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On December 9th, as City leaders prepare for the transition to a new administration, the ARISE Coalition, the NYC Department of Education, and Advocates for Children of New York (AFC) are jointly hosting a Literacy Summit to build a shared vision for universal literacy. 

Improving the quality of literacy instruction is a matter of racial, economic, and disability justice. Literacy is the foundation for all future learning and essential for full participation in civic life. Yet more NYC students are reading below a basic level than are reading proficiently, and disparities by race, disability, language, and housing status are alarming.

We hope you'll join us as we bring together diverse stakeholders and experts from around the country to explore current challenges in reading instruction, strengthen our commitment to advancing equitable outcomes for all students, and plan for the future.

Register for the Summit

Join the Call to Collective Action

Browse AFC's literacy resources


AGENDA

View the full program & speaker bios [PDF]

10:00 – 10:15 | Welcome

10:15 – 10:45 | Keynote Address
Lacey Robinson, Chief Executive Officer, UnboundEd 

11:00 – 12:00 | Evidence-Based & Culturally Relevant Practices: Working at the Intersection for Equity 
Dr. Linnea Ehri, Distinguished Professor, CUNY Graduate Center
Dr. Katie Pace Miles, Assistant Professor, Brooklyn College
Dr. Susan B. Neuman, Professor, New York University
Dr. Julie Washington, Professor, University of California – Irvine

12:45 – 1:45 | All means ALL: Diversifying Literacy to Meet the Needs of Every Student 
Dr. Nadine Gaab, Associate Professor, Harvard Graduate School of Education 
Dr. Jan Hasbrouck, Researcher, Educational Consultant, and Author
Dr. Devin Kearns, Associate Professor, University of Connecticut 
Dr. Claudia Rinaldi, Professor of Education, Lasell University 

2:00 – 3:00 | How Do We Move Forward: Understanding the Shared Responsibility Around Literacy 
Jenny Bogoni, Executive Director, Read by 4th Campaign at the Free Library of Philadelphia
Dr. Kymyona Burk, Senior Policy Fellow, ExcelinEd
Margaret Goldberg, Co-founder, The Right to Read Project
Dr. Tracy Weeden, President and CEO, Neuhaus Education Center
Katie Kurjakovic, Assistant to the Vice President for Education, United Federation of Teachers
Maggie Siena, Principal, P.S. 343 The Peck Slip School 

3:15 – 3:30 |  Closing Remarks 
Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter 

Thanks to all of you who were able to join us at last week’s panel discussion and speak-out on school accessibility.   Our excellent student panel (Joshua Stern, Aaron Philip, Emma Albert, and Abraham Weitzman), Dayniah Manderson, who moderated the panel, and April Coughlin, who shared information and data on the need to empower students with mobility needs all provided valuable information and insight.   Download copies of the factsheet [PDF] and powerpoint [PDF] given out that evening to help families and individuals make sure they know their rights in this arena. 

​To read more about the event in the press, see pieces in Chalkbeat and WNYC.  

​Finally, even if you couldn’t make it last week, but you have a story you want to share about school accessibility, you can always reach out to ARISE or our wonderful co-sponsor, Parents for Inclusive Education, at mmoroff@advocatesforchildren.org or at pieNYC@gmail.com.

​During our speak out portion of the evening, we also heard stories from parents of students using or in need of assistive technology devices, as well as from educators and DOE representatives who were able to provide helpful feedback. 

​For more on what was shared during the program, please see the PowerPoint [PDF] used that night.

Also, it is never too late to share your story! You can find a copy of our Share Your Story form in English [PDF] or Spanish [PDF]. We'd still love to hear from you even if you couldn't be with us in February.

Along with our co-host, the Mental Health Association of New York City, we welcomed a great panel that included Dana Ashley from the Positive Learning Collaborative, Amy Breglio from the School Justice Project at Advocates for Children of New York, and Lisa Hunter Romanelli from the REACH Institute. In front of a packed room, our panelists:

• Discussed their work related to the topic;
• Talked about the need for systems to avoid and de-escalate problem behaviors at school;
• Advocated for school staff to receive specific training and on-going assistance in their own efforts to support students with behaviors;
• Urged that parents and school staff work collaboratively to meet the needs of students with challenging behaviors;
• Reminded us of the need to consider the unique perspective of each student — using what motivates individual youth to address problem behaviors.

And then, we heard from community members — parents, educators, and advocates — also about struggles with children reading far below grade level; schools offering little support to address students’ needs but proposing instead to hold students back; and parents eager to advocate on behalf of their children but uncertain what they could and should ask for from their schools. Again, we heard a few success stories. Our first parent speaker spoke to the room with her son by her side — her son whose school years started off incredibly rough because of his disability and his school’s unpreparedness to meet his needs, but who will be graduating with a Regents Diploma in a few weeks. 

With planning, resources, training, and support, our schools can teach our students to read and write — not just decoding, but comprehending what’s in front of them. We heard it last night. The ARISE Coalition will continue to advocate for improved literacy skills for all students, including students with disabilities, but we need your help! If you haven’t yet, please sign our letter to the Chancellor, asking her to plan for and dedicate the resources necessary to prepare all school and district level staff to teach all our children to read and write.