Join WestEd experts and education leaders as they present at Learning Forward’s 2024 Annual Conference, December 8–11, 2024, in Denver, Colorado.
Learning Forward’s Annual Conference brings together thought leaders, experts, researchers, and other practitioners to collaboratively share the latest learnings, knowledge, and techniques. It focuses exclusively on how to plan, implement, and measure high-quality professional learning that changes educator practice and improves results for all students.
This year’s conference theme is Reach New Heights for Students.
WestEd’s sessions will focus on range of topics, including:
- Improving Systems for Equity
- Reimagining the Assistant Principalship
- Using a Simulation Game to Prepare Leaders to Implement Standards for Professional Learning
Add WestEd’s presentations to your conference calendar, and visit the WestEd exhibit table to meet staff, pick up recent publications, and learn about WestEd career opportunities.
Follow WestEd on LinkedIn and on Facebook to share your insights from the conference!
WestEd Presentations
Monday, December 9, 2024
Session: Developing Collaborative Systems for Equity and Collective Efficacy
Time: 9:30 a.m.–11:30 a.m. MST
Presenters: Tamara Hall (WestEd) and Amy Kolquist (Aurora Public Schools)
Learn to increase the collective efficacy of a team through rigorous, engaging, and equitable collaborative planning and data analysis practices that lead to teacher and student engagement and success. Consider how to build planning processes for intentional collaboration that impact equitable student learning. Explore how to overcome barriers and challenges that often hinder collaborative structures within a building or district and how to address them through a leadership lens.
Thought Leader Session: Reimagining the Assistant Principalship
Time: 10:45 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. MST
Presenters: Ellen Goldring (Vanderbilt University) and Matthew Clifford (WestEd)
Learn how one district has focused on assistant principal development as part of a systemwide strategy to strengthen leadership. Explore the ways district leaders, principals, and assistant principals can reimagine the assistant principalship, given its importance and centrality to school improvement and effectiveness. Examine the roles of district leaders, principals, and assistant principals in developing and supporting assistant principals.
Tuesday, December 10, 2024
Session: Pathway to Educational Excellence and Equity: Simulation Game
Time: 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. & cont. 12:45 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. MST
Presenters: Susan Mundry (WestEd), Caitlin Beatson (WestEd), Machel Mills-Miles (Learning Forward), and Katherine Stiles (WestEd)
Engage in a simulation game that teaches how to implement the Standards for Professional Learning. Learn what it takes to implement high-quality professional learning that leads to growth in educator knowledge, skills, and practice and what applying the standards within districts and schools looks like in action. Plan ways to share your learning and apply it to your own schools and districts.
Session: Systemic Equity: Tools for Policy and Classroom Assessment
Time: 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. MST
Presenters: David Lopez (WestEd) and Rawlin Rosario (WestEd)
Discover innovative tools designed to assess and promote equity within educational policies and classroom practices. Gain insights into effective strategies for conducting systemic equity reviews to ensure fair and inclusive learning environments. Leave equipped to implement these transformative walk-through and policy tools, fostering equity in education at all levels.
Learning Forward Sponsor Reception
This year’s Learning Forward Sponsor Reception will take place on Monday, December 9, 3:00–4:00 p.m. WestEd invites attendees to visit the WestEd table and meet with other education leaders and our staff. Information on WestEd professional services and resources will be available.