Students Speak Up About AI in Their Learning Lives

About the Presenters

Dr. Julie A. Evans is the Chief Executive Officer of Project Tomorrow and the founder of the heralded Speak Up Research Project, which annually collects and reports on the authentic views of 400,000 K-12 students, parents, and educators on key education issues. Dr. Evans serves as the chief researcher on the Speak Up Project as well as leading national research efforts on the impact of emerging learning models and interventions in both K-12 and higher education. Her work includes helping education leaders embrace change and innovation in education, and to recognize that the voices and views of their stakeholders, most notably students, are valuable leadership assets.

Prior to joining Project Tomorrow in 1999, Dr. Evans enjoyed a successful career in management within the technology industry including with two education technology startups. As a national thought leader and influencer, she brings to discussions about the future of education a unique perspective because of her experiences working in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors as well as within education. Dr. Evans is a graduate of Brown University and earned her doctorate in educational leadership from the University of California, San Diego and California State University San Marcos. She is a frequent facilitator, speaker, and writer on new learning models within education, most notably around digital learning. Among her many accolades and awards, Dr. Evans was named in April 2020 as the winner of EdTech Digest’s National Leader award. Dr. Evans is the author of the book Free Agent Learning: Leveraging Students’ Self-Directed Learning to Transform K-12 Education.

Robin Lake is Director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education. CRPE’s mission is to develop transformative, evidence-based solutions for K–12 public education. Her research focuses on U.S. public school system reforms, including public school choice and charter schools, innovation and scale, portfolio management, and effective state and local public oversight practices.

Lake has authored numerous studies and provided expert testimony and technical assistance on charter schools, district-charter collaborations, and urban school reform. She is the editor of Unique Schools Serving Unique Students: Charter Schools and Children with Special Needs and editor of Hopes, Fears, & Reality: A Balanced Look at American Charter Schools. She has provided invited testimonies to the U.S. House of Representatives Education and Labor Committee as well as various state legislatures.

She presents regularly at conferences and summits around the United States, and has advised on charter school implementation in South Africa and the United Kingdom. Lake serves as a board member or advisor to various organizations, including the Journal of School Choice, the National Center on Special Education in Charter Schools, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, and Education Next. She was named to the summer 2016 class of the Pahara-Aspen Education Fellows Program, designed to support exceptional leaders reimagining U.S. public schools.

Lake holds a BA in international studies and an MPA in education and urban policy from the University of Washington. She also serves as a Professor of Practice in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University.