Keynotes:

Gloria Ladson-Billings is Professor Emerita and former Kellner Family Distinguished Professor in Urban Education in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction and was Faculty Affiliate in the Departments of Educational Policy Studies, Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis and Afro American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is the Immediate Past President of the National Academy of Education. She was the 2005--2006 president of the American Educational Research Association. In 2021 she was named a Corresponding Fellow the British Academy. She is a 2020-2021 Hagler Institute Fellow at Texas A&M University. She is a Fellow in the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. She is the inaugural Distinguished Scholar in Race and Social Justice for the Rutgers Graduate School of Education. Ladson-Billings’ research examines the pedagogical practices of teachers who are successful with African American students. She also investigates Critical Race Theory applications to education.

Joe Feldman has worked in education for over 20 years at the school, district, and federal levels of government, and in traditional district and charter school systems. He began his career as an English and U.S. History teacher in Atlanta Public Schools and was the founding principal of Thurgood Marshall Academy in Washington, D.C. which has the highest performing students of any open-enrollment public school in the city. He also served as Director of Charter School Development for the New York City Department of Education and as Director of K-12 Instruction in Union City, California. In Union City, Joe led the districtwide initiative to expand access to and support for honors and advanced classes; in two years the district doubled the number of African-American and Latino students who enrolled in—and passed–honors and advanced courses.