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About Our Strands

Five content strands will thread throughout our Annual Conference programming, tying each session back to our broader theme of Focus & Form. As part of the proposal process, submitters will select one strand for which their proposed session will be evaluated. Learn more about each strand below.

Classroom Toolkit
This strand equips classroom practitioners with immediately applicable tools and strategies for instruction and curriculum design. These tools are particularly supportive of authentic student engagement, core skill-building, critical thinking, utilization of AI and other innovative mediums, and real-world application. Classroom Toolkit sessions span all content areas and learning levels. For cross-curricular lessons and projects, consider “Unexpected Collaborations.”

Whole-Child Communities
This strand recenters us and emphasizes our commitment to school communities that foster human flourishing. Sessions push us beyond academic and cognitive development and into actionable frameworks for school counseling and psychology, learning services, social-emotional learning, DEIBJ (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging, and Justice), physical health and nutrition, employee well-being, and safety.

Unexpected Collaborations
This strand highlights the richness of paths converging, challenging traditional boundaries, and/or bringing together diverse disciplines, departments, stakeholders, or sectors. Unexpected Collaborations sessions will peer into the conceptualization, design, implementation, and evaluation of such initiatives and inspire attendees to leverage these spaces between.

Strategic Directions
This strand positions visionaries and leaders to harness shifting landscapes and plan for a purposeful future. With an emphasis on schoolwide and policy-level initiatives, Strategic Directions sessions are marked by the following: authentic illustrations of strategic initiatives; clear mission-, strengths-, and/or needs-based entries; relatable leadership reflections; and a willingness to share transferrable and actionable structures.

Emerging Research
This strand enriches our network by showcasing meaningful studies, insights, data, and evidence. Emerging Research presenters will not only share findings but also clearly connect those implications to TAIS schools and serve as thought-partners for audience members in making meaning for their own contexts.

About Our Strands     |     About Our Formats

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Presenter Eligibility & Commitment

TAIS Annual Conference session presentations are reserved for TAIS Members, TAIS Corporate Partners, or invited guest speakers. Proposal submitters must be (a) employed by a TAIS Member School, (b) explicitly invited by TAIS staff to propose a session, or (c) representing an organization that intends to become a TAIS Corporate Partner for the 2026–2027 year.

Proposals accepted under option (c) are contingent upon the presenting organization formally committing to a 2026–2027 Corporate Partnership by July 1. Sessions will not run without this confirmed commitment.