7 Strategies for Using Summer as a Springboard to a Successful Fall Through Family-School Engagement

Presented by Dr. Katherine Gull, EL Program Coordinator, Frederick County Public Schools (MD); Simón Miera, Senior Partner Success Manager, TalkingPoints; and Kate Pechacek, Senior Director of Partner Success, TalkingPoints

Sponsored by TalkingPoints 

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View this edWebinar as we reimagine summer and how to use it as an indispensable launchpad for the next school year rather than a disconnected time to play catch-up from the previous year. We share essential, practical strategies from district leadership that teachers and administrators can use in their own communities.

What would the first weeks of fall look like if summer school helped families establish confidence and feel supported? The untapped potential in summer school is an opportunity to build strong family-school partnerships, conduct a soft launch of new processes, tools, and routines, and pre-teach standards for the upcoming grade. It’s a time to lay the groundwork with families early to have a positive and effective start to the school year.

This recorded edWebinar is of interest to K-12 teachers, school and district leaders, and education technology leaders. 

About the Presenters

Dr. Katherine Gull attended the University of Maryland where she received her B.S. in elementary education and Master of Education in Teaching English Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), and graduated summa cum laude. She received an Educational Leadership Certificate from Hood College in 2016 and a doctorate in organizational leadership from Hood College in 2021. Dr. Gull was nominated to Kappa Delta Pi, International Honor Society in Education, and Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. She has written curricula for Charles, Montgomery and Frederick County Public Schools in Maryland, and has served as an educator in multiple roles, including teaching adult English learners, middle school foreign languages, and elementary English learners. Dr. Gull previously served in district leadership as an English learner teacher specialist, an English learner achievement specialist, and is currently the English learner coordinator for the Accelerating Achievement and Equity department in Frederick County Public Schools, MD.

Simón Miera has been in education for over 20 years. He has a passion for providing a voice for students as they learn to navigate their journey and discover their place in the world. He has served as a middle school and high school English and social studies teacher for 15 years in New Mexico and Oregon. He has also served as a school and district administrator and supported students in their pathways to college and career readiness. Simón has a wide range of knowledge related to education and holds a master’s degree in education from Lesley University. He has utilized his experiences to lead professional development for school districts throughout the nation and help educators build systems supporting their districts’ Multi-Tiered System of Supports goals.

Kate Pechacek has over 20 years’ experience in education. She taught secondary math for 15 years in Iowa, Oregon, Texas, and Minnesota and has 10 years of experience working at the district level in curriculum, instruction, assessment, professional development and MTSS. She served as Director of Secondary Ed for Minneapolis Public Schools before moving to the edtech sector. She then spent almost six years helping districts leverage edtech solutions to support equitable outcomes for students before joining TalkingPoints.

At TalkingPoints, Kate leads the Partner Success team in supporting school and district partners to ensure they are able to leverage the TalkingPoints solution with impact. Kate earned her master’s degree in curriculum and instruction and worked with the developers of an equity-based learning supports model developed out of the UCLA School Mental Health Project. She is driven to ensure schools move toward an equity-focused, asset-based approach for all students.

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TalkingPoints is the leading K-12 two-way translated family engagement and communication platform, offering the highest-quality, contextually relevant, human- and AI-powered translation in 100+ languages. Grounded in research-based practices, TalkingPoints has fundamentally redesigned family-school partnerships to shift mindsets and build capacity to support students in a scalable, equitable, and low-cost way.