EAST LANSING, Mich. (WZMQ) – More than 200 educators, literacy coaches and family engagement leaders gathered at Michigan State University this week for a two-day summit focused on improving childhood literacy through stronger partnerships with families.
The event, titled “Engagement is Essential for Literacy,” was hosted by the Region 7 MIFamily Engagement Center in partnership with Michigan State University and leaders from MILEAP, the Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement and Potential.
Organizers said the summit is part of a growing statewide effort to improve literacy outcomes by helping schools, educators and families work more closely.
“This summit is an exciting opportunity,” said Colleen Rockafellow, Region 7 MIFamily Engagement coordinator. “We have educators, childcare providers, administrators. And the title of this summit is ‘MIFamily Engagement is Essential to Literacy.’ We chose that title specifically because we believe that family engagement is the key to literacy success in our state.”
Sessions throughout the summit focused on practical literacy strategies educators can share with families, along with research-based approaches to supporting reading development at home.
Rockafellow said one of the goals is helping teachers communicate more effectively with parents.
“We say a lot of things to families… sometimes we say something as simple as, ‘Oh, just read.’ But, what does that mean?” Rockafellow said. “High impact is what is the most important part of it. So we’re trying to cut the fluff, get right to business with them.”
Melissa Manko, a family engagement and early literacy consultant with MILEAP, said the summit coincides with the release of a statewide literacy resource connecting family engagement strategies with early literacy instruction.
“It is a crosswalk combo of family engagement strategies and then literacy strategies and how can you boost those in conjunction with one another to support each other,” Manko said.
The summit also highlighted the role family engagement coordinators play in supporting schools and communities across Michigan, including rural areas and the Upper Peninsula.
“In the UP, some families have to drive an hour to get to a local library,” Rockafellow said. “So how are we getting families access to books in the UP? That would be something that addressed through their family engagement efforts in their local ISDs and their schools and communities.”
Several speakers said their passion for the work comes from personal experience as parents and educators.
Megan Noel, Region 6 MIFamily Engagement coordinator, reflected on raising her daughter with support from family and community programs.
“Without my parents and my sister and the people who are in my community, my daughter would not be half the person she is at 9 years old,” Noel said. “She would not be so successful in school. She wouldn’t be reading.”
Kristen Chism, Region 8 MIFamily Engagement coordinator, said educators also need support and training to build stronger relationships with families.
“All families deserve to have a voice, and not all systems are prepared to engage with families,” Chism said.
Jonnie Taton, director of the Office of Family Partnerships with MILEAP, said decades of research continue to show family engagement plays a critical role in student success.
“Family engagement is proven in research over 40 years or more to be an effective driver of literacy and positive outcomes for children,” Taton said.
State leaders and organizers connected the summit to broader efforts to improve Michigan literacy scores, which have become a major focus for Whitmer and education leaders statewide.
“Yes, so we know that one of the governor’s initiatives is bringing our literacy scores up,” Rockafellow said. “They’re not where we want them to be. That’s why we have a lot of initiatives happening in the state. But we believe at the MIFamily Engagement Centers that family engagement is the key to bridging that gap.”
Michigan lawmakers passed the Read by Grade Three Law in 2016, requiring schools to identify struggling readers early and, in some cases, retain third-grade students who were significantly behind in reading. But the law’s implementation was delayed and later disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, when state testing was suspended during widespread school closures.
According to a March report from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, only 43% of Michigan third graders passed the state reading assessment during the 2020-21 school year, followed by 42% the next year. The report also found most districts passed students to the next grade when they met the criteria under the law to be held back, with only about 0.6% of tested third graders ultimately held back during the 2021-22 school year.
The Legislature repealed the Read by Grade Three Law in 2023 and later approved a new set of literacy laws focused on intervention, dyslexia screening, science-of-reading instruction and literacy coaching. Many of those changes are still being phased in and will not fully take effect until the 2027-28 school year.
At the same time, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has continued pushing literacy initiatives centered around evidence-based instruction, literacy coaches and teacher training.
Organizers said they hope the summit helps educators feel more confident working with families while building stronger statewide collaboration around literacy instruction and intervention.
The summit continues Friday with additional workshops, breakout sessions and collaboration between educators, literacy experts and family engagement leaders from across the state.
