The New Choice Economy — Policy, Platforms, and the Family Experience | ASU+GSV Summit 2026

Erika Donalds (OptimaEd), Gretchen Schoenhaar (Step Up For Students), John Ward (Arizona Department of Education), and Lydia Hampton (Learning Lab Wichita) join moderator Lauren Bender (Odyssey) at the ASU+GSV Summit 2026 in The New Choice Economy — Policy, Platforms, and the Family Experience to examine how federal school choice policy and platforms are reshaping the parent experience.

Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA) is the first federal school choice program — but policy promise only becomes reality for students and families if the platforms and systems are ready. In this session, leaders will unpack how ECCA and state adoption are reshaping the parent experience of school choice, and what it takes to build platforms that can serve every family. This panel puts the full choice ecosystem in one room — platform builder, scholarship administrator, state implementer, policy expert, and community innovator — to ask the harder question: as school choice goes federal, who is accountable for making it actually work?