On Wednesday, November 20, CityTutor DC hosted A Brighter Future: Learnings from Transforming Teaching. This event celebrated key findings and lessons learned during the pilot year of our Transforming Teaching Pilot (TTP) initiative as it paves the way for a more sustainable and equitable teaching profession.
The convening featured a welcome address from Paul Kihn, Deputy Mayor for Education, and a keynote by Jazzmyne Townsend, the 2025 DC Teacher of the Year. Leslie Edwards (CityTutor DC) moderated the panel discussion with Rashida Young (DCPS), LeAngelo Emperator (DC Scholars PCS), Elizabeth Ross (OSSE), and Amaya Garcia (New America). Panelists discussed our new design principles, which envision a field where teachers share instructional responsibility across a team of educators and adults; have increased autonomy and decision-making power; can concentrate on the aspects of instruction and social-emotional development where they are strongest; and experience workday flexibility. Panelists also explored ideas for how to scale successful models to reach more teachers, students, and schools in a sustainable way.
We want to give a special thank you to all of the amazing educators at Center City Public Charter Schools, District of Columbia Public Schools, Friendship Public Charter Schools, and DC Scholars Public Charter School for their participation in the 2023-24 Transforming Teaching Pilot initiative. We’d also like to thank our champions, like Education Forward DC, who supported this convening to advance the work and share learnings.
Lastly, we’d like to thank all our guests and everyone in our network for bringing your passion, energy, and unwavering commitment to transforming DC’s education system to Wednesday’s event. With your support, we will continue fueling innovation in DC schools to enhance workday flexibility, deepen professional trust, foster shared responsibility, and empower schools to create meaningful, lasting change for students and teachers. Deputy Mayor for Education Paul Kihn said it best: “There is literally nothing more important to this city than our children. And if we believe that, which I do, nothing should be more important to our city than our teachers. The brightest future for our children requires a bright future for our teachers.”
Click here to read our white paper.