Call for Promising Practices Proposals

Promising Practice presenters include practicing Iowa administrators employed by an Iowa school district or Area Education Agency. Submissions from higher education are also accepted. We strongly encourage our AEA and higher education colleagues to partner with school/district-based administrators. Sessions facilitated by district and building leaders tend to resonate most strongly with our audience. Sales pitches for products or services disguised as proposals will not be evaluated. Content perceived as commercial is not acceptable. The best fit for private, for-profit consultants and vendors—those promoting a product or service — is in our Conference Exhibit Hall.

Promising Practice sessions are scheduled during two time slots (8:30-9:30 a.m. and 9:45-10:45 a.m.) on Thursday, August 5, 2027, and are 60 minutes in length. Please note, presenters wishing to attend conference should register. Travel expenses and any additional fees are the responsibility of the presenter(s). 

• Conference attendees (i.e., your colleagues/peers) seek innovative strategies, approaches, and practices to address learning and leadership challenges.
• Attendees of this conference are primarily principals, assistant/associate principals, deans, superintendents, and other central office leaders. 

SAI seeks proposals that incorporate sound adult learning principles and focus on a promising practice, strategy or approach that addresses a relevant and resonant leadership challenge. 

To deliver exceptional learning experiences, preference may be given to proposals that demonstrate an ability to:

• Reflect innovation and transformation
• Target a broad audience of school leaders
• Stimulate and provoke discussion and audience engagement
• Facilitate transfer of knowledge, skill, and practice (without the need to purchase a product, program, or service)
• Provide concrete examples and relevant takeaways that can be readily applied to a wide variety of contexts
• Demonstrate relevance of lessons learned through sharing your story/experience

In your day-to-day experiences as leaders, you encounter any number of challenges for which you have designed solutions. You can anticipate that many of your colleagues likely have had similar experiences and would welcome the opportunity to learn from you! You might reflect on your work with any of the topics aligned to the Iowa Standards for School Leaders — the following are some current resonant topics:

• building capacity of staff (being coach like)
• recruiting and retaining staff
• implementing MTSS (particularly at the MS/HS level)
• addressing behavioral challenges
• addressing attendance and chronic absenteeism
• supporting the well-being of staff and students
• ensuring a safe and supportive environment
• educational technology (incorporating AI)
• realizing school improvement goals

Using the criteria below, the SAI Professional Learning Advisory Committee, composed of volunteers representing various leadership roles in different sized schools from regions across the state, will assist in the selection process. Our goal is to bring you the most resonant sessions representing a diversity of options.

With years of experience and a long history of planning for highly positive and engaging conference experiences, selected members of SAI staff will help ensure the content lineup is strategically aligned and will systematically identify and fill potential gaps where appropriate.

Criteria:
Proposals will be rated according to these criteria:

• High interest topic (Does this topic appeal to a broad audience of school leaders?)
• Utility of topic (Is this topic useful to school leaders?)
• Replicability (Is there potential for this practice/focus area to be replicated in other schools/districts?)
• Overall impression (Would you encourage a colleague to attend?)

• Proposal Submissions Open: October 2, 2026
• Proposal Submission Deadline: March 5, 2027
• Proposal Notifications: Mid-April 2027