Recorded live at the 2025 ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, this session featured Jinan O'Connor, Vice President of Brand Partnerships and Engagement at DonorsChoose.
The session offered a unique, data-driven perspective on the real-time needs of America’s public schools, grounded in 25 years of classroom resource requests submitted by teachers. Jinan O'Connor presented three essential insights that have emerged from this extensive dataset: small investments can have a big impact, teachers are uniquely attuned to students’ needs, and classrooms tend to move faster than the systems meant to support them. These findings underscored how empowering teachers directly can lead to meaningful, scalable improvements in student support and educational equity.
ASU+GSV Summit Sessions