2025 Amplify

This session honored the lived experiences of Black women educators navigating burnout, impostor phenomenon, and systemic invisibility.

Grounded in culturally responsive practices, participants engaged in self-assessment and strategic visioning to reclaim rest, authenticity, and joy. Together, they explored four guiding stances — realization, resistance, restoration, and resilience — as pathways toward leading without losing themselves in the process.

Participants were invited to recognize their own power, examine the systems shaping their experiences, and imagine more sustainable ways of showing up as educators and leaders.

This dynamic panel brought together local superintendents for a candid, engaging conversation about what it means to be a man of color in educational leadership and the journey required to lead.

The conversation moved beyond titles and success stories. Panelists drew from their own experiences to unpack the realities of navigating politics, making high-stakes decisions, leading through COVID-19, and finding their footing during challenging moments. Their stories reinforced the powerful message that leadership has no shortcuts. The journey demands putting in the work, embracing the process, and surrounding yourself with mentors who will challenge you, sharpen your leadership, and prepare you to lead when the opportunity comes.

This conversation centered student perspectives to deepen educators’ understanding of what creates belonging, support, and inclusive school culture.

Student panelists shared experiences around what helps young people feel seen and valued, the importance of meaningful relationships with teachers and staff, and the ways school policies influence identity, autonomy, and community.

The discussion examined issues including phone-free school policies, religious symbolism in schools, and how schools can uphold inclusivity for all students. Panelists also challenged educators to consider the difference between diversity and inclusion efforts that feel authentic and student experiences that feel performative.

The result was an opportunity to listen to students not simply as recipients of education, but as essential voices in shaping it.

Participants expanded the definition of parent partnership beyond volunteering and newsletters, identified their individual Parent Partnership Archetype, and explored systems and routines for strengthening communication between school and home.

The session connected stronger family relationships with educator peace, renewed passion, and resilience, leaving participants with a personal roadmap for approaching parent collaboration with greater intention.

This session examined the relationship between student dependence and educator efficacy.

Participants explored how dependent learning behaviors, sometimes shaped by systemic inequity and learned helplessness, can unintentionally contribute to emotional exhaustion and burnout when educators consistently over-function on behalf of students.

Through culturally responsive pedagogy and neuroscience, participants considered how intentional care, high expectations, and capacity-building can strengthen student independence.

The session challenged educators to shift from doing more for students toward equipping students to do more for themselves.

Dr. David McGuire introduced the L.E.A.D.S. Framework — Leveling Up, Encouragement, Advancement, Development, and Support — as a roadmap for leadership rooted in equity, access, and legacy.

Through storytelling, reflection, and action planning, participants explored how leaders can intentionally identify, develop, encourage, and create opportunities for emerging leaders.

Attendees left with concrete strategies for “sending the elevator back down” within their own schools, organizations, and communities.

Rooted in the framework from You’re Not Crazy, You’re a Leader: Your Guide to Finding the Leader in You, Dr. James Thornton invited educators of color to recognize and navigate the emotional seasons that accompany leadership.

Through storytelling, self-assessment, and peer dialogue, participants developed language for understanding their current season while considering how to remain grounded through moments of change and disruption.

Leaders left with greater clarity and confidence to lead authentically without mistaking the natural challenges of leadership for personal failure.

This session explored the experiences of facilitators from the Illinois Affinity Group Network and how affinity groups for educators have been implemented within their districts to create intentional space for reflection, growth, connection, and healing.

Participants considered how affinity-based communities can strengthen educator belonging, contribute to retention, and support more inclusive school environments.

Bold Bars introduced participants to arts integration and the relationship between an art form and academic content.

Drawing on Hip Hop culture, attendees participated in an interactive writing experience centered on their own lives in education. Each participant identified something they felt passionate about, or something creating frustration or excitement, selected a beat, and transformed those feelings into lyrical expression.

Participants then had the opportunity to share their work in a supportive community of peers.

The experience made creativity itself a tool for reflection, release, and resilience.

As artificial intelligence continues to reshape conversations about teaching and learning, this session created space for educators to move beyond the hype.

Participants examined the promises, pitfalls, and practical realities of AI in education through a lens of equity, educator agency, and student-centered learning.

Together, attendees explored real tools, identified potential red flags, and considered how AI can either strengthen or erode resilience within school ecosystems.

Rather than asking simply whether schools should use AI, the conversation centered on the people who ultimately determine how these tools affect learning: educators and students.

This panel included Black leaders whose careers span schools, higher education, policy, nonprofit leadership, entrepreneurship, and industry.

Panelists reflected on their experiences as changemakers across the education ecosystem, while participants explored the many ways a career in education can evolve and create impact. The conversation highlighted pathways from classrooms and school leadership to policymaking, nonprofit organizations, higher education and industry – and the many ways educators can continue shaping outcomes for students and communities.

Participants also heard perspectives on what institutions can do to cultivate, support, and sustain diverse talent at every stage of the leadership pipeline.

This session explored partnerships designed to increase instructional leadership capacity through critical levers for school improvement.

Drawing on perspectives from traditional and charter schools in Kansas City as well as the national nonprofit Instruction Partners, participants examined practical and data-driven approaches to strengthening instruction.

The conversation focused particularly on how schools can build capacity and sustain improvement even while navigating changing financial, organizational, and political conditions.

This interactive session invited participants to reconsider the history and possibilities of classical education.

Rather than treating classical education as disconnected from communities of color, the session examined a legacy that includes figures such as Dr. Alain Locke and historic Black institutions including Dunbar and St. Augustine.

Participants explored the core tenets of classical education and the ways these traditions have been used to cultivate leaders marked by intellect, dignity, and vision.

The conversation challenged assumptions about who classical education belongs to while reconnecting contemporary educators with parts of educational history that are often overlooked.

The 2025 Youth Participatory Action Research session centered the work and perspectives of young people ages 14 to 18 who investigated issues relevant to their lives and communities. Their research explored the impact of social media on teen mental health, relationships between socioeconomic conditions and voting patterns, and how race and class influence literacy.

During the session, participants learned about the young researchers’ agendas, methodologies, and findings and gained insight into what is possible when youth are empowered to identify the issues that matter to them and lead the research process.

Grounded in Dr. Christopher Emdin’s Ratchetdemic: Reimagining Academic Success, this roundtable created space for educators to explore authenticity, culture, academic excellence, and the expectations schools place on students and educators.

Participants reflected on what Ratchetdemic means in practice, worked through real-world dilemmas, and considered how its principles can influence classrooms and school communities.

The discussion also provided space for educators navigating similar questions to connect with one another and examine how cultural expression and academic identity can coexist rather than compete.

Alongside the general conference sessions, Amplify offered a dedicated Superintendent Track creating an intentional space for district and systems leaders to connect with peers navigating the unique opportunities of senior leadership.

The first track focused on leadership, relationships, and resilience, giving superintendents an opportunity to engage in candid conversations, exchange perspectives, and reflect on the demands of leading school systems and supporting their communities. Jeremiah Brown led the first block, inviting participants into a deeper conversation around leadership and resilience.  Curtis Valentine moderated the second and third blocks, creating opportunities for participants to build relationships, share experiences, and learn from one another.

The smaller, superintent-focused setting allowed participants to step outside the larger conference environment and engage more deeply with leaders carrying similar responsibilities. The track reinforced the value of peer connection and provided dedicated time for superintendents to reflect, recharge, and strengthen relationships with fellow education leaders.