Friday Main Stage: Learning in the Age of AI
Friday Main Stage: Learning in the Age of AI
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The Great Hall (AD)
While there is plenty of talk and hype, practical and grounded learning about AI solutions in education has been harder to come by. This session will focus on three efforts during the 2025-2026 school year to understand what AI-powered tools can do and what it takes to support their implementation: learning from two charter leaders that have taken different approaches—one who ran methodical pilots and studied implementation and another who built new tools in collaboration with teachers—and from a cross-cutting tour to see 20 AI-powered tools in action with students.
Presenters
Board Chair
National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
Rick is a trusted advisor to organizations in the business, social impact, and philanthropic sectors. He has served in leadership roles at companies, nonprofits, and government agencies—and has extensive experience in organizational management and governance, partnerships, business development, strategic planning, and external relations. Rick was most recently the president and CEO of Arabella Advisors, a preeminent mission-driven professional services business that has been at the forefront of innovation in collaborative efforts to combat global challenges. In his role at Arabella, Rick led the executive team and guided strategy and operations with the goal of growing the firm’s reach and impact. Previously he built and managed the firm’s client development and external relations functions. Over the last two decades, Rick has served in senior roles at leading social sector education and youth development enterprises, including College Board, America’s Promise Alliance, FSG, Teach for America, and DC Prep Public Charter School. Rick is deeply committed to advancing access to quality education. He serves as chair of the board of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. As well, he recently completed an eight-year tenure as a board member and chair of the DC Public Charter School Board. That independent board oversees the 66 nonprofit organizations and their 126 schools which educate half the public school students in the District of Columbia. Rick is a frequent panelist and speaker on public education and reform efforts. Rick also holds board positions at several other local and national nonprofits, including Instruction Partners, and Goodwill of Greater Washington. Rick earned a BA in philosophy from Yale University. He resides in Washington, D.C. with his wife and two children.
Deputy Chief of Learning
DREAM Charter Schools
Adam leads Academics, Special Education, Social-Emotional Learning and Mental Health, and Extended Learning and Enrichment teams in setting the vision and implementation of DREAM’s coherent, whole child learning program. Adam also leads DREAM’s innovative, human-centered generative Artificial Intelligence strategy, increasing workflow efficiency, staff sustainability, acceleration of student learning, and AI literacy and career-connected readiness for our students. A Teach for America alum, Adam was a 4th grade teacher and instructional leader in Newark, NJ before becoming a Dean of Curriculum and Instruction in two elementary schools. Adam then served for five years as the Director of K-4 Curriculum and Assessment at Uncommon Schools, where he led the network’s 20 elementary schools to reverse the opportunity gap. Before becoming Deputy Chief of Learning, Adam was DREAM’s founding Managing Director of Curriculum and Instruction, where he developed a 5-year transformation of our K-12 curriculum and developed leader and teacher professional learning programming. Before his journey in education, Adam worked in politics as an organizer on the Obama 2008 presidential campaign and as a pollster for members of Congress. Adam loves collaborating with other educators to share best practices to meet the needs of all learners, and has led trainings for district and charter school leaders and teachers in 10 states. Adam has a BS in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, an MS in Education Policy from Johns Hopkins University, and was an Adjunct Professor in the Master of Arts in Teaching program at the Relay Graduate School of Education.
Co-founder and CEO
Instruction Partners
Before co-founding Instruction Partners, Emily Freitag was the assistant commissioner of curriculum and instruction for the Tennessee Department of Education. In this role, she oversaw K–12 core academics including standards, assessment design, instructional materials, and educator training and support. She led a collaborative effort to train more than 65,000 teachers and leaders during this time in a peer-led, content-based approach, and Tennessee saw increases in student achievement on both the NAEP and state tests. For five years before coming to Tennessee, Freitag managed Teach For America’s DC and Connecticut regions. She fell in love with education teaching 7th-grade math in a rural community in Louisiana.
Co-CEO & Co-Founder
Kindle Education
DJ is the Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Kindle Education Public Charter School, rethinking how learning happens. Former AmeriCorps member, school leader, and network director. Spent years designing systems, coaching educators, and studying the most forward-thinking schools. Big on competency-based learning, project-based everything, AI integration, and making school meaningful. Jiu-jitsu purple belt under Paulo Miyao. Lover of philosophy, surreal fiction, puzzles, existential crises, and destabilizing TV, movies, and anime. Father of two, always curious, always questioning, always building.
Chief of Engagement & Partnerships
National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
Dr. Andrea Zayas has served as the Chief of Engagement & Partnerships at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools since January 2025, focused on effective programming and galvanizing stakeholders in pursuit of advancing our policy and advocacy goals. Previously, Dr. Zayas held significant roles including Chief Academic Officer at the Boston Public Schools, National Director of K-12 Strategy at Ballmer Group Philanthropy, and Founder of La Cima Charter School. Andrea founded Upstream Education Consulting, providing strategic initiatives for non-profit business, education, and municipal leaders and has extensive experience as a charter school authorizer at the NYC Department of Education, National Director of Regional Leadership Development at the KIPP Foundation, and as an instructor of education policy and practice at Boston University. Her early career included teaching in and starting charter schools in the Twin Cities, Philadelphia, and the South Bronx with an early EMO. In 2023, she was appointed by President Biden as Commissioner of the White House Initiative for Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics, and currently serves on the board of Propeller, a nonprofit that invests in high potential social entrepreneurs tackling disparities in New Orleans. Dr. Zayas earned a Bachelor of Arts from Rutgers University, an Ed.M. from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a doctorate in Education Leadership from Xavier University of Louisiana. She is a recipient of the Pahara Institute Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.