Annual Learning Labs Conferences
Learning Labs conferences represent a new way of working. Unlike conferences that have nebulous goals and focus on passive individual learning, the Learning Labs Conference embodies an edge and sense of urgency born of our collective commitment the designers’ and participants’ commitment to improving the life chances of the nation’s most vulnerable children. It uses a call-to-action to urge the participating site teams to focus sharply on issues of equity in all aspects of their work and to keep the faces of the most vulnerable children clearly in mind as they shape their state goals and objectives. As such, the participating state teams are expected to have done pre-conference reflecting and planning so as to have a clear sense of the current status of their work as well as their long term goals. Each team should have a plan for how to use the protected time of the conference to learn from colleagues at the host site, gain insight into dilemmas that may be impeding their progress, and sharpen their plan for accelerating their local work in the coming year. Each team will be provided with an experienced facilitator as a resource person to help the team create the conditions necessary for the candid and sometimes difficult conversations that produce real insight. The conference has been designed to support intellectual risk-taking, promote shared learning and expertise, and provide structured time for the collaborative action planning that leads to advancements in policy development, systems change, and programmatic innovation that significantly improve educational opportunity, healthy child development, and overall child well-being.
The first annual conference was held at Ko Olina Resort in Hawai'i in Spring of 2008. The second conference was held at the Biltmore Hotel in the Coral Gables neighborhood of Miami, Florida. The third annual conference will be held in May of 2010.