AGENDA | Boston

Lunch + Solutions Showcase

New Pathways

Main Stage – STEAM Set

Boston is reimagining pathways that connect K–12 learning with careers, entrepreneurship, and higher education. This session will highlight how schools, community partners, and colleges are collaborating to expand opportunities and ensure students are prepared for now and the future.

Healthcare Pathways + Partnerships

Red Room – Shop 6

This session will highlight how cross-sector collaborations can expand access, respond to workforce needs, and create more equitable entry points into health pathways and future careers for students.

Support + Guidance: Career Navigation In & Beyond the Classroom

The Point

As young people prepare for life after high school, they need coordinated guidance that connects their interests and skills with potential education and career pathways. Too often, career navigation is fragmented; in-school advisors often face barriers such as limited time, large caseloads, and competing responsibilities, which can make it difficult to provide comprehensive information—especially around nondegree pathways. This means that students may have trouble navigating their options in school while also struggling to find trusted resources outside of it. The ASA Center for Career Navigation at JFF works to bridge these gaps by providing resources that can be accessed directly by parents and students independently as they explore their options, and that schools can use to help the young people they work with.

Join leaders from ASA and JFF for a conversation on how to strengthen both in-school and out-of-school guidance, ensuring that all students—regardless of background—can navigate pathways, make informed choices, and pursue success after graduation.

Leadership Development in the Age of AI

Design Lab

As AI transforms education and the workforce, what skills will the next generation of leaders need to thrive? This session explores emerging leadership competencies, practical strategies for preparing future edleaders, and how schools and organizations can adapt to an AI-shaped future.

Networking Reception and Solutions Showcase

Breakfast + Spark Talks

Spark Talks will be from 8:00-8:30am in the STEAM Set main stage room. Please grab your breakfast and join us to eat and listen as five orgs share about their work!

Boston’s New Pathways

Main Stage – STEAM Set

Boston Public Schools is charting innovative new pathways that connect students to college, careers, and real-world opportunities. This opening session will provide an overview of the district’s innovations and preview the school site visits, giving attendees a lens into the models and practices they will experience firsthand.

School Site Visits

Northeastern University: Experience Northeastern’s innovation ecosystem where AI meets real-world impact, and how such examples could drive innovation in high schools. Discover how the CPS LEARN Lab engages in cutting-edge research on the utility of AI to accelerate and enhance learning. Hear about the student-run venture accelerator, IDEA, which supports the launch of real-world ventures. Explore how NU’s XN program, where students are engaged in a variety of real-world virtual projects connecting 6,000+ students with global industry partners. Finally, learn how NU’s unique “AI for Impact” program gives students the opportunity to deploy AI solutions to significant civic and government problems. At Northeastern, experiential learning isn’t just a philosophy — it’s about what education can look like when you embrace human-centered AI design and experiential learning in meaningful real-world contexts, something that can drive learning not only in higher education but secondary schooling as well.

NUVU: Visit NuVu, Boston’s only studio-based innovation ecosystem—where design, engineering, art, and technology meet real-world purpose. See how high schoolers tackle authentic civic and industry briefs in multi-week studios, building mastery through competency-based feedback, public exhibitions, and admissions-ready portfolios—no grades, no APs, just evidence of impact. Discover how the NuVuX network extends this work to partner schools worldwide with plug-and-play studios, educator coaching, and credit-aligned assessment. Explore our human-centered design practices that help students research, ideate, prototype, and communicate responsibly. Hear how learners have partnered with cities, nonprofits, and startups to prototype assistive devices, climate solutions, and community technologies. See firsthand how learning goes well beyond the classroom!

Boston Day & Evening Academy: Boston Day and Evening Academy (BDEA) is a nationally recognized leader in alternative education, serving young people ages 16-22 who are re-engaging in school after being failed by traditional models. For 30 years, BDEA has offered a personalized, competency-based academic model paired with wraparound supports that help students thrive. During this site visit, you will learn about our academic approach, explore the highly-individualized work of our Postgraduate Planning (PGP) team, and see how BDEA 2.0 provides students with project-based learning and real-world internships. Visitors will also be invited to learn about our next step—developing a formal Pathway Program in partnership with Boston Public Schools that expands work and education opportunities for students after graduation. With more than 1,300 alumni, BDEA continues to help young people set the standard for what alternative education can achieve.

Boston Arts Academy: Visit Boston Arts Academy, Boston’s only full inclusion public high school for the visual and performing arts, where our mission is to prepare a diverse community of aspiring artist-scholars to succeed in college, careers, and as engaged members of a democratic society. Step into classrooms and studios where academic rigor meets artistic innovation, and where every student, regardless of learning differences or background, is supported to thrive. See how students learn across vocal and instrumental music performance, acting, set design, film, multimedia entertainment and production, commercial dance, ballet, modern dance, fashion, graphic design, and studio art. Watch how their artistry and scholarship intersect through project-based learning, public performances, exhibitions, and partnerships with Boston’s leading cultural institutions. Discover how BAA’s shared values, Community with Social Responsibility, Diversity with Respect, Passion with Balance, and Vision with Integrity, come alive in daily practice. Experience a culture where students take creative risks, develop their voices, and lead with integrity, preparing them to become the next generation of artists, scholars, and global citizens.

Lunch + Film Screening

We will be screening the new film Multiple Choice starting at 11:15am in the STEAM Set main stage room. Please grab your lunch and join us to eat and watch the film!

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Multiple Choice Movie Debrief

Entrepreneurship

The Point

Entrepreneurial experiences empower students to identify challenges, design creative solutions, and take risks. In this session, a variety of organizations will showcase programs and opportunities that build entrepreneurial mindsets and provide hands-on experiences for young people across diverse pathways.

Student Voice

Design Lab

Hear directly from students who participated in youth-led pilots supported by ASA, including BioBuilder and Codman Square Health Center. This session centers student voice, offering firsthand insights into how youth are given agency to co-author their own learning.

Accelerated Pathways

Red Room – Shop 6

Accelerated pathways are expanding opportunities for students to earn college credit, gain work experience, and build real-world skills while still in high school. This session will highlight models that integrate early college and work-based learning, showcasing how schools and partners are creating more affordable, accessible and equitable pathways to postsecondary opportunities.

Civics

*Off-site at MIT Museum

What role can museums and cultural institutions play in preparing students for civic life and future careers? This off-site session at a local museum, hosted in partnership with History Co:Lab, will explore how civic readiness can be woven into pathways work and how cultural spaces can become dynamic partners in the future of learning.

Community-Connected Learning

The Point

Community-connected learning adds purpose and relevance for students through real-world and experiential opportunities. This session will highlight models that build strong school–community partnerships, showing how students can engage in meaningful work while developing durable skills.

Policy + Pathways

Design Lab

Policy decisions shape the possibilities for pathways work at every level. This session will examine recent shifts and emerging policies—such as assessment changes and credentialing—and explore how they influence the design of college and career pathways for all learners.

Early Career Exploration

Red Room – Shop 6

Early career exploration helps students build self-awareness, discover options, and make informed choices before they even arrive at high school. This session will showcase strategies for supporting middle grade learners with guidance and opportunities that lay the foundation for meaningful pathways in the years ahead.

The Future of Pathways is Now | Closing Session

Main Stage – STEAM Set

This closing session brings together highlights from two days of learning, collaboration, and school visits. Reflect on what we have experienced and leave with a charge for advocating for equitable pathways work in our communities.