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Thought Leadership
Schools That Can has long sought to be a resource for thoughtful, interactive conversations in the K-12 education space, since our first National Forum in 2006. From in-person gatherings hosted in New York City, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and more to virtual events that bring together educators around the world, we're dedicated to uplifting thought leaders, sharing best practices, and creating space for conversation and collaboration through our Thought Leadership initiatives.
Schools That Can Forum
Started in 2006, the Schools That Can Forum is an annual, public conference that brings together top educators from STC schools, innovative educational organizations, thought leaders, industry, and the community. Since 2014, we have presented the RFK Education Awards in partnership with Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. These awards celebrate school leaders, educators, and students who have demonstrated outstanding commitment to their communities and schools.
Since 2020, the Schools That Can Forum has been hosted virtually in an effort to expand accessibility to educators across the country and around the world.
STC Study Groups
STC’s Study Groups bring together outstanding leaders in small cohorts to share ideas and explore problem-solving solutions to intransient challenges in K-12 public education. STC provides a platform for diverse leader discourse and a methodology to sustain engagement among very busy participants. Currently, study groups include the following:
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School Leaders: 8 school leaders from different cities who have won our prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Urban Education School Leader Awards and represent cross-sector diversity of district, charter, faith-based and independent middle and high school leadership share ideas and practices dealing with timely challenges.
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University Provosts from 4 diverse universities (private, state, city and national virtual) share ideas and practices around the theme of “The value of Universities.” This group was formed to explore the growth of students and parents in recent years expressing concern over the value of college as a post-secondary option.
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Thought Leaders including four university presidents and four highly respected education and community leaders share ideas and thoughts concerning the current status of public education in America.
STC Ed Chats
STC has enjoyed a long history of facilitating STC Forums where school leaders across sectors and grade levels would come together in-person and since the pandemic, virtually, to learn and share. From 2005 until 2020 STC facilitated 15 years of annual Forums in different cities that were in-person learning opportunities for school leaders to go beyond their four walls to share practices and seek challenge solutions. The average attendance would reach 300-400 by 2010. Keynote speakers over the years included Secretary John King, Senator Cory Booker, Professor Angela Duckworth, Professor Clayton Christensen, Chancellor Nancy Cantor, Professor Illah Nourbaksh and many others including prominent school leaders. Aligned to this tradition of cross-sector collaboration and sharing, in 2020 STC started its STC Ed Chat Series which was essentially virtual experiences that represented the best of our Forum experiences. Ed Chats have included such stimulating conversations as education in the age of AI, how career readiness changes high school culture, education equity throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and more.