Featured Panel - Down Payment on the Future: The Budget Crisis, Our Schools, and California's Economic Outlook
Can we really do more with less? In what way will current educational choices impact all sectors later? How will we continue to create a truly educated workforce and the future leadership of California? This conversation between senior local and state leaders addressed both the long and short term implications of decisions made in the current budget crisis. Discussion focused on creative solutions and innovative perspectives.

Teaching with Passion and Enthusiasm for the Long-Term: How to Sustain Yourself as a Classroom Leader
Often the work of ensuring our students succeed can feel so urgent that educators forget about the equally important work of sustaining and developing themselves as educators. These factors are critical in order to remain inspired and committed to student achievement, especially when making a long-term commitment to teaching. In this panel, alumni teachers shared the challenges, set-backs, and achievements they have faced as long-term instructional leaders, as well as shared how they have sustained and developed themselves to remain committed to teaching and students.

Community and Labor Organizing: Changing Streets, Neighborhoods, and Towns One Person At a Time
From churches to unions, block associations to virtual communities, organizing allows individuals and groups to achieve results for their communities. This session focused on what great organizing looks like and what the impact of great organizing can be. It featured alumni organizers from labor unions to parent organizations discussing how individuals can become involved in community organizing and prepare for leadership roles. We also discussed how to start a community organization in response to a particular need or goal in your own community.

Learn more about the panelists for this session by visiting Leadership for Educational Equity, a Teach For America sister organization created to provide opportunities for you to connect with each other, find news about education policy and alumni in politics, and to access resources and tools to effectively navigate the world of government, policy, and politics.

So You Want to Make the Rules? Reasons to Consider Elected Office, Stories of Impact, and Tips for Deciding to Run or Serve
In this session, elected alumni and a high profile non-alum elected leaders discussed the impact elected leaders can have, how they got to where they are now, and what it's like to run and serve. Attendees learned how to explore political office, decide whether the elected path is right, balance political interest and activity with personal and professional responsibilities, and how to take practical and incremental steps now that can help ensure readiness to run in the future - whether that is in ten years or ten months.

Learn more about the panelists for this session by visiting Leadership for Educational Equity, a Teach For America sister organization created to provide opportunities for you to connect with each other, find news about education policy and alumni in politics, and to access resources and tools to effectively navigate the world of government, policy, and politics.

Nonprofit Board Leadership: Creating Change Through Organizational Leadership
Looking to make a real change in the nonprofit world outside of your everyday work? This workshop helped participants learn how to find opportunities to serve on the board of a nonprofit, select the right fit, and maximize their contributions as a board member.

Where We Are and Where We're Going: An Update on Teach For America's Program and Priorities
Over the past five years alone, our corps size has grown by almost 3,000, alumni base by more than 8,000, and our models for recruitment, selection, teacher training, and alumni support have evolved significantly, often based on what we have learned from alumni feedback. This Q&A forum was a unique opportunity to pose questions and offer thoughts on topics from teacher training and student achievement, to diversity training, to plans for continued growth and organizational development up to the year 2015. Attendees joined an open dialogue with Teach For America leaders to learn more about the organization's evolution and growth, from past struggles to lessons learned.

Building and Maintaining a Culture of Excellence Across Sectors: Managing High-Performing Organizations
What commonalities exist in high performing organizations? Panelists examined the key factors and major challenges in managing highly successful organizations viewed as great places to work with clear results. Attendees joined representatives from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, and heard these effective leaders discuss lessons they've learned, best practices, and advice they would give to others in or out of their sector.

Big Ideas, Big Impact: The Power of Social Entrepreneurship
Los Angeles schools require structural and systemic changes from within, but how can we also encourage businesses and non-profits to demonstrate innovative solutions for our communities? Attendees explored the ins and outs of social entrepreneurship through the eyes of alumni and local community leaders who have successfully launched organizations committed to social change. Panelists addressed the preparation and skills needed to launch a new venture, including how to secure funding. The session also featured a fifteen-minute pitch panel at the end where attendees presented a two-minute pitch on their new venture idea and got immediate feedback from panelists on innovativeness of idea, viability, and presentation skills.

Rabble Rousers & Knowledge-Builders: Getting Involved in Policy and Advocacy
This discussion and networking opportunity was designed for alumni looking to start or advance a career in policy or advocacy, or wanting to ensure impactful volunteer advocacy. Our panel highlighted alumni on the path to policy leadership as advisors to elected officials, leaders in public agencies, key staffers in policy-related organizations, and leaders of grassroots organizations. Participants learned about the skills, experiences, and training necessary to enter government and policy making and advance toward positions of influence, as well as how to make a difference as volunteers.

Learn more about the panelists for this session by visiting Leadership for Educational Equity, a Teach For America sister organization created to provide opportunities for you to connect with each other, find news about educational policy and alumni in politics, and to access resources and tools to effectively navigate the world of government, policy, and politics.

Teach For All: Helping Address Educational Inequity Across the Globe
In September 2007, Teach For America announced the launch of Teach For All, a new organization that supports entrepreneurs across the world who are developing grassroots efforts to execute the Teach For America model locally. In this presentation, participants learned how the Teach For America model is being adapted in countries such as Chile and Germany to address the vast educational disparities that exist internationally.

The Power of Words: The Role of Media in Informing the Public Dialogue on Issues of Educational Equity
Media in all forms - from print journalism, to nightly news, to blog marketing - has tremendous power to shape mainstream thinking and public debate. The role of media regarding issues such as the mayoral bid for control of Los Angeles Schools, last November's presidential election, local school board elections, and coverage of Los Angeles education reform initiatives are just a few examples in which media can impact the world of education and the communities we serve. Attendees joined our panelists for a provocative discussion about the powerful role of media and the potential impact of the press to expose the achievement gap and push reform.

Don't Re-Create the Wheel: New Online Offerings for Educators to Develop Yourself and Your Team
This panel was an opportunity for all educators - teachers, assistant principals, principals, teaching coaches, etc - to tap into one of the most robust and innovative online teacher support systems, comprised of tools and resources from corps members, alumni teachers and Teach For America staff. Attendees got hands-on experience leveraging them in real life situations. Alumni left the session understanding the resources we are utilizing with our most recent corps members, and how they can access these resources online and leverage them in their own day-to-day work.

Do What You Love: Identify Jobs that Fit Your Strengths
Do you want to learn more about how to leverage your unique strengths in your current role, or how to identify new roles that might interest you? Attendees were invited to join this interactive workshop to engage in individual and group self-assessments to help learn more about themselves and about career possibilities that play to their strengths. Alumni left the session with concrete next steps to help them explore and identify the career paths and roles that fit them

Featured Panel - What's Next in our Los Angeles Public School Landscape? Traditional Public Schools, Charter Schools, Partnership Reform, and Beyond
In our region, comprehensive public schools have begun internal transformations through avenues such as "small schools" or academies. Additionally, the Los Angeles area is home to more than 160 charter schools as well as LAUSD "IDivision" schools that are being led for the first time by public/private partnerships. We heard discussion between organizational leaders of our current reform movements. What is working now? What must we work toward in years to come? How will we continue our evolution?