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A City Changing: An Annual Convening

Sparking conversations. Building coalitions. Inspiring new approaches.

Metro Atlanta is a diverse, dynamic, and growing region, and our schools are evolving along with it. As student needs become more complex and workforce demands continue to shift, how resources are aligned plays an important role in expanding access to high-quality learning environments and future-ready opportunities for students.

At RedefinED Atlanta, we believe progress happens when diverse perspectives come together around a shared understanding.

A City Changing is part of our broader commitment to:

  • Convene leaders across sectors to engage in meaningful dialogue
  • Elevate both data and lived experience in shaping conversations
  • Create space for ideas to be explored, challenged, and advanced
  • Strengthen the systems and conditions that shape student outcomes across Metro Atlanta

A City Changing 2026: Funding Student Opportunity

Across Metro Atlanta, public education is evolving, but the systems that fund it have not kept pace. As our region grows and student needs become more complex, how resources are aligned plays a critical role in what school districts can deliver.

A City Changing: Funding Student Opportunity brings together education leaders, policymakers, funders, and community voices for a focused conversation on how Georgia’s approach to funding public education, particularly through the Quality Basic Education (QBE) formula, connects to the realities students face today and the workforce needs of tomorrow.

Grounded in historical context, insights from peers like Alabama and Mississippi, and practitioner perspectives, this convening creates space to build a shared understanding of how resources flow and where there may be opportunities to better align them with the realities students face today and the workforce demands shaping Georgia’s future.

Join RedefinED Atlanta’s 2026 Speaker Series event, an exploration of how funding, policy, and practice come together to shape outcomes for students across metro Atlanta and Georgia.

rEGISTER TO ATTEND

Event Details

A City Changing: Funding Student Opportunity

Date: September 11, 2026
Time: 11:00 AM–1:30 PM

Reception lunch: 11:00 AM–11:45 AM

Program: 12:00 PM–1:30 PM

Location: National Center for Civil & Human Rights

Address: 100 Ivan Allen Jr Blvd NW, Atlanta, GA 30313

Register to Attend

2026 Featured Speakers

Mark Dixon in blue suit, smiling at camera

Mark E. Dixon

A+ Education Partnership

Read Mark's Bio
Cayanna in a black dress smiles at camera

Cayanna Good, Ph.D.

Assistant Commissioner for Adult Education, Technical College System of Georgia Chair, State Charter Schools Commission of Georgia
Read Cayanna's Bio
Keith in a blue suit, white shirt and tie, smiles at camera

Dr. Keith Colbert

Senior Chief Of Staff-Academics And District Operations
Read Keith's Bio

Why Aligning the Student Formula to Student Needs Matters

For nearly four decades, Georgia has funded public education through the Quality Basic Education (QBE) formula, creating a more consistent foundation for supporting schools across the state.

Since then, Georgia has experienced significant growth and change. Student needs have evolved, communities have shifted, and expectations for public education have expanded—while the structure guiding how resources are allocated has remained largely the same.

Today, how resources are aligned plays an important role in shaping student outcomes, expanding access to high-quality learning environments, and preparing students for the workforce demands driving Georgia’s future economy.

rEGISTER TO ATTEND

A City Changing is Grounded in Three Core Ideas

Build Shared Understanding

Education funding impacts every student, yet the system can be difficult to navigate. This conversation is designed to help leaders across sectors better understand how resources flow, how decisions are made, and how funding connects to student opportunity.

Align Around Student Opportunity

Students across Georgia have varying strengths, needs, and learning experiences. Strengthening how resources are aligned can help schools better support students and expand access to high-quality opportunities across communities.

Move from Conversation to Coordinated Action

Meaningful progress requires educators, policymakers, funders, business leaders, and community voices working together. This convening is an opportunity to connect, exchange ideas, and explore how different sectors can engage, advocate, invest, and support stronger outcomes for students.

Register for A City Changing: Funding Student Opportunity

If you’re an education leader, policymaker, funder, advocate, business leader, or civic leader who cares about how public education connects to student opportunity and Georgia’s future, this conversation is for you.

Access Our Livestream Conversations

Missed the live event but want to be part of the conversation? Watch our archive of our most recent A City Changing convenings and hear directly from the educators, leaders, and advocates reimagining what’s possible for Atlanta’s schools.

2025 Livestream

View 2025 Livestream

2024 Livestream

View 2024 Livestream

Meet Your Atlanta Field Team

Denesha Thompson Pressey, Director of Public Engagement and Advocacy

dthompson@redefinedatlanta.org

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Mark E. Dixon

Mark Dixon is President of A+ Education Partnership, a statewide nonprofit advancing policies to ensure every Alabama student receives a world-class education, regardless of circumstance. A+ has been instrumental in the passage and implementation of the Alabama Literacy Act, Alabama Numeracy Act, and the RAISE Act, and supports 3,000 educators annually through its A+ Best Practices Center, A+ College Ready, and A+ Student Voices Team programs.

A graduate of Alabama public schools and Wake Forest University, Mark began his career serving Alabama Governor Bob Riley as education policy advisor and policy director. He later earned an MBA from The George Washington University and was an Education Pioneers Fellow with Teach For America. Mark spent seven years at General Electric, where he helped build a commercial consulting organization and led project teams on five continents.

He is a Pahara Fellow, a PIE Network Leadership Institute alum, and a member of Leadership Alabama Class XXXIII. Mark is honored to serve on the boards of Children’s of Alabama, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Alabama Possible, the Business Council of Alabama, the Southern Regional Education Board, and the Data Quality Campaign. He lives in Montgomery with his wife, Collier.

Cayanna Good, Ph.D.

Dr. Cayanna Good serves as Deputy Commissioner for Innovation and Impact at the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG), where she leads systemwide strategic planning and drives organizational improvement across all institutional pillars.
Previously, she served as Assistant Commissioner for the Office of Adult Education, overseeing statewide literacy initiatives, workforce alignment, and Georgia’s high school equivalency credentialing program.

Before joining TCSG, Dr. Good held leadership roles at the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement, the Georgia Department of Education, Teach For America, and TNTP. Her career began in the classroom in Houston — an experience that continues to ground her unwavering commitment to equity, access, and opportunity for all learners.

Dr. Good earned her bachelor’s degree from Fisk University, her master’s from Georgia State University, and her doctorate from Mercer University. She serves as Chairperson of the State Charter School Commission, she is a member of the Georgia Commission for Service and Volunteerism, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and a member of the Brookwood High School Local School Council.

Dr. Keith Colbert

Dr. Keith A. Colbert has served in the Clayton County Public Schools (CCPS) system since 1998, starting his career as a fourth-grade teacher at Northcutt Elementary School. After a two-year tenure at Northcutt Elementary, he transferred to Morrow High School, where he served as a math teacher, special education teacher, and assistant head basketball coach. To gain insightful leadership experience, Dr. Colbert shadowed the administrative team, gained useful school leadership experience, and obtained a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Troy State University.

Dr. Colbert was selected as assistant principal of Mundy’s Mill High School (MMHS) in 2003 under the leadership of Dr. Anthony W. Smith. During his tenure at MMHS, he was instrumental in preparing the first class to graduate from the newly constructed school.

Dr. Colbert was recognized as a future principal leader in the district and was selected as one of twelve future leaders to participate in the principal preparation program, “A Forward-LEAP.” After completing this program, Dr. Colbert was appointed principal of Lovejoy Middle School in 2006, where he led more than 1,400 students. At the time, Lovejoy Middle School was the largest middle school in the district and considered underperforming. Dr. Colbert and his team led the school to substantial improvements in student achievement and were consequently selected as the 2008 Georgia PTSA Principal of the Year.

Driven to nurture a class of students from 6th grade to graduation, Dr. Colbert was appointed principal of Lovejoy High School in July 2009, where he served for seven years. He is one of the few principals in traditional high schools who is fortunate to have guided sixth graders to graduation with the Class of 2013. During his tenure at Lovejoy High School, the school was recognized as a Title I Rewards school in 2012 and 2013, SAT’s greatest gains school in 2012, and a USA News top high school in 2011. Dr. Colbert’s achievements led to a finalist for Principal of the Year for Clayton County Public Schools in 2011 and 2013.

In June of 2016, Dr. Keith A. Colbert was appointed Assistant Superintendent of Schools for Clayton County Public Schools.