC responsibilities, Steven occasionally teaches education policy at Vanderbilt University and engages in research with current and former colleagues, investigating the effects of initiatives like Tennessee Promise on student debt, changes in federal PLUS loan regulations on HBCU enrollment, and the role of lottery earmarks in appropriation volatility. In his free time, he and his wife, Solvig, enjoy raising their spirited school-age children in the close-knit East Nashville community.

Melanie Heath
Lumina Foundation

Melanie Heath

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Lumina Foundation

Melanie Heath is the strategy director for access at Lumina Foundation, an independent, private foundation in Indianapolis committed to making opportunities for learning beyond high school available to all. She leads Lumina’s work on increasing access to postsecondary education, most notably through the Great Admissions Redesign challenge. Prior to joining Lumina, Heath worked for nine years at the Utah System of Higher Education, most recently as associate commissioner for student affairs and access. During her time with the Utah system, she led the development of its strategic plan, oversaw statewide expansion of the Utah College Advising Corps, established the first regional college access partner network, and helped to lead the statewide common college application initiative. Heath has a bachelor’s degree in English from Texas Tech University, and master’s in writing and publishing from Portland State University and a doctorate in educational leadership and policy from the University of Utah. She is based in Salt Lake City.

Michael Meotti
Washington Student Achievement Council

Michael Meotti

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Washington Student Achievement Council

Michael P. Meotti has served as executive director of the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) since 2016. WSAC leads policy on educational attainment and manages the Washington College Grant, the country’s most equitable need-based state financial aid program for college and career training. Meotti also led development of Washington’s innovative Regional Challenge Grant program, which invests in cross-sector regional partnerships committed to increasing access and success in educational and career pathways. He is a commissioner and member of the Steering Committee of the Education Commission of the States (ECS) and commissioner and member of the Executive Committee of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) and). Before joining WSAC, Mr. Meotti served as Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Higher Education and Executive Vice President of the CT Board of Regents.

Innovation meets efficiency in Iowa. We are proud to announce that the U.S. Department of Education has granted “first-in-the-nation” approval for the initial steps of Iowa’s Unified Allocation Plan (UAP). This marks a historic shift in how state and federal resources align to serve students and educators. Over the past two years, Iowa has implemented a cohesive set of reforms driven by five key policy levers: Lever 1: Unified Accountability & Improvement: Launched in 2024, this system tracks proficiency, growth, and chronic absenteeism. By embedding school improvement experts directly into the field, we delivered 6,000+ hours of coaching, yielding dramatic gains in our most high-need schools. Lever 2: Early Literacy Advancements: We have codified the Science of Reading through rigorous standards, evidence-based professional learning, and family-centered resources. Lever 3: Targeted Attendance Strategies: Iowa introduced an innovative attendance growth indicator and established a statewide early warning system, supported by legislation to engage families and community partners early. Lever 4: Postsecondary Pathways: Our revamped readiness measures value multiple routes to success, including work-based learning, industry credentials, and dual enrollment college credits. Lever 5: The UAP (A New Era): The UAP dissolves traditional funding silos and cuts administrative red tape. By leveraging ESEA section 8401 and Ed-Flex, we are expanding local flexibility while maintaining high accountability standards. Conclusion: Participants will gain actionable insights into aligning instruction, accountability, and funding into a coherent statewide strategy that produces measurable results.

Jay Pennington
Division Administrator

Jay Pennington

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Division Administrator

Jay Pennington, Ph.D. Division Administrator of the Division of Teacher Quality and Innovation at the Iowa Department of Education. Jay has been in a leadership role since joining the Department in 2007. Jay's Division oversees the Educator Quality team, Board of Educational Examiners and the Bureau of Performance and Analytics. The Division is responsible for the accreditation and approval of all public and private Educator Preparation Programs, licensure of all professional educators in the state along with overseeing the data, analytics, assessment and accountability functions of the agency. Prior to joining the Department, Jay worked in higher education for nine years severing to support the diverse clinical, professional, and service mission for the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago and the Department of Psychiatry and the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center. Jay has 25 years of experience spanning the education and health care sectors. His career has primarily been at the nexus between data, research and evaluation and how information plays a critical role in the decision-making process. Jay has co-authored articles on topics such as barriers to mental health services and child bereavement. Jay has a Doctorate in Education from Drake University, MSW from Jane Addams School of Social Work and BA in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

McKenzie Snow
Iowa Department of Education

McKenzie Snow

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Iowa Department of Education

Gov. Kim Reynolds appointed McKenzie Snow to lead the Iowa Department of Education beginning June 26, 2023. Director Snow is committed to ensuring all children have access to a high-quality education that inspires them and prepares them for the future. As director, her work is grounded in high-quality teaching and learning, family and teacher empowerment, evidence-based innovation, college and career pathways, transparency and student-centered funding and supports. Director Snow began her work in the classroom teaching remedial courses at the University of the Free State in South Africa. She served as Virginia Deputy Secretary of Education over early childhood education through postsecondary pathways and as New Hampshire Division Director of Academics and Assessment, Special Education, Career Development, Adult Education, Wellness and Nutrition following her confirmation. She also served in the federal government as a special assistant to the President at the White House Domestic Policy Council, senior adviser at the Office of Management and Budget, and policy director at the U.S. Department of Education. Prior to government service, Snow was policy director at the Foundation for Excellence in Education. Snow has been named a Fulbright grantee, Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, and Bush Institute and Clinton Foundation Presidential Leadership Scholar. She is a proud fifth-generation Midwesterner.

Tina Wahlert
Iowa Department of Education

Tina Wahlert

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Iowa Department of Education

Tina Wahlert is the Division Administrator for PK-12 Learning at the Iowa Department of Education. Tina has held this position for the last year. Prior to that she served in the Department as the Bureau Chief for School Improvement. Tina’s Division includes the bureaus of Early Childhood, Federal Programs,, Academics and Learner Supports, Nutrition and Health Services, STEM and School Improvement. She has 41 years experience in the education field. Prior to joining the Department, Tina worked for the Area Education Agency as a School Improvement Consultant. She also spent over 20 years in the classroom teaching special education, English Language Arts and computer science. Tina co-authored the book, The Coaching Companion Transforming Teaching and Learning through Authentic Intellectual Work. She is passionate about quality school leadership and instruction leading to positive outcomes for all students. Tina has a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Iowa State University and a Masters degree in Special Education from Northwest Missouri State University. Her BA is in elementary education from Iowa State University.

State policymakers play an important role in ensuring learners in carceral settings have access to the programs and support they need to succeed on the inside and beyond. Join a panel of state leaders who will engage in a robust discussion of barriers, state policy opportunities, and key considerations for policymakers working to best support these learners. This workshop will provide an opportunity for attendees to ask questions, and to talk to and learn from their peers from other states. They will leave the session with concrete policy considerations, guiding questions to ask as they navigate policymaking processes, and actionable policy options. 

Michigan’s OPTIMISE addresses the persistent shortages across special education roles that serve infants, toddlers, children, and young adults with disabilities, birth to 26 years. Our State Spotlight session will show how Michigan used a legislatively guided task force structure to move from “shortage talk” to actionable policy and implementation across the educator pipeline. Speakers will walk participants through: -OPTIMISE’s history and the role of the legislature. -Researching workforce data to build uniform systems to support Michigan’s needs. -Diagnosing barriers and building structure using Listening Sessions → Influence Mapping → Core Team → Action Teams → Task Force.  -Action team recommendations that move from information to implementation. -Leveraging websites and social media to elevate the profession and change the public’s perception. -Building, supporting, and sustaining a NEW education system that can enthusiastically attract, prepare, and retain an effective and diverse special education workforce to serve individuals across Michigan. -Illustrating success with real metrics drawn from project outcomes, evaluations and impact data. Through OPTIMISE, over 500 individuals with differing perspectives have participated on our action teams to identify barriers and make recommendations for systemic change. Over 4,000 paraeducators have participated in our intentional professional development training. One cohort of building leaders has already received training and mentoring around inclusive practices. Additionally, we secured funding for the development of two additional school psychologist higher education programs. Using storytelling techniques, job portals, and informative offerings, we maintain high engagement on our social media and website. All this, and much more, has been achieved over three years in collaboration with our state partners, as well as our task force made up of 18 organizations which includes the governor’s office and legislature.

Kathy Fortino
OPTIMISE

Kathy Fortino

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OPTIMISE

Kathy Fortino has 25+ years of experience in special education and recently retired from an Associate Superintendent role supporting Special Education and Early Childhood at Muskegon Area ISD. She previously served as a Director of Special Education and as a special education teacher and supervisor, and she has held leadership roles with MAASE.

Carol Glanville
Michigan Legislature

Carol Glanville

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Michigan Legislature

State Representative Carol Glanville serves the 84th House District. Rep. Glanville has extensive professional experience as a classroom teacher, administrator, education consultant and a local elected official who has served on many community boards. In the 102nd Legislature, Glanville chaired the Higher Education committee and served on four other committees: Education, Health Policy, Appropriations Subcommittee on Behavioral Health, and Families, Children, and Seniors. Rep. Glanville is also a member of the OPTIMISE Task Force.

Joe Ross
CR Marketing

Joe Ross

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CR Marketing

Joe Ross brings 25 years of corporate and nonprofit marketing experience, along with service on the Federal Reserve’s Midwest Economic Round Table based on his research into emerging workforce trends. He is also a partner at CR Marketing (CRM), supporting K–12 workforce development through recruitment strategy and messaging that helps education leaders attract and retain educators.

This presentation has relevance to attendees across all sectors of education. We will present on the Minnesota P-20 Education Partnership (MNP20) and the efforts over the past five years to redesign ourselves to amplify impact. This includes: structuring legislation, building alliances, necessary resources, defining the mission, evidence of impact, and developing strategy. We will also share key takeaways for replication. At a time when federal resources are shifting, this model it is timely and essential. We will identify what we can be accomplished through a structured coalition, and how our independent, nonpartisan nature and the presence of senior state leaders helps set the stage to tackle thorny issues of policy and practice. We will highlight how our holistic approach puts students at the center of policy work and bridges early childhood through higher ed and workforce development. This work focuses on stronger aligned pathways for learners, both at the policy and systems/practice level, and focuses on the seams across the education ecosystem. We will also discuss how our nonpartisan work—with legislators and agency leads in particular—makes us a powerful voice for policy advocacy. Finally, we will highlight the beneficial nature of P-20 partnerships as capacity builders, connectors, amplifiers, and influencers of cross-sector, changemaking work. We will also include videos from some of our members to provide diverse perspectives on the work from legislators, commissioners, and education leaders.

Mandy Janssen
Minnesota P-20 Education Partnership

Mandy Janssen

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Minnesota P-20 Education Partnership

Mandy Janssen became the Deputy Director of the Minnesota P-20 Education Partnership in September 2025. She brings more than 15 years of experience leading initiatives at the intersection of education and workforce, with a focus on equity, access, and system change. Prior to this role, she held leadership positions at GPS Education Partners, TwinWest Chamber of Commerce, and Reve Academy, and she has also worked in international education, higher education, and K-12 settings. Mandy holds an M.A. in teaching from Chapman University and a B.S. in social work from Winona State University.

Josiah Litant

Josiah Litant

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Josiah

States across the country are seeking better ways to understand whether postsecondary education and training programs are delivering real economic value for learners, yet many lack the data infrastructure needed to answer that question. This Research Feature examines emerging evidence and policy lessons from Colorado’s Wage Outcomes Results Coalition (WORC), a multi-sector initiative designed to align postsecondary training data with administrative wage records. Through a partnership between the Colorado Equitable Economic Mobility Initiative and the Colorado Evaluation and Action Lab, WORC links enrollment and completion data from training providers with verified state wage data using privacy-preserving protocols. The resulting longitudinal analysis examines median earnings, earnings relative to cost-of-living benchmarks, and subgroup variation by race, gender, provider type, and completion status. This session will highlight key learnings, describe the methodological approach and its strengths and limitations, and explore how equity-centered reporting can inform state policy decisions. The session is timely as states consider postsecondary value, accountability, and longitudinal data system alignment. Attendees will gain insight into how wage outcome research can support policy decisions related to program approval, funding, learner advising, and cross-agency collaboration. Participants will leave with practical considerations for designing and governing data systems that improve transparency, support economic mobility, and translate research into actionable state policy.

Students experiencing homelessness face some of the steepest barriers to consistent attendance and graduation. In New Mexico, a conditional cash transfer model — Guaranteed Payment for Attendance (GPA) — was designed and piloted by New Mexico Appleseed in collaboration with Cuba Independent and West Las Vegas school districts, producing a 93 % graduation rate among participating seniors, well above the statewide average for McKinney-Vento students. The pilot combined monthly $500 payments with engagement requirements (attendance, schoolwork completion, and support sessions), and generated compelling evidence that students could stay enrolled and graduate when financial instability was reduced. Following the pilot’s success, the Legislative Education Study Committee (LESC), under the leadership of Senator Bill Soules, acted to scale the initiative . The broader policy conversation helped shape a state pilot program, funded at approximately $2.1 million annually and enrolling roughly 330 high school students statewide across urban, rural, and tribal districts, which began its first year with payments tied to attendance and academic goals in 2025. This session will explore the continuum from community-based evidence and pilot design to state-level policy adoption and legislative budgeting. Presenters will share data from both the original pilot and early state implementation, discuss legislative and committee processes used to elevate the evidence and inform policy decisions, and provide actionable insights for participants on translating evidence into equitable education policy at scale. Through student voices, implementation lessons, and cross-sector partnership analysis, attendees will gain frameworks for adapting similar initiatives in their home states.

Timothy Hand
Ocotillo Strategies

Timothy Hand

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Ocotillo Strategies

Educational systems leader and strategist with over 20 years of experience bridging systemic transformation, innovative district leadership, and state-level policy design and implementation. Specializes in cross-sector collaboration, assessment strategy, accountability design, and high school transformation to strengthen equitable learning outcomes across New Mexico. Founder of Ocotillo Strategies, serving as a trusted strategic partner to public agencies and non-profits in continuously improving the student experience of learning.

Recent cuts to the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and an emphasis from the federal government on returning power to the states has placed added responsibility on state leaders to shape their own education R&D agendas. This panel presents Utah as a compelling example of this work in action; how state leaders have systematically invested in data collection and evidence-based practices to improve student outcomes. Utah has taken a deliberate, locally-led approach to fostering education innovation through Utah Leading through Effective, Actionable, and Dynamic (ULEAD) Education, an initiative initially passed in 2018 with the goal of identifying, evaluating, and scaling successful evidence-based practices in schools. In a moderated conversation between the former Utah State Superintendent, the current State Superintendent and Governor Cox’s education policy advisor and former district superintendent, panelists will draw on their direct involvement in the program’s design and ongoing implementation in the program. Specifically, the session will explore ULEAD’s focus on multilingual learner and middle school mathematics achievement, and how these priorities were advanced, as exemplified in a 2024 ULEAD Committee report highlighting successful school practices. The discussion will also place Utah’s lessons in conversation with the State Education R&D Playbook, developed jointly by the Alliance for Learning Innovation, Education Reimagined, and Transcend, which offers concrete tools and recommendations for states to support and scale innovation designed to meet the unique needs of their students. Through the lens of the Playbook, the session will offer practical takeaways for state leaders interested in strengthening their state’s capacity to support evidence-based education innovation, including considerations for building cross-sector partnerships, setting clear statewide priorities, and sustaining innovation beyond individual pilots or leadership transitions.

Molly Hart
Utah State Board of Education

Molly Hart

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Utah State Board of Education

Dr. Molly Hart has been the State Superintendent of Public Instruction at USBE since June 2025 and has more than 20 years of experience in education, serving in roles from teacher to principal across multiple states and grade levels. Prior to this role, Dr. Hart served as the Executive Director of Summit Academy Schools, a nonprofit network of 18 community schools in Ohio. She holds a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Valdosta State University and has been honored with the Utah PTA Outstanding School Administrator Award.

Rich Nye
Office of Governor Spencer J. Cox

Rich Nye

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Office of Governor Spencer J. Cox

Dr. Rich Nye is the Senior Advisor of Education in the office of Utah Governor Spencer J. Cox, a role he has served since 2024. Prior to this role, Dr. Nye served as Superintendent of Granite School District from 2021-2024, and before that Superintendent of Ogden School District from 2017-2021. Dr. Nye is also the former Deputy Superintendent of USBE where he worked from 2015 - 2017. His work in education began with teaching science at the 8th grade level.

High-quality preschool education has long been seen as a foundational lever for children’s future success. One overlooked aspect of quality is curriculum. The 2024 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) report A New Vision for High-Quality Preschool Curriculum presents a landmark synthesis of evidence and expert consensus that reframes how policymakers, educators, researchers, and funders can approach PreK curriculum selection, adoption, implementation, and evaluation. The NASEM report makes a compelling case: preschool curriculum is not a neutral backdrop for teaching and learning but a central driver of children’s developmental experiences and outcomes. To date, many preschool curricula lack strong, evidence-based content and have not been designed with the diversity of children’s learning needs in mind. As a result, programs vary widely in the degree to which they support meaningful learning and school readiness for all children. This session will bring together three influential voices—a state PreK policy leader, a researcher with the NASEM study, and a major funder—to unpack the implications of this report for state and local policy, investment strategies, and the future of high-quality curriculum in preschool. To ground the session in children’s experiences, participants will engage with short videos of PreK classrooms that highlight concrete indicators of curriculum quality. Participants will also engage in an activity that compares high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) in PreK and K-12. Using familiar K-12 HQIM principles, participants will examine how these concepts apply to early learning and where preschool curriculum requires distinct policy effort. Together, these experiences will help participants to translate research into action by clarifying why investment in high-quality Pre-K curriculum matters and how state and local policy can strengthen curriculum selection, implementation, and sustained quality at scale.

Kristi Kauerz
Founding Executive Director and Research Professor, National P-3 Center, University of Colorado Denver

Kristi Kauerz

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Founding Executive Director and Research Professor, National P-3 Center, University of Colorado Denver

Kristie Kauerz is Founding Executive Director of the National P-3 Center and a research professor in the School of Education and Human Development at University of Colorado Denver. Kristie specializes in education reform efforts that address the continuum of learning from pre-school through 3rd grade (P-3), integrating birth-to-five system building and K-12 reforms. Kristie’s expertise is based in her work with more than 45 states and dozens of school districts around the country. Kristie’s experience includes work at the state level, as an early childhood and P-3 policy advisor to two Colorado governors; at the national level, as program director for early learning at Education Commission of the States; and in academia as director of a PreK-3rd Grade Initiative at Harvard Graduate School of Education and as a research fellow at the National Center for Children and Families (Teachers College, Columbia University). An important aspect of Kristie’s work is designing and delivering professional learning opportunities that strengthen the relationships and organizational strategies necessary to implement P-3 alignment efforts in school districts, states, and communities. Kristie designed and directs the P-3 Leadership Certificate Program, a fully online, credit-bearing course of study that co-enrolls administrators from early learning and PreK-12. She has also led the National P-3 Institute since 2008.

States are currently facing significant budget challenges from federal funding cuts and trade policies that jeopardize state revenue. Since public education spending looms so large in state budgets, it is unlikely that K-12 schools will be spared in the financial crunch. But large cuts to education funding would have dire consequences.. Since state funding policies are designed so that property-poor districts receive more of their funding from the state, across-the-board cuts would harm public education overall but would affect low-wealth communities the most. Truly addressing these problems will require long-term solutions that make school districts more financially stable while at the same time reducing the inequalities that make some school systems and student populations so much more vulnerable when cuts do come. This Research Features session will present such a policy solution. We will present new research on how school system redistricting can provide a more level funding foundation for all school systems in a state while reducing segregation between districts. Current school district boundaries can entrench both segregation and tax-base inequality. With redistricting, states can give students of all backgrounds fairer access to local school funding. They can also boost the local tax base in districts that now rely very heavily on state aid, easing pressure on the state budget without big cuts or rate hikes. Stadler will present the findings of Redrawing the Lines, a report that adapts machine-learning methods used in legislative redistricting to simulate borders for fairer, more financially sustainable school districts. She will show an interactive tool that allows users to see three potential approaches to school system redistricting. She will also demonstrate a new prototype of a tool that allows policymakers to simulate their own school district consolidation plans and see the impact on tax-bases and student populations.

Zahava Stadler
New America

Zahava Stadler

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New America

Zahava Stadler is Project Director of the Education Funding Equity Initiative in the Education Policy Program at New America. Her work focuses on the policies that govern how school funding is raised and distributed, how those policies affect the equity of the public education system, and how they intersect with issues including housing policy, wealth inequality, and systemic racism. Before joining New America, Stadler was a special assistant at The Education Trust, where she led the organization’s work on state school funding policy. Previously, Stadler served as Director of Policy at EdBuild, which focused on school funding inequity, school funding formulas, and the connection between funding policy and interdistrict segregation. Prior to EdBuild, Stadler worked primarily on human capital initiatives supporting high-need schools and districts, including projects implemented as part of Race to the Top.

Across the country, states are pursuing ambitious strategies to improve educational attainment and economic mobility through stronger alignment among K-12 education, postsecondary systems, and workforce development. While access to data has expanded significantly, many alignment efforts stall at the implementation stage due to unclear governance roles, fragmented accountability measures, and limited shared understanding of how data should inform decisions across sectors. This workshop examines how governance-level decision-making can support more coherent cross-sector alignment by translating statewide goals into coordinated regional action. Using a data-informed governance framework developed to strengthen community college board-level decision-making, the session explores how governing bodies can set clear objectives, define meaningful measures of success, and leverage shared data to guide policy choices without blurring the line between governance and operations. Participants will engage with common alignment challenges, including differing definitions of success across systems, misaligned incentives, and the difficulty of sustaining collaboration over time. Through facilitated discussion and practical prompts, attendees will consider how governance practices such as clarifying roles, asking strategic questions, and using data to tell a shared story about outcomes can support stronger learner pathways and workforce connections. While the session draws on examples from community college governance, the framework and discussion are relevant to state policymakers, agency leaders, and cross-sector partners seeking scalable approaches to improving coordination, accountability, and long-term value in education and workforce policy.

School choice programs are expanding rapidly across the country, offering families more educational options than ever before. But choice without information isn’t really choice. When families can’t easily find, understand, and compare schools based on what matters most to them—from academic programs and student supports to extracurricular offerings—they struggle to make confident decisions, and state investments in choice fall short of their intended impact. This session explores the often-overlooked role states play in building the information infrastructure that makes school choice work for families. As policymakers invest significant resources in vouchers, tax credits, and education savings accounts, critical implementation questions arise: What information do families actually need? How should it be presented? And what role can states play in ensuring information is accessible, usable, and equitable? The session will also highlight practical examples of how complex school data can be translated into parent-friendly guidance—moving beyond raw metrics to help families identify schools that align with their priorities. A moderated discussion will explore state policy levers such as reporting requirements, data standards, and public-private partnerships, with a focus on replicable strategies that other states can adapt to their own contexts.

Jon Deane
GreatSchools.org

Jon Deane

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GreatSchools.org

Jon Deane is the CEO of GreatSchools, a national nonprofit that helps families champion educational excellence, and he brings nearly two decades of experience in K–12 education leadership. A former teacher and school principal, Jon has led innovative efforts both in the classroom and in philanthropy – he was the founding Executive Director of Everest Public High School and later joined the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to shape personalized learning strategy for schools across the country. He also served as a Senior Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and as Chief Information Officer at Summit Public Schools, where he helped make Summit’s personalized learning platform available to other schools nationally. Jon holds degrees in economics and education from Stanford University and has dedicated his career to empowering educators and families with data-driven tools to improve student outcomes.

Over the last 25 years, early elementary classrooms have increasingly relied on instructional practices that do not best meet young students’ learning needs—extended periods of seatwork, isolated skills drills, and worksheet-heavy curricula. According to the ECLS-K between 1998 and 2010, dramatic play areas in kindergarten dropped by 29%, while worksheet use increased by 17%. This shift has occurred despite evidence that young children learn more effectively through approaches that integrate play, exploration, and evidence-based instruction. Additionally, the NAEP 2024 results underscore an urgent challenge: persistent and widespread reading and math underperformance with gaps emerging early and compounding over time. This data points to the need for stronger early literacy and numeracy foundations for all children, and for instruction that advances learning rather than constrain it. States are under pressure to improve early literacy and numeracy outcomes while also addressing concerns about instructional P-3 quality. Recent action in states such as Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada demonstrates growing policy interest in play-based and developmentally aligned learning. However, policymakers face a critical question: How can states ensure rigorous literacy and math instruction without sacrificing the pedagogical approaches young children need to become successful learners? This workshop addresses the false choice between academic rigor and developmentally appropriate approaches. Participants will explore how states can use policy levers—standards, professional learning, funding, and teacher preparation—to support strong literacy and math instruction that is both grounded in evidence and aligned with how young children learn best. Recognizing the complexity of balancing achievement with child development, this workshop enables participants to engage with peers to work through implementation challenges, learn from states taking action,

Eric Bucher
Center on Early Learning Success

Eric Bucher

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Center on Early Learning Success

Eric Bucher, Ed.D. is the Deputy Director of Resource Development for the Center on Early Learning Success at Arizona State University. He also serves on the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Commission on the Accreditation of Early Childhood Higher Education Programs. Dr. Bucher specializes in Head Start, child care, and early learning policy and practice, and his research topics include the early childhood workforce, quality child care environments, the Reggio Emilia Approach to Education, and early childhood science. Dr. Bucher's two decades of experience includes directly teaching children (birth to age 8), developing content for preschool programs at a science museum, designing professional development, managing local/national early childhood grants, and leading in state and government agencies including Head Start/Early Head Start.

Lisa Gordon
The Center on Early Learning Success

Lisa Gordon

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The Center on Early Learning Success

Lisa Gordon is Director for the Center on Early School Success at Arizona State University (ASU). She also serves as Professor of Practice and Senior Director of Professional Development, Training and Technical Assistance at ASU where she works at the intersection of policy, practice, and research to close opportunity gaps in early learning systems so that all children reach their full potential. For 30 years, Lisa has advanced the field of early childhood education by designing and leading professional development, training, and technical assistance initiatives at both state and federal levels. Central to her work is elevating child- and family-centered, strength-based practices, programs, and policies that create systemic change. Nationally, she has shaped strategies in partnership with the Office of Head Start’s National Center on Early Childhood Development, Teaching, and Learning, where she developed research-to-practice resources and led large-scale training initiatives. She also served as Technical Assistance Advisor with Georgetown University’s Center of Excellence on Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health, where she guided state leaders and programs in embedding equity into mental health consultation practices.

Twenty percent of students from low-income, low-wealth households are predicted to go on to complete a bachelor’s degree, compared to 59% of students from low-income, higher-wealth households. This, among other findings in the report, highlight disparate outcomes stemming from wealth inequality. Nationwide, federal and state financial aid formulas rely heavily on income-based metrics to determine student financial need. While income is an important indicator, it does not effectively identify students with the greatest financial need — those who are “dually-disadvantaged” by low-income and low-wealth backgrounds. Drawing on national and state-level data, this research examines how wealth and income operate as distinct dimensions of economic need and demonstrates the gaps in state financial aid systems. Focusing on state aid programs in California, Illinois, and New York, findings show that students who are both low-income and low-wealth receive nearly the same level of state aid as peers who are similarly low-income but have access to family wealth. As a result of this inequitable distribution of aid, “dually-disadvantaged” students are predicted to borrow more, face greater financial precarity, and experience significantly lower college enrollment and completion rates. The session will highlight core findings relevant to state leaders and invite discussion on a proposed strategy for more efficient distribution of financial aid, aiming to bridge new research with the realities of policy-making and policy implementation. Targeted investments for “dually-disadvantaged” students would yield substantial returns for states. A $5,000 need-based grant targeted to these students is predicted to significantly increase per-cohort graduation rates, with economic benefits outweighing costs by three to five times. Hearing from today’s state leaders is an indispensable opportunity to move forward with a real policy option for maximizing financial aid systems nation-wide.

Alejandra Villa-Moges
Partnership for College Completion

Alejandra Villa-Moges

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Partnership for College Completion

Alejandra Villa-Moges (she/her) is the Partnership for College Completion’s Policy Manager. Alejandra manages the research and data team’s portfolio of projects and works to bridge research with advocacy. Alejandra’s prior experience includes community-based research, advocacy, and administration. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona and a master’s degree from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy.

This session will equip education policymakers with practical strategies and policy tools to strengthen the recruitment, preparation, and retention of music and arts educators in K-12 schools. Participants will explore two national frameworks—A Blueprint for Strengthening the Music Teacher Profession and Supporting Our Current and Future Visual Arts, Design, and Media Arts Educators—along with aligned policy recommendations that address educator shortages, working conditions, preparation pathways, and long-term sustainability of the arts educator workforce. The session will also highlight a successful arts educator mentoring program in Iowa, demonstrating how targeted mentoring and induction supports can improve retention and professional growth for early-career educators. Building on these examples, attendees will receive draft state-level model legislation, focused on strengthening the pipeline of dance, media arts, music, theatre, and visual arts educators through recruitment incentives, preparation supports, mentoring, and ongoing professional learning. Through guided, hands-on exploration of online resources, participants will examine their own state’s music educator certification and licensure requirements and assess existing state policies to recruit, prepare, mentor, and strengthen professional learning for arts educators. By the end of the session, attendees will leave with concrete policy options, adaptable legislative language, and a clearer understanding of how state action can ensure a strong, diverse, and well-supported music and arts educator workforce for the future.

Amanda Karhuse
National Association for Music Education

Amanda Karhuse

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National Association for Music Education

Amanda Karhuse is the assistant executive director for advocacy and public policy at the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) where she works with policymakers and other national organizations to promote music and the arts as an integral and core component of a well-rounded education. In this role, she coordinates all federal and state policy and advocacy efforts for NAfME, which includes lobbying, coalition-building activities, and strengthening the capacity of music education advocates. Amanda leads the Music Education Policy Roundtable, represents NAfME on the National Coalition for Art Standards and on the board of directors for the Title IV-A Coalition, and co-chairs the Arts Education Partnership Data Working Group. In 2024, Amanda became the lead federal lobbyist for the Arts Education Alliance, a strategic partnership between NAfME and the Educational Theatre Association, the National Art Education Association, the National Association for Media Arts Education, and the National Dance Education Organization. Prior to her tenure at NAfME, Amanda was the director of policy & advocacy for the National Association of Secondary School Principals, worked at the Women’s Congressional Policy Institute, and served as a legislative assistant for former Congresswoman Karen L. Thurman of Florida. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, VA, and a master’s degree from the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University in Washington, DC.

Leon Kuehner
Iowa Alliance for Arts Education

Leon Kuehner

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Iowa Alliance for Arts Education

Leon Kuehner received his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts Degrees in Music Education from the University of Northern Iowa. He has been president of the Iowa Bandmasters Association, state chair of American School Band Directors Association and state chair of the Iowa Alliance for Arts Education. He has served on the Iowa Music Educators Board and is a past president of the Executive Board of the Iowa High School Music Association. He has served a Co-Administrator of the Iowa Alliance for Arts Education “Model of Excellence” mentoring program for beginning fine arts teachers since 2006. He was the instrumental music chair of the Iowa Fine Arts Standards Adoption Team for the Iowa Department of Education. He currently serves on the Fine Arts Leadership Team for the Iowa Department of Education. On behalf of IAAE, he collaborates with the Fine Arts Consultant from the Iowa Department of Education and leadership from Iowa Arts Council in presenting a bi-annual Arts Education Summit for the state of Iowa. In 2012, he was named the national winner of the National Federation of High School Association’s Citation for contributions to music education. In July of 2013, he became the Executive Director of the Iowa Alliance for Arts Education. He is the recipient of the Karl King Distinguished Service Awards for both and active retired members of the Iowa Bandmasters Association. He has also been named a “Distinguished Alumnus” of the University of Northern Iowa School of Music. He has served as the Iowa State Captain for the Americans for the Arts advocacy team since 2016 and has coordinated an Arts Education Advocacy Day at the State Capitol in Des Moines since 2015. In 2023, he was awarded the Governor’s Arts Education Award by the Iowa Arts Council. He currently teaches music education classes for North Iowa Area Community College and the University of Iowa.

Jazzmone Sutton
National Association for Music Education

Jazzmone Sutton

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National Association for Music Education

Jazzmone Sutton is the Senior Manager of State Advocacy and Equity for the National Association for Music Education (NAfME). Before joining NAfME, she was a passionate elementary music educator and advocate. Recognizing the importance of creating a positive and supportive environment for others to thrive, Jazzmone implements key relational strategies to build connections and develop a collaborative spirit when assisting educators in their advocacy efforts across the nation. Her proven record of success in educational policy has resulted in securing music and arts education in a child’s educational journey in states such as New Hampshire, North Carolina, Utah, and others. She has also developed a national network of state advocacy leaders called the Advocacy Leadership Force. Additionally, Jazzmone was awarded the 2024 Advocate on the Rise Award by the organization Women in Government Relations (WGR.)

In Indiana schools, and across the nation, children’s lives outside the classroom impact their learning and growth inside the classroom. Attendance, chronic absenteeism, behavior, engagement, wellbeing, and academic progress are all interconnected. The research on integrated student support suggests that intentional strategies to integrate education with social services, health and mental health, and youth development opportunities could make a difference. Indiana endeavored to find out if it would be possible to scale implementation of an evidence-based model and make a measurable impact on student learning. Learn about exciting new results, and how they were achieved. Topics include: -Sharing new studies’ methodologies and results: Researchers compared student level data in schools with and without the integrated student support intervention using data from the Indiana Department of Education. Learn about these results, their limitations, and how the analysis was conducted.. -Using research to guide selection of evidence-based interventions: Hear first hand from policymakers about their selection process. -Building capacity of local implementation partners: Learn about the importance, challenges, and successes of building local capacity from those who lead the work. Explore the innovative partnership between Indiana, Marian University, Boston College, and City Connects to reach Indiana students. -Being accountable for process metrics and outcomes: Hear about the pros and cons of committing to accountability from different vantage points. -Discussing implications for policymakers: Join in a lively discussion that includes questions, reflections, and recommendations for policymakers interested in improving student well-being and learning outcomes.

Robert Behning
Marian University - Center for Vibrant Schools

Robert Behning

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Marian University - Center for Vibrant Schools

State Rep. Bob Behning has served in the Indiana House of Representatives since 1992 and represents House District 91, which includes a portion of Marion County. He was born and raised in Indianapolis and has been a proud Hoosier his entire life. In 1976, he received a Bachelor of Science degree from Indiana University. Throughout his tenure as a representative, he has advocated for education reform in Indiana. As chair of the House Education Committee, he led a multiyear effort to successfully pass the most comprehensive education reform package in the United States. Behning believes all parents deserve the right to choose the school that best meets their child's needs. In 2011, Behning authored legislation creating the School Choice Scholarship program, providing families who do not have the financial means to pay the cost of tuition at a private school with a scholarship (or voucher). Indiana currently has the largest school voucher program in the United States. Behning currently works at Marian University as the assistant vice president and director of the Center for Vibrant Schools.

Eric Dearing
Boston College, Mary E. Walsh Center for Thriving Children

Eric Dearing

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Boston College, Mary E. Walsh Center for Thriving Children

Eric Dearing applies his background in psychology to explore the links between students’ lives outside of school and their performance in the classroom. Recognized as an esteemed leader in his field, Dearing’s work has been cited in testimony to Congress and appeared in the New York Times, U.S. News & World Report and USA Today and on NBC. Dearing’s research emphasizes the power of families, early education and care, and neighborhood supports to bolster achievement for children growing up in poverty. Much of his current work centers on promoting high-quality parent and early educator engagement to improve math learning for children in low-income families. Dearing also serves as a member of the Development and Research in Early Math Learning (DREME) network. His many publishing credits include co-editor of the Handbook of Early Childhood Programs, Practices, and Policies and co-author of the committee report Parenting Matters: Supporting Parents of Children 0–8, from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. He has been named a Foundation for Child Development Young Scholar awardee and a National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow.

Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), tax credit scholarships, and related choice initiatives are expanding rapidly. Education choice programs and policies are accelerating the emergence of a publicly funded education marketplace in which students can increasingly access services from multiple providers. How states design governance, funding, and accountability structures now will determine whether or not these systems expand opportunity, including the opportunity to access specialized education programs. This session will examine how states can intentionally design choice-based system policies to promote equitable access to high-quality specialized programming, including college- and career pathways and other high-cost or hard-to-access offerings. Rather than focusing on whether states should adopt ESAs or tax credits, the session centers on how these policies can be structured to promote access to programs, while acknowledging the need for fiscal sustainability and system coherence. Drawing on cross-state experience and emerging federal and state policy developments, the session will explore key design questions, including: What governance structures are needed in a multi-provider environment? How can funding be structured to promote access and sustainability? Should states define and fund market enablers such as transportation and navigation supports to promote access to specialized programs? What guardrails help prevent inequitable access, hidden costs, or system fragmentation? And what role should school districts play as both providers and system anchors? Attendees will engage with leaders that have grappled with these questions, and leave with practical frameworks and guiding questions they can use to assess or refine choice policies in their own state contexts, with a focus on intentional, community- and data-informed decision-making.

Paul Kihn
Office of the Mayor, District of Columbia

Paul Kihn

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Office of the Mayor, District of Columbia

District of Columbia Paul Kihn accepted an appointment by Mayor Bowser to serve as the Deputy Mayor for education on October 1, 2018. Mr. Kihn previously served for three years as the Deputy Superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia. As the Superintendent’s second-in-command, he helped lead the system through a significant transformation, including improvements in teacher and principal hiring and development, a transition to common core standards, the promotion of evidence-based innovations in schools and classrooms, a wholesale revision of charter authorizing policies and procedures, and smarter allocation of diminishing resources. Prior to his work in Philadelphia, Paul supported district and charter turnaround efforts as a partner and a leader of the U.S. K12 Education Practice for the global consulting firm McKinsey & Company. Mr. Kihn is a former New York City public school English teacher and has also taught middle and high school English in Ireland and South Africa. In addition, Mr. Kihn has worked with adjudicated and out-of-school youth. A Ward 2 resident, Mr. Kihn received a Master's in Educational Administration from Teachers College, Columbia University, and an M.B.A. from Columbia University. He also holds degrees from Yale College and The University of Cape Town.

Katie Reed
Partner

Katie Reed

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Partner

As Partner and Managing Director at Afton Partners, Katie leads Afton’s ECE and K12 initiatives to create effective and sustainable programs, policies, and systems with our clients and their communities. Through her work, Katie aims to create a future where all children, and especially those from historically underserved communities, have the opportunity to reach their potential. Katie is a cross-functional leader, systems thinker, and practitioner-at-heart who blends an innovation mindset, relentless pragmatism, and a penchant for getting things done to find real solutions for real people. Since joining Afton in 2014, Katie has led advisory, facilitation, and research engagements on behalf of governors, legislatures, state agencies, school districts, charter schools, and other impact-focused organizations doing great work for kids. She is a sought-out expert in solving our most pressing and complex challenges in ECE and K12 finance and governance, and she grounds her work with a deep appreciation for the input of the communities impacted and those that implement solutions. Prior to joining Afton, Katie served as Chief of Staff of the Portfolio Office at Chicago Public Schools. At CPS, Katie supported the District’s budget restructuring, guided the District’s charter school authorization and accountability processes, and led project management for the district’s school footprint restructuring. Earlier in her career, Katie spent nearly a decade in progressing roles in financial and operational management for Baxter Healthcare and Ford Motor Company. Katie holds an MBA from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, and a BBA in Finance from the University of Notre Dame.

Christy Wolfe
Bipartisan Policy Center

Christy Wolfe

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Bipartisan Policy Center

Christy Wolfe is director of K-12 policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, where she works to identify policy solutions that all sides can support to improve the future of education. She has more than 30 years of experience working on federal education policy and legislation in Congress, the executive branch, and policy advocacy organizations. Before joining BPC, Wolfe was senior vice president for policy, research, and planning for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. There she managed federal policy and advocacy efforts, including ESSA, on behalf of nearly four million students in public charter schools nationwide, as well as multi-million-dollar policy and technical assistance grants. Wolfe served for eight years in the George W. Bush administration as the associate deputy secretary for policy at the U.S. Department of Education. In this role, she managed policy development and implemented regulations for all elementary, secondary, and special education programs. Previously, she was a professional staff member for the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Education and the Workforce, where she worked on major education legislation including the No Child Left Behind Act. She began her career in policy at The Heritage Foundation. A native of South Carolina, Wolfe holds a B.A. in American government from the University of Virginia, where she met her husband Paul, and where her three children are currently students.

As states face growing talent shortages and at the same time, high youth unemployment rates, policymakers are increasingly rethinking how education and workforce systems intersect. Traditional and persistent silos between K-12, postsecondary education, and workforce development often limit learners’ ability to move efficiently into high-quality, in-demand jobs in their local area or beyond. In response, a growing number of states are adopting policies that intentionally blur these lines—reimagining education and workforce systems as a single talent development continuum. This session will explore how Colorado and Kentucky are leveraging state policy to align education and career pathways and systems, scale work-based learning, and strengthen economic mobility for youth and adults. In Colorado, Governor Jared Polis has elevated talent development as a core economic strategy, launching a new Department of Talent and advancing statewide pathways that integrate education, credential attainment, and workforce demand. These efforts emphasize cross-agency coordination, employer engagement, and clear on-ramps to high-value careers. Kentucky offers a complementary model, using policy levers such as H.B. 586 to establish the Kentucky Education and Workforce Collaborative. Through this structure, the state is aligning K-12, postsecondary, and workforce programs, expanding career pathways, and improving access to training, employment services, and supports like child care—particularly through Kentucky Career Centers and employer partnerships. Together, these case studies highlight how states can move beyond fragmented systems toward cohesive, learner-centered pathways that respond to labor market needs while advancing equity and economic growth. Attendees will gain practical insights into policy development, governance structures, public and private partnerships, and implementation strategies that position states as engines of opportunity for all.

Alison Griffin
Forbes

Alison Griffin

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Forbes

Alison R. Griffin has nearly twenty years of experience working at the intersection of education and employment, policy, and practice. Alison’s experience on the implementation side of higher education and workforce development, and as a grant-maker, is reflected in her practical understanding of how policy shapes outcomes. Her career in postsecondary education policy includes two terms as a policy advisor to the Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, as well as a policy advisor role with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), where she guided state policy development. Alison managed her own higher education government relations and policy practice in Denver, Colorado for four years before joining Strada Education Network. During her tenure with Strada, Allison was a member of the senior leadership team, leading external affairs, government relations, and national engagement activities. Bringing a deep sense of mission to her work on behalf of Whiteboard Advisors, Allison believes the solutions to our most pressing education challenges, from affordability to access, require thoughtful collaboration among a growing community of policymakers, impact investors, entrepreneurs, practitioners, and philanthropists. Alison serves as the Vice Chair of the Colorado League of Charter Schools Board of Directors and an active member of the Government Relations Advisory Committee for the National Panhellenic Conference. She is a regular contributor to Forbes and EdSurge and her opinion pieces have appeared in Bloomberg and The Washington Post. Allison holds a M.Ed. in College Student Affairs Administration from the University of Georgia, and a BBA in Organizational Behavior and Business Policy and BA in Psychology from Southern Methodist University. She resides in Lafayette, Colorado with her young family.

Jess Kostelnik
Office of Governor Polis

Jess Kostelnik

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Office of Governor Polis

Jessica Kostelnik is a senior policy advisor on workforce for the Office of the Governor of Colorado, where she focuses on advancing state workforce development strategies, supporting policy initiatives, and advising on programs that expand opportunity and strengthen the talent pipeline across Colorado. In her role, she has engaged with business, education, and government stakeholders on workforce legislation and initiatives, including Colorado’s Opportunity Now and related talent development efforts.

Aaron Thompson
Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education

Aaron Thompson

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Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education

Dr. Aaron Thompson is a passionate advocate for higher education. As a first-generation college student from rural Clay County, Kentucky, he experienced first-hand the transformative power of a college credential. As President of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, he works to ensure all Kentuckians have an equal opportunity to improve their lives through postsecondary education. Before taking the helm of CPE, Thompson served as interim president of Kentucky State University; CPE executive vice president and provost; and faculty member and administrator at Eastern Kentucky University. He has extensive leadership experience within the private and non-profit sectors and is a highly sought-after national speaker. Thompson has authored or co-authored numerous books and peer-reviewed publications on diversity, cultural competence, first-year experience programs, retention, and student success, among other topics. Thompson received his doctoral degree in sociology from the University of Kentucky, with an emphasis on organizational leadership. He earned a master’s degree in industrial sociology from the University of Kentucky, and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Eastern Kentucky University. He also holds honorary doctorates from Brescia University, Eastern Kentucky University, Kentucky State University, Murray State University and Union College.

Too often, policies are designed and executed without a clearly defined evaluation plan. A strategic evaluation can enhance policy effectiveness by facilitating consistent monitoring of impact and continuous improvement. As SEAs re-envision their existing policies and design new innovations, they can incorporate right-sized evaluations as an essential tool to maximize impact. This session will feature policy evaluation research in two states with different contexts, systems and implementation stages—New Hampshire and Michigan. Both recently designed and implemented comprehensive evaluations of their accountability systems. By attending this session, the audience will learn tangible examples and evaluation strategies that can be applied to diverse policy areas. First, a representative from a nationally recognized non-profit organization will provide a framework for designing an effective evaluation plan, including design approaches, measurement methodologies, and recommended practices. A central idea in this framework is that ongoing evaluation can be incremental, right-sized, and built into program implementation. The two state representatives will then discuss their research. New Hampshire will discuss its recently completed, four-part evaluation study on how its accountability system supports data literacy and school improvement. It delves into questions on perceived effectiveness of funding and resources and improvement rate of identified schools. The representative will also describe policy improvements made as a result of the study. Michigan will discuss its emerging evaluation to determine whether its accountability system is appropriately calculating school performance and identifying schools requiring additional resources. The representative will describe how the state established its theory of action and guiding questions, as well as the initial findings and policy impact thus far.

Nathan Dadey
Center for Assessment

Nathan Dadey

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Center for Assessment

Nathan Dadey is interested in the design, scaling, and use of educational assessments, particularly assessments used for accountability purposes. He aims to produce methodological and applied work that contributes to improved understanding and use of assessment results in policy contexts. In terms of methodological work, Nathan focuses on tackling issues in which typical educational measurement approaches fall short. One such area is the measurement of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). For example, Nathan has supported multiple state departments of education (Delaware, Wisconsin, and Nebraska) in developing conceptualizations of their NGSS statewide systems of assessments, leading content specialists in the creation of three dimensional tasks, assisting multiple SCASS groups within the Council of Chief State School Officers and reviewing NGSS performance task quality and evaluation tools (with Achieve). A second area deals with the numerous challenges inherent in designing and implementing comprehensive systems of assessment. While working to tackling these kinds of challenges, Nathan has explored ways in which a set of “mini-interim” assessments can be scaled (with Curriculum Associates), written a policy brief addressing ESSA’s interim assessment provision and explored ways in which Bayesian networks can be used to summarize interim and summative assessment results. In terms of applied work, Nathan focuses on issues that threaten the validity of assessment and accountability operational programs. These issues include the dimensionality of alternate assessment based on alternate achievement standards (on behalf of NCSC), the impact of interruptions on online assessment results (on behalf of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortia) as well as recommendations to address such impacts (on behalf of CCSSO), the representation of English Language Proficiency within state accountability systems (on behalf of the Latino Policy Forum), and the comparability of assessment scores across multiple digital devices (on behalf of the TILSA SCASS). Nathan received a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado Boulder with a concentration in research and evaluation methodology. Nathan Dadey focuses on using psychometric and statistical methods to address practical problems, including issues related to combining interim assessment data, dimensionality of alternative assessments, subscores, and vertical scales.

Christopher Janzer
Michigan Department of Education

Christopher Janzer

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Michigan Department of Education

Chris Janzer is an Assistant Director within the Office of Educational Assessment and Accountability (OEAA) at the Michigan Department of Education (MDE). He oversees the Systems and School Accountability teams. Chris joined MDE in 2008, and has helped develop, enhance, and implement numerous state and federal accountability and reporting systems dating from No Child Left Behind’s Adequate Yearly Progress through ESEA Flexibility to the current system under the Every Student Succeeds Act. Through his work on bringing Michigan’s Parent Dashboard to life, Chris has developed an appreciation for the challenges of making education data beyond traditional accountability metrics into meaningful information specifically for parents. He is currently working on expanding and integrating more analysis into school accountability resources. Prior to joining MDE, Chris had experience in state and federal reporting for a local school district in Michigan. Chris holds a Master of Public Policy degree from Michigan State University and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Western Michigan University.

States across the country are increasingly focusing on improving math achievement. Many state legislatures are passing bills, but the state education agency and state board of education are typically charged with implementation. Successful design and implementation of state math improvement initiatives can be greatly assisted by co-designed comprehensive math improvement plans. Comprehensive plans have been used to support science of reading initiatives, and are likely to have as much value serving math initiatives. Among states that are developing or have already developed math plans are Maryland, California, Utah, Tennessee, Wyoming, Alabama, Ohio, and Iowa. The National Association of State Boards of Education is convening a Math Improvement Learning and Action group, and will soon publish a paper entitled “Leaders Back Statewide Plans to Improve Math Learning. These activities are designed to support effective math plan development processes for policymakers. Reviewing improvement plans and the processes used to develop them has resulted in a set of key elements of successful math improvement planning. Two states in particular, Texas and Illinois, have engaged in deliberate planning processes to build ownership by key stakeholders in the education community and beyond, and define key strategies and actions. In the spring of 2026 Illinois conducted an in-person listening tour across the state as part of the development of the Illinois Comprehensive Numeracy Plan. Texas has empaneled an Ad Hoc Committee on Mathematics Instruction Framework to identify recommendations supporting improvement in student math achievement. The efforts of these two states will be presented, and Keven Ellis, member of the State Board of Education in Texas and Tony Sanders, state superintendent for the Illinois State Board of Education will engage in a facilitated conversation to discuss this work in their respective states and reflect on the key elements.

Paolo DeMaria
Natl. Assn. of State Boards of Education

Paolo DeMaria

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Natl. Assn. of State Boards of Education

Paolo DeMaria is the President & CEO of the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE). He joined NASBE in January 2022. Prior to joining NASBE, DeMaria served for five years as the State Superintendent of Public Instruction at the Ohio Department of Education where he led the development and implementation of Ohio’s Strategic Plan for Education, Each Child, Our Future. DeMaria focused on improving literacy outcomes, developing and promoting a whole child framework, supporting and elevating teacher excellence and leadership, promoting Ohio’s school-based health care toolkit partnerships with the health care community, and promoting career and technical education and stronger business-education partnerships. Previously he held positions including Executive Vice Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, Director of the Ohio Office of Budget and Management, and Chief Policy Advisor to Ohio Governor Bob Taft. He began his career working for the Ohio Senate.

Keven Ellis
Texas State Board of Education

Keven Ellis

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Texas State Board of Education

Keven Ellis, a Republican from Lufkin, was elected to the State Board of Education (SBOE) in 2016, 2020, and 2022. He was appointed as chair of the SBOE for a two-year term by Gov. Greg Abbott on Sept. 16, 2019. He was confirmed by the Texas Senate on March 31, 2021. For a second term, he was appointed in 2021 to this leadership role by Gov. Abbott and was confirmed by the Texas Senate in April 2023 by a unanimous vote of 31-0. The chair is selected from the 15 elected members of the board. Ellis is a member of the board's Committee on School Finance/Permanent School Fund, which oversees agenda items on topics such as Permanent School Fund management oversight, including audit responsibility, investment objectives, and investment decisions; state and federal funding issues; financial budgeting, reporting, and regulation; contract and grant approval; instructional materials financing operations; community education funding; oversight of the Bond Guarantee Program; and review of nominations for gubernatorial appointments: Teacher Retirement System and School Land Board. Ellis served as vice chair of the Texas Commission on Public School Finance, which laid the ground work for a sweeping new school finance law. Ellis is a chiropractor and has operated Ellis Chiropractic since 1998. That same year, Ellis began his public service career. He is actively involved in the community, serving with local boards, including the Lufkin Host Lions Club, where he served as president for 2012-13, member of the Lufkin Independent School District Tri-Ethnic Board, president of Angelina County Benefit Rodeo, chairman of Small Business Council for Angelina County Chamber of Commerce, president of the Z&OO Railroad, chairman of Eastview United Pentecostal Church’s building committee and assistant scoutmaster for Troop 136. In 2012, he was elected to the Lufkin ISD Board of Trustees and served as board president in 2015-2016, resigning from that post in November 2016 after winning the seat on the state board.

Tony Sanders
Illinois State Board of Education

Tony Sanders

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Illinois State Board of Education

Dr. Tony Sanders is the State Superintendent of Education in Illinois. He was appointed by the State Board of Education in February 2023. Prior to his arrival at ISBE, Dr. Sanders served as the superintendent of School District U-46, the second-largest school district in Illinois, for nearly a decade. During his tenure at U-46, Dr. Sanders added full-day kindergarten for all students, grew the district’s dual language program, created a new alternative high school to reduce expulsions and better serve students in need of trauma-informed care, invested in a grow-your-own educator initiative, and improved the district’s financial standing, while overseeing a $660 million operating budget. He also was a fierce advocate for the implementation of Evidence-Based Funding to change Illinois’ public school funding structure and provide greater equity for students across Illinois. Prior to becoming the U-46 superintendent in 2014, Dr. Sanders served as the district’s chief of communications and accountability and then chief of staff. He also previously served as the chief communications officer for St. Louis Public Schools and in communications and governmental relations roles within Illinois government, including at ISBE. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois Springfield, his Master of Business Administration from New York Institute of Technology, his Chief School Business Official Endorsement from Northern Illinois University, an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Judson University, and his Doctor of Education from Aurora University.

Assessment and accountability have long been central – and contested – features of American education policy. As states continue to prioritize preparing students for a wider range of postsecondary and workforce pathways, many leaders are reexamining whether traditional accountability systems are equipped to measure the knowledge, skills, and experiences that matter most for today’s students and communities. Originally designed to promote transparency and equity, accountability systems have often prioritized a narrow set of outcomes, prompting concerns about over-testing and misalignment with evolving instructional and pathway goals. This session will examine how states are moving beyond compliance-driven models toward more flexible, purpose-driven approaches to assessment and accountability. Drawing on specific state examples, panelists will explore how leaders are rethinking accountability systems to better support holistic skill development, strengthen connections across K-12, postsecondary, and workforce systems, and ensure accountability systems reinforce – rather than undermine – pathway innovation and long-term student success.

Joy Hofmeister
State of Oklahoma

Joy Hofmeister

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State of Oklahoma

Joy Hofmeister was first elected as Oklahoma’s state superintendent of public instruction in November 2014 and was reelected to begin her second term in January 2019. In office, Hofmeister led repeals of ineffective state exams; released a more meaningful and user-friendly school accountability system; raised academic standards; bolstered student safety; and brought statewide attention to the need for trauma-informed instruction. She also oversaw a $9 billion budget and a team of 400 employees at the State Department of Education. She held leadership roles on dozens of state boards and commissions, including serving as a state regent for Oklahoma’s six regional universities and president of the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority. Now in the private sector, Hofmeister remains focused on improving schools, creating healthier and safer communities, and fighting for better opportunities for all Oklahomans with a special focus on micropolitan communities.

Ellen McCoy
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute

Ellen McCoy

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The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute

Ellen Dollarhide McCoy, Ph.D. is the associate director of the Center for Civics, Education and Opportunity at the Ronald Reagan Institute and leads the organization’s education policy efforts. For more than fifteen years, Dr. McCoy has devoted her career to public education and has held leadership roles in the practice, policy and research arms of the sector. She began her career as an 8th grade English language arts teacher in Tulsa Public Schools. While pursuing her doctorate, she worked at the Oklahoma Center of Education Policy conducting research and co-authoring publications on school culture and climate. Later, Ellen served as the Executive Director of Research and Information at the Oklahoma State Department of Education. Ellen returned to secondary education as the Executive Director of one of Oklahoma’s oldest charter schools, overseeing a middle and high school and its expansion. Dr. McCoy enjoys helping educators grow; she has previously served as an instructional faculty member at the University of Oklahoma and Southern Nazarene University. She currently serves as a school board member for Our Savior Lutheran School in Arlington, Virginia.

Even as Kentucky has had several leadership transitions in the past five years, the state is leading the nation in reimagining K-12 education structures in a systemic and coordinated way. Beginning with its United We Learn vision setting in 2021, the state has used that vision to drive first assessment and accountability transformation. This is being followed by efforts to transform the way high schools and eventually all schools across the state function. This session will explore how Kentucky has built the foundation for sustainable and meaningful change in its K-12 education policy and practice during changing leadership through several major initiatives. These include setting the state’s overall vision for education, reimagining the state’s local accountability systems, and its evolving high school transformation work. Listeners will learn about how Kentucky has grounded the work in its statewide community by engaging in meaningful and impactful conversations through the state’s Kentucky United We Learn Council. They will leave knowing how Kentucky’s work has led to transformative policy and practice and how the lessons learned there can be applied in their states.

Jonathan Alfuth
KnowledgeWorks

Jonathan Alfuth

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KnowledgeWorks

Sr. Director of State Policy

Lu Young
Kentucky State Board of Education

Lu Young

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Kentucky State Board of Education

Lu Settles Young joined the University of Kentucky College of Education as a program evaluator and faculty member in the Next Generation Leadership Academy in January 2015. She is now a clinical professor in the Department of Educational Leadership Studies and Chief Leadership Officer of the UK Center for Next Generation Leadership. Before coming to UK, Dr. Young served more than 31 years in Kentucky public education. She was the Chief Academic Officer of Fayette County Public Schools in Lexington, KY, and before that, superintendent of Jessamine County Schools for nine years. She earned principal and superintendent certifications from the University of Kentucky and holds a doctorate in education leadership from Northern Kentucky University. In 2019, Young was appointed to the Kentucky Board of Education and served four years as board chair. She was appointed to a second term on the state board in August 2024 and now serves as vice-chair. Dr. Young was selected as the 2012 Kentucky Superintendent of the Year.

As students move through educational systems, our mission and focus must include attention to the value of skilled trades and the power of purpose-driven education. Traditional Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs often struggle with rigid funding silos and slow-moving curricula. In 2023, Idaho broke this mold by implementing the Idaho Career Ready Students (ICRS) Program. This session explores how Idaho bypassed traditional CTE limitations to create a more responsive, industry-aligned alternative that has already launched or expanded 170 programs statewide. Participants will go behind the scenes with State Superintendent Debbie Critchfield to examine the legislative and financial strategies used to: * Overcome Funding Barriers: How Idaho created alternative, flexible funding streams that prioritize secondary programs outside of standard CTE formulas. * Empower Local Industry: The mechanism for allowing local businesses to co-develop curriculum, ensuring students graduate with the exact skills needed for immediate regional employment. * Policy Alignment: How the state aligned graduation requirements with regional career pathways to provide high-quality training without sacrificing academic rigor. This session is a deep dive into state-level policy innovation for leaders looking to connect education with economic strength – right at the intersection of tradition, technology, and opportunity that bridges the gap between the classroom and the local economy.

Policymakers across the country need to understand how their states’ early childhood ecosystems are serving children, families, communities, and the economy. Accessing connected early childhood data is vital for growing policymakers’ understanding and informing their decisions related to designing high-quality programming, allocating scarce public resources, and ensuring supply meets demand, among other actions. However, relative to data from other education sectors, early childhood data tends to be siloed, incomplete, and not conducive for decisionmaking, and data improvement efforts across states continue to be hampered by sporadic funding and inconsistent data leadership. Addressing early childhood data challenges requires skilled data leaders. These leaders possess early childhood policy know-how, technical savvy, and sufficient authority to make decisions and get things done. In the early childhood sector, where data infrastructure and practices often fall short, they are needed to modernize and integrate data systems, build capable data teams, and evolve organizational data cultures. And in a shifting policy and funding landscape, they are the champions who will turn data into useful information for state policymakers and other decisionmakers, in turn raising awareness and rallying resources to sustain critical data work. Join the Data Quality Campaign, ECDataLab, and a Minnesota early childhood data leader to learn how to grow early childhood data leaders in states and state agencies. Drawing from collective decades in the field, the speakers will: - Define what it means to be a data leader; - Make the case for growing data leadership capacity at the state level; - Offer learnings from efforts to develop networks of data leaders across states; and - Share lessons learned from the long-term experiences of a state-based data leader.

Missy Coffey
ECDataLab

Missy Coffey

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ECDataLab

Missy Coffey, Ph.D., is a national expert in early childhood integrated data systems. She is the Executive Director of ECDataLab. ​Her experience and research focus on using data from local, state, and federal agencies to inform program and policy decisions in early childhood care and education.​ Over the last decade she has helped more than 40 states with their early childhood integrated data system. She has a Ph.D. from George Mason University and an M.A. in public policy evaluation from Claremont Graduate School.

Amanda Varley
Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families

Amanda Varley

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Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families

Amanda Varley supports special projects benefiting young children and their families at the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families, working across care and education, economic assistance, health, and more to improve how government delivers services for families. She manages the state’s Preschool Development Grant as well as oversees Minnesota’s early childhood integrated data system. In her past 15+ years at the State of Minnesota, she's supported the state's kindergarten entry assessment, early learning scholarships, and the Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge.

As AI rapidly reshapes the workforce, employers increasingly rely on automation while high school and college graduates struggle to remain competitive in entry-level roles. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 84% of hiring managers report that high school graduates are underprepared for the workforce compared to previous generations. As a result, students must distinguish themselves through strong decision-making in complex, fast-paced environments. A 2025 Burning Glass Institute report finds that 41% of job postings from 2022–24 reference at least one decision-making skill, most often embedded within critical thinking, problem-solving, adaptability, and communication. These are teachable, human competencies that increasingly determine career mobility and long-term employability. This session examines how education stakeholders, alongside state leaders from Hawai’i and Tennessee, are advancing policy solutions that move durable skills from aspirational graduate profiles into core academic instruction and career and technical education (CTE). When durable skills and validated credentials are integrated into education systems, students graduate with the judgment and efficacy needed to succeed beyond the classroom. Hawai’i has introduced innovative bridge programs, notably the “glidepath” initiative. This program utilizes CTE courses to enable high school students to graduate as certified nurse assistants. This addresses Hawai’i's healthcare workforce shortage and also lays a foundational step for students to later pursue more advanced healthcare professions. Through strong industry partnerships, Tennessee delivered rapid-response, short-term credential and micro-credential programs aligned to employer needs while expanding access to dual enrollment and CTE. This has more than tripled participation among high school students at Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology to ensure a flexible, future-ready workforce pipeline.

Jose Ortega-Luo
The College Board

Jose Ortega-Luo

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The College Board

ose Ortega-Luo is Director of Workforce Partnerships, where he and the Strategic Reach and Workforce Partnership team lead College Board's efforts to secure industry-recognized credential (IRC) adoption in states for AP Career Kickstart's new employer-endorsed credentials. In this role, he leverages research to inform state-specific strategies focused on state departments of workforce development, commerce, labor and education to position the College Board as a trusted advisor in state talent development. He also oversees research initiatives that shape broader strategies to expand access to career-connected learning opportunities for all students. Originally from Hillsborough, NC, Jose earned both his Master’s in Public Policy (2023) and his undergraduate degree (2019) from Duke University. As a first-generation, low-income Latinx student, his background has shaped his deep commitment to public service. Motivated by a commitment to socio-economic mobility, he pursued a MPP with a focus on social policy issues. After earning his MPP, he completed an Education Policy Fellowship at the College Board, where he developed expertise in state-approved IRC policies, career readiness in K-12 accountability systems and CTE teacher certification.

Flora Tydings
Tennessee Board of Regents

Flora Tydings

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Tennessee Board of Regents

Dr. Tydings serves as Chancellor of the Tennessee Board of Regents, where she provides strategic leadership and oversees system operations in alignment with Board policy and Tennessee law. She assumed the role as the system continued its transition under the state’s FOCUS Act of 2016 and plays a key role in advancing Tennessee’s Drive to 55 initiative to increase postsecondary attainment statewide. Dr. Tydings holds a Doctor of Education in Occupational Studies from the University of Georgia, a Master of Education from Mercer University, and a Bachelor of Science in education from Georgia Southern University. Her career spans decades of leadership in K–12 and higher education, including senior academic roles at multiple Georgia technical colleges, presidency of Athens Technical College, and later Chattanooga State Community College, where she led enrollment growth, expanded university partnerships, strengthened shared governance, and advanced student success initiatives such as Achieving the Dream.

Justin Woodson
House of Representatives - Hawai'i Legislature

Justin Woodson

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House of Representatives - Hawai'i Legislature

Representative Justin Woodson has been elected to serve and represent Central Maui since 2013. He currently chairs the House Committee on Education and has served in various other leadership roles in the State Legislature for several years. Recently, Representative Woodson has aided House legislative efforts to codify quality mechanisms in statute, which has enabled Hawaiʻi to maintain one of the most effective pre-kindergarten programs in the nation, according to the National Institute for Early Education and Research, a leading institution in the United States on the topic of early learning and education. During this time frame, Representative Woodson has also helped establish the Hawaiʻi Promise Program in all University of Hawaiʻi Community Colleges. The Promise Program provides free college to Hawaiʻi students with any financial need. Representative Woodson has led efforts to strengthen STEM education by formalizing computer science in Hawaiʻi’s K–12 curriculum and has supported legislation expanding universal access to high-quality early learning, recognized by the San Francisco Federal Reserve as a leading early childhood policy. Most recently, he worked with legislators and community partners to increase teacher compensation statewide.

School-based health centers (SBHCs) are a proven strategy for improving student attendance, engagement, and well-being by integrating health care services directly into K–12 settings, particularly in underserved communities. Operating in 48 states, SBHCs vary widely in their delivery models, funding structures, scopes of services, and policy environments. Many state policymakers lack a shared, up-to-date understanding of how SBHCs function and how state policy decisions shape their sustainability, reach, and impact. This workshop will engage state leaders in a practical, policy-focused exploration of SBHCs as an education policy lever and not solely a health intervention. The session facilitators bring over 30 years of practical experience in behavioral health, SBHCs, and education policymaking. They will provide a concise overview of SBHC models and core components, highlighting how SBHCs support student success through improved access to primary care, behavioral health services, and other preventive care. Participants will then examine key state policy considerations that influence SBHC sustainability and equitable access, including state funding approaches, Medicaid reimbursement pathways, minor consent laws, vaccine requirements, and cross-agency coordination. Framed within the evolving health care landscape, including uncertainty created by federal policy changes, the session will help policymakers assess how their current state policies enable (or constrain) SBHC growth. Designed for attendees with varying levels of familiarity with SBHCs and roles in state policy leadership, the workshop will guide participants through structured, facilitated small-group discussions to identify policy barriers and opportunities in their own states. Participants will leave with concrete, actionable steps to advance SBHC-supportive policies aligned with their state context and existing policy strategies addressing chronic absenteeism, student engagement, and school climate.

Zach Scott
School Based Health Alliance

Zach Scott

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School Based Health Alliance

Zach Scott is an experienced government relations and policy leader with a track record of advancing education and health policy at the local, state, and federal levels. He has served as a lead lobbyist and senior policy advisor for national education organizations, where he developed advocacy strategies, led cross-sector coalitions, and secured significant federal funding increases, including a $76 million increase to the Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants program. Across roles in Congress, national associations, and state-level advocacy, Zach brings deep expertise in navigating policymaking processes and supporting leaders as they consider complex, cross-sector decisions affecting education, health, and student well-being.

This workshop will guide state policymakers through practical conversations about building holistic skills and aligned career pathways that lead to meaningful employment and advancement. Career pathways and credentials are vital policy levers—but without alignment across K–12, postsecondary and workforce systems, learners and employers alike experience fragmentation and limited returns on public investment. Drawing on the Southern Regional Education Board’s (SREB) Commission on Career Pathways and Credentials, this session will frame why alignment matters, highlight state policy challenges, and provide tools to help policymakers assess their state’s strategy. The Commission’s work emphasizes coherent governance, clear definition of credentials of value, labor market alignment, and cross-agency collaboration as foundational elements of high-quality pathways. Participants will leave with concrete policy considerations that support employability skills—including success, technical, and academic competencies—that prepare learners for the future of work. Through interactive facilitated exercises, attendees will: • map existing career pathway structures and credentials in their states; • identify policy gaps and opportunities for strengthening alignment; • explore how state policy can elevate stackable credentials that lead to both employment and continued education pathways; • review strategies for developing a unified list of credentials valued by regional and state employers; • discuss strategies to embed employer engagement and labor market evidence into policy decisions. This workshop is especially timely as states aim to connect education systems with workforce needs, advance equitable access to pathways and credentials of value, and ensure that learners develop holistic skills that support both civic and economic participation.

Courtney Leidner
Southern Regional Education Board (SREB)

Courtney Leidner

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Southern Regional Education Board (SREB)

Courtney Leidner, Ph.D., is a Senior Analyst at the Southern Regional Education Board, specializing in education-to-workforce alignment, labor market analysis, and postsecondary outcomes. Her work supports SREB’s Commission on Career Pathways and Credentials, providing data-driven insights to help policymakers identify high-value pathways and credentials that lead to strong employment and wage outcomes.

Dana Yow
South Carolina Education Oversight Committee

Dana Yow

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South Carolina Education Oversight Committee

Dana Yow serves as Executive Director, South Carolina Education Oversight Committee (EOC), an independent legislative group composed of educators, business leaders, and legislators who provide regular and ongoing review of the state’s education improvement process, which includes the state school accountability system. In supporting the EOC, she works to strengthen the opportunities available to students in the K-12 education system that will lead to long-term success in careers and life.

Millions of adults have left college without earning a credential, even as states face persistent workforce shortages in key industries. With over 40 million adults nationally holding some college but no credential (SCNC), this population is increasingly seen not just as a completion challenge but as a critical workforce asset. As labor markets tighten and the traditional college-going population declines, re-enrolling adult stop-outs has become an urgent workforce and economic mobility strategy. This session explores how states are reframing re-enrollment as a workforce-aligned policy strategy, connecting postsecondary systems, legislative action, and labor market needs to strengthen talent pipelines. Panelists will share how their states identify and prioritize SCNC adults, align re-enrollment with high-demand sectors, and coordinate education, workforce, and economic development systems to support credential completion tied to workforce outcomes. Featured speakers include José Luis Santos, Senior Deputy Commissioner for Massachusetts; Dr. Shun Robertson, Senior Vice President for Strategy and Policy at the University of North Carolina System; and Scott Lomas, Chief Strategy Officer at ReUp Education. These leaders bring perspectives from policy, legislation, public higher education, and cross-state re-enrollment execution. Panelists will highlight policy levers such as funding incentives, data coordination, and cross-agency partnerships that shape statewide impact. They will also share early outcomes, implementation lessons, and strategies for moving beyond pilot programs. Attendees will gain actionable insights into how states can design and scale re-enrollment strategies that address employer needs, build workforce pipelines, and expand opportunity for adult learners—offering a roadmap for aligning postsecondary policy with the future of work.

Shun Robertson
University of North Carolina System Office

Shun Robertson

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University of North Carolina System Office

Dr. Shun Robertson, the Senior Vice President for Strategy and Policy for the University of North Carolina System Office, is charged with furthering the UNC System’s long-term strategic goals through the development of policies and initiatives that promote access, affordability, and student success. Prior to joining the UNC System, Robertson was a program director at MDC and Jobs for the Future, providing senior-level policy and research support to education and community-based projects. She also served as a policy analyst for the South Carolina Technical College System and has several years of experience working in admissions offices at colleges in Georgia and South Carolina. Dr. Robertson received her B.S. in business administration and Ph.D. in educational administration from the University of South Carolina.

Jose Luis Santos
Massachusetts Department of Higher Education

Jose Luis Santos

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Massachusetts Department of Higher Education

Dr. José Luis Santos is the Department of Higher Education’s Senior Deputy Commissioner and Special Advisor. He provides strategic and tactical management across internal and external teams of the Department to help advance the critical mission and key priorities of the DHE and BHE. As Senior Deputy and Special Advisor, Dr. Santos provides leadership and expertise on efforts that promote systemness, enhance the Department’s research and publication capacity efforts to make it a national leader, and advance stewardship, coalition building, and advocacy at the regional, state, and national levels. Dr. Santos is an accomplished higher education equity-centered professional with extensive experience leading innovative projects and teams across the education technology, public policy, nonprofit, and academic sectors. He has held positions at several prestigious higher education institutions, including the University of Texas, Austin, Pepperdine University, UCLA, and the University of Arizona. Dr. Santos also led the higher education portfolio for The Education Trust, a public policy advocacy organization in Washington, DC, where he provided leadership in policy priorities strategy, student success, and advocacy with the White House and Congress.