12 Sessions We Want to See at SXSW EDU 2022

Every year, SXSW EDU brings together educators and leaders for a conference that asks critical questions, provides practical solutions, and creates space for important conversations in education.

Through August 26, you can vote for the sessions you’d like to see at SXSW EDU 2022 in March 2022 in Austin, Texas. The results of the community voting account for 30% of the selection decision.

Turnaround is organizing a panel that will explore an asset-based approach to measuring student wellbeing and share stories of whole-child design from schools in our participatory action research network. And Christina Theokas, our Chief Applied Science Officer, is participating on a panel on whole-school wellbeing.

But don’t just vote for us! There are 12 other sessions about whole-child design and educational equity from our partners that we’re voting for and that we’d love to see at SXSW EDU 2022:

12 Sessions We Want to See at SXSW EDU 2022

1 BEYOND CRT: CREATING EQUITABLE MODELS FOR LEARNING

Join Zaretta Hammond for this session that will go beyond the headlines to envision a truly equitable education system.

Speakers

• Zaretta Hammond, Author/Advocate, CRT and the Brain
• Tanji Reed Marshall, Director of P-12 Practice, The Education Trust
• Jilliam Joe, VP Learning Insights, LEAP Innovations
• Alia Wong, Journalist, USA Today

2 SUBVERTING THE RACIST TRAP OF SEL

This panel investigates how social-emotional learning negatively impacts students of color and offers alternative ways educators can create humanizing, transformative, and liberatory learning spaces.

Speakers

• Dena Simmons, Founder, LiberatED
• Stephanie Cariaga, Founder / Assistant Professor, People’s Education Conference / California State University, Dominguez Hills.
• Thea Renda Abu El-Haj, Professor, Barnard College, Columbia University
• Jennifer Keys Adair, Associate Professor / Founder & Director, The University of Texas at Austin / Agency and Young Children Research Collective

3 ACADEMICS VS. WELL-BEING: WE DON’T HAVE TO CHOOSE

Join this session to learn how fostering wellbeing and resilience can support academic achievement and hear directly from schools doing the work.

Speakers:

• Brooke Stafford-Brizard, Vice President, Research to Practice, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
• Joyce Dorado, Director, UCSF HEARTS
• Nancy Gutiérrez, President & CEO, The Leadership Academy
• Stacey Perez, Principal, Classical Academy

4 SCHOOL’S OUT, IMMERSIVE LEARNING IS IN

This session will share the stories of independent high schools in Los Angeles that allow students to be co-creators of their learning experience.

Speakers:

• Jen Wei, Vice President of Global Communications, Belkin
• Tom Vander Ark, CEO + Partner, Getting Smart
• Eevee Mendez May, Student, Portal School
• Samantha Kelly, Reporter, CNN

5 THE POWER OF RELATIONSHIPS TO FOSTER RACIAL EQUITY

This session will center on the importance of trusting relationships to help all students succeed academically and lead healthy, happy, and productive lives.

Speakers

• Jared Joiner, Director of Educational Practice, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
• Cecilia Saddler, Director of Practice, Search Institute
• Stacey Perez, Principal, Classical Academies
• Mark Murphy, Founder & CEO, GripTape

6 POLICIES TO SUPPORT THE WHOLE CHILD POST-COVID

Join this session to learn about the laws and regulations that govern how schools support issues of physical and mental health and safety and hear about strategies to support the whole child going forward.

Speakers

• Deborah Temkin, Vice President, Youth Development & Education Research, Child Trends
• Kristen Harper, Director of Policy and Outreach, Child Trends
• Anne Bowles, Program Director, Student Centered Learning, Council of Chief State School Officers
• Megan Blanco, Director of Safe and Healthy Schools, National Association of State Boards of Education

7 COLLABORATING POST-COVID TO SERVE THE WHOLE CHILD

Learn from a multi-million-dollar Chicago effort on how to best support all students following the significant disruptions caused by COVID.

Speakers:

• Delece Smith-Barrow, Education editor, Politico
• Jesse Ilhardt, Co-founder and Executive Director, VOCEL
• Beth Swanson, CEO, A Better Chicago
• James Comer, Maurice Falk Professor in the Child Study Center and Associate Dean, Yale University School of Medicine

8 BUILDING A HUMAN-CENTERED EDUCATION SYSTEM

Examine the worldview shift that created our current education system and its connection to the racial, social, and economic injustice that America confronts today and explore what a human-centered education system could look like.

Speaker:

• Ulcca Joshi Hansen, Chief Program Officer, Grantmakers for Education

9 ELEVATE STUDENT VOICES THROUGH ANONYMOUS FEEDBACK

Learn how an evidence-based tool helps to systematically build an equitable, student-centered culture that inspires and supports student success.

Speaker:

• Mitzi Iniguez, Partner Success Manager, PERTS

10 LEARNING UNBOUND: CONNECTING K12 TO THE REAL WORLD

This panel looks at why educators should and how educators can connect learning to real-world opportunities to help students succeed in life and address issues of economic mobility.

Speakers:

• Caitline Codella Low, Vice President, Policy and Programs, US Chamber of Commerce Foundation
• Mahnaz Charania, Senior Education Research Fellow, Christensen Institute
• Phyllis Lockett, CEO, LEAP Innovations
• Evo Popoff, Senior Vice President, Whiteboard Advisors

11 EVERY KID IS A MATH KID: MAKING MATH INCLUSIVE

This panel challenges the narrative that kids are either math kids or math just isn’t for them. Learn strategies to help all kids feel like they belong in math.

Speaker:

• Shalinee Sharma, Chief Executive Officer, Zearn

12 ELEVATING THE VOICES OF OUR FUTURE INNOVATORS

This session features young people talking about their experiences in science, math, and technology and tools that you can use to implement the lessons shared.

Speakers:

• Talia Milgrom-Elcott, Executive Director and Co-Founder, 100kin10
• LaVerne Srinivasan, Vice President, National Program, Program Director, Education, Carnegie Corporation of New York
• Student First Name Placeholder Student Last Name Placeholder, Student Storyteller, TBD