Policy Shaper: Reach Your Goals at SXSW EDU 2025

Across the country, education is constantly changing and growing amidst new challenges, whether a school board is contested by state implications or limited by certain policies. Several sessions at SXSW EDU 2025 will address the timely education policy issues across local, regional, national, and international governance. Be part of the conversations that advocate for the advancement of well-deserved justice, from a foundational standpoint, that inspires and informs our policymakers and advocates who push these movements forward.

Learn more about how you can be a part of this change and how you can advocate for what you believe in, here are a few sessions that can contextualize essential, and timely issues that aim to shape the future of education, and generations to come.

Explore These Sessions

In this year’s Crossover Day programming, Advancing Educational Justice Through School Boards will discuss how school boards are a crucial, yet overlooked element that is part of improving education systems. With the ultimate theme being building a stronger democracy, the session will speak on the capability and potential of boards to address issues on equity, building strong governance, and providing services to students with higher necessities.

A timely conversation, Economic Mobility & Belonging for Undocumented Students is an essential session to attend if you’re interested in finding ways to support the estimated 100,000 undocumented students who graduate from U.S. high schools. By contextualizing the unique barriers that these students face, get a foundation of the work organizations, institutions, and government agencies who are leading the change, looking beyond immigration status, with the true belief that education is a must for American youth in its entirety.

Join Leah Clapman, from PBS News Reporting Labs and professionals from iCivics and GBH for another conversation essential to the tone of everchanging media, Build Civics Skills with Educational Media for the Classroom. As misinformation and diminished ability to civilly navigate disagreement and discourse continue to affect how we pave the road to democracy, this conversation joined by educators, and media designers will talk about the convergence of media and educational tools that can support the next generation in growing their civic knowledge, cultivating critical thinking, and analyzing different perspectives when engaging in civil discourse.

Amongst a uniting theme of political polarization, the session Crossing the Partisan Divide in Education Policy holds space for conversations on growth potential within education. This session reflects on the ability to make progress in education policy by exploring innovative strategies for building cross-partisan support in education and drawing from successful state-level initiatives. Focusing on this complex political landscape, learn how to achieve meaningful reforms that benefit students and communities.

Meet People Who Share Your Passion

Join a Meet Up this March to meet like-minded people, who share your passions and can support your goals. The Building Power Together, Building a Coalition of BIPOC Orgs Meet Up, is focused on supporting children from prenatal to 5 years old, exploring strategies for resource-sharing, collaborative training, and amplifying BIPOC voices in policy advocacy. This exciting meet up will discuss, and unite leaders in early childhood education and healthcare to create a unified, powerful network dedicated to equity and positive change for all Texas children.

If you’re an early educator who believes in changing the narrative to increase the visibility of ECE, tools for uniting and professionalizing, and building a system that benefits everyone–this Meet Up is for you. Invisible to Invaluable: Elevating Early Educators Meet Up, invites like-minded individuals, who passionately instill a love of learning in children, to continue doing what they are most passionate about, acknowledging the lack of attention for early educators, and their work.

More Sessions to Explore

• $mart Moves: Investing in Teacher Pay & Retention
• A Path Forward: Strengthening Pre-K Across the Nation
• College Matters from The Chronicle: Why is the GOP Gaga for Higher Ed’s Western Civ Centers?
• Free Speech in a Polarized World: Giving Everyone a Voice
• Funding the Future: Investing in Innovative Public Choice
• Great Expectations: Why High Standards Are Key to Success
• How to Measure & Communicate the Value of Higher Education
• Making Refugee Student Populations Seen: Data's Influence
• “MAKE A CIRCLE” Screening & Q&A
• Shifting Political Winds: A Post-Election Policy Outlook
• Storytelling to Remove Barriers to Educational Opportunity
• The Disagreement: Are ESAs the Answer for Students, Parents, & K-12 Ed?

Don’t Forget!

• Read SXSW EDU’s blogs for more recommendations geared toward your goals.
• Research and favorite sessions to build your schedule.
• Download the SXSW EDU mobile app.
• Set tangible, specific goals.
• Come with an open mind, and embrace the unexpected.
• Get inspired.

Don’t Miss Out On SXSW EDU 2025

Register and book your hotel today to break new ground in education through compelling sessions, in-depth workshops, mentorship, film screenings, trailblazing competitions, a dynamic expo, networking opportunities, and so much more at SXSW EDU from March 3-6, 2025.

Be the first to know of any information leading up to the event through Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Threads, X, and our newsletter.

Photo by Bob Johnson.