Deeper Learning 2026

This is for leaders who want to design adult learning experiences that are authentic and rigorous. Just as we strive to design student learning that is engaging and purposeful, we must approach adult learning with the same intentionality - ensuring it is active, relevant, and connected to real-world practice. Professional learning shouldn’t be a one-time event. It should be a strategic process that fosters growth. In this workshop, leaders will explore how to meet the diverse needs of adults in their organizations. Through the study of an exemplar, participants will design a cohesive arc of learning that drives long-term impact. Leaders will then zoom in to a single day of adult learning grounded in cognitive neuroscience. With planning time, peer collaboration, reflection, and practical tools, participants will leave with a plan for structuring adult learning experiences that move beyond the one-and-done model and fosters deep, sustained growth.

Note: This DL session also invites attendees from the National Summit on Improvement in Education to participate. Summit is a gathering and rallying point for a vibrant and diverse community of improvers who are working to create educational systems where all young people learn and thrive. In 2026, we're bringing together the powerful Deeper Learning and Improvement communities through select crossover sessions, culminating in a joint closing keynote. You are invited to dive deeper and make new connections at DL26. Check out our Summit and DL26 comparison to learn more.

Our workshop gives a window into an innovative tri-party collaboration between a school district, university and nonprofit designed to address gaps in access for kids to game-changing opportunities to learn, love and consider futures in STEM fields. The program, called Beyond Possible, is an afterschool community-based dual enrollment program for high school students designed to develop STEM and durable skills and position young people to enter in-demand careers leading to economic mobility.

In this session, participants will walk through the development journey of this partnership, examine data sets to pinpoint crucial issues of equity, engage in community asset mapping to identify strong values-driven collaborations and gain perspective from lessons learned by the partners as they built and adjusted the innovative partnership.  Through the process, participants will have the opportunity to engage with others, apply the thinking protocols to their own challenges and bring curiosity and planning focus to dilemmas of equity in their own contexts.

Moving beyond the rhetoric of "student-centered learning," this interactive workshop provides participants with concrete strategies and frameworks for building sustainable teacher leadership systems that genuinely transform classroom instruction. Through a combination of collaborative reflection, authentic teacher testimonials, School District of South Milwaukee Principal led practical planning sessions, and expert consultation from Brian Delgado of Blue Dot Education, attendees will leave with actionable steps to create learning environments where students consistently engage in problem-solving, collaboration, and communication while mastering both academic and social-emotional learning competencies.

Note: This DL session also invites attendees from the National Summit on Improvement in Education to participate. Summit is a gathering and rallying point for a vibrant and diverse community of improvers who are working to create educational systems where all young people learn and thrive. In 2026, we're bringing together the powerful Deeper Learning and Improvement communities through select crossover sessions, culminating in a joint closing keynote. You are invited to dive deeper and make new connections at DL26. Check out our Summit and DL26 comparison to learn more.

Learning environments are often designed without the voices of our most important stakeholders: the people we are meant to serve. Imagine instead working together with families to identify needs, co-create solutions, and celebrate growth. If you’re a school leader seeking to foster these genuine connections, join us to experience community rap sessions, a culturally responsive practice that creates space for every voice to be heard. This session begins engaging educators as learners in an immersive experience, then shifts to the structures and planning needed to implement community rap sessions in your own school. Together, we will examine how these practices can become a routine way to engage families and community members meaningfully. As a Deeper Learning by Doing® experience, leave with concrete tools and strategies, personal action steps, contacts for follow-up coaching, and greater confidence to authentically partner with families and communities.

This workshop explores how to create clear, standards-based learning targets that strengthen project-based learning and reflect a school’s mission. As a new administrator in a PBL-focused school, I quickly recognized the need to strengthen how learning connects meaningfully to both academic standards and the school’s mission. By intentionally aligning learning targets with the mission, we move beyond a statement posted on the wall to a living guide for instruction, assessment, and student growth. Participants will see how this approach deepens the impact of project-based learning, strengthens coherence across school practices, and solidifies the school’s identity as a mission-driven, PBL-centered community. In addition, I will co-present with a consultant who has been working with me to make this change at our school.  She will share an external perspective on how this process supports instructional alignment, as well as the challenges and opportunities it presents for schools and educators.

What if school systems were engines of continuous research and design, learning alongside students and educators to create equitable futures? In this hands-on session, Dr. Devin Vodicka and Dr. Katie Martin—co-founders and co-CEOs of Learner-Centered Collaborative—will invite participants to explore what an embedded R&D strategy looks like at scale. Through interactive dialogue, case studies of learner-centered innovations, and collaborative design activities, participants will identify conditions that allow change to spread: shared vision, leadership, and a culture grounded in learner voice. Together, we’ll surface bright spots, co-create strategies for scaling innovation, and leave with renewed joy and practical tools to drive sustainable, equitable change.

This session is for school and district leaders who want to build culture with intention through well-designed rituals and experiences for staff and their teams. Building culture is a continuous process of sending signals that build safety, share vulnerability, and establish purpose. Drawing on the work of Daniel Coyle (author of The Culture Code), this session will explore multiple methods for growing a culture committed to bringing out the best in everyone. Participants will learn through storytelling and prototyping their own rituals or cultural moments.