After three years working alongside Jim Spillane as President-Elect, I’m honored to step into the role of ICSEI President.
If you’re not familiar with ICSEI, here’s what you need to know: it’s a global network of people who care deeply about making schools work better for kids. We’re researchers, classroom teachers, principals, district leaders, and policymakers from more than 80 countries who share a belief that we can learn from each other, even when our contexts look very different.
Learn more about ICSEI
I got involved with ICSEI years ago because it’s one of the few places in our field where researchers, practitioners, and policymakers actually talk to each other instead of about each other. We don’t just present papers and go home. We dig into problems together, share what’s working, and figure out how to adapt ideas across wildly different settings.
Jim Spillane has been leading this organization for the past few years, and he’s modernized how ICSEI operates, grown our membership, and kept us connected on the heels of a pandemic that could have easily fractured a global community like ours. I’ve learned so much from watching him lead, and I’m grateful he’s set the stage so well for what comes next.
As I think about the next two years, two things keep coming to mind:
First, we need more voices in the room. In January, we’re heading to Doha, Qatar for our 2026 Congress. Notably, this will be our first gathering in the Gulf States, and our first in the broader Middle East since 1990. Education looks different in different places, and the more perspectives we bring to the table, the smarter we all become.
Second, we must keep closing the gap between what research tells us and what actually happens in schools. I’ve spent my career trying to bridge that divide, and ICSEI is one of the best platforms I know for making those connections real.
This is a moment when education everywhere is dealing with massive change: new technologies, shifting demographics, lingering effects of the pandemic, political polarization. We need each other more than ever. And we need spaces where people can come together, share what they’re learning, and figure out how to make schools better for the students sitting in front of us every day.
I’m grateful to Jim for his leadership, to my colleagues at Marzano Research for their support, and to everyone in the ICSEI community who has trusted me with this role.
See you in Doha!
Learn more about ICSEI and our Congress: https://icsei.org/congress/icsei-2026/
