You’ve Got What it Takes: How to Maximize the Greatness Inside You. The greatest barrier to success isn't a lack of strategies—it's a lack of belief. In this inspiring keynote, Daryl Williams Jr. helps educators strengthen the one thing everyone needs before any strategy can work: confidence in themselves. Through powerful storytelling, practical insights, and a proven framework, participants will learn how to overcome imposter syndrome, develop grit, build an unshakable mindset, and recognize that they already possess what it takes to make a lasting impact. Because when educators believe in themselves, everything else becomes possible.

BREAKOUT SESSIONS SET 1 (Set Repeats in 2 unless noted)

• Dr. Courtney Gober: How to Score the Most Assists as an Assistant Principal
This presentation will outline the day-to-day duties of an assistant principal and provide practical strategies to move your daily schedule from being reactive to proactive while spending more time as an instructional leader. Learning how to manage the “chaos” of what lands on the AP desk while effectively serving your staff and students is the key to scoring the most assists as an Assistant Principal.
• Daryl Williams, Jr: What Teachers Really Mean When They Say, “I Don’t Feel Supported”
“I don’t feel supported” is one of the most common—and misunderstood—statements educators make. In this practical session, leaders will examine what teachers are really communicating when they say it and how everyday leadership behaviors shape their experience.
Participants will explore how clarity, responsiveness, trust, recognition, and follow-through can help leaders move from simply providing support to creating an environment where teachers actually feel supported.
• Shelley Holland: Beyond the ELA Classroom: Writing Across the Curriculum That Drives Achievement in Every Classroom. An Invitation for Campus Leaders
For more than 30 years, schools have discussed Writing Across the Curriculum, yet few have implemented it with the consistency needed to impact student achievement. Join this leadership session to explore how a schoolwide approach to writing can become one of your campus's most powerful instructional strategies. Designed specifically for principals and instructional leaders, this presentation examines the research behind Writing Across the Curriculum, why it is not just an ELA initiative, and how a common framework and shared instructional language can create consistency across every classroom. You'll learn how writing strengthens student thinking, increases content mastery, and supports improved performance on classroom assessments, state accountability measures, and college-readiness assessments, including the TSIA, SAT, and ACT. If your campus is looking for a high-impact strategy that improves teaching and learning across all content areas, this session will provide a practical roadmap for moving Writing Across the Curriculum from a long-discussed idea to a schoolwide practice that drives measurable results.
• TASSP Corporate Partner Session TBA

BREAKOUT SESSIONS SET 2   (Set Repeats from 1 unless noted)

• Dr. Courtney Gober: How to Score the Most Assists as an Assistant Principal (Repeat)
• Daryl Williams, Jr: Become Known for One Thing: The School Culture Hack No One Is Talking About
Strong school cultures are not built by trying to be great at everything. They are built by becoming clear about what matters most and reinforcing it consistently.
In this engaging session, leaders will learn how to identify and strengthen one defining cultural value, behavior, or experience through modeling, recognition, repetition, and storytelling. Participants will leave asking: What do we want our school to be known for—and does our daily culture prove it?
• Shelley Holland: Beyond the ELA Classroom: Writing Across the Curriculum That Drives Achievement in Every Classroom. An Invitation for Campus Leaders (Repeat)
• TASSP Corporate Partner Session TBA 

1. Speaking is more important than listening (it isn’t)
2. If you are just efficient enough, you can get everything done (you can’t)
3. You are the instructional leader (probably not)
We’ll uncover the truth behind each fallacy and examine tools and techniques to meet the expectations of the job.

BREAKOUT SESSIONS SET 3  (Set Repeats in 4 unless noted)

• Todd Bloomer: Land the Chair. Lead from the Chair. Find Your Red Bench.
Landing your first principalship takes more than interviewing well; it starts with becoming the leader a school is ready to hire. In this practical, honest, and energizing session, former middle and high school principal and author Todd M. Bloomer shares a blueprint for aspiring principals to build the right experiences, develop their leadership story, prepare for difficult interviews, and stand out when opportunity arrives. But getting the chair is only the beginning. Drawing from his books The Blueprint and Finding Your Red Bench, Todd shifts the conversation from “How do I get the job?” to “Who will I be once I get it?” Participants will leave with actionable strategies for landing their first principalship and a reminder to lead people well, anticipate the challenges ahead, protect what matters most, and never lose themselves in the chair they worked so hard to earn.
• Dr. Shaunté Morris: Nobody Taught Me THAT! Before You Take the Chair: The Real-Life Lessons of School Leadership
Leadership programs teach you the theory - but what about the things you don’t learn until you’re actually sitting in the administrator’s chair? Built from the real responses of practicing school administrators, this highly interactive session explores the leadership lessons they wish someone had taught them before they got the keys. Participants will work through realistic scenarios involving time management, difficult conversations, organizational politics, parent and staff interactions, policy and documentation, and the emotional demands of leadership.
This is not a sit-and-get session. Participants will be challenged to think, respond, prioritize, and make decisions through the kinds of situations administrators face every day. Come ready to engage, reflect, and ask yourself: When the pressure is on, are you ready to take the chair?
• Dr. Alan Moye: From Hallway Goon to Building Principal: The Shift from Managing the Building to Leading the Campus
For many assistant principals, leadership begins in the hallways. Tackling the unglamorous duties of managing textbook inventory, buses, behavior, duty schedules, and whatever crisis comes across the radio. While these experiences build invaluable leadership skills, making the jump to the principalship requires moving beyond being the person who simply "gets it done." This presentation session is practical and will push attendees to explore, or plan, their shift from operational manager to campus leader by expanding their influence on instruction, strategic thinking, systems development, community involvement, and the growth of others. This talk will help you see the value and embrace your "goon years" while intentionally preparing you to lead the entire campus.
• Dr. Frederick Buskey: Better Teachers = Better Schools: Teacher Growth Hacks
We became leaders because we wanted to make a difference in people’s lives, but when we spend the majority of our time putting out fires, even productive days can feel purposeless. In this interactive session, we will learn and practice a simple 3-question coaching strategy that will help others grow through reflection and will help you fulfill your leadership purpose. The technique takes less than five minutes, but the impact endures. As a result of this session, you will be able to support teachers and other leaders using a simple reflective process in five minutes or less and will become more aware of the many opportunities you have to use the technique each day. This is an active session which includes practicing the coaching technique.

BREAKOUT SESSIONS SET 4  (Set Repeats from 3 unless noted)

• Todd Bloomer: Land the Chair. Lead from the Chair. Find Your Red Bench. (Repeat)
• Dr. Shaunté Morris: Nobody Taught Me THAT! Before You Take the Chair: The Real-Life Lessons of School Leadership (Repeat)
• Dr. Alan Moye: From Hallway Goon to Building Principal: The Shift from Managing the Building to Leading the Campus (Repeat)
• Dr. Frederick Buskey: Move the Needle: Turning Priorities into Daily Action
In this interactive working session, we will use two tools to help gain clarity and identify daily leadership actions to achieve priority goals. Specifically, we will:
- Use the six dimensions of organizations framework to clarify planning
- Complete an abbreviated SWOT analysis (strategic planning tool)
- Create a list of leadership behaviors we need to start, stop, continue, and consider doing
By the end of the session, leaders with have clarity on their priority focus for the fall and have identified specific daily behaviors that will help them make steady progress towards the goals.

BREAKOUT SESSIONS SET 5 (Set Repeats in 6 unless noted)

• Dr. Danielle Jackson: The Impact of an Administrator
Ridge Point HS Principal Dr. Danielle Jackson evaluates how school administrators impact student success and belonging. Learn through this comparative case study of two high school students with contrasting experiences. This case study is informed by research from Paulo Freire, Jaime Castellano, Nel Noddings, and Pedro Noguera. Administrators are never neutral. They are always impact players.
• Dr. Stephanie Moye: From AP to Principal: The HR Playbook No One Gives You
Moving into the principalship means becoming the campus’s chief people manager. This session prepares aspiring principals for the HR responsibilities that often catch new leaders by surprise from hiring and documentation to employee performance, difficult conversations, certification, contracts, and compliance. Participants will leave with practical strategies for making sound personnel decisions before and during their first year as a principal.
• Carrie Jackson
• TASSP Corporate Partner Session TBA

BREAKOUT SESSIONS SET 6  (Set Repeats from 5 unless noted)

• Dr. Danielle Jackson: The Strategic Admin: Defining Your Professional Identity
In today’s educational landscape, an educator is also their own brand. Led by Dr. Danielle Jackson, this presentation equips secondary school administrators with the tools needed to take control of their own professional narrative. Participants will explore how a well-defined educational philosophy serves as the foundation for all messaging. The session will also dive into crafting memorable taglines and mastering the art of the "stump speech". To promote your school's brand, you must also know and own your brand as an educator.
• Dr. Stephanie Moye: From AP to Principal: The HR Playbook No One Gives You (Repeat)
• Carrie Jackson
• TASSP Corporate Partner Session TBA

We are not called to school leadership to be ordinary. Our schools, students, and communities deserve leaders who are willing to be EXTRAordinary. The Courage to Be EXTRA invites aspiring and current school leaders to discover what makes their leadership uniquely theirs—and to have the courage to bring it fully to the work. Being EXTRA isn't about simply doing more; it's about showing up with greater purpose, passion, energy, and intentionality to create EXTRAordinary experiences and lasting impact.
You were made for more, and you have more to give. Together, we'll explore how the courage to be EXTRA can move you, your leadership, and your school from great to even greater.