The District View — Innovation from the Inside

Recorded live at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured Paul Escala, Superintendent of Schools at the Archdiocese of Los Angeles; Stephanie Elizalde, Superintendent of Schools at Dallas Independent School District; Michael Felton, Executive Director at St. George Municipal School Unit; Sonn Sam, National Director of Partnerships at Big Picture Learning; Heather Tow-Yick, Superintendent at Issaquah School District 411; and Kevin Huffman, CEO at Accelerate.The speakers explored how large-scale, legacy education systems continued to serve the vast majority of K–12 students nationwide while operating in a fundamentally different environment shaped by rapid technological change, shifting enrollment patterns, and growing demands for personalization. They examined how system leaders were responding with urgency and creativity as institutional evolution became a catalyst for innovation.This session focused on how established systems could measure what mattered, use flexible funding tools to accelerate learning, and make the operational shifts required to thrive in increasingly complex educational landscapes. Panelists discussed how district and system leaders were embracing innovation from within by rethinking strategy, infrastructure, and implementation while balancing scale, accountability, and responsiveness.At its core, this conversation examined what it would take to build vibrant educational systems within a pluralistic ecosystem. By surfacing the strategies already working inside large systems and exploring how to scale them intentionally, the session highlighted how legacy institutions could remain adaptive, innovative, and central to the future of K–12 education.