• Contact Us

    Emma Prillaman

    eprillaman@educationweek.org

  • Where

    Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel 
    Phoenix, AZ

  • When

    Wednesday – Friday

    October 25-27, 2023

EdWeek Market Brief Summit

October 25-27, 2023
Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel
Phoenix, AZ

Unmatched Intelligence and Insights for Education Company Executives

Join your fellow education company executives and decision-makers at this annual in-person event, where you’ll hear directly from school district leaders and industry peers about key developments in the K-12 market — and what’s coming next. This 3-day summit offers critical intel not only for company leaders in the C-suite, but also for top-level directors of sales, marketing, product development, customer success, and market research.

The agenda features opportunities to network with peers across the education space and interact with district practitioners and policy experts. EdWeek Market Brief’s editorial team will lead discussions on:

  • K-12 district administrators’ biggest needs
  • Their spending priorities over the next school year
  • How expectations of companies and their products are changing with the expiration of federal stimulus funding

You’ll get access to panel discussions, flash briefings, and original survey research about how school districts evaluate products, what makes districts stick with incumbent vendors vs. competitors, and how they make strategic decisions in areas such as curriculum, classroom assessment, social-emotional learning, professional development, data security, and overall tech adoption.


  • I gained a tremendous amount of insight into how district leaders are vetting resources, working with vendors, and planning for the future of their students and teachers. It was a great event!
    Felicia Zorn | VP Customer Success | Progress Learning
  • I found the numerous panels with superintendents and district leaders to be extremely valuable. Listening to superintendents discuss the state of their districts and their priorities helped me better understand the education landscape and contextualize where our company could help meet district needs.
    Anna Houseman | Group Product Marketing Director | Riverside Insights
  • The EdWeek Market Brief Summit provided actionable insights and feedback from district leaders on how edtech vendors can bring value and work in partnership to support district goals. It was time well spent and I will use the research and insights for strategic planning.
    Klaire Marino | VP Product Marketing | Lightspeed Systems
  • An incredible event from start to finish. The EdWeek team brought together the highest caliber thought leaders to discuss critical issues in K-12 education, scheduled each session in a manageable and efficient cadence, with a consistent level of professionalism at every turn. From the venue - where all of the sessions were informative, engaging, and all in one centralized location - to the receptions and other informal opportunities to meet colleagues in person - they literally thought of everything. A phenomenal experience and value.
    Eden Bloss | Vice President of Communications | Carnegie Learning
  • My first EdWeek Summit was definitely time well spent and provided good return on investment. The variety of session topics—from product trends and sales/marketing best practices to funding and leadership—provided valuable insights…The size of the conference was just right for networking and reconnecting with colleagues around the industry.
    Conni Francini | Chief Executive Officer | Clarity Consulting, Inc.

Who will I hear from?

Learn from this year's panelists, who will include edtech leaders, senior-level district officials, and state-level policy experts. Check back for an updated speaker list!

DISTRICT LEADERS:

  • Don Angotti, Associate Chief, Office of Teaching, Learning and Leadership, Washoe County Schools (NV)
  • Faviola Cantú, Chief Academic Officer, Aldine Independent School District (TX)
  • Hilario “Larry” Chavez, Superintendent, Santa Fe Public Schools (NM)
  • Jared A. Cleveland, Superintendent, Springdale Public Schools (AR)
  • Ivan Duran, Superintendent, Highline School District (WA)
  • Deborah Durrence, Executive Director, Data Governance, Gwinnett County Schools (GA)
  • Mikila Fetzer, Director of Professional Learning, Sacramento City Unified School District (CA)
  • Brianne Ford, Assistant Superintendent, Information, Irvine Unified School District (CA)
  • Rick Gay, Executive Director, Business Services, Fort Bend Independent School District (TX)
  • Katherine “Kathy” Hayes, Director of the Strategic Data and Evaluation Branch, Los Angeles Unified School District (CA)
  • Ricardo Hernandez, Chief Financial Officer, Tucson Unified School District (AZ)
  • Shawn Johnson, Director of PreK-12 Literacy, Wake County Public Schools (NC)
  • Cecilia Maes, Superintendent, Alhambra Elementary School District, Phoenix (AZ)
  • Bernard McCune, Executive Director, Athletics, Activities & Extended Academic Learning, Denver Public Schools (CO)
  • Tiffany Norton, Chief Innovation and Information Officer, Desert Sands Unified School District (CA)
  • Justin Steele, Supervisor of Educational Technology, Caddo Parish Public Schools (LA)

INDUSTRY EXECUTIVES:

  • Matthew Gross, Founder and Executive Chairman, Newsela
  • Eric Hirsch, Executive Director, EdReports
  • Julie Huston, Chief Revenue Officer, Great Minds
  • Susan Liu, Chief Operating Officer, Parallel Learning
  • Vanessa Monterosa, Senior Associate Partner, NewSchools Venture Fund
  • Amanda Neitzel, Deputy Director of Evidence Research, Center for Research and Reform in Education
  • Arun Ramanathan, Chief Executive Officer, Pivot Learning
  • Steven Ross, Professor and Evaluation Director at the Center for Research and Reform in Education, Johns Hopkins University
  • Verlan Stephens, Managing Partner and Chief Information Officer, Agile Education
  • Michelle Suzuki, SVP, Global Marketing, Instructure
  • Kavita Vora, Chief People Officer, BrainPOP


Who should attend?

Anyone who cares deeply about the needs of K-12 buyers and wants to make well-informed business decisions, including:

  • Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Product Officer
  • Chief Marketing Officer; VP, Marketing; Director of Marketing
  • VP, Sales; VP, Customer Success
  • Director, Research; VP, Strategy
  • Investors; Venture Capital, Private Equity, Strategic

NOTE: While we do invite District and School leaders to participate on panels and in social functions, this is to foster learning and professional development for the service provider community. EdWeek Market Brief is not an opportunity for commercial activity.


Research & Insights

Hear straight from K-12 buyers as you gain access to research, surveys, and lively panels that bring their needs alive. Featuring excusive data from the EdWeek Research Center, you’ll gain leading insights on hot topics helping you understand the changing buyer landscape.

Community

Join other Education Leaders as we focus on sharing solutions for today’s complex education challenges and strategies. Hear from District Leaders on how they’re thinking about this school year and beyond.

Today’s Context

Featuring versatile sessions presented by award-winning journalists and editors of EdWeek Market Brief, packed with valuable insights on where district budgets are heading, how to support K-12 customer needs, and districts’ evolving views of technology, including next-generation technologies such as generative A.I.


  • Day 1 - Oct. 25

    Wednesday

  • This session, which will incorporate interactive polling, will provide an overview of the topics we'll be covering throughout the summit.
    Interactive Session
    Where
    GRAND BALLROOM

  • It’s up to school superintendents to set the vision for what their school districts want to accomplish not only academically, but also in supporting student and teacher well-being and building strong ties between their schools and the community. In this session, we’ll get a window into how school district leaders create an agenda, and how they attempt to execute on that vision. We’ll talk with them about how they make decisions, when they delegate, and how they know when to make important pivots in order to accomplish the district’s goals. In addition, we’ll ask them about their expectation for vendors, and how the education companies that work or want to work in their districts can establish themselves as trusted partners – not just those who are merely fulfilling contractual obligations.
    Panel Discussion

  • With the unprecedented churn among school leadership and personnel, the importance of a comprehensive and accurate foundation to successfully adapt your marketing and sales strategy has never been more pronounced. At the heart of this adaptation lies data—a powerful tool that equips businesses with the insights necessary to create targeted and relevant solutions. This conversation with Market Brief Publisher Maurice Bakley will focus on how businesses can use data to reach the right decision makers, identify new priorities and emerging market needs, align their services with educational demands, and develop products that truly resonate with educators and students.
    Fireside Chat

  • Laws that require school districts to follow the “science of reading” – emphasizing evidence-based approaches to the subject – have swept through state legislatures. Thirty-one states have approved those policies. In this session, we talk to a top district academic/curriculum official about how state requirements on reading are affecting instructional purchases, professional development, assessment and more.
    Flash Briefing

  • Many school district officials say they want research-based or evidence-based products for their school systems. But what do they mean by research and evidence? For education companies, knowing how to go about arranging a research study for a product can seem overwhelming. In this interactive session, academic researchers who help education companies arrange research studies on their products draw from their experience to explain what kinds of evidence districts look for, and the array of options companies have for building a research base that works for them. The presenters will also talk about the costly and time-consuming missteps companies need to avoid. The researchers will be joined by a K-12 district administrator with a lead role on product evaluation who talks about the evidence districts look for before committing to purchases. This session will be interactive and feature extensive Q-and-A, in which companies in the audience can pose practical questions that have stumped them when they’re thinking about how to build an evidence base and what sort of research they’re ready for.
    Learn and Reflect

  • Receive essential information for the evening and next day.
    Where
    Grand Ballroom

  • Day 2 - Oct. 26

    Thursday

  • The recent adoption of a new state math framework in California – the nation’s largest education market – has reignited longstanding debates in that state over the best approach to teaching math. We take California’s discussion as launching point for a broader discussion with district curriculum decision-makers on how states and school systems are setting policies for math instruction, taking into account state standards, parent and community feedback, and what research says about effective teaching and learning. To what extent have discussions about the “science of reading” laid the foundation for similar discussions of math?
    Panel Discussion
    Where
    GRAND BALLROOM

  • We deliver up-to-date insights from our annual survey of district leaders to inform education companies’ sales, marketing, product development, and customer success strategy for the coming year. This year’s presentation features new, original data collected on districts’ plans to spend remaining stimulus dollars and the steps they say vendors can take to boost their chances getting spared from the budget axe.
    Research Presentation
    Where
    GRAND BALLROOM

  • School systems across the country have sought to set more uniform expectations for buying ed tech, and for its performance and compatibility with other tools and platforms. In this session, we talk with a top district tech official about their tech expectations, and how they weigh factors such as cost, interoperability, data privacy, and student and teacher engagement, when making purchases.
    Flash Report
    Where
    GRAND BALLROOM

  • Turning in smart, effective responses to requests for proposals often determines whether education companies get to bring their products to districts or get left on the sidelines. In this interactive session, attendees will gain insights from Rick Gay, the executive director of business services for the Fort Bend (Texas) ISD -- and one of the country’s most experienced K-12 leaders on school district procurement -- on the biggest myths and misconceptions about school district solicitations for products and services. We’ll also talk about the biggest mistakes companies make that scuttle their responses to RFPs, and how companies can read these documents with an understanding of what districts are really after, and what they don’t want? This is everything vendors want to know about RFPs but were afraid to ask. ||| Attendees will walk away with: • Insights on how to closely read an RFP: What can a company tell about a school district’s absolute red lines, and what are the opportunities for companies to be creative in their responses? • Killer mistakes to avoid in responding to district solicitations: What are the self-inflicted errors that stop school districts in their tracks? • What does the future of RFPs look like? In particular, do companies have to be prepared for a remote, Zoom-based RFP process, or will in-person presentations be the norm?
    Interactive Session

  • Artificial intelligence has arrived in school districts. Classroom educators and central-office administrators are already weighing what technologies like ChatGPT will mean for everything from students’ critical thinking to the streamlining of teacher lesson plans to risks of academic fraud. But what will the evolution of AI in schools mean for the types of products and services that education companies work to create for schools? In this session, led by Khan Academy Director of Professional Learning Stacie Johnson, we’ll discuss how district demands for AI – and their concerns about it – will influence the kinds of innovative new products and features companies attempt to bring to market, and how it may affect existing solutions. ||| Attendees will walk away with: + Insights on where AI has the greatest potential to upend school-focused products, and where its impact is likely to be limited, at least for now; + Information on how education companies are changing their internal product-development functions and teams to account for AI; + A greater understanding of the ethical and legal challenges posed to companies developing AI products.
    Interactive Session

  • In this interactive session, participants will share best practices and lessons learned from missteps in the messages they carry to school districts. As a conversation point, we’ll look at examples taken from Education Week audience data on the types of email messages – and specific subject lines – that resonated with district administrators, school principals, and teachers – and look at why they appeared to break through, with data for each persona. We’ll also look how to judge marketing performance: How should education providers set benchmarks for how many visitors come to a website, engage with content, and take an action?
    Interactive Session

  • Whether they’re guiding organizations from the C-suite or overseeing specific teams within companies, company leaders’ skills are being tested by a series of bedeviling uncertainties – how districts will react to the loss of federal stimulus funding, staffing turnover in school districts and the private sector, and the rise of game-changing technologies like generative AI. In this session, we’ll lead a structured discussion with executives and managers on their strategies and habits of mind in making smart strategic decisions amid ambiguity. We’ll talk through some of the most common scenarios that leaders face, such as in establishing partnerships with districts and managing talent, and share ideas on what approaches have worked. ||| Attendees will come away with: *Intel collected this year by EdWeek Market Brief of K-12 business officials through an open-ended survey question on the biggest professional challenges they face *Ideas from peers on how to navigate specific scenarios and develop new skills in managing customer relationships and creating the conditions so your team can succeed
    Interactive Session

  • Many school systems have put a major focus on promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in curriculum and instruction and in overall educational opportunity. But now districts are also getting criticized for those efforts and drawn into cultural political fights. We talk with a district leader about how a school system navigates these battles, and what kinds of support it needs from vendors in answering critics.
    Flash Briefing
    Where
    GRAND BALLROOM

  • Over the course of just a few years, education companies’ workplaces have been transformed. Many employees now expect to be allowed to work mostly remotely – and many employers have sought to accommodate their desires. But for education organizations, new workplace flexibility creates a new set of challenges. How can education companies create a coherent, mission-focused organizational culture in an environment in which most of employees’ contact with each other is via a computer screen? Education companies also face questions about how quickly they should ask workers to return to the office – if at all – and about whether job flexibility has become a requirement for acquiring talent. In this panel, we talk to education company officials about the new normal, and how they’re trying to nurture and maintain environments that serve both their organizations’ missions and employees’ needs.
    Panel Discussion
    Where
    GRAND BALLROOM

  • Matthew Gross began his career as a music teacher in the South Bronx. He would go on to found Newsela, an education company that offers curated, differentiated instructional content and serves over 40 million students and 3 million teachers. Gross, who served as CEO of Newsela until this year and is now the company’s executive chairman, will talk about the origins of the company, its expansion over the past decade, and the lessons that he learned during the journey about building relationships with school districts, developing a beloved ed tech product, and managing growth. Newsela was recently named one of Fast Company’s most innovative companies and was a 2020 winner of Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Award. Deloitte also named Newsela one of the fastest-growing tech companies.
    Fireside Chat
    Where
    GRAND BALLROOM

  • Day 3 - Oct. 27

    Friday

  • In this session -- one of our most popular – we'll present our latest, exclusive EdWeek Market Brief survey data taken from district leaders on whether they will increase, decrease, or keep level spending in specific product categories for next fiscal year, 2024-25. Those categories include core and supplemental math and ELA curriculum; social-emotional learning; devices; classroom, interim, and summative assessment; learning management and student information systems, and more.
    Flash Briefing
    Where
    GRAND BALLROOM

  • Turning in smart, effective responses to requests for proposals often determines whether education companies get to bring their products to districts or get left on the sidelines. In this interactive session, attendees will gain insights from Rick Gay, the executive director of business services for the Fort Bend (Texas) ISD -- and one of the country’s most experienced K-12 leaders on school district procurement -- on the biggest myths and misconceptions about school district solicitations for products and services. We’ll also talk about the biggest mistakes companies make that scuttle their responses to RFPs, and how companies can read these documents with an understanding of what districts are really after, and what they don’t want? This is everything vendors want to know about RFPs but were afraid to ask. ||| Attendees will walk away with: • Insights on how to closely read an RFP: What can a company tell about a school district’s absolute red lines, and what are the opportunities for companies to be creative in their responses? • Killer mistakes to avoid in responding to district solicitations: What are the self-inflicted errors that stop school districts in their tracks? • What does the future of RFPs look like? In particular, do companies have to be prepared for a remote, Zoom-based RFP process, or will in-person presentations be the norm?
    Interactive Session

  • Artificial intelligence has arrived in school districts. Classroom educators and central-office administrators are already weighing what technologies like ChatGPT will mean for everything from students’ critical thinking to the streamlining of teacher lesson plans to risks of academic fraud. But what will the evolution of AI in schools mean for the types of products and services that education companies work to create for schools? In this session, led by Khan Academy Director of Professional Learning Stacie Johnson, we’ll discuss how district demands for AI – and their concerns about it – will influence the kinds of innovative new products and features companies attempt to bring to market, and how it may affect existing solutions. ||| Attendees will walk away with: + Insights on where AI has the greatest potential to upend school-focused products, and where its impact is likely to be limited, at least for now; + Information on how education companies are changing their internal product-development functions and teams to account for AI; + A greater understanding of the ethical and legal challenges posed to companies developing AI products.
    Interactive Session

  • In this interactive session, participants will share best practices and lessons learned from missteps in the messages they carry to school districts. As a conversation point, we’ll look at examples taken from Education Week audience data on the types of email messages – and specific subject lines – that resonated with district administrators, school principals, and teachers – and look at why they appeared to break through, with data for each persona. We’ll also look how to judge marketing performance: How should education providers set benchmarks for how many visitors come to a website, engage with content, and take an action?
    Interactive Session

  • Whether they’re guiding organizations from the C-suite or overseeing specific teams within companies, company leaders’ skills are being tested by a series of bedeviling uncertainties – how districts will react to the loss of federal stimulus funding, staffing turnover in school districts and the private sector, and the rise of game-changing technologies like generative AI. In this session, we’ll lead a structured discussion with executives and managers on their strategies and habits of mind in making smart strategic decisions amid ambiguity. We’ll talk through some of the most common scenarios that leaders face, such as in establishing partnerships with districts and managing talent, and share ideas on what approaches have worked. ||| Attendees will come away with: *Intel collected this year by EdWeek Market Brief of K-12 business officials through an open-ended survey question on the biggest professional challenges they face *Ideas from peers on how to navigate specific scenarios and develop new skills in managing customer relationships and creating the conditions so your team can succeed
    Interactive Session

  • School districts have spent billions of dollars in federal emergency aid on major investments in academic interventions -- especially tutoring -- as well as curriculum, social-emotional learning, devices, classroom assessment, management systems, and many other needs. With federal stimulus aid set to expire in late 2024, how will district leaders decide what products and services to keep, or cut? In this session, we hear directly from district administrators immersed in those decisions about the process they’re following. Are they looking at usage data? Feedback from teachers? Evidence of academic gains or other outcomes? Or other factors entirely?
    Panel Discussion
    Where
    GRAND BALLROOM

EdWeek Market Brief Summit Sponsors


Learn More: Agile Education Marketing


Why Sponsor the EdWeek Market Brief Summit?

  • Brand Awareness: Reach a nationwide audience of education business leaders and align your messaging with EdWeek Market Brief’s trusted brand.
  • Lead Generation: Capture high-quality leads from summit attendees and a broader list of those attending your thought leadership sessions.
  • Content Marketing/Thought Leadership: Build your brand’s reputation as a thought leader and position your solutions for success in the education business market with messaging at our event in pre- and post-event communications.

Interested in hearing more?  Email Karen McKay today!

You're In Good Company

Network with and learn from other executives this October! Our attendees come from leading-edge education technology companies, big education publishers with legacy brands, and small start-ups, making a name for themselves in the K-12 marketplace. Below are organizations that will be represented in October 2023! More signing up daily. Connect and don’t miss out…

240 Tutoring | AIM Institute for Learning & Research | AKJ Education | Alliance for a Healthier Generation | American Book Company | American Reading Company | Aperture Education (a Riverside Insights Company) | Association for Middle Level Education | Autodesk | BARR Center | BellXcel | Bluum | Boys Town | Britannica Education | Changing Students’ Odds for Success | Clarity Consulting | College Board | Committee for Children | Curriculum Associates | ECS Learning Systems | Ed2Market | EdGate Correlation Services | Edmentum | EL Education | engage2learn | English Learners Success Forum | EVERFI | Fathom Reads | FuelEd | Graduation Alliance | Great Minds | Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | Illustrative Mathematics | Imagine Learning | Ingram Education Services | Institute for Education Innovation (IEI) | Istation | Jamf | K12 Coalition | Learning Without Tears | Lexia Learning | Lightspeed Systems | Lincoln Learning Solutions | LinkIt! | Logic of English | Membean | NoRedInk | OneScreen | PBLWorks | Pearson | PowerSchool | Progress Learning | Reading Horizons | Renaissance | Scholastic Education Solutions | SchoolMint | Solution Tree | STEM Education Works | Student Achievement Partners | TalkingPoints | Teacher Created Materials | The Achievement Network, Ltd. | The Buck Institute for Education DBA PBLWorks | TNTP | Vector Solutions | Westchester Education Services | Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence

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