2026 Conference Program
Keynote Speakers
Candice Alcaraz
Candice Alcaraz is Wyandotte County, KS’ First Black Female District Court Judge and probably the youngest attorney in the county to ever achieve the position. She was elected in August 2022 and sworn into office in January 2023. Judge Alcaraz handles both civil and criminal matters in her courtroom.
Alcaraz was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. She left the big city to attend Truman State University in Missouri. In 2013, Alcaraz graduated from Truman as Magna Cum Laude with her B.S. in Criminal Justice. She then moved to Kansas to attend Washburn University School of Law. While there, she interned at the Kansas Court of Appeals. She also worked in multiple legal clinics including Family Law/Immigration, Kansas Appellate Public Defender’s Office, and Veteran’s Law Clinic: Expungement. In 2016, she earned her Juris Doctorate and passed the bar exam on her first attempt. With law degree in hand, Alcaraz set her sights on a new city. She began working as a prosecutor in the Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office. For six years, she has handled all levels of cases including homicide, narcotics, sex crimes, battery, etc.
Outside of the courtroom, Judge Alcaraz is involved in multiple organizations including the Wyandotte County Bar Association, Kansas Bar Association, Washburn Law Board of Governors, Association for Women Lawyers of Greater Kansas City, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Kansas City, and the Kansas City, Kansas Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, Sorority, Inc. She also spends as much time as she can with youth doing mentor programs and career day presentations across the metro area.
Tina Ellsworth
Tina M. Ellsworth, Ph.D., is an assistant professor and program coordinator of social studies education at the University of Central Missouri. She earned her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in social studies education from the University of Kansas. She earned a M.A. in History from Central Missouri State University where she studied Black American History and the History of Women in the United States and a B.S in Social Studies Education. She began her career as a middle and high school social studies teacher in a rural school district in Missouri. In 2016, she became the Senior Economic Education Specialist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City before moving into a K-12 Social Studies Coordinator position for one of the largest districts in Kansas a year later. Dr. Ellsworth’s research centers on pedagogical knowledge for history education, racial pedagogical content knowledge, and teaching with primary sources. Dr. Ellsworth currently serves the president of the National Council for the Social Studies and is a past-president of the Missouri Council for the Social Studies.
Brian Kisida
Dr. Kisida is is an Associate Professor in the Truman School of Government & Public Affairs, Director of Mizzou's Open Minds Initiative, and Co-Director of the National Endowment for the Arts-sponsored Arts, Humanities, & Civic Engagement Lab. His research spans several key areas of K-12 education policy, including civics education, arts & humanities education, student engagement, and school choice. He has extensive experience conducting randomized controlled trials and has co-authored multiple experimental impact evaluation reports through the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education. He is currently a 2025 Andrew Carnegie Fellow focused on civics education reform.
His academic publications include articles in the American Economic Journal, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Sociology of Education, Educational Researcher, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Education Finance & Policy, Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, Economics of Education Review, Policy Studies Journal, School Effectiveness and School Improvement, and Education and Urban Society. His work has been cited in congressional testimony before the U.S. House and Senate, and it has appeared in numerous media outlets, including The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and CNN.
