I graduated from high school in 1994 and that same year the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (NCTAF) was founded. Two years ago I became a NCTAF commissioner and joined former U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley, Linda Darling-Hammond, Jeff Duncan-Andrade and other education leaders in an effort “to engage policy makers and practitioners to address the entrenched national challenge of recruiting, developing, and retaining great teachers in order to ensure that all students have access to quality teaching in schools organized for success.”

In 1996 NCTAF released the report “What Matters Most: Teaching for America’s Future,” where they provided a “blueprint for recruiting, preparing, and supporting excellent teachers all across America in an effort to ensure that all children can learn.” Tomorrow – 20 years later and 17 years into my teaching career - we release “What Matters Now: A New Compact for Teaching and Learning” that looks at our country and schools today and provides a series of recommendations for how we can support all teacher to support all students.

If you’re not in Washington, D.C. tomorrow you can definitely be part of the event through a live stream. I’ll be giving the keynote entitled "Leading from the Classroom" and we’ll have a panel of teachers and other stakeholders share their perspectives on what needs to happen in schools today to ensure that all of our students are able to learn and thrive.

Check out the live stream here on Wednesday, August 10th from 10-12 noon ET and let us know what you think in the comments section below!