Are you ready to be inspired?
General Sessions will help you bring home new ideas to your district that are inspired by thought-provoking education keynotes.
AASA’s National Conference on Education will feature three influential and knowledgeable education keynote speakers to help you take your leadership to new heights so you can move your district and community forward. Get a high-level view of education policy, transformational leadership strategies, and more.
There is one General Session each day. They include the award presentations, special appearances, and keynote addresses.
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Thursday, February 25 | 3:30 - 5:30PM
Keynote
Lead from WHO You Are
You answer to a board, a community, and a system that rarely slows down long enough to notice how heavy leadership can feel. But the most effective superintendents don’t start by doing more—they start by becoming more intentional about who they are bringing into the work every day.
Lead From Who You Are isn’t about adding more strategies—it’s about finding your rhythm. When leaders find their rhythm, they stop carrying leadership alone. In doing so, they simplify what has become unnecessarily complex, lead with purpose instead of pressure, and choose a way of leading that is sustainable—for themselves and for the system—starting with who they are, not just what they do.
Speakers
Sal Kahn
Founder & CEO, Khan Academy, Mountain View, CA
Sal Khan is the founder and CEO of Khan Academy, a global nonprofit that provides free education to more than 200 million people worldwide. He’s also Vision Steward and a board member of TED, a nonprofit conference and media organization with a mission to discover and spread ideas.
Khan Academy was founded in 2008. It began as a way for Sal to remotely tutor his cousins in math. Since then, the organization has grown into a platform available in more than 50 languages that reaches students and teachers in more than 190 countries. Khan Academy partners with more than 600 school districts in the United States as well as school systems in eight countries to provide instruction, practice, assessment, and AI-supported learning in a single, connected experience that reaches 7 million students.
Sal is the founder of the nonprofits Schoolhouse.world, Khan Lab School, and Khan World School, and the author of “The One World Schoolhouse” and “Brave New Words,” and the co-author of “Teaching Students to Use AI Ethically & Responsibly.” His forthcoming book, expected in 2027, examines how AI will transform the future of work and how societies can build learning systems that help people adapt, learn, and thrive.
Ron Clark
American Educator & Author, Ron Clark Academy, Atlanta, GA
Ron Clark’s outstanding success with students from low-wealth areas of North Carolina and New York City led him to be named Disney’s American Teacher of the Year. He is a New York Times Best Selling author, and his classes have been honored at the White House on three separate occasions. Ron’s teaching experiences in New York City are the subject of the uplifting film, The Ron Clark Story, starring the late Matthew Perry. Currently, Mr. Clark serves as a teacher and administrator at the Ron Clark Academy, an award winning and internationally acclaimed middle school in Atlanta, GA. The school serves as a training site for educators, and each year thousands of teachers and administrators from around the world visit the school to be trained in their methods for helping all students achieve success.
Friday, February 26 | 9 - 11AM
Keynote
Lead from WHO You Are
You answer to a board, a community, and a system that rarely slows down long enough to notice how heavy leadership can feel. But the most effective superintendents don’t start by doing more—they start by becoming more intentional about who they are bringing into the work every day.
Lead From Who You Are isn’t about adding more strategies—it’s about finding your rhythm. When leaders find their rhythm, they stop carrying leadership alone. In doing so, they simplify what has become unnecessarily complex, lead with purpose instead of pressure, and choose a way of leading that is sustainable—for themselves and for the system—starting with who they are, not just what they do.
Speaker
Ana Homayoun
Founder & CEO, Green Ivy Educational Consulting LLC, Los Altos, CA
ANA HOMAYOUN is the founder of Silicon Valley–based Green Ivy Educational Consulting and executive director of Luminaria Learning Solutions, a nonprofit developing evidence-based executive functioning and well-being curriculum for schools and districts. With more than 25 years of experience working with students, families and school leaders, she has become one of the country’s most recognized voices on what it actually takes to prepare young people for success in an era of rapid change and increasing complexity.
Ana’s work with thousands of students revealed a consistent pattern: the students who struggled most weren’t lacking intelligence or ambition—they were lacking the organizational, emotional regulation and self-management skills that form the invisible scaffolding of long-term achievement. That insight drives her mission to bring executive functioning and well-being programming directly into schools and districts, equipping educators and administrators with tools to support students systemically.
She is the author of four books—”That Crumpled Paper Was Due Last Week,” “The Myth of the Perfect Girl,” “Social Media Wellness” and “Getting In Is Not Enough: The Blueprint for Success Beyond Grades, Test Scores, and College Admission” —which together have shaped the national conversation about student motivation, well-being and preparation for life beyond school. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Fast Company, NPR and on Good Morning America and NBC News.
Ana is a frequent keynote speaker at national education conferences and works with school and district leaders to build the conditions that allow young people to navigate complexity, recover from setbacks and develop genuine purpose and direction.
Learn more at www.anahomayoun.com.
Saturday, February 27 | 10:30AM - 12NOON
Keynote
Lead from WHO You Are
You answer to a board, a community, and a system that rarely slows down long enough to notice how heavy leadership can feel. But the most effective superintendents don’t start by doing more—they start by becoming more intentional about who they are bringing into the work every day.
Lead From Who You Are isn’t about adding more strategies—it’s about finding your rhythm. When leaders find their rhythm, they stop carrying leadership alone. In doing so, they simplify what has become unnecessarily complex, lead with purpose instead of pressure, and choose a way of leading that is sustainable—for themselves and for the system—starting with who they are, not just what they do.
Speaker
Anne Marie Anderson
Broadcaster and Author, Los Angeles, CA
Anne Marie Anderson is a three-time Emmy award winning broadcaster, author and keynote speaker who teaches leaders in education how to employ courage to take worthwhile risks that lead to stronger teams, confident students and thriving school cultures.
Over more than three decades in sports broadcasting, Anne Marie has covered the world’s biggest stages including six Olympic Games, the Super Bowl and over 1,500 live events for ESPN, ABC, NBC, FOX and TBS. In the process, she has observed what separates good teams from great ones and how those same lessons apply to classrooms, staff rooms and communities everywhere.
As a keynote speaker, Anne Marie blends humor, storytelling and research-based insights to help educators build cultures of courage, belonging and possibility. Her sessions empower audiences to dismantle self-doubt, model resilience for students and take bold action in pursuit of growth.
Her book, “Cultivating Audacity: Dismantle Doubt and Let Yourself Win,” an Amazon #1 New Release in Business Diversity and Career Growth, guides readers through identifying barriers such as fear, time and self-criticism, and transforming them into motivation and momentum.
Anne Marie reminds leaders that courage is contagious and when educators lead with audacity, they inspire the next generation to do the same.