Date & Time: Tuesday, May 12, 2026 at 2 p.m. ET
While districts have precise literacy data showing where students stand, families don’t. And they are the most critical component to ensuring their child succeeds.
This gap becomes even more urgent as chronic absenteeism rises. Students who miss school are among the most at risk of falling behind in literacy. Without strong family engagement, districts are fighting both challenges at once with limited visibility beyond the classroom.
In this 30-minute Ed Talk, explore current research on the literacy engagement gap and walk through a practical three-part audit to assess what families in your district actually know about reading progress and where the greatest opportunity for impact exists. Additionally, a district leader will share what she learned after examining her own literacy communication strategy, and what changed as a result.
Bonus: Attendees will leave with a free, ready-to-use assessment tool they can use the next day in their district.
Key Takeaways:
- What The Latest Research Says: Why literacy data rarely reaches families in a way they can act on, and what changes when it does.
- The Attendance and Literacy Connection: Why students who miss school struggle to build reading skills and disengage—and how family engagement reduces chronic absenteeism
- A Real District Story: What Brookhaven School District found when auditing their own literacy communication across schools, families, and students
- Live 5-Minute Workshop: Attendees who join the live event will be able to participate in a ThoughtExchange workshop to share and rank family engagement best practices from their peers. The workshop will generate detailed reporting.
- Free Self-Assessment Tool: Receive a ready-to-use assessment for use in your district
This year, gain a clearer picture of what it looks like when families become true partners in literacy.
Speakers
Chad Aldeman
Founder, Read Not Guess
Columnist, The 74 Million
Rachel Powell, PhD, CCC-SLP, BCS-CL
Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Federal Programs, Brookhaven School District (MS)
Kara Stern, Ph.D.
Director of Education, SchoolStatus
Sponsored by
