When Women Lead 2025 Call for Proposals

This Call for Proposals is for the Voice4Equity 2025 When Women Lead summit taking place at Mills House in Charleston, SC on June 23-25, 2025.

When Women Lead provides a one-of-a-kind space for women who are leaders in public education to build greater policy expertise. Presenters should be practicing superintendents, assistant superintendents and other education leaders at the state, district and school levels, with expertise in an area relevant to one or more of the conference themes.

The 2025 conference theme is “Brave Leadership: Power, Voice and Allyship.”

Proposal Instructions

All sessions must align with one of the four conference strands and should be co-presented. You will be notified of your proposal status by the end of January 2025. All co-Presenters must register for the conference at the reduced presenter rate once notified of session acceptance.

Session Option 1: Disrupting Inequities Through Innovation

Description: We are seeking presenters that have a proven model that has reduced opportunity gaps through innovative practices. Presenters will share student achievement and engagement results that demonstrate impact on the disenfranchised within the community context. We would like to see innovative models of excellence focused on new arrivals, multilingual learners, girls in STEM, homeless students, race/ethnicity/gender/identity specific solutions, or other groups.

Session Option 2: Collective Action and Policy Voice

Description: During a time of strongholds and divisive politics that are disrupting a teaching and learning focus in public education systems,  we are seeking brave and bold models of leadership predicated on collective action approaches or shared power concepts that empower new voices at the policy table. Focusing on students, parents and other community members through policy work that impacts curriculum, school design, and student engagement,presenters should speak to the role of the superintendent in your innovation model.

Session Option 3: Allies and Co-conspirators!

Description: We are seeking session presenters that can share successful models of allyship or co-conspiratorship that has created the space, advocacy, support and shared voice needed to amplify equity and justice-focused work that centers student success. Presenters should speak to both formal and informal structures and policies to accomplish the difficult work of breaking through implicit and explicit biases, while shifting mindsets and building strong communities of practice.

Session Option 4: It’s Time to Replace that Legacy System!

Description: Systemic change is hard but necessary when legacy systems impede progress because “it’s how we’ve always done it.”  Name the area that needs new ways of thinking, share the data that demonstrates the long standing challenge, and then engage your audience in solution-setting to better meet the needs of students today. Leverage this session to create a network of cross district leaders that want to put together a more specific and bold plan of action, and continue to work together after the conference.