Keynote Speakers

Opening Keynote

Avoiding "PLC Lite" Effective Teacher Team Data Work

Kim Marshall, Author of Marshall Memo
Interim assessments (a.k.a. benchmark, periodic, common formative) have great potential to improve teaching and learning. However, the idea has not traveled well; it’s been implemented in ways that don’t produce results, frustrate teachers and administrators, and waste valuable time. This is especially true if assessments are coupled with accountability pressure and SLO (Student Learning Objectives) policies from the state level. This session unpacks the ways interim assessments have been implemented ineffectively and suggests the key leadership steps for maximum impact, including a judicious use of AI tools:

- Building teacher understanding and trust: Why are we doing this? How can it help?
- Clarifying learning outcomes for the grade or course;
- Setting a long-term (perhaps 4-year) goal for the school, annual SMART goals by team; - Creating or buying good interim assessments;
- Scheduling assessments, immediate scoring, discussion time, and follow-up;
- Effective teacher scoring and analysis;

- Effective data display;
- Holding data meetings and planning for action; - Involving students;
- Relentlessly following up with students;
- Keeping the focus on results.

Closing Keynote

When Purpose and Presence Collide

Kevin Bruggink, Retired Educator

School leadership calls us to remain deeply committed to where we are going and who we are working to become without losing sight of the people and circumstances right in front of us. How do we stay faithful to long-range goals for 100% student learning while remaining fully present in the interactions that shape our schools today? Drawing on more than 20 years of administrative experience, including ten years coaching school leadership teams across Wisconsin, Kevin shares specific lessons, examples, and strategies for navigating this tension. The keynote explores how leaders can remain firmly focused on our big learning goals while staying present for students and staff in the small moments that matter most.

Following a 36-year career in education, Kevin recently retired after 14 years as Superintendent of the Oostburg School District. Oostburg raised its ACT scores from the 44th percentile (2008-2015) to the 95th percentile (2016-2025) while being among the highest districts in both attainment and growth in our state. For the past ten years, he has partnered with AWSA as a SAIL Academy Coach, working with school districts to strengthen leadership practices and improve student outcomes. Kevin is passionate about helping schools align purpose and practice, with a particular interest in how schools serve students who receive specialized support. Outside of education, he enjoys SCUBA diving, biking, hobby farming, and spending time with family. Kevin and his wife, LuAnn, live just outside Oostburg, where their children and grandchildren are teaching them as much about life and learning as his more-than-three-decade career in education ever could.

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