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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260106T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260106T163000
DTSTAMP:20260404T080939
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SUMMARY:Holiday Rebroadcast: Beyond Decoding NAEP: The Federal Role in Promoting Efficacy\, Equity\, and Accountability
DESCRIPTION:This January 6\, 2026 session rebroadcast the final session of our “Decoding NAEP” series from 2025 that engaged state chiefs\, educators\, parents\, researchers\, and advocates in a deep-dive exploration of the 2024 scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress — often called “The Nation’s Report Card.” \nIn this session\, panelists went beyond decoding the 2024 NAEP scores to explore the federal role in generating data to assess student progress. We also talked about the will needed from local\, state\, and national leaders to regain a focus on the importance of student outcomes. Panelists discussed why the U.S. Department of Education and its Institute of Education Sciences should continue to provide funding and support for research that reveals what is needed and what works for various student demographics. \nThe session began with a conversation between two former U.S. Secretaries of Education\, representing both sides of the aisle\, about the importance of federal leadership being committed to student outcomes. John King\, Jr.\, J.D.\, Ed.D.\, Chancellor of the State University of New York (SUNY) and U.S. Secretary of Education under President Obama from 2015–2017\, and Margaret Spellings\, President and CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center and U.S. Secretary of Education under President Bush from 2005–2009\, discussed the importance of using data to drive action\, with Spellings noting: \n\nWhen we focus on every kid and we measure — yes\, that’s testing — and report that data\, hold it up\, learn from it\, and make it a central part of what we invest in\, we go in the right direction. \n\nKing emphasized the connection between educational outcomes and a strong workforce and the importance of federal leaders making this a priority: \n\nAnd at the end of the day\, for every employer\, they will not have the workforce we need if we do not provide students with the foundational skills\, particularly in English and math\, although obviously students need much more than that. But if they don’t have those things\, they surely aren’t going to be successful in the workforce….Today we really need our leadership to step up and restore the sense that improving educational outcomes is a national imperative. \n\nThe robust conversation on the federal role in promoting efficacy and accountability contiued as three prominent research and education leaders offered perspectives from both sides of the aisle. Michael J. Petrilli of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute\, Adam Gamoran\, Ph.D.\, of the William T. Grant Foundation\, and Ruth N. Lopez Turley\, Ph.D.\, of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University and former member of the National Board for Education Sciences (2022–2025) began by reacting to what the former Secretaries shared. They also emphasized the importance of national research and data to identify and address inequities that impede student progress. Turley explained how federal data is used at the local level in her home community of Houston\, Texas: \n\nWe were using national-level data from the School Finance Indicators Database\, which uses the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) data\, Census data\, etc.\, to develop estimates for how much per-pupil funding is needed for each school district across the country. So we found that most school districts in the state of Texas are underfunded in terms of what they would need to achieve national average test scores. But even more importantly\, we found that there are some school districts that were severely underfunded relative to others\, both in the region and in the state. And so there are huge inequities that we need to pay attention to [and the federal data is needed to identify these inequities]. \n\nAfter the initial broadcast of this session in September 2025\, CGLR produced\, The Nation’s Report Card: A Call to Action for Raising Achievement and Closing Gaps\, a report that synthesizes insights from across the nine Decoding NAEP sessions. Rather than declaring definitive conclusions\, this new report aims to broaden and deepen the national conversation about how to improve student outcomes ― especially for children growing up in economically challenged households. Featuring quotes and reflections from the 50 panelists who participated in the series\, the report invites researchers\, policymakers\, practitioners\, and advocates to treat NAEP as a catalyst for learning and problem-solving. CGLR plans to continue the conversation about NAEP in 2026\, leveraging this report to spark bold\, sustained action and engage an even wider community in shaping effective strategies to boost early school success. We hope you will join that conversation with us on LinkedIn\, sharing your insights and reflections on how strong data and sustained commitment can fuel progress and narrow gaps. Join us.
URL:https://leo.gradelevelreading.net/event/holiday-rebroadcast-beyond-decoding-naep/
CATEGORIES:Past Event
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260120T123000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260120T140000
DTSTAMP:20260404T080939
CREATED:20251215T070811Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260124T152224Z
UID:254023-1768912200-1768917600@leo.gradelevelreading.net
SUMMARY:Families at the Center: Shaping the Future of Education
DESCRIPTION:“Families trust educators often more than educators trust families. So we need to create the conditions for educators to challenge their mindsets\, to actually learn what it means to effectively engage families. One of the things we often say here at Flamboyan is ‘Families are experts in their child. As an educator\, you are an expert in content and pedagogy so how you support the child is going to be different than how the parent or family supports the child.’ For us\, the most powerful family engagement investments are those that help change how systems are seeing families\, how educators are practicing this partnership\, and how leadership is defining success.”  \n–Emily Garcia\, Flamboyan Foundation \n\n			\n				\n				\n				\n				\n				Emily Garcia offered the above reflection as she described Flamboyan Foundation’s approach to family engagement\, noting that Flamboyan views families as an “all too often untapped asset” rather than as a “problem to be solved” as it works to help educators and systems better partner with families.  \nModerated by Gregg Behr of The Grable Foundation\, the conversation explored the robust and growing body of research affirming the positive outcomes of strong parent-educator partnerships\, the various ways that funders can strengthen those partnerships\, and future opportunities for systems-level changes to sustain and scale effective family engagement.   \nBehr began by inviting two leading researchers — Eyal Bergman\, Ed.L.D.\, of Learning Heroes and Emily Markovich Morris of the Brookings Institution — to share what they are investigating and learning about family engagement and its impact on student outcomes. Bergman provided highlights from the Phase 1 of the Family Engagement Impact Study that compared post-pandemic student attendance and achievement data for schools with stronger and weaker pre-pandemic family partnerships and offered a sneak peak into Phase 2 and future plans for Phase 3. Controlling for poverty\, race\, prior achievement\, and various community factors\, Phase 1 of the study found a 6.2 percentage point difference in chronic absence rates.   \n“The family engagement score actually showed a stronger relationship with chronic absence than poverty rates….This is a fundamentally good news story\, affirming that we can do a lot to counteract many of the effects of poverty in community if we invest in building strong relationships with families.”  \n–Eyal Bergman\, Ed.L.D.\, Learning Heroes  \nMorris described how the Center for Universal Education at Brookings has investigated family\, school\, and community engagement in 16 countries across six continents\, engaging more than 25\,000 students\, educators\, and family members to understand their respective beliefs on education and explore opportunities to partner and work together. She shared a new report by Brookings that examines perspectives on the risks and potential benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) in education along with tips for families to understand the research behind AI and its utilization in education. Morris underscored the importance of relational trust in forming strong home-school partnerships and shared that Brookings is creating a scale to help schools understand and measure relational trust.   \n“We found that care of families and educators was quite high across schools\, but the sticking point was often integrity and following through on promises….We found different cultures of listening across schools. Those schools that create two-way conversations that allow families to be heard were able to build this vision and this trust. And if they had this trust\, there was a critical connection to student outcomes and strong school climate.”   \n–Emily Markovich Morris\, Brookings Institution  \nBehr then invited Bibb Hubbard of Learning Heroes to join the conversation and share highlights from a decade of research at the organization and what that means for work on the ground and the efforts of philanthropy. Hubbard affirmed the importance of giving teachers the strategies\, tools\, training\, and time to effectively engage with families; of investing in families and ensuring they have a seat at the table and opportunity to express their vision and needs; and of funding more research that can inform action.   \n“As we are redesigning education and we have all of these opportunities with AI and different policies\, we need to make sure parents are centered in those conversations as codesigners….We have new opportunities through technology to do this\, but the system is still designed to keep parents and educators apart. We have to focus on what’s in front of us and what parents care most about\, which is their children’s academics\, their children’s life skills\, and setting them up for success. This is a moment of unprecedented opportunity.”  \n–Bibb Hubbard\, Learning Heroes  \nBehr then invited a panel of funders — Emily Garcia of Flamboyan Foundation\, Ambika Kapur of Carnegie Corporation of New York\, and Tarilyn Little of Carmel Hill Fund — to join the conversation. Kapur described Carnegie’s extensive previous investments in family engagement research and its efforts to strengthen the home-school connection\, build parent leadership and capacity\, and advance field knowledge and tools.   \n“Carnegie’s role was not around a single intervention but more around helping move the field from proof to practice and then to infrastructure. I think that helped normalize family voice as an essential part of our education system. Our work is not done — that’s for sure — but that evolution has helped raise a question for all of us: How do we deepen family power\, not just engagement\, especially in decision-making and policy?…How do we see them as essential partners?”  \n–Ambika Kapur\, Carnegie Corporation of New York  \nGarcia explained how Flamboyan functions in both philanthropic and programmatic spaces to help schools and systems design sustainable solutions that position families as true partners. She stressed that Flamboyan invests in sustainable change that builds the capacity of educators and education leaders to build strong relationships\, communicate effectively\, and partner academically with families.   \n“The research and data are clear; family engagement is an academic strategy. And yet\, all too often it is not funded or resourced in the same way….All too often we hear about family engagement as an add on or it’s shoved in a district’s communication office….We look for systems that are saying yes\, we believe in family engagement and here’s how it shows up in our office of teaching. Here’s how we’ve actually begun to assess for mindset in our talent and culture work.”  \n–Emily Garcia\, Flamboyan Foundation  \nLittle shared how Carmel Hill is advancing family engagement as a critical component of its efforts in New York City to promote learning in the classroom\, home\, and community. Carmel Hill invests in research\, capacity building\, and direct programming around family engagement\, including supporting a family ambassador approach that empowers local leaders to be messengers and advisors for families in the community and partnering with nonprofits\, cultural institutions\, and health care providers in order to go where families are to connect them with support.   \n“We have to find a way to bring an authentic family and parent voice into our practices\, into our policy\, and into our funding. If we don’t\, we run the risk of continuing the harmful pattern of treating families as passive receivers and not active partners. I think\, as funders\, if we are not getting on the ground and really listening\, given the power that we as funders have\, we can run the risk of powering the kind of harmful trends from the past that we are working very hard to move away from.”  \n–Tarilyn Little\, Carmel Hill Fund  \nThroughout the conversation\, the panelists returned again and again to the importance of building the capacity of pre-service and in-service educators to build strong relationships with parents and families. They referenced several entities that are leading the way in that effort\, including Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation\, Digital Promise\, and NAFSCE as well as the states of Nevada and Colorado.    \n“To answer the question in the chat\, asking how we can get our higher education systems to build family engagement into the curriculum on the pre-service side\, I think there’s got to be demand for it. School leaders have to be saying\, I’m only going to hire teachers who have this skill\, who have this capacity\, who have this mindset.”  \n–Bibb Hubbard\, Learning Heroes  \n  \n			\n			\n				\n				\n				\n				\n			\n				\n				\n				\n				\n				\n				\n				\n				\n				\n				\n				If you were able to attend the session\, we would love to hear your feedback! We appreciate your help in filling out the following form as we seek to learn and understand the perspectives\, ideas\, critiques and recommendations that better inform our key audiences. \n			\n				Share Feedback
URL:https://leo.gradelevelreading.net/event/families-at-the-center/
CATEGORIES:Funder-to-Funder Conversation,Parents,Past Event
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260127T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260127T163000
DTSTAMP:20260404T080939
CREATED:20251217T193228Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260202T154242Z
UID:254192-1769526000-1769531400@leo.gradelevelreading.net
SUMMARY:High-Impact Tutoring as a Remedy for Pandemic Lost Learning: LAUSD Settlement
DESCRIPTION:As we move forward\, almost six years later\, from the beginning of what we call pandemic learning\, we still have a lot of very important questions to ask as we are here talking about what interventions are still needed and what really works. \n\nModerator Tracie Potts of Eisenhower Institute at Gettysburg College offered this important framing as she launched the January 27\, 2026 GLR Learning Tuesdays webinar\, High-Impact Tutoring as a Remedy for Pandemic Lost Learning: LAUSD Settlement. CGLR also looks forward to exploring this question — especially “what really works?” — throughout 2026 as we review successful implementation tactics for the “Big Bets” strategies that schools\, districts\, and states have implemented over the past 5–6 years. This week’s discussion focused on a very specific situation in California where a group of Black and Latino parents sued the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) in 2020\, claiming inequitable remote learning during the pandemic. In the settlement from this case\, the district agreed to implement three years of high-dosage tutoring\, along with evidence-based teacher development and family engagement\, and a robust set of additional strategies to re-engage chronically absent students and accelerate learning. \nPotts first engaged with three LA-area leaders who were integral to the case: Michelle Vilchez and Walt Rodríguez of Innovate Public Schools who served as the primary advocates and organizers for parents involved in the case\, and Edward (Ned) Hillenbrand of Kirkland & Ellis\, LLP who was one of the lead attorneys for the plaintiffs. Hillenbrand explained that the California Constitution includes explicit protections for public school students\, including the right to a free\, quality education and freedom from discrimination (race\, gender\, religion\, etc.). He explained how these protections enabled the lawsuit and then broke down the details of the case\, the parties involved\, the argument and factual allegations as well as the initial settlement and what it requires of the district. Vilchez and Rodríguez provided additional context about the concerns of parents during the pandemic and their need to find a way to have their voices heard. Vilchez explained: \n\nThe one thing that we have felt is common throughout our work in Los Angeles is that parents will be the first ones to tell you there is something wrong here. There is something not right. And that is a common thread regardless of black or brown or what region or district that they call home. And secondly is that they’re always ready to partner across divisions to be able to find suitable solutions for their children. \n\nIn his detailed review of the settlement\, Hillenbrand explained how experts and research were consulted to determine the outcomes — with tutoring being the leading intervention that parents had been requesting for their children\, which has also been proven effective to support learning recovery and acceleration when implemented effectively. His comments were followed by the insights of expert practitioner\, Sam Olivieri of Step Up Tutoring who provided more information on why tutoring is so important for learning recovery and additional background on the history of tutoring in Los Angeles and her organization’s long-standing partnership with the district. She also shared her anticipation for successful implementation of the case settlement in the coming months. Olivier’s optimism was matched by Adrián Sandoval of GPSN\, also a longtime partner of LAUSD who made it clear that although this case indicated the district provided inequitable distance learning during the pandemic\, district leaders actually put a great deal of effort and investment into implementation of innovations and strategies to support equitable learning recovery and have seen demonstrable gains: \n\nIt’s really important to recognize the gains the district has made since the pandemic. The district has had academic gains across the board\, many of which have outpaced other similar districts across the country\, and they have reached the pre-pandemic academic levels with regards to the outcomes on state testing. So that demonstrates that there has been some effort and some progress with regards to instruction and a path toward recovery. Despite those results\, we still know that the district overall has quite a lot of work to do to continue to improve. But we do want to name that those results that they’ve had thus far are not by accident. They are because of a concerted effort to provide targeted support. \n\n			\n			\n				\n				\n				\n				\n			\n				\n				\n				\n				\n				\n				\n				\n				\n				\n				\n				If you were able to attend the session\, we would love to hear your feedback! We appreciate your help in filling out the following form as we seek to learn and understand the perspectives\, ideas\, critiques and recommendations that better inform our key audiences. \n			\n				Share Feedback
URL:https://leo.gradelevelreading.net/event/la-settlement/
CATEGORIES:Big Bets Working,Past Event
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260210T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260210T163000
DTSTAMP:20260404T080939
CREATED:20260120T071509Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260318T042154Z
UID:254608-1770735600-1770741000@leo.gradelevelreading.net
SUMMARY:Designing for Connection: Powering Parents to Support Learning at Home and School
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://leo.gradelevelreading.net/event/designing-for-connection/
CATEGORIES:Past Event
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