MARCH 19, 2026 | 7.45AM - 2:45PM
Bristol Events Center, 112 Century Drive, Bristol, CT
ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
An all-day event with keynote speakers and breakout sessions providing attendees an opportunity to learn about the latest in transformational learning, network with others, and engage in discussions.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
DAN HEATH
Dan Heath is the #1 New York Times bestselling co-author (or author) of six beloved business books: Switch, Made to Stick, Decisive, The Power of Moments, Upstream, and his latest book, Reset, which debuted in January 2025.
His books have been translated into 35 languages and have sold over 4 million copies worldwide. His writing honors include: One of the best nonfiction books of the year, according to Amazon. One of the best audiobooks of the year, according to Apple. And the Owl Award for Best Business Book of the Year.
Dan also hosts a Top 5 Apple Careers podcast called: “What It’s Like to Be…” In every episode, he interviews someone from a different profession: a couples therapist, a homicide detective, a cattle rancher, and more.
He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from the University of Texas at Austin.
He lives now in Durham, North Carolina.
MARC BRACKETT, PH.D., Founding Director, Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence
Marc Brackett, Ph.D., is founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and a professor in the Child Study Center at Yale University. He is the author of two bestselling books—Permission to Feel, now in 30 languages, and, most recently, Dealing with Feeling, also the title of his podcast. Marc is the lead developer of RULER, an evidence-based system for cultivating emotional intelligence used in more than 5,000 schools worldwide. He also has authored over 200 scholarly publications, headlined more than 700 conferences, advises Fortune 500 companies, and co-created the award-winning How We Feel app.
KAREN NIEMI, Executive Director, Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence
Karen Niemi is Executive Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. A longtime leader in social and emotional learning, she previously served as President and CEO of CASEL, where she helped elevate SEL as a central driver of education improvement and expanded the organization’s partnerships, strategy, and operational capacity. Across her career, Karen has led education and SEL-focused enterprises, advised districts and nonprofits, and supported initiatives that strengthen both impact and sustainability. She is known for building collaborative efforts that move from vision to implementation at scale.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
view/download schedule of events
7:45AM - 8:30AM — REGISTRATION • BREAKFAST
Event Center Foyer and Century Ballroom
8:30AM - 8:45AM — WELCOME
Event Center - Century Ballroom
Steve Rioux, CAPSS President
Fran Rabinowitz, CAPSS Executive Director
Charlene Russell-Tucker, Commissioner CT State Department of Education
8:45AM - 9:45AM — KEYNOTE ADDRESS by Dan Heath
Event Center - Century Ballroom
Reset: How to Change What's Not Working
Changing how we work can feel overwhelming. Like trying to budge an enormous boulder. How do you move past “the way you’ve always done things”? Where do you find the time and energy for new efforts when you’re constantly fighting fires? With the right strategy, we can move the boulder. The secret is to find “leverage points”: places where a little bit of effort can yield a disproportionate return. And that search requires us to observe our work with fresh eyes. We’ll explore why getting “buy-in” is the wrong way to think about change. Why considering the “goal of the goal” is a critical discipline. And why the feeling of progress can be your secret weapon in accelerating change. In this talk, drawing from his book RESET, Heath unpacks a simple framework for getting unstuck and making the changes that matter. What if we could unlock forward movement without the need for more resources? The same people, the same assets … but dramatically better results. Yesterday, we were stuck. Today, we reset.
Dan Heath is the #1 New York Times bestselling co-author (or author) of six beloved business books: Switch, Made to Stick, Decisive, The Power of Moments, Upstream, and his latest book, RESET, which debuted in January 2025. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from the University of Texas at Austin.
9:45AM - 10:15AM — Book signing with Dan Heath
Event Center Registration Area
10:00AM - 12:00PM — SECTION A & B BREAKOUT SESSIONS
(Please note that this is a double session)
Building Public Trust Amid Political Complexity
Summit Room Home2
Caitlin Sullivan
Leading Now CEO & Co-Founder
Anisa Sullivan Jimenez
Leading Now Managing Director of Programming & Communications
This session equips leaders with practical tools for navigating today’s political landscape while building trust at scale. Participants will reflect on their core values, explore how to weigh strategic political concessions, strengthen collaboration with their boards, and use storytelling to engage their communities.
10:00AM - 11:00AM — SECTION A BREAKOUT SESSIONS
Becoming a Leader of Influence
Golden Room DoubleTree
Ainsley Rose, President, Thistle Educational Development Inc.
In today’s demanding educational landscape, positional authority is no longer enough. Leaders who have true impact are those who cultivate “influence”—rooted in trust, clarity, connection, and the ability to inspire purposeful action. Based on Ainsley Rose’s forthcoming book “Becoming a Leader of Influence”, this session explores a practical, human-centered framework for school and district leaders who want to elevate their leadership beyond management and into meaningful transformation of people in the organization.
Ainsley B. Rose is an author, consultant, keynote presenter, Senior Leadership Coach and former director of education for the Western Quebec School Board.
Rigor by Design, Not Chance: Supporting Deeper Thinking for Every Student Through Actionable Instruction
English Room DoubleTree
Karin Hess, Author, President of Educational Research in Action
Today, we expect every student to be ready for the challenges of the 21st century – to learn more, to master new technologies, to understand more deeply, and to transfer what they’ve learned to real-world contexts. Integrating 5 evidence-based “teacher moves” in an Actionable Assessment Cycle can build a supportive classroom culture for deeper thinking and self-directed learning. Karin will define “actionable assessment” and provide examples for lesson planning in any classroom within an actionable assessment cycle.
AI and the Heart of Service: How School and District Teams Can Do More of What Matters
Niznik Lecture Room
Matt Mervis, Director, Skills21 & AI Strategy at EdAdvance
In a school district, “customer service” is about more than answering phones or solving problems on the spot. It is HR helping staff navigate benefits, finance making it easier to manage budgets, and IT keeping people up and running. It is also how school and district teams support increasingly diverse communities who all hope for exceptional and personalized service.
In this keynote, Matt Mervis will break down what generative AI really is in plain language, why it matters for delivering great service inside and outside schools, and what to watch for as it becomes part of daily work. Drawing on his experience leading service center innovations, Matt will share practical examples, spark ideas, and show how AI can take routine work off your plate so you can focus on the moments that matter most. The session will be fast-paced, engaging, and packed with takeaways you can use right away.
Growing Leadership Through Impactful Learning
Paragon Room Home2
Lauryn Fullerton, Professional Learning Designer and Coach on WestEd's Educational Leadership and System Design Team
In times of complexity and change, educational leaders need space to pause, connect, and reimagine what impactful leadership looks like. This interactive session invites participants to explore how to grow leadership, both individually and collectively, through reflection and dialogue. Grounded in WestEd’s Leadership Playbook framework, leaders will hear from a district leader who has engaged in this work, sharing their motivations for joining, what they learned, and how it impacted their leadership’s culture and capacity. Participants will leave with insights and tools to strengthen collaboration and support learning for their leaders.
What District Leaders Need to Know About Improving Outcomes for Students with Disabilities in a Cost Effective Manner
White Room Double Tree
Nate Levenson, President, New Solutions K-12
The pandemic caused much learning loss for all students and especial for students with disabilities. As ESSER dollars went away, the learning gaps remained. This session will share three common sense, yet not commonplace, strategies for catching students up academically without requiring more funding. Pre-pandemic, this approach helped close the general education – special education achievement gap by 40 points in some districts and drove 2 years of growth in a year in others. The goal is to provide practical, actionable advice to leaders that will help them work smarter, not harder.
Learn:
- What actually raises achievement for students with disabilities?
- How to ensure students with disabilities receive high quality core instruction?
- Why extra time to learn will be critical?
- Why best practices cost less than many common practices
- What two common strategies might hurt more than help?
This interactive session will help district leaders help their students overcome learning loss without additional spending.
Nate Levenson is president of New Solutions K-12. He is the author of Six Shifts to Improve Special Education and Other Interventions, published by Harvard Education Press.
11:15AM - 12:15PM — SECTION B BREAKOUT SESSIONS
Making Learning Visible — What Professor John Hattie’s Evidence Research Tells Us About High-Impact Leadership and Learning.
Golden Room DoubleTree
Ainsley Rose, President, Thistle Educational Development Inc.
Professor John Hattie’s decades of meta-analytic research—spanning over 300 million students worldwide—continues to reshape our understanding of what truly accelerates student learning. But what does this evidence mean for superintendents leading complex systems? This session translates Hattie’s most relevant findings into strategic leadership actions that can strengthen teaching, learning, and district-wide coherence.
In this session, Ainsley Rose distills key insights on impact, collective efficacy, feedback cultures, and instructional clarity.
Ainsley B. Rose is an author, consultant, keynote presenter, Senior Leadership Coach and former director of education for the Western Quebec School Board.
Tools for Developing Rigorous and Accessible Assessments
English Room DoubleTree
Karin Hess, Ed.D., Author, President of Educational Research in Action
In this session, we examine ways to increase DOK levels of current assessments by analyzing multiple content and grade-level examples. Purposes and uses for common success criteria and protocols for student work analysis will be practiced. Educators will use practical tools to analyze formative assessments and collaboratively draft performance-based assessments (scenario, task, or problem-based learning project).
Five Strategic Focus Areas for School and District Leaders
Niznik Lecture Room
Matt Mervis, Director, Skills21 & AI Strategy at EdAdvance
In this session, we’ll unpack five strategic focus areas to help school and district leaders integrate AI effectively. We’ll cover aligning technology with pedagogy, establishing robust policies, and preparing staff and students for the future.
Focus Areas:
- Platform and Pedagogy Alignment: Choose AI platforms that support both learning and assessment goals.
- Guidance and Policy: This includes three parts.
- Teacher and Student Guidance: Provide guidance on AI use, including grading, feedback, academic integrity, and the use of agentic browsers.
- Board Policy: Establish policies to address risks, such as AI companions and mandated reporting.
- Strategic Planning Alignment: Ensure AI impacts align with district strategic plans.
- Workforce and Labor Market Adaptation: Prepare students with AI literacy and key skills like managing ambiguity and adaptability.
- Managing Change: Implement AI initiatives at a sustainable pace. Emphasize communication and support to help staff and students adapt smoothly.
- Operational and Administrative Considerations: Optimize workflows and handle complex areas like special education and MTSS.
By the end of this session, school and district leaders will have an updated roadmap for integrating AI strategically across their educational environments.
Strengthening School and District Leadership Systems with the Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement
Paragon Room Home2
Dr. Jessica (Gray) Coles, School Improvement Specialist with WestEd's Quality Schools and Districts Team
Improvement accelerates when school and district leaders anchor their work in clear, coherent systems. This session will show how the Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement, paired with continuous improvement cycles and leadership-focused tools, can build principal and district capacity, strengthen leadership coherence, and align improvement work across culture, instruction, and talent. Drawing on lessons from district partnerships in Connecticut and California, this session will demonstrate how structured data cycles, root-cause analysis, and distributed leadership models help schools and districts move beyond compliance, identify high-leverage actions, and sustain meaningful improvement.
What Can District Leaders Do to Address Challenging Behaviors?
White Room Double Tree
Nate Levenson, President, New Solutions K-12
Before the pandemic, too many students struggled to manage and self-regulate their behavior. The disruptions and trauma of the pandemic have only increased these challenges by creating expanded behavior and mental health needs. This in turn has raised teacher stress and burnout to unprecedented levels and undermines their ability to teach and students to learn.
Some schools have reduced problematic behaviors by 80%, whiles see the numbers only increase. This session will share the key strategies utilized by school systems that have managed to greatly reduce the frequency and disruption of problematic behaviors.
Learn:
- How the right skills matter more than lots of staff?
- Why the most challenging students need a different approach than most other students
- How to dramatically expand mental health counseling without increasing spending
- What are the most common missteps to avoid.
This interactive session will help district leaders map a plan to address the most challenging behaviors in their schools.
Nate Levenson is president of New Solutions K-12. He is the author of Six Shifts to Improve Special Education and Other Interventions, published by Harvard Education Press.
12:30PM - 1:15PM — LUNCHEON
Event Center - Century Ballroom
1:15PM - 2:15PM — KEYNOTE ADDRESS by Marc Brackett and Karen Niemi
Creating an Emotion Revolution in Connecticut
Event Center - Century Ballroom
Dr. Marc Brackett and Karen Niemi (Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence) will deliver a high-impact keynote on the leadership skill that promotes psychological safety and enables systemic change: emotion regulation. Grounded in decades of research and the realities of district leadership, the session shows how emotions shape decision-making, trust, communication, and school climate—and why self- and co-regulation are essential for effective leadership. Participants will leave with practical, evidence-based strategies to build districtwide conditions that support staff well-being and student outcomes, including higher engagement and attendance, stronger learning, and healthier climates.
2:15PM - 2:45PM — Book signing with Marc Brackett
Event Center - Century Ballroom