As New York BOCES and district teams move through the NY Inspires process, this session-offered as a DLNY pre-conference-provides structured time to reflect, recalibrate, and plan for the next year of the NY Inspires framework.

Your DLNY registration allows you to participate in this pre-conference at no additional cost. This session is part of Deeper Learning New York (DLNY), a dynamic, practitioner-driven event that brings together educators, leaders, and partners committed to advancing deeper learning, equity, and student-centered practices across New York and beyond.

Using human-centered design practices, participants will revisit how community engagement shaped their year of work and prioritize next steps for embedding the Portrait of a Graduate into instructional practice across districts. Facilitated by New Tech Network (NTN), this interactive workshop draws on NTN's national expertise in supporting districts to cultivate deeper learning environments, engage diverse stakeholders, and sustain system-wide transformation through improvement science and adult learning systems.

* Reflect and Analyze Year 1 Progress:
Identify lessons learned, bright spots, and hurdles from working with the NY Inspires Playbook and rollout of the NYS Portrait of a Graduate.

* Strengthen Systems for the Year Ahead:
Define priorities for advancing the Portrait of a Graduate across classrooms and districts. Use insights to identify the systems, supports, and leadership routines needed to sustain deeper learning practices and support implementation of the NY State Portrait of a Graduate.

This three-hour session includes dedicated time for design and planning with your team. Participants should bring a device for use during the session. Lunch will be provided.

The purpose of this session is to bring together a diverse group of voices from across our system, including representatives from BOCES, members of NYSED, the Big 5, student voice partners, and other thought leaders, to help shape the three NY Inspires Transformation Days that will be established by NYSED for the coming school year.

Our goal is to leverage several key pieces of work already underway, including:

* The recommendations and priorities codified by the DS Group and SCDN
* The final slide from the June 15 Board of Regents presentation outlining potential areas for district focus
* The expertise, experiences, and perspectives represented in the room

By the end of the session, we will have a blueprint for the three days that determines the structure, codifies common language and experiences, and leaves flexibility to respond to regional needs and context.

This professional learning series is designed for educators and leaders joining the work for the first time. Participants will deepen their understanding of culturally responsive PBL design while building leadership capacity to support implementation across classrooms, schools, and districts.

Participants will explore how the NY Inspires initiative creates meaningful learning experiences that foster critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and student agency. Through in-person institutes, virtual learning sessions, and collaborative design time, participants will engage in cycles of inquiry, design, implementation, reflection, and refinement.

Across the year, participants will:

* Design or refine Portrait of a Graduate-aligned PBL experiences
* Develop sample rubrics aligned with Portrait of a Graduate competencies
* Explore equity-centered instructional design
* Build leadership strategies that support systemic instructional change
* Engage in peer critique, reflection, and collaborative problem-solving
* Share learning through a Presentation of Learning (POL) highlighting impact on teaching and student learning

Sessions:

Launch: Sept. 22 - 23, 2026, 8:30 AM-2:30 PM (9/22: JBCC, New Paltz | 9/23: iPark 87, Lake Katrine)

Check-In: Nov. 17, 2026, 3:45 PM-4:45 PM (Virtual)

PBL Camp: Jan. 25-28, 2027, High Tech High, San Diego *Additional registration/cost required

PBL Design Camp: Feb. 3, 2027, 8:30 AM-2:30 PM (iPark 87, Lake Katrine) *Snow Date TBD

Design/Ideation: Feb. 4, 2027, 8:30 AM-2:30 PM (JBCC, New Paltz) *Snow Date TBD

Learning Lab: Feb. 8, 2027, 3:45 PM-4:45 PM (Virtual) *Snow Date TBD

Celebration of Learning: Apr. 30, 2027, 8:30 AM-2:30 PM (JBCC, New Paltz)