Join WestEd at the 2025 National ESEA Conference on February 19–21, 2025, at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas, and virtually!
The theme of this year’s conference is Focus on Improvement! This theme serves as a valuable reminder to prioritize the continuous improvement efforts and meet the needs of students who are disadvantaged and traditionally under served.
Aligned to this the conference theme, WestEd and co-presenters from the National Rural Education Association, Texas Education Agency, and state and local education agencies will lead workshops and lecture sessions that focus on such key issues as
- Amplifying mathematics participation among English Learners
- Fostering teacher efficacy through instructional leadership practices
- Expanding access to dual language immersion
- Optimizing Federal grants implementation
- Advancing equity in rural education through research and practice
- Leveraging school Medicaid to strengthen ESEA and IDEA programs
- Prioritizing the identity of Native Students in school turnaround
- Advancing school improvement before the school year ends
Add WestEd’s in-person and virtual sessions (see below) to your calendar and visit our booth #312 and #314 to meet our team and to learn about our resources, professional development opportunities, and research.
Wednesday, February 19, 2025
Hybrid Workshop Session: Reimagining and Amplifying Math Participation, Understanding and Practices for English Learners
Time: 11:30–12:30pm Central
Location: Ballroom F
Presenter: Haiwen Chu (WestEd)
Middle schoolers who are entering high school need challenging opportunities to learn mathematics that are also well supported. For students bureaucratically designated as “English Learners” in particular, these ambitious opportunities need to offer support to develop language to describe, prove, and explain to connect school mathematics to lived experiences. A focus on cross-cutting concepts, such as equivalence and transformation, further has the promise to connect algebra, geometry, and statistics. In this workshop, we offer opportunities that challenge and support students while presenting findings from three summers’ trials and studies. The activities were part of the Reimagining and Amplifying Mathematics Participation, Understanding, and Practices. We offer causal evidence that the intervention has a positive impact on students’ mathematics achievement, while providing rich qualitative descriptions of students complex thinking, language development, and growth over time.
Hybrid Workshop Session: Fostering Teacher Efficacy Through Intentional Instructional Leadership Practices
Time: 11:45am–12:45pm Central
Location: Room 12AB
Presenters: Dede Heimbigner (Diamond View Middle School/Susanville School District), Jason Waddell (Susanville School District), Tamara Hall (WestEd), and Susan Levenson (WestEd)
In response to radical changes in the socio-economic health of the community in recent years, students at Diamond View Middle School in the Susanville School District have increasingly experienced trauma and poverty, which surfaced as chronic absenteeism, lowered academic achievement, and higher rates of suspension. Instead of responding reactively to these challenges, the District became proactive, instituting powerful levers of change including frequent classroom walkthroughs, thoughtful and aligned professional learning offerings, results-oriented coaching conversations, social emotional supports, data-informed planning, and a teacher-led and classroom-centered action plan that resulted in Diamond View Middle School’s 2024 designation as a California School of Distinction. Join us to learn from Susanville’s unique success, and to gather specific strategies you can bring to your own site.
Hybrid Lecture: Supporting Expansion and Equitable Access to Dual Language Immersion—Lessons from States
Time: 2:45–3:45pm Central
Location: Ballroom F
Presenters: Allison Balter (Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education), Karl H. Bowman (Utah State Board of Education), Elisa Alvarez (New York State Education Department), and Kate Wright (WestEd)
There are numerous documented benefits for English learners who are multilingual and biliterate, leading many states to focus on expanding their multilingual or dual language immersion (DLI) programs. However, such expansions come with challenges including shortages of bilingual educators, identifying appropriate curricula and assessments, and ensuring equitable access for English Learner students. With a focus on improvement, presenters will share findings and best practices for those aiming to enhance and expand access to DLI programs in their context. WestEd will share findings from a research scan focused on what we know about DLI implementation and how well this research reflects the national context. State leaders from Massachusetts, New York, and Utah will share lessons learned from their state’s efforts to expand access to DLI programs, including examples of challenges and successes at local educational agencies and schools.
Hybrid Workshop Session: Flip the Mindset: Implementing High Expectations for a Once Low-Performing School
Time: 2:45–3:45pm Central
Location: Room 16AB
Presenters: Stephanie Davis (WestEd) and Amy Hartjen (WestEd)
Presenters will share the background of a once low performing school who became a model of school improvement through a tight focus on high expectations for all students and three essential practices – changing school culture with systems of school-wide expectations, using high leverage instructional practices within a multi-tiered system of support, and using data effectively to focus on individual student growth. Outcomes include: an understanding of three essential practices. a structure for difficult conversations. an action plan template to bring back to their team. a critical view that all students deserve equity of access to these practices. The presentation will include multiple opportunities for collaborative activities including a variety of partner share structures and a give one, take one strategy to elicit further feedback from colleagues. They will receive a jot sheet to take notes, reflect, and plan for implementation in their own buildings.
Hybrid Lecture: Optimizing Federal Grants Implementation – A Case Study of New Mexico
Time: 4:15–5:15pm Central
Location: Ballroom F
Presenters: Rob Salley (WestEd), Kenneth Stowe (New Mexico Public Education Department), and April Chavez (WestEd)
During this session participants will learn about the major opportunities the New Mexico Public Education Department utilized to improve the implementation of federal programs to make drive the way the SEA supports statewide and local implementation of ESEA programs. Key topics include reducing administrative burden through streamlined processes, monitoring and Federal compliance, serving all students including a focus on student subgroups, and building robust technical assistance models. Key initiatives highlighted in the session will include:
- Creating a unified federal funding application to reduce burden
- Collaboration with the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education to correct over 60 findings of non-compliance
- Creating a cross-cutting compliance monitoring team to ensure robust programmatic/fiscal oversight for subrecipients
- Collaboration with technical assistance partners to extend our impact.
Hybrid Lecture: Standardizing Teacher Input for Exiting from EL Status: Challenges & Opportunities
Time: 4:30–5:30pm Central
Location: Room 19AB
Presenters: Julie Lara (Texas Education Agency), Alesha Moreno-Ramirez (California Department of Education), Lorna Porter (WestEd), and Lilia Tsui (Contra Costa County Office of Education)
ESSA required states to set statewide standardized procedures for entry and exit from English Learner (EL) status. For states that use teacher input as an exit criterion–such as California and Texas, the two states with the largest EL populations–this meant standardizing tools for such input. This session will engage participants in conversation with leaders from CA and TX who have overseen the development and implementation of the Texas Education Agency’s Emergent Bilingual/English Learner Reclassification Rubric Teacher Documentation form and the California Department of Education’s Observation Protocol for Teachers of English Learners (OPTEL). CA and TX SEA leaders will speak, as well as an LEA leader from CA who is overseeing local implementation of the OPTEL, and a federally funded partner supporting the CA SEA. Reflecting the conference theme, the session connects to a national conversation around policies for improving outcomes for historically marginalized students.
Thursday, February 20, 2025
Hybrid Workshop Session: From Margins to Center: Advancing Equity in Rural Education through Research and Practice
Time: 9:45am–10:45am Central
Location: Room 16AB
Presenters: Barbara Jones (WestEd) and Melissa Sadorf (National Rural Education Association)
This workshop shares lessons learned for improving organizational structures, leadership practices, and understanding areas of need in rural education. These lessons are based on a qualitative analysis of discussions and subject-area expert presentations that occurred over four years in a community of practice (CoP) for leaders of state and local education agencies and associations. These data sources draw from presenters’ original research and members’ first-hand experiences in rural communities. They relate to grow-your-own principal pathways, teacher workforce development and diversification strategies, raising and utilizing funds through a consortium model, leveraging community asset mapping in career and technical education, and supporting success for all students.
Virtual Workshop Session: Elevating Education—Strategies for Sustainable School Improvement
Time: 4–5pm Central
Location: Virtual Room 1
Presenters: Bejanae Kareem (WestEd), Ebony Jason (WestEd), Stephen Baker (Selma Middle School), and Heather Gibson (Selma Middle School)
Providing high-quality education resulting in positive outcomes for every student continues to be one of our nation’s loftiest goals. In schools across the country, educators and leaders collaborate to overcome challenges to achieve this goal. Selma Middle School, a rural school in North Carolina, is one such school that has identified key ingredients to school improvement. In sharing Selma’s journey, this presentation offers practical insights and actionable steps for administrators and educators to implement sustainable improvement initiatives tailored to the unique needs of their school.
Hybrid Lecture: Four Ways to Advance School Improvement Before the School Year Ends
Time: 4:15–5:15pm Central
Location: Ballroom E
Presenter: Terry Hofer (WestEd)
The Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement framework implies that something “rapid” can be done to make a difference. In this session, we explore actions that can be done “rapidly” (by the end of this school year) that will set a strong foundation for the path forward. After studying pre- and post-survey data on questions aligned with the Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement, we interviewed leaders who demonstrated “rapid” gains in areas associated with leadership, talent development, instruction and culture. Their words are shared during the presentation, along with step-by-step ideas for putting them into action in your school(s) now, next and later.
Friday, February 21, 2025
Hybrid Workshop Session: Leveraging School Medicaid to Strengthen ESEA and IDEA Programs
Time: 10:45–11:45am Central
Location: Room 12AB
Presenters: Lisa Eisenberg (WestEd) and Jeremy Ford (WestEd)
What does Medicaid have to do with schools? Medicaid provides healthcare coverage to people with low incomes, including children. An often-overlooked aspect of Medicaid is that it can directly reimburse local educational agencies for school-based services. School Medicaid can be an incredibly valuable tool to support state and local efforts to sustain and expand access to school-based health and mental health services, especially those aligned with ESEA and IDEA programs. In this workshop, presenters will introduce basic information about understanding Medicaid in school settings and how it is aligned with education initiatives, such as multi-tiered systems of support and mental health and wellness programs. This workshop will equip state and local education leaders with information to understand the policy landscape around Medicaid in schools and identify strategies to leverage Medicaid funding to strengthen ESEA and IDEA programs.
Hybrid Workshop Session: ‘Ike Pono: Prioritizing the Identity of Native Students in School Turnaround
Time: 12–1pm Central
Location: Room 17AB
Presenters: Maile Naehu (Ka Hale Hoaka, Hui o Kuapā), Jana Chang (Hawaii Department of Education), Giselle Sherry-Marsh (WestEd), and Hanohano Naehu (Hui o Kuapā)
ʻIke Pono, to know what is right, is the root of oneʻs identity. E aloha Akua, aloha ‘āina, aloha ‘ohana, aloha ‘ōlelo, aloha kanaka i na‘auao kākou, ma ka paepae ‘ike mo‘omeheu Hawai‘i. Through our spirituality, love of homeland, family, language and community, our enlightenment will come grounded in our cultural wisdom. (Native Hawaiian Education Act). As schools continue the turnaround process, building a resilient foundation for improvement becomes more intricate, especially for schools in Native Hawaiian communities. The “Focus on Improvement” in this journey, means increasing the level of individualization to further anchor our practices while recognizing the overarching identity of the school community. This session provides deep insight into the work of Hawaiian practitioners whose work with schools and students is grounding education in cultural wisdom.
Hybrid Workshop Session: Equity-Driven Resource Allocation Framework: Blending and Braiding State and Federal Funds
Time: 3–4pm Central
Location: Room 12AB
Presenters: Tia Taylor (WestEd)
Strategic resource allocation is a critical component to ensure equitable outcomes for all students. With the tremendous flexibility state and federal funds offer, we can braid (coordinate) and blend (consolidate) funds to expand the design and delivery of programs and services in new and interesting ways. During this session, we will cover technical components of blending and braiding funds, explore strategies to allocate fiscal resources (funding) that align with the implementation of non-fiscal resources (resources beyond funding) and learn from education leaders about their experience with blending and braiding funds and how these strategies were used to support the alignment of district and school improvement plans.