TASA presented two sessions at SXSW EDU in Austin in March 2018 that relate to Mission: School Transformation.

The United in Statewide Vision for Transformation panel discussion featured: TASA Associate Executive Director Brandon Core; Incoming TASA Executive Director Kevin Brown, currently the superintendent of Alamo Heights ISD; TASA Vice-President Greg Smith, superintendent of Clear Creek ISD; and Education Reimagined Executive Director Kelly Young.

The session highlighted the work of TASA’s visioning process, Mission: School Transformation, the continued development and expansion of the Future-Ready Superintendents Leadership Network, and the link to the work that Education Reimagined is leading across the nation.

TASA was also integral to organizing Change Testing Forever: Teachers Leading the Cause, a panel discussion featuring Ohio Superintendent of Instruction Paolo Demaria, Stanford SCALE Executive Director Ray Pecheone, Lewisville ISD Strategic Design Coach Sean Hood, and Ohio’s Orange City ISD Instructional Mathematics Coach Christa Krohn.

The panelists discussed efforts to pursue performance-based assessments as alternatives to current state assessments and shared lessons learned in the design and development process, early implementation successes, and future outcomes for their work. Eric Simpson, TASA’s director of Learning and Leadership Services, discussed the work of the Texas Public Accountability Consortium (TPAC), which TASA facilitates.

Education Dive’s editorial team attended the assessment panel discussion and featured coverage of the session in “Assessments will be disrupted: Is a performance approach the future of testing?” Read the article.