Facilitators | AERO Conference

In Person
Facilitators & Speakers

To View Virtual Facilitators & Speakers
>>> CLICK HERE <<<

Keynotes

Peter Gray - The Education Revolution is Occurring Now and Here Are Ways to Speed It Up

The revolution that AERO has long envisioned is happening now. In this talk I will present
evidence that it is happening and describe ways that we, individually and collectively, can work
to make it happen faster.

Kerry McDonald - How Everyday Entrepreneurs Are Transforming Education With Bottom-Up Solutions

In this presentation, Kerry McDonald will share insights from her visits and conversations with scores of education entrepreneurs and school founders across the US, revealing how these everyday entrepreneurs are creating bottom-up learning solutions that are steadily transforming K-12 education. Even though these founders are diverse in every possible way, their common element is a commitment to creating innovative education options that elevate the individual learner and cultivate a joyful learning environment. These founders offer a glimpse into how a local, decentralized, learner-centered education ecosystem can lead to happier kids, stronger communities, greater collaboration, and a more harmonious society.

Kerry McDonald works to spotlight and support education entrepreneurs who are building innovative K-12 learning models and expanding education options for families. She is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education and host of the weekly LiberatED Podcast. She is also the Velinda Jonson Family Education Fellow at State Policy Network, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, and a regular Forbes contributor. Kerry is the author of several books including, Unschooled: Raising Curious, Well-Educated Children Outside the Conventional Classroom (Chicago Review Press, 2019). Her articles have appeared at The Wall Street Journal, NPR, Newsweek, Real Clear Politics, Reason Magazine, Entrepreneur, Washington Examiner, Education Next, and the Journal of School Choice, among others. Kerry has a B.A. in economics from Bowdoin College and a Master’s degree in education policy from Harvard University. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband and four children.

Ken Danford - Education Savings Account: Revolutionary Funding for the Revolution!

What if every child showed up to your program with a $5,000 voucher from the state to help
them pay for their education each year? Amazingly, this process is either happening or under
consideration in up to 30 states in 2023 and the near future. We need to talk about Education
Savings Accounts and how they might be the most significant change in our field in decades.
Some of us are from states where we see this happening for our families and neighbors, and
can share the excitement and the concerns involved in this process. What seems to be working
well? What are the major questions and limits?
Educationally, Will SDE programs qualify to receive these funds? Will ESAs promote self-
directed learning options or will parents use these funds to purchase conventional private
school and homeschooling approaches? Politically, how do we build trust and navigate
working with people from various political perspectives who are making this movement
happen?

Katerina Botvinnik & Dasha Gorboets - How the Ukraine Democratic Education Community Survived during the War.

Kateryna, Dasha and their daughters will describe how the Democratic Education community supported each other during the war in Ukraine.

Panel

vela - transparent - yellow (1)_edited.png

Workshops

Monica Brase - Students Educating the Educators

Student-Led Teacher Professional Development - Students in alternative education classes from Windsor High School will share their experiences in developing and facilitating professional development (PD) for educators. They will share how they determined the topics and ways in which they facilitated the workshops. The two PD sessions addressed the experiences lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth have at school and how to make classrooms safer spaces for all students, especially disengaged students. The students also provided recommendations and strategies for educators to walk away with and use in their classrooms.

Dr. Monica Brase has been an educator and community mobilizer for over 22 years in Hartford and the Greater Hartford area in CT. She has had several roles as an educator from teacher to principal. Over 10 years of her experience as an educator has been in alternative education. Currently, Monica teaches science in an alternative education program at Windsor High School. Throughout her time in education and working in non-profit organizations, Monica’s focus has been on enhancing and supporting the voices of students, families and the community, often using a participatory action research approach.

Julian Vitaglione - "An Improvised Life"

How i taught myself Everything = A Workshop on how to find your Truth and progress with certainty towards your educational goals by using the resources avaible to you.

A window into my busy life as a World traveling Dj / Musician / Performer and insights into my reading about alternative lifestyles from intentional community to homesteading to self sustainability back to permaculture.

How I found old school authors that redefined the 60 s ecology movement and learned about Scott Nearing / Ralph Borsodi / Alan watts / John taylor Ghatto / Ivan Illich from following suggestions from friends.

How my musical Life happened with very little formal training since age 6.

And How I Exist to teach myself everything and reach for more knowledge when i need it"

i am a Human, Permaculture designer / Homesteader / Piano player / Dj and Chef. I learned a lot the past few years about education and i am exited to share with others what i have learned.

Shorty - Steve Hornstein - Lessons from 50 years work in Democratizing Schools -

From my 50 years of experience in democratic, student driven learning this workshop will share experiences in helping kids develop democratic and pro-social values, a theory of how student directed learning works and ideas for creating environments that support it, and strategies for helping children new to democratic environments. Aside from my own experiences much of this info come from interviews with my own former students and their parents, and from students in public schools.

Steve Hornstein has been working in democratic, child centered education since 1973. During that time he has worked as pre-school, kindergarten and elementary school teacher, as well as a principal and teacher educator. His work has involved public, private and alternative schools.

Steve received his doctorate in 1986 from the University of North Dakota, one of the few universities actively promoting democratic and progressive education at that time. His doctoral work was with Open Education pioneer/progressive historian Dr. Vito Perrone. Steve's specific areas of expertise within democratic education are literacy, social studies and classroom organization. HIs outside interests include performing blues and roots music, fishing and telling really bad jokes and stories.

Wendy Raver - Homeschooling High School NYC Style: One Example

How do homeschoolers in NYC create diverse community, organize events, find classes, and build their transcripts and portfolios for university and/or the working world? Can these strategies work beyond resource-rich NYC and also apply to students in both traditional and non-traditional school settings? See some of the truly self directed and cost friendly trailblazing work teens continue to accomplish, and learn about their success, obstacles, and goals for the coming years.

Wendy Raver has worked in alternative education for over 30 years, and specifically in the NYC homeschool world for 14 years. She is also a full time Lecturer at Hunter College City University of New York, and mom to a former homeschooler, now age 24.

Jackie Scully - Dignity in Education for ALL!-Teachers and Students are the Leaders in Education Reform

Dignity in Education for ALL! focuses on Jackie Scully's work as an Educator, Teacher Advocate, Education Reform Advocate, and Big Change Maker. Jackie shares her work as an Educator, Creator/Host-The Teacher Story podcast, Co-founder of The Teacher Circle LinkedIn Group, and her project with Big Change Makers. Jackie was part of the beta group in January-March 2023. Her goal is to connect with stakeholders from all over to work together to shift the education system. We can create an education system built on the core values of Dignity, Freedom, Joy, and Community where everyone thrives!

Jackie Scully, M.Ed is an experienced History/Psychology Teacher with 18 years of teaching experience in public, independent, and charter schools as well as in an international summer camp in China. She is the Creator/Host of The Teacher Story which features her own story and then teacher interviews. Jackie wants to elevate teacher voices and others in education and put them at the forefront of the education reform movement. She is also the Co-founder of The Teacher Circle LinkedIN group, which is a global community to support teachers and others in education. Jackie's mission is to shift the education system in America alongside stakeholders from all backgrounds to focus on nurturing the whole human. The factory style system no longer works and probably never really worked and now is the time to truly create a holistic education system. Jackie-"I stand for Dignity, Freedom, Joy, and Community for myself and ALL others! I will continue to advocate for dignity, freedom, joy, and community in the education system."

Gina Riley, Ph.D. - Unschooling Students with Disabilities

As the number of families choosing to homeschool continues to grow, it becomes increasingly important to study different ways in which families choose to homeschool their children. Unschooling is a variety of homeschooling where children learn through everyday life experiences and through their own intrinsic motivations. The percentage of homeschoolers who consider themselves unschoolers can be estimated at approximately 20%, and that number continues to grow at a steady rate as unschooling increases in popularity (Blanding, 2018). As that figure rises, the number of parents who choose to unschool their children with disabilities has also risen. Many find unschooling a perfect educational alternative because of its self directed, self paced approach. Within this presentation original research on unschooling students with disabilities will be reviewed. Fifty parents completed a survey regarding their experiences unschooling a child or children with disabilities. Overall, most parents saw unschooling as a healing environment; and unschooling provided a more personalized learning environment for students with disabilities as compared to school. However, unschooling parents in the study reported significant time/career sacrifices and a need for more respite. Reported was also a need for more unschooling friendly practitioners and doctors; a need for a more inclusive unschooling community, and the need for normalization and legitimization of unschooling as a choice through more research. This peer reviewed research study is the first of its kind to examine the relationship between unschooling and students with disabilities.

Gina Riley, Ph.D. is an educational psychologist, Clinical Professor, and Program Director of the Adolescent Special Education Program at CUNY Hunter College. Dr. Riley has over 25 years of experience in online, hybrid, and hyflex teaching and learning at the college/university level. She is President-Elect of the New York State Association for Teacher Educators (NYSATE). She is also internationally known for her research on homeschooling, unschooling, and intrinsic motivation in education. She is the author of Unschooling: Exploring Learning Beyond the Classroom (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020), The Homeschooling Starter Guide (Rockridge Press, 2021), and Joys of Self Determined Learning (Ricci Press, 2023).

Elmarie Hyman - Homeschool & Hybrid School Co-ops and Resource Centers as Part of the Education Revolution

Is it overwhelming to think about changing the educational system? Is change even desirable to those in the leadership of the current system? Have you considered a grassroots option of joining a homeschool/hybrid school co-op or resource center or if one doesn't exist, possibly starting one? What does that look like? What needs to be considered? Come have a discussion with a founder of one of these resource centers that has been changing families' lives for the past 10 years, even through the pandemic, a community caring about self-directed education and the wellness of each student on every level.

Elmarie is the founder of Learn Beyond The Book and has more than 20 years experience as an educator. She has taught her own 4 adult homeschooled children, as well as group classes for homeschoolers and after school enrichment classes for public school students. She has been the coordinator of various homeschool co-ops and support groups, organizing numerous fieldtrips and other homeschool events as well. She earned her Master’s degree from Antioch University specializing in Transformative Learning Communities. She has a passion for student-centered education and is the author of a finance curriculum titled “Where’s the Money”.

Carl Rust - Unschooling School - How to take control of your education

Public schools are paid for by taxpayers. Therefore younger learners and their families should be able to get the kind of education they want. Unschooling School is a group that provides guidance to people that want to change their local public school and introduce more self-directed learning.

Carl Rust is a retired educator who spent 30 years in public education as a teacher, assistant principal and Director of Elkhart Elementary Academy, a self-directed learning program for public school elementary students. He has studied revolutionary schools and programs around the world and is the author of Get Out of the Way and Let Kids Learn, How We Can Transform Schools and Reintroduce Natural Learning. He is currently Educational Facilitator at Woodlawn Nature Center in Elkhart Indiana and a member of Woodlawn Learning Community, a group of learners of all ages that work and play together naturally in nature. He is also an advisor and consultant with the Unschooling School group that advises families, younger learners, teachers, administrators, and schools on how to better meet the needs of all learners in the 21st Century. He is also a singer/songwriter, videographer, visual artist, and all around nice guy. He is married and has 4 grown children and 9 grandchildren.

Leo Fahey - Toward an Intentional Mental Health Therapeutic Democratic Education

A tremendous need exitsts for developing well-balanced psychologies in youth and those serving youth in schools. Democratic Education's claim to healthy, happy outcomes mostly through an adaptation of being within a Democratic school speaks directly to meeting the need. However, individual child and adult constellations of need frequently elude the forces of mere adaptation. Thus, to be a therapeutic, Democratic Education is required to pay detailed attention to the particulars of its therapeutics. By providing practical applications of a mental health focused Community Self-Determination Sociocratic practice as projected by a recent re-write of New York State Legislative Measure, this workshop will help practitioners address individual student and staff mental heath needs allowing Democratic Education to be well offered as a therapeutic.

A retired adjunct professor of Communication, Leo remains an active advocate for Bright Neurologically Diverse youth, who principally authored and works to pass bills in the New York State Legislature recognizing this category of pupil and who constantly promotes a therapeutic Democratic Education service to this and other learner population. He has presented papers and organized panels at national Communication and Media conventions and has given workshops at numerous AERO and AEROx conferences. From the Fall of 1980, Leo has taught undergraduates at Kingsborough Community College, Jersey City State College, New York University, Elizabeth Seton College, Long Island University/Brooklyn, Bronx Community College, Marymount Manhattan College, Molloy College, and Fordham University.

Don Berg - Salvaging Standardization: How to Mass Produce the Right Stuff

Academic standardization is a disaster, but that does not mean that all forms of standardization should be abandoned. In this workshop you will be presented with a model for using standardization that is focused on limiting imposed authority and optimizing agency. The scientific foundation for this model is Self-Determination Theory. The presentation will take 20 minutes or less, there will be a brief demonstration of a climate assessment tool, and then a facilitated discussion will ensue.

Don Berg is an author, education psychology researcher, alternative education practitioner, and leader. The peer-reviewed journals Other Education and The Journal Of The Experimental Analysis Of Behavior have published his research. He has over 20 years of experience leading children in self-directed educational settings. He has taught psychology at The Village Free School in Portland, Oregon. He has presented his work at conferences in the USA, Canada, Chile, the Netherlands, and in China. As an entrepreneur he runs Attitutor Media and currently lives at the Joyful Llama Ranch in West Linn, Oregon.

Kaity Broadbent, Prenda (1) - Kaity Broadbent.PNG

Kaity Broadbent - Creating Neuro-supportive Learning Environments and Relationships

We'll dig into the research behind what psychological, neurological, and educational needs all humans have and how we can create families, relationships, and learning environments that support these needs. Ideas shared will be broad and transferrable to any educational approach or setting.

Kaity Broadbent Chief Empowerment Advocate, Prenda
For the last 5 years Kaity has worked to develop Prenda's learning model and philosophy as Head of Learning. Prior to Prenda, Kaity was a Speech Language Pathologist in public schools and in medical settings. Over the last decade, she has been focused on understanding the underlying factors in student motivation and engagement, the vital roles that connection and relationship play in mental health and education, and the educational practices that drive empowerment and achievement. Over the years, she has developed curriculum, homeschooled, built schools, blogged, coached, and mothered her 4 amazing kids. She's a certified Pea

Peter Gray - Practical Ways to Speed Up the Education Revolution

This will be a follow-up of my keynote address. We will discuss two of the constraints currently
holding us back: (1) lack of public knowledge about the benefits of Self-Directed Education, and
(2) lack of public funding to support Self-Directed Education. How can we each contribute to
overcoming these constraints?

Claire Evans - Reimagining Global Education for the Good of Humanity

I would like to present School of Humanity, focusing on Challenge-based and Master-based learning.

Alysha Hearn - Personalized Learning: How Online Learning Can Support Individualized Education

Learn how a non-profit online learning organization has created a model that fosters independent learning and levels of structure for the student depending on the student’s need. Hear about how VHS Learning collaborates with schools, provides individual student enrichment, and full-time online learning options. We will share case studies of students who were able to pursue their interests with online courses and schools that were able to expand options and opportunities for their students. There will also be collaboration among workshop participants in sharing their experiences with online learning, what has worked for them and what hasn’t.