This year’s speakers — through keynote addresses and a one-on-one conversation — will cover a breadth of topics crucial to the work of trustees across the state, including how best to work with and relate to one another despite generational divides, working empathetically with struggling youth as they forge a new path forward, the pitfalls and potential for artificial intelligence (AI) in education and more.
For additional information about AEC or the speakers below, visit aec.csba.org.
Sal Khan — the founder of Khan Academy, which serves more than 150 million registered users from more than 190 countries across its learning platform and has been translated into more than 50 languages — will join CSBA CEO & Executive Director Vernon M. Billy onstage at AEC’s Second General Session, From Algorithms to Academics: The AI Revolution in Public Schools, a discussion about the potential benefits of artificial intelligence use in the classroom.
Khan Academy, which partners with school districts across the country that serve students who are historically underresourced, aims to provide a free, world-class education for anyone anywhere. Currently, the organization is piloting an AI guide called Khanmigo, a tutor and teaching assistant.
Khan’s interest in education began while he was an undergraduate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). While there, he developed math software for children with ADHD and tutored fourth- and seventh-grade public school students. He also taught test prep courses for the Medical College Admission Test and was named Teacher of the Year by a national test prep company.
Parents, educators, employers and national organizations have successfully used Perna’s strategies, including the Career Tree® strategy, to connect more effectively with the younger generations.
Known for being a dynamic and motivational public speaker, Perna has also served on the Advisory Council for the Coalition for Career Development in Washington, D.C., and authored the award-winning bestseller, “Answering Why: Unleashing Passion, Purpose, and Performance in Younger Generations” — written to help educators, employers, and parents understand and motivate the millennial and Z generations. “Answering Why” has won eight national book awards, including the Nautilus Award, which is given to books thought to make a positive difference in the world.
First General Session Speaker Dr. Shawn Ginwright is a leading innovator, provocateur and thought leader on African American youth, youth activism and youth development. A professor of education in the Africana Studies Department and a senior research associate at San Francisco State University, his research examines the ways in which youth in urban communities navigate the constraints of poverty and struggle to create equality and justice in their schools and communities.
As the founder and chief executive officer of Flourish Agenda, Inc. — a research lab and consulting firm — Ginwright has sought to design strategies that unlock the power of healing and engage youth of color and adult allies in transforming their schools and communities. Through such efforts, he has been awarded the prestigious Fulbright Senior Specialist award from the U.S. State Department for his outstanding research and work with urban youth.
His new book, “The Four Pivots: Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves,” breaks down common myths of social movements and proposes four revolutionary pivots for better activism and collective leadership.