Time: 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM ET each day

Location: Towson University, 8000 York Road, Towson, MD 21252

Description: The goal of the 2018 Maryland Connections Summit is to bring together education professionals from across Maryland to highlight the vital role data plays in education decision making. Participants will hear from local, state, and national leaders on ways to bridge data, research, policy, and practice.

This two-day event provides an opportunity to share implementation experiences, research, and local initiatives that lead to positive student outcomes. The Summit is a place for dialog between stakeholders about evidence based practices. The Summit provides a forum for Maryland local school systems to showcase best practices, most current research and local initiatives.

Audience: The primary target audience for the data summit will be educators across the state of Maryland, particularly those individuals who deal with data.

The largest group of participants/audience will be educators from local education agencies, including central and building administrators, program directors, curriculum supervisors, data directors, and teachers. Staff from MSDE will include program directors, ESSA coordinators, and others involved in using data. Representatives from higher education will include institutional researchers and those involved in educator preparation programs. An additional stakeholder group includes individuals from support programs, such as after-school and foster care programs.

Participating experts could include staff from the Privacy Technical Assistance Center of the U. S. Department of Education, for expertise in data privacy and protection; researchers who are knowledgeable about data use; and professors who are teaching other educators to build their capacity to use data.

Speakers: Dr. Elizabeth N. Farley-Ripple, Associate Professor in the School of Education, University of Delaware (keynote speaker)