Want to learn more about what you can look forward to for 2026?

Check out the 2025 National Conference Program book (PDF) and 2025 Conference Daily to see what you will experience this year current and future educators experienced this past June.

Sponsorship, Exhibition, and Advertising Opportunities

Are you struggling to recruit students to enroll in your school/program or utilize your product/service? Then you should sign up now to be a sponsor, exhibitor, and/or advertiser at the Educators Rising National Conference. This an annual celebration with 3,300+ conference participants brings together the best and brightest aspiring educators from across the country for an engaging four-day event. Educators Rising offers a variety of opportunities from sponsorship and exhibiting, to co-branding and advertising, we can help create a package that works best with your objectives, resources, and budget.

If you’re interested in getting involved with the 2026 conference, contact Matthias Tillmann, Sponsorship and Membership Specialist, at sponsorship@pdkintl.org to discover all available opportunities.

2026 Keynote Speakers

Ashlie Crosson, 2025 National Teacher of the Year

We are pleased to announce that the 2025 National Teacher of the Year, Ashlie Crosson, will be joining us in Portland for the 2026 Educators Rising National Conference as one of our keynote speakers! Ashlie Crosson is an English teacher at Mifflin County High School. She teaches Advanced Placement language and composition, English 10 and Survival Stories, an elective that approaches global humanitarian crises from a youth perspective. She also advises the journalism program, which publishes the school newspaper and district magazine.

As a first-generation college student, Crosson found that teachers and counselors were essential to her success. Their support inspired her to become an educator so she could give to another generation what had been given to her. She earned her bachelor’s degree in English education and a minor in journalism from Susquehanna University. In 2020, she returned to her hometown to pay it forward in the community that raised her.

Crosson received her master’s degree in educational leadership at Penn State University and gifted endorsement from Millersville University. In 2018, she became a Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms fellow. The fellowship transformed Crosson’s pedagogy, helping her to reframe curricula around competencies that empower students’ voices, emphasize “glocal” connections and foster their global citizenship. In class, her students can be found researching the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and building websites as often as they are reading novels and writing papers. As part of a statewide committee, Crosson helped add a global framework to Pennsylvania’s Standards Aligned System.

Crosson also serves as the communications chair for her union’s negotiation team, assists with the school’s Positive Behavior Interventions and Support programming, leads the district’s international student trips and cohosts The PL Playbook, a podcast dedicated to teachers’ professional learning.

Bryan Butcher, Jr., 2025 Oregon State Teacher of the Year

Bryan Butcher, Jr. is a middle school math teacher from Portland, Oregon. As a twelve year educator, Butcher has always valued education. Following graduation from Morehouse College, Butcher joined Teach for America and began his teaching career with Excellence Boys Charter School, while also attending Relay Graduate School of Education, earning his Masters Degree in Teaching. In 2014, Butcher moved home to Portland, Oregon to teach in his hometown.

In 2025, Butcher was selected as the State of Oregon Teacher of the Year. For twelve years, Butcher has strived to make school enjoyable while also holding his students to a high standard of excellence. Butcher has created school wide initiatives to strengthen the culture, formed and led the Black Student Union, and uplifted all mathematicians. Through his principles of Respect and Effort, students take risks, ask questions, and grow as people.