WestEd school improvement experts will present at the 2026 MEGA Conference, hosted by the Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE), July 20–24, 2026, in Mobile, Alabama.
This conference provides hands-on learning and professional development opportunities across all areas of education, focusing on a range of topics including curriculum design, school leadership, and classroom technology.
The conference theme this year is “Igniting Pathways, Empowering Every Learner.”
WestEd Presentations
Wednesday, July 22
From Plans to Practice: Keeping School Improvement at the Center of Daily Leadership With My School Improvement Partner
Time: 8:30 a.m.
Speakers: Dr. Contann Dabney, Dr. Terry Hofer, Giselle Sherry-Marsh
The session introduces My School Improvement Partner, an innovative AI tool that helps leaders organize priorities and sustain disciplined improvement efforts over time. School leaders regularly engage in improvement planning, yet the greater challenge is ensuring that improvement priorities remain active and inform day-to-day leadership decisions throughout the year. This session explores practical approaches for streamlining improvement work so that it remains visible, manageable, and connected to everyday leadership practice. Participants will learn how to maintain focus on a few high-leverage priorities, translate goals into short action cycles, and use daily leadership practices to monitor progress and make strategic adjustments.
Repeat: From Plans to Practice: Keeping School Improvement at the Center of Daily Leadership With My School Improvement Partner
Time: 2:05 p.m.
Speakers: Dr. Contann Dabney, Dr. Terry Hofer, Giselle Sherry-Marsh
The session introduces My School Improvement Partner, an innovative AI tool that helps leaders organize priorities and sustain disciplined improvement efforts over time. School leaders regularly engage in improvement planning, yet the greater challenge is ensuring that improvement priorities remain active and inform day-to-day leadership decisions throughout the year. This session explores practical approaches for streamlining improvement work so that it remains visible, manageable, and connected to everyday leadership practice. Participants will learn how to maintain focus on a few high-leverage priorities, translate goals into short action cycles, and use daily leadership practices to monitor progress and make strategic adjustments.
Thursday, July 23
Leading With Urgency: Activating the Four Domains Through Five Levers of School Improvement
Time: 8:30 a.m.
Speaker: Dr. Terry Hofer
This session introduces Leading With Urgency: Five Levers for Effective School Improvement and Lasting Change, a practical leadership framework that helps principals activate WestEd’s Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement in daily practice. The Five Levers—relational trust, strategic use of time, instructional leadership, mindset shifts, and purposeful implementation—translate the Four Domains into focused leadership actions that strengthen teaching and learning. Participants will explore how these levers support turnaround leadership, talent development, instructional transformation, and culture shift through real examples and reflection protocols. School leaders will leave with practical strategies for focusing on improvement efforts, strengthening adult collaboration, and accelerating student learning.