Summit 2012 Event Details

March 1, 2012

NewSchools-Aspen Institute Summit 2012, produced in partnership with NBC News’ “Education Nation”

Fifteen Million Children in Poverty: Education Entrepreneurship and America’s Most Urgent Challenge

The NewSchools-Aspen Institute Summit is an invitation-only event featuring top practitioners and thinkers working to transform education in underserved communities. Summit 2012 will begin with evening festivities on May 1, 2012 and continue through the day on May 2.

Registration will be open from 7am-9pm on May 1, and beginning at 6:30am on May 2.

Tuesday May 1, 2012

6pm-8pm Opening Reception, generously hosted by Target

8pm-10:30pm Exclusive screening and discussion of Won’t Back Down

Speakers

Ben Austin, Parent Revolution
Daniel Barnz, Director of Won’t Back Down
Michael Flaherty, Walden Media
April Stout, New Teacher Center
Doreen Diaz, parent

Moderator

Julie Mikuta, NewSchools Venture Fund

10:30pm Late-Night Stand-Up Open-Mike Ed Reform with Rick Hess

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

6am–7am Yoga

For a centering start to your Summit experience, we invite you to join us for a complimentary yoga class Wednesday morning. All levels are welcome and mats will be provided.

6am–7am Early Riser Lounge

Are you an early riser? Or an East Coaster cast as an unwilling early riser? The Early Riser Lounge will provide you juice, coffee, newspapers, news radio, and a feeling of home.

7am–8am Breakfast

7am–8am Buddies Welcome Breakfast

A special breakfast for those participating in the buddy system. A great opportunity for Summit first-timers to meet their buddies in person and connect with others.

8am–9:30am Opening Session

Welcome and Opening Remarks

Speakers

Ted Mitchell, NewSchools Venture Fund
Jonathan Schorr, NewSchools Venture Fund
Laysha Ward, Target

Is the Movement Moving Fast Enough?
Amid a struggling economy and rising numbers of children in poverty, we ask: Is the movement where it expected to be in 2012? An appraisal of the progress of education entrepreneurs to date and a call to action.

Speakers

Howard Fuller, Institute for the Transformation of Learning at Marquette University

Moderator

Jonathan Schorr, NewSchools Venture Fund

Respondents

Norman Atkins, Relay Graduate School of Education
Kaya Henderson, District of Columbia Public Schools
Jonah Edelman, Stand for Children
Roy Gilbert, Grockit
David Domenici, Center for Educational Excellence in Alternative Settings

10:00am–11:00am Breakout 1

Out of the Hothouse: From Top Charters to Big Districts
Roland Fryer’s Apollo 20 project is working to translate charter practices into district successes in Houston, and it’s demonstrating exciting early results. What’s happening there, and can it work elsewhere?

Speakers

Roland Fryer, Harvard University, Education Innovation Laboratory
Tom Boasberg, Denver Public Schools

Moderator

Carlos Watson, Goldman Sachs

Teachers Talk…About Reform
Critics say current reforms, which emphasize data-driven accountability, amount to blaming teachers. Advocates say reform empowers teachers. What do actual teachers think? Participants will hear from teachers from a variety of backgrounds on these topics and will have a chance to get their questions answered.

Speakers

Brooke Buerkle, Relay Graduate School of Education
April Stout, New Teacher Center
Marisol Castillo, E.L. Haynes Public Charter School
Tilney Wickersham, Alice Deal Middle School
Jordan Wise, Education for Change

Moderator

Ellen Moir, New Teacher Center

Fun and Games — and Real Learning: Game-based Learning in the Classroom
Entrepreneurs are bringing the look and feel of digital games to classroom learning to enhance student engagement. Can games raise engagement and achievement, or are they a distraction to purposeful reform? This session will bring together teachers, game creators and investors to talk about opportunities for games to generate real learning outcomes and the realities of trying to integrate games into a classroom environment.

Speakers

Jessica Millstone, Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop
Michael Levine, Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop
Aylon Samouha, Rocketship Education
Michael Angst, E-Line Media
Robert Torres, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
John Richards, Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop

Moderator

Virginia Edwards, Education Week

Design Thinking for Policy Change
Federal education policy is stuck in gridlock, and our basic method of crafting policy seems obsolete. How might design thinking illuminate our approach to creating policy to reorient our focus on solutions? This session will begin with an introduction to the design-thinking process by IDEO. Participants will apply design thinking to a particular education policy challenge involving technology.

Speakers

Sandy Speicher, IDEO
Hailey Brewer, IDEO
Ben Riley, NewSchools Venture Fund

Facilitators

Michael Petrilli, The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation
John Bailey, Whiteboard Advisors
Chris Cerf, New Jersey Department of Education
Jon Schnur, America Achieves
Ellen Winn, 50CAN: The 50-State Campaign for Achievement Now
Joy Silvern, United States Senate

Resources

Can Blended Learning and “No Excuses” Coexist?
Blended learning—where face-to-face and online learning intermingle—is emerging as a promising approach to personalizing instruction. Yet many successful “no excuses” schools view blended learning with skepticism. Can the proven strengths of “No Excuses” live happily with the potential for new technologies to enable differentiated instruction and self-directed learning?

Speakers

Doug McCurry, Achievement First
Liz Arney, Aspire Public Schools
Alex Hernandez, Charter School Growth Fund

Moderator

Stacey Childress, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Coffee Talk: Transformational Teachers
Join Teach For America’s Chief Knowledge Officer, Steven Farr, in a dialogue about TFA’s exploration of makings and marks of transformational teachers — those who not only alter their students’ academic trajectory, but position them for a different path in life.

Speaker

Steven Farr, Teach For America

11:30am–12:30pm Breakout 2

Disruption and the Public Good
Entrepreneurs have brought disruptive innovation not just to private enterprise, but to areas of public good, from energy to medicine, with major benefits to the public. Yet education has been slow to learn from the work of entrepreneurs in other sectors. Extraordinary entrepreneurs focused on key areas of public good—health care, green energy, and food and nutrition—will share their stories, lessons, and advice.

Speakers

Rushika Fernandopulle, Iora Health
Danny Kennedy, Sungevity
Kristin Groos Richmond, Revolution Foods

Moderator

Kim Smith, Bellwether Education Partners

The Achievement Gap: Is there an App for That? Generously sponsored by Target
The education technology market is developing rapidly and education entrepreneurs, frustrated by the fragmented, regulated K-12 institutional market environment, are devising new ways to spread their innovations, through freemium, viral products that reach teachers and even parents directly. What will these changes mean, and are they good for underserved students?

Speakers

Sam Chaudhary, Class Dojo
Tim Brady, Imagine K12
Gwen Baker, Bellwether Education Partners
John Danner, Rocketship Education

Moderator

Dave Goldberg, SurveyMonkey

Resources

- When Technologies Collide: Consumer, K-12 and Higher Ed, by MindShift

At the Core of the Common Core
The Common Core State Standards aim to change everything—and for innovators and entrepreneurs, they may. With the simultaneous implementation of the Common Core State Standards in 46 states and DC, there is the potential for a truly national market. But how will the Common Core actually affect the classroom? A key author of the Common Core State Standards will lead an immersion experience.

Speakers

David Coleman, Student Achievement Partners

Moderator

Ross Wiener, The Aspen Institute

Building Better New Teachers: How to Start a Teacher Prep Program
More and more, charter organizations and districts are training their own teachers—and a handful have started full-fledged ed schools. What does excellent teacher training look like? In a rapid-fire Q&A full of both substantive information and levity, participants will hear from pioneers in this field on creating and running a teacher preparation program.

Speakers

Heather Kirkpatrick, Aspire Public Schools
Michael Goldstein, MATCH Education
Brent Maddin, Relay Graduate School of Education

Moderator

Brian Sims, Academy for Urban School Leadership

Coffee Talk: Education Entrepreneurs without Borders
Education entrepreneurship and venture philanthropy are going international. A conversation between an entrepreneur and a philanthropist who share beliefs and span borders.

Speakers

Allison Rouse, EdVillage
Ashish Dhawan, Teach For India

12:30pm–2pm Lunch

1pm-2pm

Race to the Top: Out of the Starting Gate, but Any Closer to the Finish Line?
Race to the Top spurred a flurry of policy enactments and other ambitious reform commitments. Entrepreneurial organizations feature prominently in many of these reforms. Two years into this endeavor, what have we learned? What are the most promising developments, and where is the work off-course or struggling? What have entrepreneurial organizations learned about working “inside” the system, and how should they approach Race to the Top Round 3?

Speakers

Joanne Weiss, U.S. Department of Education
Mitch Chester, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Jean Desravines, New Leaders

Respondents

Chris Cerf, New Jersey Department of Education
Michael Petrilli, The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation

Moderator

Rehema Ellis, NBC News

2pm–3pm Breakout 3

The View from the Other Side: Entrepreneurs Running Systems
A wave of leaders from entrepreneurial organizations has moved to head up large traditional systems. Now that they are there, how their views changed, and how do they see innovative organizations fitting into their reform agenda? What do they wish outside organizations would do now that they are on the other side?

Speakers

Cami Anderson, Newark Public Schools
Kaya Henderson, District of Columbia Public Schools
Chris Barbic, Achievement School District, Tennessee

Moderator

Jim Blew, The Walton Family Foundation

Big Data: Will It Change Everything? This session generously sponsored by Pearson
“Big Data” is the hot topic in the worlds of high-tech and business, and a major force in our daily lives — “a new class of economic asset, like currency or gold,” according to the New York Times. Education data lags, with non-comparable grades and once-a-year standardized tests. But massive growth of digital data in education is coming. What will it mean, and how can we leverage it for the benefit of low-income students?

Speakers

Jose Ferreira, Knewton
Steve Schoettler, Junyo
DJ Patil, Greylock Partners
John Behrens, Pearson

Moderator

Karen Cator, Office of Educational Technology, U.S. Department of Education

Teaching in the Digital Age This session generously sponsored by Target
Over the coming years, teachers will have access to a rapidly widening array of technology tools that help to personalize learning for students. However, the impact of these tools on student learning will depend in large part on the instructional skills of teachers. How does the role of the teacher change in classrooms infused with technology?

Speakers

Barbara Shaw, A.L. Holmes Elementary School
Wendy Chaves, Alliance Technology and Math Science High School
Robert Pronovost, Belle Haven Elementary School
Missy Vu, Rocketship Los Sueños Academy
Tina Krekoukis, IS 228 / School of One

Moderator

Eric Westendorf, LearnZillion

Teachers, Principals, Faraway Places: Rural Innovation
Rural education reformers face unique challenges finding teachers and principals due to isolation and low public funding. These constraints have bred innovative solutions to teacher recruitment, instructional delivery, and professional development. A group of top rural education leaders will explore innovative solutions to the challenge.

Speakers

Scott Shirey, KIPP Delta
Tom Torkelson, IDEA Public Schools
Clay Whitehead, PresenceLearning
Alyson Mike, New Teacher Center

Moderator

Michael Tipton, Teach For America, Southern Louisiana Region

Coffee Talk: Using Storytelling to Communicate your School’s Vision and Impact
In a hands-on workshop with the photo-video artists behind the “In Their Own Words” display at Summit, learn how to tell engaging, authentic, emotional stories about students and school. They will work you through their step-by-step process.

Speakers

Annie Escobar, ListenIn Pictures
Ethan Goldwater, ListenIn Pictures

3:30pm–4:30pm Breakout 4

W(h)ither Federal Education Policy?
A conversation between key leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties on the federal role in education, the future of No Child Left Behind, and how the 2012 election will affect education reform.

Speakers

Senator Michael Bennet
Secretary Margaret Spellings, Margaret Spellings & Company

Moderator

Rehema Ellis, NBC News

Got Grit?: Psychological interventions that close achievement gaps
Many students who seem academically prepared fail to persist toward a college degree. For some, that’s because they lack the mindsets or skills for success in their new educational environments. Fortunately, relatively brief experiences that change students’ psychology can lead to reductions in achievement gaps even years later. Discussion will focus on insights from the psychology of student resilience and taking these interventions to scale.

Speakers

David Yeager, University of Texas at Austin
Gregory Walton, Stanford University
Donald Kamentz, YES Prep Public Schools
Laura Keane, Mastery Charter Schools

Kickstarting Innovation for English Language Learners and Special Education Students
Schools face unique challenges in serving English Language Learners and students with special needs, but few entrepreneurs have taken on the complexities of serving these special populations. This session will confront the achievement gaps that exist within ELL and special education student populations. Participants will transition to working groups with entrepreneurs and school leaders to devise action steps.

Speakers

Daniel Yoo, Goalbook
Teddy Rice, Ellevation
Jack Lynch, PresenceLearning
Richard Nyankori, Insight Education Group
Kenji Hakuta, Stanford University
Cami Anderson, Newark Public Schools
Jordan Meranus, NewSchools Venture Fund
Dustine Borges, Fowler Unified School District

Coffee Talk: Beyond College Readiness: Preparing Successful College Graduates
Just as K-12 educators focus on empowering students to excel to and through college, so too must higher education leaders focus on facilitating success through and beyond college. What else might K-12 educators and their advocates do to cultivate the knowledge, skills and mindsets our students need for college persistence and success? How can the higher education community better leverage these qualities to launch first-generation college students into lives of greatness? How might we all work together? Learn how one college currently engages these questions.

Speaker

Daniel Porterfield, Franklin & Marshall College

Resource

Top Colleges Can Help Transform Education, Daniel R. Porterfield

Life’s a Pitch!
Early on in an edtech startup’s life, there are three critical “decision makers” that have the ability to directly impact the long-term viability of a company: 1) venture capitalist (the funder); 2) the teacher (the customer); and 3) the district administrator (the purchaser). Join us as we observe how three entrepreneurs from the Imagine K12 cohort pitch in front of these three important constituents. Participants will leave with a more nuanced understanding of how these three groups make decisions.

Speakers

Shawn Carolan, Menlo Ventures
Hae-Sin Thomas, Education for Change Public Schools,
Tim Cawley, Chicago Public Schools
Alan Louie, Imagine K12
Michael West, Socrative
Kirill Kireyev, Instagrok
Jan Zawadzki, Hapara

Moderator

Wayee Chu, NewSchools Venture Fund

4:45pm–6pm Closing Plenary

What are the prospects for change that will benefit the education of America’s 15 million low-income children? Rahm Emanuel’s vantage points have included Capitol Hill, the White House, and now, Chicago’s City Hall. In this closing session, he offers a view into the future of reform.

Speakers

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, City of Chicago
Laurene Powell Jobs, Emerson Collective and NewSchools Venture Fund board member
Ted Mitchell, NewSchools Venture Fund

6pm-7:00pm Closing Reception

Ongoing

Please Touch the Technology
This interactive exhibit allows participants to explore and play with current innovations in education technology. It includes tools and content for some of the most challenging problems: tools for special education students, examples of blended learning classrooms in action, data dashboards, and college readiness supports, along with promising learning games.

“In Their Own Words”
An exhibit of the faces and stories of the students we are serving, created by ListenIn Pictures

All-Day Networking
A networking lounge will remain open with coffee and snacks all day. The Band Room is a great place to coordinate with those you know, or meet someone new.

Summit Sponsors

We are deeply grateful to the generous sponsors who are helping make Summit 2012 possible.