NM PED 2026 Literacy and Humanities Summer Conference

Implementing meaningful literacy change is rarely easy. When challenges arise, competing priorities, limited resources, staff turnover, or implementation fatigue, schools need more than commitment. They need systems, structures, and a clear framework for sustaining improvement.

This session introduces school, district, and state leaders to the research-based systems, infrastructures, and principles of implementation science required to build and sustain a successful Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) for literacy. Participants will explore the critical components that move initiatives from intention to impact, even in the most challenging contexts.

Through three compelling vignettes drawn from real elementary schools facing significant obstacles, participants will see how strong implementation systems led to measurable improvements in reading and writing outcomes. These stories demonstrate what is possible when leadership, structure, and persistence come together to support effective practice. Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how to persevere through implementation hurdles and the confidence that meaningful, lasting literacy improvement is achievable.

What is the relationship between RTI/MTSS, oral reading fluency, and reading comprehension? In this session, you will explore how an understanding of this intersection helps you build the knowledge, structures, and practices most likely to yield student reading success.

Designed specifically for educators, leaders, and administrators working with students in grades K through 5, this session provides a roadmap for aligning your school-wide systems with essential reading skills. You will examine how fluency acts as a bridge between foundational skills and deep comprehension within a multi-tiered framework. You will leave with a clearer vision of how to refine your instructional practices and support structures to ensure that every student reaches their full literacy potential.

What does current research say about the literacy instructional needs of older students, including English language learners and students with disabilities? In this session, you will discover that while there is no one-size-fits-all approach, specific research findings can be integrated with your local context to drive student success.

You will explore how to combine individual study findings with your own student data and unique school structures to prioritize the practices that truly matter for literacy achievement. By examining the instructional needs of diverse adolescent learners through a research-based lens, you will gain a clearer understanding of how to focus your efforts. You will leave with a framework for making informed, high-impact instructional decisions that support the literacy growth of every student in your secondary classroom.

Everyone these days seems to know some of the major reading frameworks (e.g., simple view, reading rope, active view). However, these frameworks are about what readers do cognitively during reading. What about instruction? What about increasing children’s reading achievement? This presentation presents a practical teaching framework that educators can use to guide their reading improvement efforts. If you want to know what it takes to raise reading achievement -- in your classroom, school, or state – you’ll find this framework, drawn from research and Professor Shanahan’s nearly 60 years of practice, to be a valuable guide.