Stronger States, Stronger Outcomes

Strengthening Literacy Through Family Partnerships in Arkansas
Improving literacy outcomes requires more than strong instruction; it also depends on families understanding student progress and knowing how to support learning at home. Arkansas will share how it is embedding family engagement into implementation of the state’s third-grade promotion policy. The approach centers on three connected strategies: improving communication about literacy and promotion requirements, increasing family awareness of reading progress, and building educator capacity to strengthen home–school partnerships. Informed by state and national parent research, the work brings together cross-agency partners and technical assistance resources to connect classroom and at-home learning. Participants will learn practical strategies for integrating family engagement into literacy policy and practice, strengthening trust, and helping educators and families navigate reading-progress conversations more clearly and effectively. 

Using Data to Strengthen Family Engagement in Puerto Rico
Data can strengthen family partnerships when educators are prepared to explain student progress clearly and engage families in shared learning goals. Puerto Rico will share how the Department of Education and REL Northeast & Islands built on a long-term data literacy partnership to implement Academic Parent-Teacher Teams across seven schools in three regions. The work connects regional Data Coaches, collaborative inquiry, and Puerto Rico’s Effective Data Use Guide with practical family engagement strategies. A train-the-trainer model, implementation resources, and a video series are supporting sustainability and broader use. Participants will learn how Puerto Rico integrated family engagement into an existing data-use system, strengthened educator capacity, and created practical tools to support continuous improvement and shared responsibility for student success.