Literacy Colloquy-Dr. Patricia Edwards-Asking the Right Questions Can Lead to Developing a National Reputation

We know that parents, and the home literacy environments they create, are significant factors in the development of children’s literacy and school achievement skills. We also know that the diverse and difficult needs of today’s children far outstrip the ability of any one institution to meet them. Yet one of the richest resources for understanding a child’s early learning experiences—parents—is quite often frequently overlooked.  In this presentation, Edwards details how her focus on family engagement led to her becoming a national expert on the topic.

Patricia A. Edwards, Ph.D. is a member of the Reading Hall Fame and a NCRLL (National Conference on Research in Language and Literacy) Distinguished Scholar is a Professor of Language and Literacy in the Department of Teacher Education, and a Senior University Outreach Fellow at Michigan State University.  A nationally and internationally recognized expert in parent involvement, family engagement, home, school, community partnerships, multicultural literacy, early literacy, and family/intergenerational literacy, especially among poor and minority children.  She is currently the President of the American Educational Research Association’s Family, School, Community Partnerships Special Interest Group.  She served as a member of the IRA Board of Directors from 1998–2001, and in 2006-2007 as the first African American President of the Literacy Research Association (formerly the National Reading Conference), and as President of the International Reading Association (2010-2011). She served the co-editor with Dr. Tanya Wright of the Michigan Reading Journal (2014-2017). She has published articles in highly refereed journals, authored two nationally acclaimed family literacy programs and seven books.  Her book New Ways to Engage Parents: Strategies and Tools for Teachers and Leaders won the 2017 Delta Kappa Gamma Educators Book Award.  Dr. Edwards was named as the 2017-2018 Jeanne S. Chall Visiting Researcher at Harvard Graduate School of Education.  More recently, she received the 2019 AERA Scholars of Color Distinguished Career Contribution Award.   Dr. Edwards is a member of the MDE Family Engagement Stakeholders’ Taskforce, and she was the developer of modules for Essential 10 for PreK and Essential 10 for K-3.

Link to flyer for the presentation:Dr. PatriciaEdwards-LiteracyColloquy-Nov20,2019