FullScale today announced the FullScale Symposium 2026, scheduled for October 8-10 at the Indianapolis Convention Center. The event will bring together more than 1,000 K-12 educators, district leaders, policymakers, researchers, and education innovators for three days of sessions, workshops, and peer learning focused on building personalized, competency-based, whole-child approaches.
This year marks the first Symposium reflecting FullScale’s new organizational strategy, a milestone for a field that has long looked to this annual gathering as a signal of where student-centered learning is headed. FullScale is the organization resulting from the merger of The Learning Accelerator and the Aurora Institute, which hosted an annual symposium for over 20 years.
“Educators are hungry for practical solutions at the Symposium, not just inspiration, but a path forward they can walk when they get home,” said Virgel Hammonds, Co-CEO of FullScale. “This year, we have more reach, more expertise under one roof, and a community of practitioners, policymakers, and researchers who are ready to move. This October’s Symposium is coming at a pivotal moment for education innovation as technological advances and parent feedback are driving national conversation and significant change.”
The 2026 Symposium features a keynote session with Indiana’s Secretary of Education, Dr. Katie Jenner, and programming tied to reimagining what learning can look like, moving beyond the four walls of a traditional classroom toward models that are personalized, competency-based, and built for the world students will inherit. The Symposium gives attendees hands-on, immersive opportunities to see next-generation learning models in action, not just hear about them. This community is building the future of education now, and the Symposium is the place where the transformative work gets shared, tested, and accelerated.
New this year are the Learning Labs — a three-day, team-based engagement running parallel to the main program. Where traditional conference breakout sessions send individual attendees home to figure out next steps on their own, the Learning Labs are built for school and system teams of 3–5 working on a shared challenge. Supported by nationally recognized experts including Scott Frauenheim of LEAP Innovations, Katie Martin of the Learner-Centered Collaborative, Nik Namba of Transcend, Rebecca Midles of Getting Smart, and others, each Learning Lab is organized around one of six strands: Practice, People, Policy, Progress, Place, and Potential Futures (AI and emerging technologies).
“Systems change is complex. It takes more than great ideas - it takes time to think together, learn from others, and turn a shared vision into meaningful action,” said Juliana Finegan, Chief Product Officer at FullScale. “The Learning Labs create dedicated time and space for district teams to work through their own challenges alongside peers doing similar work from across the country, with coaching from nationally recognized experts who have led this work themselves. The hope is that teams leave not just inspired, but with clear next steps and the momentum to move their work forward.”
Finally, the Symposium will include the inaugural FullScale Symposium Awards, recognizing outstanding educators and leaders in the field. The awards ceremony will occur Friday, October 9, 2026.
The full program spans more than 100 sessions, workshops, and keynote addresses. Past attendees collectively represent thousands of schools and millions of students. In previous post-event surveys, 100 percent of respondents would recommend the Symposium to colleagues.
Registration is open now. Learning Labs space is limited to teams of 3–5 and fills on a rolling basis - teams are encouraged to register early.
Register for the Symposium: symposium2026.fullscalelearning.org.
Register for the Learning Labs: symposium2026.fullscalelearning.org/learning-labs.
FullScale is a national non-profit organization that unites education leaders and organizations to drive collective learning, action, and systems transformation. Formed through the merger of The Learning Accelerator and Aurora Institute, FullScale works to break silos, bridge divides, surface new evidence and unseen innovations, and accelerate change for lasting impact for every learner. Through its work spanning practice, policy, research, and people, FullScale helps build the conditions needed to ensure every child has access to personalized, competency-based, whole-child learning experiences. Learn more at fullscalelearning.org.
