KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Amanda Ripley, Author of The Smartest Kids in the World—and How They Got That Way, a New York Times Bestseller
How do other countries create “smarter” kids, and what’s it like to be a child in places like Finland, South Korea, and Poland? To find answers for our own children, Ripley followed three American students embedded in these countries for a year. Their stories, along with groundbreaking research into what works worldwide, revealed that none of these places had many “smart” kids a few decades ago—but their schools, teachers, parents, and kids had made a collective effort to change. Join Ripley for a discussion on what she’s learned from these education superpowers and what it takes to create an education system of equity and rigor.
Amanda Ripley is an author and journalist who’s made a career out of exploring the gap between public policy and human behavior. She has visited schools on four continents and interviewed hundreds of students, teachers, and parents along the way. She writes feature stories for the Atlantic, Time Magazine, and other outlets.
PROFESSIONAL LEARNING THEMES
Partners and timing for our Symposium sessions are still being finalized, but here’s an overview of the content we have planned for the day: