Assessment

Melissa Dickson, EdM, is an outstanding presenter and educator. She is passionate about providing teachers with research-based ideas and strategies that they implement immediately. In her decades as an educator, Melissa has been a literacy coach, staff developer, site-based team leader, mentor teacher, inclusion teacher, classroom teacher, and early childhood teacher.

Dr. Anisa Baker-Busby was appointed principal of Shirley Hills Elementary in July 2022. She has over 20 years of educational experience serving as a teacher and administrator, and her passion is to help schools build systems of support that ensure high levels of learning for all students.

Matt Townsley, EdD, is an associate professor of educational leadership at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa. He is a former district administrator and teacher in Solon Community Schools, also in Iowa, where he led curriculum, assessment, and school-improvement initiatives, all under the umbrella of a professional learning community philosophy.

Learn how to balance traditional written assessments with performance tasks and conversations, and how to harness the power of tablets and smartphones to capture digital evidence of students' learning.

Dawn Caruso, EdD, is a former district administrator of assessment and accountability in Florida. She also served as a virtual school administrator as well as a literacy coach at the state and school level.

Haley Vogel, EdD, is assistant principal at Pine Island Academy in St. Johns County, Florida. Her more than 20 years of experience in education includes six years as a school leader and 13 years teaching. She is passionate about working with teacher teams to rethink assessment.

Closing student achievement gaps requires specific actions focused on acceleration and leveling up strategies to achieve grade-level proficiency or beyond. Acceleration is the pathway; we cannot continue to go backward if our goal is to move forward. Discover how to erase inequities in student learning while building hope and confidence in both teachers and students. This is equity in action.

Logan Heflebower has been coaching baseball since his collegiate playing career came to a close in 2019. He is the infield coach at Division II, Colorado Christian University, in Lakewood.

Kirk Savage, EdD, is an assistant superintendent for Chilliwack School District in British Columbia, Canada, where he has been working as a senior leadership team member since 2012.

Bri Crook most recently served as the instructional coach at Baxter Elementary in Baxter, Iowa. She has several years of experience in education at the elementary level and district level, also serving as the technology director.