At AE, we do PD the way PD should be.

The 2025 summer retreats will be led by Mike Matthews, President of Authentic Education. Mike is a National Board Certified Teacher who has worked in both public and independent schools. He spent 7 years as the Director of Curriculum and Innovation at an Independent School in the San Francisco Bay Area. In his 9 years with AE, Mike has worked with educators around the world to design rich and engaging curriculum across a range of subjects and grade levels.

To ensure a high-quality and highly-personalized retreat with significant individualized coaching and support, the retreats are capped at 14 attendees.

From Curriculum Directors to DEI Leaders to Division Directors, we’ve had folks in non-teaching roles attend past retreats. The retreat is designed around creating a “ready-to-try” unit. We welcome all K-12 educators who are interested in creating a UbD unit to attend. During the summer of 2024, nearly 25% of attendees were not in classroom roles.

UbD experience is welcomed and not required. The small group format allows us to tailor instruction and support to meet all attendees where they are, whether they’re new to UbD or have extensive experience designing curriculum using the framework. 

The retreats will run from 9am-4pm each day, with breakfast available starting at 8:30am and a one-hour lunch break.

The daily schedule will be:

8:30am – Breakfast

9:00am – Morning Session

12:00pm – Lunch

1:00pm – Afternoon Session

4:00pm – End of day

Due to the small group and collaborative nature of the retreats, we require folks to attend in-person. We do periodically offer virtual trainings as well, so if you’re interested in participating, please sign up for our newsletter at authenticeducation.org/blog/

Early bird Registration is $1345 (through April 30, 2025) 
Standard Registration is $1395 (registrations after April 30, 2025)

Payment is due at time of registration to confirm your spot.

For schools sending 3 or more participants to AE’s Summer 2025 offerings, a $50 credit applies to the third and any subsequent registrations. To register a group of teachers, please email us at  retreats@authenticeducation.org. If folks register at different times, we’ll refund the applicable credit automatically.

We also offer significant credits to schools who partner with us to host our retreats. Is your school interested in hosting one of our retreats? Let us know at  retreats@authenticeducation.org.

The retreat fee includes:

– Attendance at the 2-day small group retreat

– One-on-one coaching session in following the retreat (attendees will be able to schedule a 30-minute video session in the 6 months that follows the retreat)

– Asynchronous feedback on their unit after the retreat

– Breakfast, lunch, and snacks each day

– One Understanding by Design book and a retreat workbook

– Access to AE’s resource library (access guaranteed for at least one year after retreat)

The retreat fee does not include any travel expenses, including without limitation, mileage, parking, hotel, flights, and meals outside of the retreats.

Do not incur any non-refundable expenses until after your registration is confirmed. If you’re not local to the retreat location, a member of the AE team will follow up to share relevant information on travel logistics to help you book your trip.

You will need a laptop or a tablet with a keyboard. Attire is casual. We’ll provide everything else!

There will be a short pre-assessment that you’ll be asked to complete before the retreat. We do not assign any homework between the first and second days of the retreat.

We know that life happens. We’ve created registration transfer and refund policies to give you peace of mind should something come up that changes your availability.

Registrants unable to attend the retreat may send someone in their place, by making a request in writing at least 3 days prior to the start of the retreat. Requests to transfer to an alternate 2025 retreat session will be considered on a case-by-case basis. All registration transfer requests must be made in writing via email to retreats@authenticeducation.org.

Cancellations submitted through April 30, 2025, will receive a full refund of registration fee, less a $100 processing fee. No refunds will be issued for cancellations submitted after April 30, 2025. Refunds will be issued in the same form as the original payment when possible. Authentic Education does not award payment credit towards future services or events. All refund requests must be submitted in writing via email to retreats@authenticeducation.org.

We’re here to help! Email us at retreats@authenticeducation.org and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.