Registration Now Open for 2026 Symposium for Classical Education

Registration for the 2026 Great Hearts Symposium for Classical Education is now open! Plan to join us February 25-27, 2026, at the Tempe Mission Palms Hotel in Arizona to explore “Classical Education and the American Experiment.” Take advantage of limited time discounts during EARLY BIRD Registration and secure your spot for the annual big tent gathering for classical education.

REGISTER NOW FOR 2026 SYMPOSIUM

According to Carol McNamara, Director of the Great Hearts Institute, who just hosted over 850 educators from across the country during the 2025 event last February, the Symposium was alive with vibrant conversations and the exchange of ideas at the heart of classical education. But the time for patting themselves on their backs for a job well-done is over. McNamara and her team are already hard at work to put together another phenomenal event for next year. It’s a large undertaking, but not too big for this seasoned team.

“In 2026, we join the country for the 250th anniversary celebration of the Declaration of Independence, but in a way that is distinctive to classical education,” explained McNamara. “In his final statement on the Declaration, just before his death in 1826, Thomas Jefferson explained that the Declaration’s purpose was ‘not to find out new principles… but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject… It was intended to be an expression of the American mind.’”

McNamara said the goal at the 2026 Great Hearts National Symposium for Classical Education is to pursue together an understanding of the American mind, by examining how classical learning across the curriculum – from science and math to the fine arts, languages, history, philosophy, and literature – shapes the American experiment in republican government and prepares students to become citizens and leaders for the future.

“We celebrate the Declaration of Independence because it is a world historical document,” she added. “For the first time in human history, a nation not only asserted its independence, but declared it publicly, in written form, with a theoretical and practical explanation offered for the assertion of separate, independent national status.”

So, be sure to mark your calendars – February 25-27, 2026 – for next year’s symposium, which will explore the theme of Classical Education and the American Experiment: The Declaration of Independence at 250. For more information, visit https://classicaleducationsymposium.org.

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