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Advancing Grade-Level, Meaningful Instruction Through Mindset and System Alignment
Wednesday, December 3, 2025 @ 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm EST
Presented by Valery Dragon, School Improvement Strategist and VP of Strategic Partnerships, UnboundEd; and Doe Kim, Director, Program Design, UnboundEd
Moderated by Clay Willis, VP of Marketing and Communications, UnboundEd
Sponsored by UnboundEd
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While the free GLEAM® instruction framework—grade-level, engaging, affirming, and meaningful—offers guiding principles and strategies to get to the art of teaching, its not-so-secret power lies in its ability to inform systems. This edLeader Panel invites viewers to look beyond tools and resources to consider how GLEAM shapes mindsets, planning, and leadership.
Drawing on years of coaching and consulting across schools and districts, we push on our hypothesis to help you refine your theory of action—and help you adjust your thinking about improvement to align with GLEAM. By the end of this session, viewers are able to:
- Use GLEAM to surface mindset work and shift adult culture toward student-centered, effective instruction
- Apply GLEAM as a lens for examining and strengthening organizational and instructional operating frameworks
- Leverage GLEAM to evaluate and align tools, resources, and practices that drive meaningful teaching and learning
This recorded edLeader Panel is of interest to K-12 school and district leaders.
About the Presenters
Valery Dragon, VP of Strategic Partnerships at UnboundEd, has worked for over a decade in the Washington, D.C. area as an ELL specialist, language teacher, and instructional coach before leading a PK-8 school as a principal. Both New Leaders and RELAY trained, she then transitioned to a national organization as a managing director of instructional support to focus on leadership actions and practices. In this role, Valery crafted development for leaders through targeted improvement cycles anchored in operationalizing instructional improvement plans, auditing systems, and structures through the lens of internal coherence and equity, as well as modeling and developing coaching practices anchored in content-specific pedagogy. It is Valery’s belief that fidelity to our mission will empower educators to own their input in school-based outcomes and allow them to intentionally launch their influence as change agents in hopes that their affirmed identities and leveraged leadership position them to build a strong coalition for change.
Doe Kim is an education leader with nearly 20 years of experience as a teacher, dean, assistant principal, and principal. Passionate about building systems that honor identity, skill, knowledge, and criticality, Doe believes every child has limitless potential. As Program Design Director, she drives the strategy and leads the design for leadership program vision, coaching models, and professional learning that strengthen instructional leadership and collective efficacy. Her work equips district and school leaders to create the conditions where adults and students thrive as learners and humans.
About the Moderator
Clay Willis is a mission- and results-driven marketing and communications leader committed to making education work for every single learner. As UnboundEd’s Vice President of Marketing and Communications, Clay advances the organization’s reach and impact by forging meaningful connections with visionary educators.
Learn more about viewing the live presentation and the recording, earning your CE certificate, and using our new accessibility features.
Join the Leadership Practices for Innovative Leaders community to network with educators, participate in online discussions, receive invitations to upcoming edWebinars, and view recordings of previous programs to earn CE certificates.
UnboundEd empowers educators to meet the needs of every single student through grade-level, engaging, affirming, and meaningful—GLEAM®—instruction. We work side-by-side with teachers, coaches, principals, and district leaders to ensure the success of your instructional vision for exceptional education and improved outcomes. By cultivating the mindsets, knowledge, and skills at the heart of truly transformative teaching and learning, we can break the predictability of historic achievement patterns so all kids thrive.
