Dr. Simone Gibson was an invited speaker at this year’s The Reading League (Chicago, IL) on Friday, October 10.  As part of  her role, she organized a panel at the conference called “From Policy to Practice: Maryland’s Lessons in Implementing the Science of Reading”.  Panelists included: 1) Tenette Smith, Deputy State Superintendent, Office of Teaching and Learning at the Maryland State Department of Education, 2) Simone McQuaige, Supervisor of Reading/English Language Arts, K-5, Prince George’s County Public Schools, 3) Michaela Dickerson, 2nd Year Teacher, Baltimore City Public Schools, 4) DJ Bolger, Associate Professor of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology,  University of Maryland, 5) Winifred Winston, Dyslexia Avocation and Parent Advocacy.  Abstract for the event is as follows:

The implementation of the Science of Reading in Maryland has offered critical insights into the challenges and opportunities of statewide literacy reform. This session brought together a diverse panel of stakeholders—state-level policymakers, school system administrators, teachers and teacher candidates, teacher educators, and parents—to share lessons learned and strategies for success.

Topics Included: 1) Policy to Practice Alignment: How state-level mandates were interpreted and operationalized at the district and classroom levels; 2) Professional Learning and Capacity Building: Effective training models for educators and administrators, with a focus on bridging knowledge gaps for pre-service and in-service teachers; 3) Equity and Access: Strategies to ensure all students, regardless of background, benefit from evidence-based reading instruction; 4) Parent Engagement: Insights into fostering partnerships with families to reinforce literacy development outside the classroom; and 5) Sustaining Change: Approaches to embedding the Science of Reading into long-term educational practices and policy frameworks.