2026 Practitioner Forum:

Call for Proposals

Thank you for your interest in facilitating a session at the 2026 Practitioner Forum: Advising Practices in a Changing Landscape, taking place virtually on Thursday, November 5, 2026. As the postsecondary landscape evolves, practitioners are navigating new pathways, emerging technologies, shifting workforce demands, and increasingly complex student needs. This inaugural Forum creates dedicated space for advisors, educators, career coaches, navigators, and other learner-facing professionals to strengthen their practice, learn from one another, and build relationships across organizations.

If you’d like to be considered as a facilitator, please submit your proposal below by September 11, 2026 at 11:59 PM EST. We hope you'll be interested in sharing your promising practices, tools, and lessons learned with peers across DC! For your planning purposes, you can access a downloadable worksheet with all the proposal questions by clicking here.

Selected facilitators will be notified by September 25, 2026, with additional details and instructions to follow. One facilitator per session will receive free admission to this year’s Forum. Any youth co-facilitators (ages 16–24) will also receive free admission.

If you have questions, please contact Mukta Ghorpadey at mukta@dcpostsecondarysuccess.org.

Be sure to review the five session themes for this year’s Forum below before you begin your application. *If you have a strong idea that does not fit neatly into these themes, please still submit - all proposals will be considered!

  • How can we strengthen advising while supporting the practitioners doing the work?

    Explore strategies for navigating capacity limits, supporting practitioner well-being, collaborating across programs for greater efficiency, and expanding advising beyond one-on-one models. Sessions will also highlight promising approaches, including staged or phased advising models and role differentiation by grade band, that help organizations extend their reach while maintaining quality support for learners.

  • How can we prepare practitioners to support every pathway a learner might pursue?

    Build the skills needed to have effective advising conversations across the full range of postsecondary options. Sessions will explore advising for both degree and non-degree pathways, internships and work-based learning opportunities, and practical approaches for supporting learners whose goals and next steps are still taking shape.

  • How do we help learners navigate the barriers that stand between them and opportunity?

    Explore how practitioners can support learners in making financially feasible pathway decisions while addressing the broader challenges that impact access, persistence, and success. Conversations will include barriers related to documentation and immigration status, academic challenges, disability, chronic absenteeism, housing and food insecurity, language access, mental health, and other factors affecting learners’ journeys.

  • How can we create more connected support for learners at every stage?

    Explore strategies for expanding career exploration throughout the K12 journey, building stronger cross-sector partnerships for consistent career exposure, staying connected with learners beyond graduation, re-engaging disconnected students, and strengthening coordination across DC’s advising ecosystem, including greater integration of adult education programs.

  • How can advising evolve alongside a rapidly changing world?

    Explore how practitioners can interpret labor market and workforce data, understand the impact of policy on postsecondary access and success, strengthen education-employer sector relationships, and help learners build sustainable plans aligned with an evolving economy. Sessions will examine how advising practices can remain responsive to emerging trends and the future of work.

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