2023 BU Wheelock Forum Agenda

Supporting Students with Reading Disabilities: Toward Equity and Access

Thursday, March 30

6- 7:30 pm: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong
Emily Hanford, Senior Correspondent & Producer, American Public Media

For the past five years, journalist Emily Hanford has been reporting on how children learn to read. Her work has sent shock waves across the United States and around the world. In this keynote, Hanford will tell the story of how she became interested in early reading instruction and discuss key insights from scientific research. She will also share what she has learned from teachers, parents, and kids, and talk about her latest project, the podcast Sold a Story.

Panel discussion

Dean David Chard, BU Wheelock, moderator
Emily Hanford, Senior Producer & Correspondent, American Public Media
Tracy White-Weeden, President & CEO, Neuhaus Education Center
Patrick Tutwiler, Massachusetts Secretary of Education
Edward Fergus, Professor of Urban Ecology & Policy, Rutgers University

Location: Tsai Performance Center, 685 Commonwealth Ave., Boston

7:30-9 pm: Reception & Poster Session
Location: Center for Computing & Data Sciences, 665 Commonwealth Ave., 17th Floor, Boston

Friday, March 31

Location: Metcalf Trustee Center, 1 Silber Way, 9th Floor, Boston

8:30–9 am: Complimentary coffee, tea, and pastries

9–10 am: Keynote
Tracy White-Weeden, President & CEO, Neuhaus Education Center

10–11 am: Plenary Panel Session 1: The State of the Science of Reading for Supporting Students with Reading Disabilities

Emily Hanford, Senior Correspondent & Producer, American Public Media, moderator
Nancy J. Nelson, Assistant Professor of Special Education, BU Wheelock
Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan, President, Valley Speech Language and Learning Center
Nicole Landi, Associate Professor, Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut

11:30–12:30 pm: Plenary Panel Session 2: Bringing a Whole Child Approach to Supporting Students with Reading Disabilities

Jennifer Greif Green, Associate Professor, Special Education, BU Wheelock, moderator
Ivys Fernandez-Pastrana, Manager, Center for Family Navigation and Community Health, Boston Medical Center
Amie Grills, BU Associate Provost for Undergraduate Affairs and Professor of Counseling Psychology & Applied Human Development, BU Wheelock
Rebecca Marks, Postdoctoral Associate, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT
Lisa Sanetti, Professor, Department of Educational Psychology, Neag School of Education, University of Connecticut
Soukaina Adolphe, Clinical Associate Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

12:30–1:45 pm: Lunch

2–3 pm: Plenary Panel Session 3: Policy Implications for Children with Reading Disabilities

Meagan Comb, Executive Director, Wheelock Educational Policy Center, and Assistant Dean, Executive Affairs, BU Wheelock
Jacqueline Rodriguez, Chief Executive Officer, National Center for Learning Disabilities
Lindsay E. Jones, Chief Executive Officer, CAST

3–3:30 pm: Closing