Dr. Bill Daggett
Founder and Chairman at International Center for Leadership in Education
Bill Daggett, Ed.D., is the founder of both the Successful Practices Network and the International Center for Leadership in Education. He is recognized worldwide for his proven ability to move preK-12 education systems towards more rigorous and relevant skills and knowledge for all students. For 30 years, he has crisscrossed our nation, as well as the industrialized world, to lead school reform efforts to effectively prepare students for their future.
While an avid supporter of public education, he also challenges all of us to be more focused on our children’s future than on maintaining the schools of our youth. His insights and leadership have caused nearly every major education association in the country, hundreds of school districts, numerous political and business leaders, publishers, and others to seek out his advice and guidance.
Dr. Daggett began his career as a teacher, local administrator, and then director with the New York State Education Department. He spends much of his time providing leadership and guidance to the National Dropout Prevention Center and the Career and Technical Education Technical Assistance Center, which are part of the Successful Practices Network.
He is the creator of the Rigor/Relevance Framework which has recently become the cornerstone of much of the nation’s school reform efforts. He is also the author of numerous books about learning and education, textbooks, research reports, and journal articles.
Dr. Daggett has been recognized as a distinguished alumnus by both Temple University and the State University at Albany.
Dr. Daggett has a special commitment to individuals with disabilities. He and his wife, Bonnie, volunteer their time and lend their support to Wildwood Programs in upstate New York. Wildwood serves the needs of people of all ages who, like their daughter Audrey, have neurological impairments/learning disabilities or autism, by enabling them to become the best that they can be.
* Schedule: Dr. Daggett will be presenting a keynote address Learning 2025: Preparing Students for Their Future, NOT Our Past on Thursday, March 4th 9:10-9:35 am MST.
Equity, social justice, Social-Emotional Learning, mental health, and a rigorous and relevant instructional program for all students are recent but critical issues that schools today are required to address. Meanwhile, the demands of the past have not gone away. The brick-and-mortar school model of the last century with the bell schedule, boundaries, rules, regulations, certifications, tenures, contracts, and a hyper-focus on meeting proficiency on high-stakes tests continue to demand attention. While the demands continue to compound, a silver lining is emerging through the hardships brought on by COVID. It has created a tipping point for many educators, policy makers, business leaders, and parents around the immediate need to transform our education system. The pandemic has also taught us that change is possible in the ways we had not imagined even one year ago.
Dr. Bill Daggett will share emerging solutions to these challenges. He is co-chairing a National Commission named “Learning 2025: National Commission on Student- centered, Equity-focused Education” with AASA, in cooperation with several other national organizations including NSBA, CCSSO, NASSP, and NESPA. The National Commission’s charge will be to identify and document the cognitive and non-cognitive skills, knowledge, behaviors, and dispositions that high school graduates will need to master to prepare for the digital age workplace as citizens of a global community. Dr. Daggett will share with participating schools and districts the evidence-based practices that have been found to be most effective at addressing the multiple challenges and demands that they face. He will explain how those practices begin by putting a stake in the ground for the class of 2025 by identifying what graduating seniors will need to know, do, and how to behave to be successful in a world that is being transformed rapidly by advancing technologies such as AI. Education leaders will learn how to develop and, ultimately, be able to implement Boardroom-to-Classroom policies and practices that will transform schools and classrooms to best prepare all students for their future and not our past.
