Speakers
Workshop Sessions
You can’t calendar your way out of reactive leadership. When expectations are unclear, systems are inconsistent, and too many decisions flow back to the same people, leaders stay stuck responding instead of leading. The real shift is creating enough clarity, routine, and shared ownership that more of the right work can happen without everything routing back through you.
In this interactive session, we will share how University City Schools partnered with Updraft Education to define a small set of shared instructional commitments, build simple systems for seeing and supporting them, and move seven schools toward greater consistency in one year. We will unpack the tools, data, and leadership that shifted ownership closer to classrooms and show how the approach can be adapted whether you lead one school or twenty.
Brad White is the Founder and CEO of Updraft Education, a K-12 consulting practice dedicated to equitable student outcomes through systems, coaching, and practical, transformative tools.
This school transformation work flows from Brad's twenty years as a teacher and leader across Minnesota, Tokyo, and Denver, and as the founding School Director of DSST: Cedar Middle & High School. Recognized twice as a National Blue Ribbon School, that community stands out for its exceptional performance, intentionally diverse student body, and notable progress closing the Opportunity Gap between students by race, economic class, and (dis)ability. Through Updraft, he has served nearly twenty thousand students across five states.
Brad holds a degree in Elementary Education and Spanish from Luther College and an MA in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from California State University Northridge. He lives in Roseville, Minnesota, with his creative wife Rachael and two compassionate, hilarious children. Brad also enjoys reading, hunting, fishing, and ardently advocating for meaningful school reform.