Get ready to launch into an unforgettable conference experience! Whether you’re charting new territory in authorizing or are a veteran navigator, NACSACon 2025 meets you exactly where you are. Join us in “Space City” as we center the:
Connect with hundreds of fellow authorizers, school leaders, and public education professionals as you gain actionable insights and practical tools to fuel your work.
While some may argue that innovation, community-centeredness, and accountability are at odds with one another, NACSACon’s 2024 keynote will challenge you to rethink this. Come hear how these elements of public education can actually fuel each other to create exceptional learning environments.
Discover how Transcend, a leader in educational transformation, exemplifies this synergy by partnering with schools and districts to foster equitable and innovative learning experiences. Join us for an inspiring keynote by Transcend’s Co-CEO, Aylon Samouha, as he shares insights from his journey in reshaping American education and tackles questions from other leaders. Leave motivated to dive into the rest of NACSACon 2024 with fresh perspectives and a passion for transformative change.
Lead the way—bring your vision to the forefront of authorizing.
We’re seeking a diverse group of speakers and session leaders ready to spark bold conversations, share powerful insights, and drive real change in public education.
We want sessions designed to empower leaders, tackle big challenges, and advance and strengthen the ideas and practices of authorizing to ensure every student has access to a quality public school.
This is your chance to shape the conversations that matter most.
Learn more and submit your proposal by:
Whether you’re just stepping into the world of authorizing, work in a related field, or serve on a school board and want to deepen your understanding—NACSA’s Authorizing 101 workshop is made for you.
This workshop blends flexible online learning with hands-on, scenario-based activities during a special in-person session held before our official NACSACon kickoff. Complete self-paced pre-work to build your foundational knowledge, then come together with other new and novice professionals to apply your learning in real-world scenarios guided by NACSA experts. Learn more and register.
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Aylon Samouha serves as the CEO of Transcend. With a commitment to ensuring all students receive the education they deserve, Aylon has dedicated his career to driving transformative change in American schooling. In 2015, he and Jeff Wetzler co-founded Transcend, an organization established on the belief that realizing the infinite potential of all students requires us to reimagine “schooling” as we know it.
Through direct partnerships with schools and districts, democratizing design supports, and influencing the broader ecosystem, Transcend supports communities across the country to create and spread extraordinary, equitable learning environments. Since 2015, Transcend has partnered with over 380 schools and districts across the country and has built a network of 12,000 systems leaders, school leaders, and other education innovators.
Before co-founding Transcend, Aylon served as the Chief Schools Officer at Rocketship Education, where he led the highest performing network of low-income schools in California. Additionally, Aylon spent several years as a Senior Vice President at Teach For America, directing pre-service institutes and service development for teachers.
Aylon’s expertise and insights have been widely recognized, and he has been invited to speak at various convenings, including the ASU+GSV conference, The New Schools Venture Fund Summit, Digital Promise’s Annual Convening, and numerous others dedicated to advancing education innovation globally. Aylon also serves on the board of Leading Educators.
Aylon holds a BA in English from Columbia University. He delights in his roles as husband and father and is an accomplished jazz guitarist, captivating audiences throughout the Chicago area with his performances.
