Program

Explore the Sessions, Tracks and Learning Opportunities 

If your work involves statewide assessments, accountability systems or education data, NCSA 2026 offers an immersive program designed to deepen your knowledge, provide hands-on experience and connect you with national experts. 

This year’s theme, Connecting the Dots: Building Coherent Systems to Support Student Success, guides our program. Attendees will participate in plenaries, breakout sessions, workshops, panels and state spotlights to explore practical strategies, innovative tools and actionable insights in assessment and accountability. 

Conference Tracks 

The program is organized into seven core tracks. 

• Innovative Assessment Approaches – Discover emerging tools and strategies designed to enhance assessment practices and student engagement. This track emphasizes creativity, technology and personalized learning to meet the needs of diverse learners. 
  Secondary topics: Artificial Intelligence, Performance Assessments, Early Grade Assessments, Other 
• Balanced Assessment Systems – Explore state and local strategies for building coherent assessment systems that support meaningful instruction, monitor student progress and inform improvement strategies. Policy and practice shifts to overcome common obstacles are also featured. 
• Assessment for Special Populations – Focus on the unique needs of diverse learners, including students with disabilities and English learners. Sessions provide tailored approaches, tools and policies to ensure fair, accurate and meaningful evaluations. 
  Secondary topics: Students with Disabilities, Multilingual Learners, Other 
• Data Interpretation and Use – Learn methods for analyzing and applying assessment and accountability data to guide instruction, policy and decision-making. This track emphasizes innovative tools and techniques for turning data into actionable insights. 
  Secondary topics: Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Analytics, Data Infrastructure and Interoperability, Data Reporting, Data Literacy, Other 
• School Improvement – Examine strategies for using assessment and accountability data to improve school and district performance. This track focuses on evidence-based approaches, continuous improvement and collaboration to create sustainable, equitable, high-impact changes. 
• Communications and Stakeholder Engagement – Explore strategies for engaging diverse audiences, building trust and fostering collaboration with parents, educators and policymakers. This track emphasizes the role of clear, transparent communication in driving support for assessment initiatives. 
• Accountability Systems – Learn about the design and implementation of equitable, transparent and data-driven accountability systems that measure school and district performance. This track explores ways to balance compliance and innovation to support student success. 

Featured Learning Formats 

All sessions are 60 minutes, with flexible formats designed for engagement and collaboration: 

• Symposium — Series of short, related presentations with a moderator connecting ideas and leading audience discussion 
• Panel Discussion — Multiple experts share perspectives on a topic with Q&A. 
• Workshop — Skill-building sessions with hands-on practice or application 
• State Spotlight — Highlighting innovative practices, policies or initiatives from a specific state 
• Roundtable Discussion — Small-group moderated conversations on focused topics 

Ready to explore all sessions and meet our national experts? 

• Use the Schedule at a Glance for a quick, high-level overview of each day’s sessions. Perfect for planning your conference experience.
• Dive into the full conference program which includes the complete schedule with session descriptions and track details to plan which sessions and workshops fit your priorities. 
• Check out speaker bios to identify sessions led by experts most relevant to your work. 

Sessions can be filtered by tracks and formats to make it easy to find hands-on, discussion-based or panel-style learning.