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Family Engagement to Support Reading Success: Evidence-Based Strategies at Work

Thursday, February 6, 2025 @ 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm EST

Family Engagement to Support Reading Success: Evidence-Based Strategies at Work

Presented by Kelly Moran, Ed.D., Director of Instructional Programs, Educational Service Center of the Western Reserve; LaTrice Carter, Regional Outreach Director, Kids Read Now; and Kristen Walter, Ed.D., Chief Executive Officer, Kids Read Now

Sponsored by Kids Read Now

Watch the Recording

Learn more about viewing the live presentation and the recording, earning your CE certificate, and using our new accessibility features.

Schools and districts are a powerful resource for fostering at-home reading experiences that can support student reading gains outside the school day. Working with families to become collaborators, hear how one district leverages home reading to empower students and caregivers to read together. When we remove access barriers and place high-quality learning materials directly in the home, we make developing a habit of reading more likely.

Hear how one district used book choice and engaging discussion prompts to create reading momentum for consistent home practice and sustained learning gains. View this edWebinar to gain:

  • Ready-to-use family and teacher activity packs to support home reading
  • Text-based discussion prompts and activities that are adaptable to most school and classroom libraries
  • Evidence-based strategies that are grounded in giving students book choices (paired with educator guidance), text-specific prompts, and a driving momentum for home reading habits

This recorded edWebinar is of interest to PreK-12 teachers, librarians, family engagement coordinators, school leaders, and district leaders.

Kelly Moran

About the Presenters

Dr. Kelly Moran is the Director of Instructional Programs of the Educational Service Center of the Western Reserve. Dr. Moran has experiences as a classroom teacher, literacy coach, assistant principal, building principal, director of curriculum, and federal programs coordinator. Her work focuses on curriculum development and revision, overseeing professional development, federal grants management, data analysis, PLC facilitation, and leading literacy initiatives. Earning a doctoral degree from Youngstown State University, Dr. Moran devoted time researching teachers and administrators studying teacher empowerment and personal development.

Dr. Moran has been selected to present at numerous state and national professional conferences including the Ohio Educational Technology (eTech) Conference, Ohio Association of Administrators of State and Federal Programs (OAASFEP) Conference, Ohio School Boards Association (OSBA) Conference, and the Northwest Evaluation Association Measures of Academic Progress (NWEA MAP) Conference. She led the Chardon Local School District in receiving a $1,050,000.00 grant to support elementary literacy initiatives. Her work in early literacy and professional development has been featured on Amplify’s Science of Reading: The Podcast, the Kids Read Now blog, and in the International Literacy Association’s publication Literacy Today. She was the recipient of John Carroll University’s Distinguished Educator Award in 2024.

LaTrice Carter

LaTrice Carter, Regional Outreach Director for Kids Read Now, is an experienced educator and thought leader with a demonstrated history of success in the field of education management. For the last 12 years, LaTrice’s career path has been in educational sales. This role has allowed her the opportunity to work extensively with community partners, schools, and other leaders in a comprehensive manner across multiple departments by creating professional development opportunities, curriculum development, and proposals for school districts. LaTrice has also facilitated courses and taught on the PreK-12 to higher education levels. LaTrice is a graduate of the University of South Carolina with a degree in communications. She has advanced her studies with a master’s degree in educational leadership and management and a master’s degree in early childhood education. LaTrice has completed all coursework for her doctoral degree in educational leadership curriculum and instruction.

Kristen Walter

Dr. Kristen Walter, CEO, Kids Read Now, has worked in education for the last 20 years. Before joining the Kids Read Now team, she was the Director of US Programs for Worldreader and led the launch of their BookSmart application for family reading in the US. Her previous positions include Director of Education for Reading In Motion, Teaching and Learning Manager for Crayola, and classroom educator. She can be heard on various podcasts and presentations, advocating for best practices in access to bilingual materials, family literacy development, and play-based learning.

Learn more about viewing the live presentation and the recording, earning your CE certificate, and using our new accessibility features.

Join the Be a Literacy Hero community to network with educators, participate in online discussions, receive invitations to upcoming edWebinars, and view recordings of previous programs to earn CE certificates.


Kids Read Now logoGet the Breakthrough You Need to Close PK-5 Reading Gaps! Kids who read more outside of school progress faster, so give your literacy curriculum the boost it needs to build and keep reading proficiencies growing. An ESSA Tier II evidence-based intervention, our mission is to help educators eliminate reading gaps in grades PK-5. You teach them how to read; we keep them reading outside of school time— particularly over the summer months. Kids Read Now partners with schools to mail award-winning culturally diverse, self-selected books directly to student homes, sending weekly parent engagement tips via text or email, and including text-dependent reading comprehension activities on every inside cover. A 2022 Library of Congress Literacy Award winner for successful practices, Kids Read Now has proven with multiple independent studies that students enrolled in their summer reading program “attained the equivalent of over 3 months of learning, or approximately one-third of the learning taking place over the school year.”


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