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All Pre-Conference Workshops will take place on Wednesday, February 24, 2027.
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PRECONFERENCE 1

Making Public Education Promise Real: A Leadership Lab for System Coherence

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Description:

District leaders don’t need another initiative—they need a way to reduce fragmentation and turn vision into a coherent student experience. This 3-hour preconference is a “Promise to Practice” leadership lab that provides a concise, accessible overview of the Public Education Promise (PEP) as a system redesign framework, then moves quickly into application. Participants will begin to diagnose current state across key system levers, engage with tools to map existing efforts to PEP principles, and consider high-leverage next-step onramps that fit their context.

Learning Outcomes:

Explain the PEP as a system coherence framework (not a program) and describe how the principles work together in practice.
Diagnose a district’s current state by identifying assets, gaps, redundancies, and constraints across key PEP-aligned system levers.
Make initiative coherence visible by mapping current work to PEP principles and surfacing where effort is high but impact is limited.
Select 1–2 high-leverage onramps and define early indicators that show progress from promise to practice.

PRECONFERENCE 2

When Vision Meets Evidence: A Leadership Lab for Measuring What Matters

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Description:

District leaders across the country are asking the same question: If we value deeper learning, durable skills, student agency and future readiness, how do we meaningfully measure them?

This highly interactive 3-hour leadership experience explores Principle 5 of the Public Education Promise, Measure What Matters, through the lens of purposeful assessment. Rather than focusing solely on accountability or isolated assessment tools, participants will examine how districts can build coherent systems of evidence that support learning, improvement and meaningful student success.

Using real district examples, collaborative protocols, hands-on design experiences, and practical reflection tools, leaders will investigate the types of evidence their systems currently prioritize, identify gaps between vision and measurement, and explore how portfolios, performance-based assessment, learner reflection, executive function skills and everyday classroom evidence can work together within a balanced assessment ecosystem.

Participants will leave with:

A clearer framework for purposeful assessment.
Practical tools for leading assessment conversations.
Examples from districts implementing this work.
Actionable next steps for aligning assessment practices to student-centered learning goals.

This session is designed for superintendents and district leaders seeking thoughtful, practical ways to move from compliance-driven measurement toward more meaningful evidence of student growth, readiness and success that centers students as key stakeholders in the assessment process.

PRECONFERENCE 3

Building a Rural Portrait of a Graduate: A Community-Driven Framework for Defining the Future of Learning

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Description:

Rural school systems are often the heart of their communities—deeply connected to local values, traditions, workforce needs and aspirations for young people. Yet many rural districts face a common challenge: how to lead meaningful, future-focused transformation work with limited time, staffing and financial resources.

This highly interactive pre-conference session is designed specifically for rural superintendents and leadership teams who want to develop or refresh a Portrait of a Graduate in ways that are practical, community-centered and sustainable. Participants will leave with a clear framework, tools and facilitation strategies they can immediately use to guide Portrait development conversations within their own districts and communities—without needing to hire outside consultants.

Grounded in AASA’s Public Education Promise, this session will help leaders think beyond creating a Portrait as a standalone document and instead position it as the foundation for long-term district transformation. Participants will explore how the five Public Education Promise principles can serve as the implementation framework for bringing a Portrait to life through student-centered learning, real-world skill development, workforce readiness, community partnerships, talent development and meaningful measures of success.

PRECONFERENCE 4

AASA Safety and Security Initiative: Leadership Lessons Learned 2027

Presenters:

Description:

In today’s evolving landscape, school safety extends beyond emergency response. Join us for an interactive session exploring practical strategies across physical safety, behavioral threat assessments, digital risk, and crisis communication

AASA School Safety and Security Consultant and author of the best-selling book Education in a Violent World, Dr. Steve Webb will highlight the latest lessons learned from recent incidents of potential and realized violence and how technology and effective leadership continue to shape the future of 21st century school safety and security operations. As a board-certified Threat Assessment Specialist and retired Superintendent, Dr. Webb describes the mindset necessary to lead schools in the world today to help protect our students from the world of tomorrow.

During this workshop, you will:

Enhance situational awareness
Learn leadership qualities that drive an effective safety and security culture
Explore tools and protocols you can implement immediately
Learn alongside peers and experts leading safety efforts in districts

This experience is designed for leaders ready to shift from reaction to action, strengthen stakeholder confidence and ensure every student and staff member feels safe, supported and empowered to be part of the process.

PRECONFERENCE 5

Visit the Acclaimed Ron Clark Academy and get Slide Certified!

Presenters:

Description:

Step inside the internationally-acclaimed Ron Clark Academy (RCA) for an unforgettable taste of the professional development experience that has inspired educators worldwide. During this visit, you will hear directly from Ron Clark himself, enjoy lunch on campus, and tour RCA’s immersive facilities, all while gaining a firsthand look at the strategies and school culture that set RCA apart.

Walk away with practical inspiration rooted in RCA’s nationally-recognized approach to teacher training and student engagement, and discover why thousands of educators from across the country make the journey each year. Get ready to slide!

PRECONFERENCE 6

Strengthening Community Confidence: Turning National Research into District Action

Presenters:

Description:

Public confidence in K-12 education is declining even as many traditional measures of performance are improving. Superintendents are left navigating a widening gap between what their districts actually do, measure and communicate, and what their communities expect and value. And that gap is now shaping enrollment, funding, bond support, and staff retention.

This workshop unpacks the 2026 findings of the AASA ThoughtExchange National Research Initiative, the largest study of community-confidence in the history of American public education, and moves participants directly into application. Superintendents will explore what’s really driving confidence among students, staff, families, and community members, hear directly from district leaders whose communities have already participated, and leave with a concrete approach for strengthening confidence in their own communities.

Participants will work in role-focused breakout groups aligned to their district’s priority stakeholder audience of choice, examine real district results from the 2026 dataset and peer spotlight sessions, and preview an emerging national portrait of the future-ready learner, educator, and system.

Participants will leave with:

A clear understanding of the research-backed and emergent drivers of confidence across the staff, student, family, and community findings of the 2026 dataset.
Practical tools for benchmarking their own district against state and national peers
A simple framework for applying proven practices from comparable districts toward strengthening community confidence in their own district context
Real-life examples and experiences from districts already applying these findings
A defined next step for engaging with the National Research Initiative, whether their district has already participated or is just getting started.

This session is designed for superintendents and district leadership teams ready to move beyond reacting to public narrative and start shaping it, with real data from their own local communities.