The Washington State Charters Schools Association Conference is this weekend, which means we get to take a look behind the curtain of the charter school movement in Washington. What are they thinking about? What are they talking about? What are their priorities and their blind spots?

I was fortunate to be asked to facilitate Chris Stewart’s keynote at last year's conference. The 2018 installment starts tomorrow with a theme of “Onward: Advancing Excellence and Equity,” and this year, I’m just along for the ride — a bystander, you might say, though of debatable innocence. Depends on who you ask.

Regardless, I’ll be tweeting live to share highlights and thoughts as they come to me throughout the conference on Saturday. Follow me @HalvyHalvorson. I’ll also be using hashtags like #WACharters18, #RiseUp, #waedu, #hashtag, #jellyroll, #schoolchoice. Follow along as you see fit, or stop by afterwards and catch up on what you missed.

I’m excited to talk in real time about all the ways we’re innovating, with so many great schools in the region doing such great work toward closing opportunity gaps and showing what's possible. We'll also be able to talk about the ways in which we need to push ourselves even further to overcome the inevitable inertia of education. Are we maintaining a steady focus on innovation through an equity lens?

I have from the beginning appreciated the local sector’s intentional commitment to equity, and the student-focused, outside-the-system work happening in the charter schools in our region that will be on display this weekend.

Our charters have been living up to their promise, demonstrating an internal commitment to equity, with both data and parent/student anecdotes to show their effectiveness in closing the same opportunity gaps being fully perpetuated by our traditional public schools.

The conference kicks off Friday with an opening reception at the Hilton in SeaTac, and gets underway in earnest the next morning for a day of sessions ending at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

I’m particularly interested to hear what Shavar Jeffries has to say, especially in this context, and of course to hear Marcus Harden, who is co-leading a session called "Wild Principals Unite! Leadership for Equity-Driven Innovation."

Stay tuned.