2024 BARR National Conference

The conference is hosted at The Westin Rancho Mirage Golf Resort & Spa, a breathtaking 360-acre retreat in Rancho Mirage, CA.

TREOPIA WASHINGTON will share her experiences from her memoir, In Spite of …, which recounts her growing up days in Little Rock, Arkansas during the Jim Crow era. Her brother Ernest was one of the Little Rock Nine who desegregated Central High School (Arkansas) in 1957…

REGGIE LOVE is an inspiring figure whose journey demonstrates the transformative power of relationships and persistence. Love’s athletic and academic talent and commitment led him to success in football and basketball at Duke University, followed by a career in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers… 

MALBERT SMITH is the co-creator of the Lexile Framework for Reading and the Quantile Framework for Mathematics, motivated by his belief that every child deserves a chance to achieve their full potential.  He has contributed to groundbreaking research on topics such as summer reading loss, English language learning, and the effectiveness of the NAEP assessments…

IRVIN SCOTT is a faculty member of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he concentrates on educational leadership. Author of Leading with Heart and Soul: 30 Inspiring Lessons of Faith, Learning, and Leadership for Educators, Scott spent over 20 years working as a teacher, principal, assistant superintendent, and chief academic officer…

JUSTIN WILLMAN is best known as the star and Magic for Humans Creator of the hit Netflix series Magic For Humans. Laughter and joy are evident when BARR educators work with their students and colleagues, and Justin will give conference attendees an opportunity to share in that together…

DENISE FORTE (pronounced “fort”)

is the President and CEO of The Education Trust. With more than two decades of experience in the federal legislative and executive branches advancing progressive education and family policy…

JEFF COLE has been at the forefront of media and communication technology issues both in the United States and internationally for the past three decades. An expert in the field of technology and emerging media, Cole serves as an adviser to governments and leading companies around the world as they craft digital strategies…

DR. MELODY SCHOPP currently serves as the Director of Education Industry Consulting at the SAS Institute. She supports Education Practice to support education leaders and states in solutions based analytics to improve student outcomes. She was appointed as Secretary of Education in 2011. As head of the South Dakota Department of Education, Melody supported the passage of legislation to boost teacher salaries…

PEGGY FLANAGAN is Minnesota’s 50th Lieutenant Governor, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, and currently the country’s highest ranking Native woman elected to executive office. At the center of all her work is making progress for children, working families, communities of color and Indigenous communities, and Minnesotans who have historically been underserved and underrepresented…

TONY THURMOND was sworn in as the twenty-eighth California State Superintendent of Public Instruction on January 7, 2019. Superintendent Thurmond is an educator, social worker, and public school parent who has served Californians for more than 15 years in elected office. Superintendent Thurmond lives in Richmond, where he raised his two daughters who both attended local public schools. They are his inspiration and a constant reminder about the promise of our neighborhood schools and the strong future that every child deserves.

BETH BOULAY has 15 years of experience using robust evaluation tools and methods to generate evidence practitioners need to make critical decisions. Her work includes designing and conducting research aimed at identifying effective education interventions that promise to improve student achievement and education outcomes. Boulay also provides evaluation technical assistance to help increase local evaluators’ capacity to produce rigorous evidence of program effectiveness and implementation fidelity.

HANS BOS is a senior vice president and Institute Fellow at AIR. Dr. Bos is a nationally recognized expert in the conduct of randomized control trials in education and other areas of

social policy research. Since 1992 he has conducted numerous evaluations and policy studies in education, child development, welfare reform, and labor policy.

State Superintendents and Commissioners from across the nation will join the stage to discuss the complexities our educators face today and share insight on topics that will inspire a new tomorrow for students and educators everywhere. Click to learn more about this year’s extraordinary panel.