APS Rising Educator Summit 2026

How do we bridge the gap between classroom instruction and meaningful student achievement? This series of presentations offers practical pathways for fostering critical thinking and civic engagement while providing essential academic support. Explore how project-based civic research allows students to pitch real-world solutions to community stakeholders and school boards. Then, gain actionable teaching strategies to elevate core academic skills, featuring specialized tools for developing Strategic Intervention Materials and differentiated writing frameworks that ensure students of all abilities thrive. Join us in La Sala for a dynamic and interactive series of poster sessions designed to spark innovation and provide practical solutions for today’s educators. These sessions offer a unique opportunity to engage directly with experts, explore visual data, and take away actionable strategies in a concise, high-impact format.

Inspire Young Leaders! Amplify Student Voice with the Civic Action Project: Connect students to real-world issues through informed civic action. Civic Action Project (CAP) uses project-based learning to empower students to create meaningful, policy-informed solutions in their community. With lessons for elementary, middle, and high school classes, CAP helps students identify an issue, connect it to public policy, take action, and reflect on their work. CAP is flexible and is used across academic disciplines, including ELA, social studies, and science. The curriculum includes academic pathways such as media literacy, social movements, and environmental science to help students make connections between classroom learning and community issues. Kathleen Hughes

Strategic Intervention Material: A Better Way in Increasing the Academic Achievements of Students: This session is designed to equip teachers with the knowledge and skills needed to develop effective Strategic Intervention Materials (SIM). The focus is on helping educators address learning gaps and support students who struggle with specific competencies. Participants will explore the purpose and importance of SIM in improving student understanding and performance. The session will guide teachers through the key components of a well-designed SIM, including identifying least-mastered skills, setting clear objectives, and organizing content in a simple, engaging, and learner-friendly format. Irene Gonzales

Writing the 5-Paragraph Essay: All participants will learn about how to get students to write a 5-paragraph essay. To get students to write a five paragraph essay, the presenter will also show previous writing strategies (that help students build connections) like "Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning" assignments and the RACES Writing strategies. Work samples will be included to show the audience what completed/exceptional assignments look like. The presenter also has a strong background in special education (5 years of working in a SES Middle School Environment, working in a cross cat High School Setting, and being a Head Teacher) and can show how to modify, differentiate, and provide appropriate accommodations to help students with their writing assignments and provide teachers with additional tools/skills to provide quality small group instructional practice and/or inclusive practices. Andrew Marcus

Community Civics Projects Proposals: This poster gallery will include a few high school juniors, seniors, and alumni to discuss their research while as a student at APS. The students choose a meaningful topic they want to research, problem solve, and then facilitate, direct, and implement presentations from local, district, state, and sometimes national level to multiple shareholders each year. The topic is carefully researched from multiple perspectives, then students will problem solve several solutions to the issue or concern. These posters will show the topic, research, proposals, interviews, and presentations for the past 3 years. The topics are
1) Grading for equity from a students lens.
2) Capstone: The students big ideas on student directed learning.
3) PBL: What is it from multiple perspectives. How can PBL realistically be implemented? A research from multiple shareholders in APS
4) Representation matters: Ideas and proposals from multiple perspectives in education.
Michael Nair