The 2022 National Charter Schools Conference reunited 3,500 charter school educators, school leaders, and national, state, and local advocates in Washington, D.C. for the first time in over two years. We hope everyone had a great time reconnecting and getting inspired!
The four-day conference featured more than 70 breakout sessions and more than 250 exhibitors as well as an exceptional slate of speakers. Nina Rees, president & CEO at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, delivered a powerful opening keynote, reminding us how strong our movement is when we unite. Nina’s keynote followed a motivational video highlighting the charter school movement’s commitment to the fight for students.
Keynote speaker Principal Baruti Kafele, a highly regarded urban educator with more than 20 years of experience and a transformational school leader, energized us by speaking about the ability of educators to change student lives. His talk left the audience ready to take home and apply what they learned at the conference.
We also had a chance to hear from several different voices in our movement on why they support public charter schools, including Rocketship parent LaJoy Johnson-Law; 2021 30 Under 30 changemaker award recipient and Kairos Academies leader Gavin Schiffres; California Charter Schools Association leader and National Alliance board member Myrna Castrejón; and Dylan Park, a student at Washington Latin Public Charter School and one of our newly named Rising Leaders.
Speaking of our Rising Leaders, we were thrilled to announce the 10 students, including Dylan, chosen to be a part of the Rising Leaders Initiative’s inaugural class. Through this program, we are supporting the next generation of powerful advocates—both for education and in their communities.
Additionally, we provided a sneak peek of a recent national survey of parents, conducted by The Harris Poll and commissioned by the National Alliance. This poll provides a follow-up to our 2021 report, Voting With Their Feet, and dives into exactly why parents are exercising school choice and, in many cases, choosing charter schools. One key finding included that 82% of parents are willing to vote for someone outside of their political party if their education platform aligned with their views—a telling finding considering midterm elections are coming up this fall. The full report will be released later this summer.
Thank you for joining us for NCSC22! It was a time to make connections, share best practices, reflect on hardships, and inspire each other to move forward and continue the fight for students every day.
Kayley Pham is the coordinator of social and digital media for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.