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Anchin Launches ESE Innovation and Leadership Collaborative to Strengthen Cross-District Partnerships

On October 17, 2025, the David C. Anchin Center for the Advancement of Teaching and the USF College of Education hosted the inaugural convening of the ESE Innovation and Leadership Collaborative—an invite-only professional learning experience designed to strengthen regional collaboration in service of exceptional student success.  

This new collaborative brought together Exceptional Student Education (ESE) leaders from six school districts across the Tampa Bay region, including Citrus, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, and Polk counties. The purpose of the collaborative is to create a shared space where district leaders can build relationships, exchange ideas, and engage in problem-solving around common challenges in ESE systems and services.

Held as a morning convening, the session emphasized three core goals: building connections across districts, sharing successes, and setting collective goals for cross-district collaboration. Participants began with breakfast and networking, followed by welcome remarks and framing of the day’s purpose. 

A key feature of the convening was the District Spotlights segment, where leaders highlighted ESE initiatives that are working well in their districts and shared how they measure impact—creating opportunities to identify practices that could be adapted and scaled regionally. The group then engaged in collective goal setting, identifying shared priorities and exploring how districts can work together—alongside USF—to advance solutions, strengthen leadership capacity, and “work smarter, not harder” in addressing regional ESE challenges.

The convening concluded with reflections and next steps, centering the question of how this collaborative community can continue to add value to district leaders’ work throughout the year. The session was facilitated by Dr. Lauren Evanovich (Exceptional Student Education, USF) and Dr. Rachel Hatten (David C. Anchin Center, USF).

The Anchin Center and USF College of Education are excited to continue convening this group in future sessions, building a sustained network of ESE leaders committed to improving outcomes for exceptional students across districts.