RPPL’s Annual Convening 2025

Please see below for RPPL’s Annual Convening 2025 Agenda

Day 1 – November 3Day 1 – Breakout SessionsDay 1 – ReceptionDay 2 – November 4Day 2 – WorkshopsDay 2 – Table TalksDay 2 – Posters

Time	Location	Event
9:45 AM-11:00 AM	Pre-function Space	Registration and Breakfast
11:00 AM-11:25 AM	Auditorium	Welcome | RPPL 2025 Convening: Currents of Innovation
11:25 AM-12:25 PM	Auditorium	Panel | Converging Currents: Advancing Educator Learning Through Collective Action
12:30 PM-1:30 PM	Event Room	Lunch
1:35 PM-2:30 PM	4th Floor Conference Rooms	Breakout Sessions | Exploring the Deep Currents 1) ROOM 401. A Rapid Test Revolution: Accelerating AI R&D Beyond the Classroom 2) ROOM 401. D From Landscape to Action: How Understanding the current PL landscape Can Inform District PL Investments 3) ROOM 401. E Testing PL Design Features: Exploring the effects of teacher agency and peer reflection in a district-wide teacher professional learning program 4) ROOM 401. F Reprioritizing Relationships: Using Teacher Professional Learning to Strengthen Classroom Connections
2:30 PM-2:45 PM		Transition Time
2:45 PM-3:45 PM	Auditorium	Panel | Guiding the Current: The Future of Philanthropy in PL and PL Research
3:45 PM-4:00 PM	Auditorium	Closing
4:30 PM-7:00 PM	Event Room & Outdoor Space	Welcome Reception

• [ROOM 401.D] From Landscape to Action: How Understanding the current PL landscape Can Inform District PL Investments
  RPPL: John Papay, RPPL Senior Researcher and Director of Annenberg Institute; Arielle Boguslav, Senior Research Associate
  In this session, we’ll share an overview of RPPL’s efforts to understand the landscape of PL and provide an opportunity for participants to help brainstorm what RPPL’s next steps should be in this line of inquiry.  We’ll share what we know to date about how districts are investing in PL and our initial thinking about next steps for RPPL. Then, we’ll solicit participants’ feedback and ideas to ensure that RPPL’s landscape work can provide practical guidance for our network. 

• [ROOM 401. E] Testing PL Design Features: Exploring the effects of teacher agency and peer reflection in a district-wide teacher professional learning program RPPL: Kate Larned, Senior Research Associate + Margie Lope Moutsatsos
  In this session, RPPL’s Kate Larned and Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) will present findings from MCPS and RPPL’s co-designed experiment examining teacher choice and social accountability in professional learning. They will also share learnings from their ongoing research practice partnership, with a focus on sharing details about the development of a second study that is being implemented in the district this fall. Participants will leave the workshop with a clearer understanding of:
  • The effect of teacher choice and social accountability within the context of a district-wide professional learning.
  • The lessons from an ongoing research practice partnership committed to designing and learning from rigorous evidence on professional learning design features.

• [ROOM 401. F] Reprioritizing Relationships: Using Teacher Professional Learning to Strengthen Classroom Connections
  RPPL: Olga Pagán, Senior Research Associate
  In this session, we’ll be sharing our most recent synthesis/brief about the importance of teacher-student relationships and how professional learning, including the development of specific strategies, can support teachers to improve relationships with their students. As a group, participants will have the opportunity to:
  • Reflect on the strategies presented
  • Share their experiences, successes, and challenges fostering teacher-student relationships through PL
  • Brainstorm questions and new directions for research and practice that can continue to bolster the evidence base on effective practices for teacher-student relationships

• [ROOM 401. A] Rapid Test Revolution: Accelerating AI R&D Beyond the Classroom
  Teaching Lab: Brooke James, Managing Director
  In this session, Teaching Lab will lead a discussion to help answer the following questions:
  • What innovative settings (e.g., summer and after-school programs) can serve as initial testing grounds for AI solutions?
  • How can we optimize limited testing time and resources available for rigorous evaluation?
  • What opportunities and challenges can we expect from more innovative R&D strategies?
  • What role can you play in building our sector-wide capacity for and investment in innovative R&D strategies?
  • Who in your network can you engage in innovative AI R&D so that we develop solutions alongside, rather than for, teachers?
  • Participants will leave the workshop with a clearer understanding of:
    • Current innovative AI R&D strategies across the US
    • How to balance rigorous evaluation and rapid redeployment when iterating on AI tools/features
    • Future opportunities for research and the infrastructure required to realize them

Join us for a Welcome Reception
from 4:30 PM-7:00 PM
on the beautiful green roof at the
Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library

Time	Location	Event
8:30 AM	Event Room	Breakfast
9:00 AM-9:20 AM	Auditorium	Opening | From Currents to Waves: Recap and Preview
9:20 AM-10:20 AM	Auditorium	Shaping the Wave: Adapting and Applying RPPL’s Research Framework Together
10:20 AM-10:35 AM		Transition Time
10:35 AM-11:35 AM	Event Room	Table Talks | Ripple of Conversations: Network-Led
11:35 AM-12:10 PM	Pre-function Space	Gallery Walk | Waves in Motion
12:10 PM-1:10 PM	Event Room	Lunch
1:10 PM-1:20 PM		Transition Time
1:20 PM-2:20 PM	4th Floor Conference Rooms	Workshops | Making Waves 1) ROOM 401.A Dimensions of Engagement: Lessons Learned through LessonLoop 2) ROOM 401.D From Adoption to Impact: Matching Professional Learning to the Stages of Curriculum Implementation 3) ROOM 401. E Improv for Professional Learning 4) ROOM 401. G Measuring What Matters: Expanding RPPL’s Measurement Toolkit to Drive PL Impact 5) ROOM 401. F Exploring Instructional Coherence: Challenges and Opportunities for the RPPL Community
2:20 PM-2:40 PM		Transition Time
2:40 PM-3:10 PM	Event Room	Riding the Next Wave
3:10 PM-3:30 PM	Event Room	Closing & Gratitude

• [ROOM 401. A] Dimensions of Engagement: Lessons Learned through LessonLoop
  Roberta Lenger Kang, Executive Director CPET; LessonLoop: Nona Ullman, Founder/CEO
  In this workshop, we’ll share findings from the research study by exploring the 9 categories of Student Engagement. LessonLoop conducted research on perceptions of student engagement in an effort to increase access to high leverage instructional strategies to boost engagement. The heart of the session lies in matching specific Student Engagement categories with High Leverage Instructional Strategies. Participants will have an opportunity to explore practical techniques and frameworks to intentionally design learning experiences that foster deep connection and active participation, as well as consider potential coaching implications. Participants will be able to experiment with an AI Activity Generator, discovering how this powerful tool can help educators rapidly create engaging and contextually relevant instructional activities and consider applications to their context.

• [ROOM 401. D] From Adoption to Impact: Matching Professional Learning to the Stages of Curriculum Implementation
  Rivet Education: Jennifer Rabb Wells, Director of Product
  This workshop will address the limitations of one-size-fits-all professional learning by helping participants explore a framework for aligning CBPL types and characteristics to specific stages of curriculum implementation. Through hands-on activities and small-group case analysis, participants will assess how common PL approaches fit with implementation goals such as increasing teacher engagement, accelerating instructional skill development, and sustaining long-term changes. Attendees will leave with a diagnostic tool and planning template to help system leaders identify gaps, target supports, and strengthen the conditions for impactful adult learning.

• [ROOM 401. E] Improv for Professional Learning
  Inspired Teaching: Aleta Margolis, Founder; Jenna Fournel, Chief Curiosity Officer
  In this workshop, participants will be introduced to the 5 Rules of Inspired Teaching Improv and experience highly engaging activities that bring these rules to life. Facilitators will demonstrate how practicing improvisational thinking strengthens key skills such as observation, listening, and problem-solving. Together, participants will also explore how improvisation-based adult learning can meet core psychological learning needs, creating more meaningful and lasting professional growth.

• [ROOM 401. F] Exploring Instructional Coherence: Challenges and Opportunities for the RPPL Community
  RPPL: Stacey Alicea, Executive Director; Nathaniel Schwartz, RPPL Senior Researcher
  This workshop will provide an opportunity to brainstorm and shape an emerging line of work for RPPL. As a group, we will begin to think about the different ways that organizations across the RPPL network think about, define, and work to improve instructional coherence. The session will launch with a short conversation across several of our organizations (district leader, PL org leader, researcher) about the ways they think about this concept. Then we’ll broaden the conversation across the full group. We will aim to leave with clear next steps for RPPL to develop a research and learning strand that can better understand and improve coherence across the network.

• [ROOM 401. G] Measuring What Matters: Expanding RPPL’s Measurement Toolkit to Drive PL Impact
  RPPL: Arielle Boguslav, Senior Research Associate; Poorvaja Sundar, Project Manager
  This workshop will introduce RPPL’s newly updated and expanded CBPL Implementation Measurement Toolkit, a resource originally developed to provide consensus recommendations on key measures for monitoring ELA curriculum implementation. The updated toolkit incorporates insights from district pilots and now extends to Math, offering a more comprehensive set of shared measures. In addition to unveiling the toolkit, we will share lessons learned from the pilot and spark a discussion on how PL organizations across the RPPL network can leverage these tools to strengthen services, demonstrate impact, and shape the future of professional learning.

• Contextualized Recipes for Impact: Using Qualitative Comparative Analysis to Identify the Combination of Conditions and PL Design Features that Enable or Prevent Impact
  Leading Educators: Ariana Audisio, Director of Research; Cassandra Cross, Director of Data Strategy
  This Table Talk will build on the 2024 RPPL Convening session, “Exploring Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) Methodology for Defining Program Success in Education Research,” sharing new results and lessons learned from applying this novel research method in the education sector. The session will present evidence on which combinations of professional learning foci and formats improve teaching and learning under specific contextual conditions, and demonstrate the utility of QCA for systematically reviewing complex educational interventions, while sparking discussion on potential applications to emerging questions in PL, including programs leveraging Artificial Intelligence.

• Designing for All Learners: Embedding Support for Students with Disabilities in Curriculum-Based Professional Learning
  Rivet Education: Joslyn Richardson, Director of the Professional Learning Partner Guide; SPED Strategies: Lauren Lebental, Vice President
  This Table Talk will examine how high-quality curriculum-based professional learning (CBPL) can move beyond general instructional improvement to explicitly equip educators to leverage their core curriculum with all students, including students with disabilities (SWDs). Participants will unpack what inclusive, student-centered CBPL looks like and consider how professional learning can prepare teachers to differentiate, scaffold, and accelerate learning for SWDs within core instruction.

• If They’re High-Quality, Why Aren’t They Used? Exploring HQIM In Practice
  Institute for School Partnership: Rachel Ruggirello, Associate Director; Alex Gerber, Instructional Specialist
  This table talk session is focused on the implementation and adaptation of high-quality instructional materials (HQIM). We will share and gather information from participants about what is currently known about the individual and contextual barriers of HQIM implementation. We hope to learn from others grappling with these tensions and find ways to advance research on teacher, leader, and learner perceptions of HQIM to inform policy and practice.

• Sustaining Inquiry: Designing Professional Learning That Builds Capacity and Connection
  Center for Technology and School Change at Teachers College: Dr. Ellen B. Meier, Professor of Practice in Math, Science, & Technology at Teachers College and Executive Director; Karen Kirsch Page, Director of Professional Learning
  This Table Talk explores shifts in professional learning design that support long-term enactment of innovative instructional practices and deeper adult learning. Grounded in findings from a multi-year NSF-funded research-practice partnership, the discussion will focus on four key areas: increasing teacher engagement through inquiry and co-design; accelerating educator skill development via job-embedded, transdisciplinary learning; sustaining new practices through leadership support and internal capacity-building; and improving the conditions for adult learning by prioritizing coherence, collaboration, and culturally responsive pedagogy.

• What do principals really need to know about literacy to enable teacher and student success?
  Literacy Architects: Seema Tejura, Managing Director
  This Table Talk will invite participants to consider what school leaders really need to know about high-quality literacy instruction in order to lead effectively. Using case studies and research excerpts as a springboard, participants will share insights and challenges from their own professional experiences and collaborate with colleagues to identify the most high-impact knowledge and skills for principals, as well as how that learning can best be facilitated.

• Adopting Shared Measures Across an Enterprise: Lessons Learned, Current Impact, and Future Directions
  Teach for America: Katie Buckley, Senior Research Scientist; Robin Greatrex, Senior Managing Director, Learning & Insights; University of Virginia: Julie Cohen, Charles S. Robb Associate Professor; Annenberg Institute: John Papay, RPPL Senior Researcher and Director of Annenberg Institute
  This Table Talk will share insights from a multi-year effort to adopt shared, research-backed measures across a large, multi-state organization. Participants will grapple with the tensions that arise when established organizations take on shared measures, experience examples of exploratory analysis that inform organizational health monitoring and continuous improvement, and engage with examples of how crosswalking and layering data can drive systems-level change across coaches, educators, and students.

• Synergistic Collaboration to Improve Adult Learning: Leveraging HQIM and CBPL Across Content Areas
  Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS): Nancy Hopkins,  Director, Equitable Impact & Senior Science Educator; Susan Gomez Zwiep, Director, Teacher Learning & Senior Science Educator
  This Table Talk will explore how high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) and curriculum-based professional learning (CBPL) can be leveraged to enhance adult learning in education. Participants will identify and discuss content-agnostic methods and practices, consider potential research ideas, cross-sector collaborations, and next steps, and leave with a deeper understanding of the synergies between HQIM and CBPL as well as emerging opportunities for collaboration and research.

• The Pros and Cons of Using Across-School Network Improvement Communities (NICs) to Support Teachers and Principals with HQIM Implementation
  Institute for Learning: Anthony Petrosky, Director; Aaron Anthony, Operations & Analytics Director
  This Table Talk will explore Networked Improvement Communities (NICs) as structured, goal-oriented professional learning communities designed to drive systemic improvement. Participants will discuss key NIC-related topics, including the benefits and challenges of NICs for curriculum implementation, assessing district readiness and partnering with district colleagues, IFL’s experience supporting middle school teachers and principals implementing Amplify ELA Texas, and the logistics—including ROI—of establishing and sustaining NICs across schools.

• How can we innovate to create PL programs that incorporate proven components yet also respond to felt-needs in the field
  American Institutes for Research (AIR)- Andrew Wayne, Managing Researcher
  This Table Talk invites network members to begin innovating solutions to a key challenge that limits the national adoption of proven professional learning (PL) programs. Participants will explore why programs validated in research often fail to align with school and educator priorities—such as convenience, ease of implementation, and flexibility—and discuss how PL designers, researchers, and school system staff can collaborate to create programs that are both evidence-based and responsive to real-world needs. The session includes a brief case example to spark discussion and guide participants in tackling this systemic challenge.

• Accelerating Change Through Partnerships: Scaling Curriculum-Based Professional Learning in Math
  RTI International- Caryn Ward and Sophia Farmer, Scaling Curriculum Based Professional Learning Research Project Leads
  This Table Talk explores the barriers districts face in scaling curriculum-based professional learning (CBPL) in math—including misaligned training, limited access to professional learning, and procurement hurdles. RTI International will share insights from the Scaling CBPL research project, which is fostering partnerships between publishers and PL providers to create integrated offerings that address these challenges, strengthen instructional coherence, and improve math outcomes. Together, participants will consider key questions: What structures or partnerships are needed to align professional learning with curriculum so teachers experience coherence rather than fragmentation? In your context, which barrier—misalignment, access, or procurement—most impedes scaling CBPL, and what strategies have you found effective in addressing it?

• Science of Reading for Leaders in Alaska
  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH): Grant Atkins, Education Research Director; Tiffany Peltier, Director of Professional Learning
  This poster will describe the design, implementation, and evaluation of a NWEA Science of Reading for Leaders course offered during the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years. The course prepared Alaska leaders to implement and support evidence-based literacy instruction in their schools and districts. This session will build on The Science of Reading for Leaders Annual Report (Hill & Praska, 2024) completed in 2024, which reported the results of the cohorts that participated in the course during the 2023-2024 school year.

• Co-Designing Computational Thinking Professional Learning with Educators: Inspire Me, Prepare Me, Respect Me
  Digital Promise: Kyle Dunbar, Research Practice Partnerships at Digital Promise; Merikje Conenraad, Program Director, Inclusive STEM + Computing Research
  This poster will share findings from a study exploring how professional learning (PL) using videos can support elementary teachers in integrating computational thinking (CT) into subject-area learning. Participants will learn about co-design sessions with educators, in which they reflected on impactful PL experiences and designed their ideal video-based PL for CT integration. The poster highlights key elements of PL—related to content, logistics, emotions, and practices—identified through analysis of session transcripts, offering insights into what teachers find most valuable in video-based professional learning.

• Centering Racial Equity and Continuous Improvement in Teacher Professional Learning to Improve Early Grade Math Learning Environments
  Bank Street College of Education: Fenot Aklog, Director of Research and Evaluation; Tarima Levine, Managing Director of Content, Design, & Strategy
  This poster showcases a PL approach for integrating racial equity and continuous improvement (CI) practices to shift teacher mindsets and strengthen early grade math instruction. The Bank Street Education Center is a professional learning provider committed to disrupting inequity through the design of child and adult learning experiences. The Education Center and District 3 in New York City, launched the D3 Harlem Racial Equity Math Partnership to improve early grade math teaching and learning environments for Black students. The partnership is in its third year with five schools and 36 Pre-K-2 teachers.

• Developing and implementing a classroom observation rubric to support an Optimal Learning Environment
  New Teacher Center-Lisa Schmitt, Senior Director of Impact; Ann Wenzel, VP Program Delivery and Design
  This poster will showcase NTC’s approach to leveraging classroom observations within continuous coaching cycles to support student-centered learning and social-emotional development. Drawing on 25 years of experience in mentoring and induction, NTC shares evidence-based strategies grounded in neuroscience, cognitive science, and developmental research. Participants will explore how professional learning for mentors and coaches, combined with collaborative partnerships, can strengthen and sustain teaching practice while remaining responsive to emerging research and innovations in the field.

• Overcoming Challenges in Teacher Literacy Professional Learning: Takeaways from the Improving Reading for Older Students (IROS) Course
  Student Achievement Partners- Claire Delcourt, Senior Research & Evaluation Analyst; Katie Keown, Director, Literacy; Tori Filler, Director, Literacy
  This poster will highlight Student Achievement Partners’ (SAP) low-cost online asynchronous course, Improving Reading for Older Students (IROS), designed to equip teachers across content areas with evidence-based strategies to support older striving readers. Participants will learn how IROS fosters joyful, actionable literacy instruction, supports students in rebuilding academic confidence, and provides practical skills for Tier 1 classroom implementation. The poster will also share the course’s intentional adult learning design, insights from participant feedback, and emerging impacts on educators’ instructional confidence and practices.

• Designing Inclusive, Accessible AI in Professional Learning
  LessonLoop- Nona Ullman, Founder and CEO
  This poster will invite participants to explore how professional learning (PL) platforms can prioritize inclusiveness, accessibility, and language neutrality in AI design. LessonLoop, recipient of Digital Promise’s Prioritizing Racial Equity in AI Design certification (Dec 2024), will lead a hands-on activity using its BlindSpot Checker to gather peer feedback and foster collaborative reflection. The session will also highlight strategies for bias mitigation, inclusive data design, human-in-the-loop co-design, and methods for assessing equitable outcomes, with opportunities to see brief demos and learn from peers’ approaches to equity in AI-enabled PL tools.

Presenters and Panelists

• Aaron Anthony, Director of Operations, Institute for Learning
• Adrienne Battle, RPPL Board Member, Superintendent, Metro Nashville Public Schools
• Aleta Margolis, Founder and President, Center for Inspired Teaching
• Alex Gerber, Instructional Specialist, Washington University in St. Louis Institute for School Partnership
• Aliza Husain, Vice President, Research & Evaluation, UnboundEd
• Andrew Wayne, Managing Researcher, American Institutes for Research
• Ann Wenzel, Vice President, Program & Partnerships, New Teacher Center
• Anthony Petrosky, Director, Institute for Learning
• Ariana Audisio, Director of Research, Leading Educators
• Arielle Boguslav, Senior Research Associate, RPPL, Annenberg Institute
• Brian Pick, Director, Education Grantmaking, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies
• Brooke James, Managing Director, Teaching Lab Ventures, Teaching Lab
• Camea Davis, Director of Equitable Research Practice Partnerships, RPPL
• Cassandra Cross, Director of Data Strategy, Leading Educators
• Chandel Burgess, Price, Graduate Research Assistant The University of Texas at Austin
• Chong-Hao Fu, CEO, Leading Educators
• Claire Delcourt, Senior Research & Evaluation Analyst, Student Achievement Partners
• Ellen Meier, Executive Director and Co-Founder, Center for Technology and School Change (CTSC) at Teachers College, Columbia University
• Fenot Aklog, Director of Research and Evaluation, Bank Street Education Center
• Francesca Salvadore, Director of Mathematics, Providence Public Schools
• Grant Atkins, Education Research Director, HMH/NWEA
• Jabari Sims, Chief Program Officer, Instruction Partners
• Jazzmyne Townsend, Washington, D.C.’s 2025 Teacher of the Year, DC Public Schools
• Jenna Fournel, Chief Curiosity Officer, Center for Inspired Teaching
• Jennifer Wells, Director of Product, Rivet Education
• John Papay, Senior Researcher, RPPL; Director, Annenberg Institute at Brown University
• Joslyn Richardson, Director, Professional Learning Partner Guide. Rivet Education
• Julie Cohen, Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Virginia
• Karen Kirsch Page, Director of Professional Learning, Center for Technology and School Change (CTSC) at Teachers College, Columbia University
• Kate Larned, Senior Research Associate, RPPL, Annenberg Institute
• Katie Buckley, Senior Research Scientist, Teach For America
• Krista Morales, Network Engagement and Learning Manager, RPPL
• Kyle Dunbar, Researcher, Digital Promise Global
• Lauren Lebental, Vice President, SPED Strategies
• Lisa Schmitt, Senior Director of Impact, New Teacher Center
• Meghan McCormick, Research & Impact Officer, Overdeck Family Foundation
• Nadya Chinoy Dabby, RPPL Board Member, Chief External Affairs Officer, PowerMyLearning
• Nancy Hopkins-Evans, Director for Equitable Impact, Senior Science Educator, BSCS Science Learning
• Nate Schwartz , Senior Researcher, RPPL; Director of Applied Research, Annenberg Institute at Brown University
• Nona Ullman, Founder and CEO, LessonLoop
• Olga Pagán, Senior Research Associate, RPPL, Annenberg Institute
• Rachel Leifer, RPPL Board Member, Senior Program Officer, Gates Foundation
• Rachel Ruggirello, Associate Director, Washington University Institute for School Partnership
• Robert Crosby, III, Director, K-12 Education, Valhalla Foundation
• Roberta Lenger Kang, Executive Director, Center for the Professional Education of Teachers, Teachers College
• Robin Greatrex, Senior Managing Director, Learning & Insights, Teach for America
• Seema Tejura, Managing Director, The Literacy Architects
• Sherly Chavarria, Senior Program Officer, Lloyd A Fry Foundation
• Stacey Alicea, Executive Director, RPPL
• Susan Gomez Zwiep, Director, Teacher Learning & Senior Science Educator
• Tarima Levine, Managing Director of Content, Design & Strategy Bank Street College of Education
• Titilola Harley, Senior Program Officer, K-12 Education R&D, Gates Foundation
• Vivian Mihalakis, Deputy Director, Gates Foundation

Getting There

• Commuting by car?
  • Parking is unavailable onsite; guests should allow time for parking on the street or in nearby public parking garages:
    • City Center – open 24 hours/day, 7 days/week
    • Quik Park – open 24 hours/day, 7 days/week
      • 716 10th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001
        (attached to the Grand Hyatt Hotel)
• Commuting by train?
  • Take the Metro to either the Gallery Place-Chinatown Station or the Metro Center Station. From Gallery Place, it’s a short 2-minute walk, and from Metro Center, it’s about a 4-minute walk to the library.

Getting Around the Venue

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library offers free public WiFi named; MLK Guest WiFi

More to come! We will continue to update this list with fall events, restaurants and more.