At the Heart of Family Learning: Staying true to the mission at the 2025 Families Learning Conference

How will you commit yourself to staying true to the mission for children and families?

That was the question I asked attendees at the 2025 Families Learning Conference to consider during the event’s opening session earlier this month. Each year, NCFL’s Families Learning Conference brings together hundreds of educators, literacy practitioners, community leaders, researchers, funders, and others from across the country to share the latest family learning strategies, practices, and research. You would be hard-pressed to find a more dedicated and passionate group of people. But I know that the uncertainty of this year has weighed heavily on many of their minds. 

What I reminded attendees at that opening session was that the work of maintaining a legacy–like the legacy of family learning–doesn’t happen in times of abundance and prosperity. Instead, it is in the lean and turbulent times that we hold tight to our purpose and make real progress towards achieving it. In Grit, Grace, and Gratitude, NCFL Founder Sharon Darling reminds us why it’s so important to remain committed to the mission: “That is the ripple effect. If you can help parents get the skills they need, parents will then help their children succeed and they, in turn, will help their own children, and on and on. The proof is in the lives of the children–and that’s the power of this generational effect.

I want to share with you just a few of the ways that this year’s Families Learning Conference attendees committed to staying true to the mission, in hopes that you will find inspiration, strength, and courage from their commitments: 

In 2026, Families Learning Conference attendees committed to staying true to the mission by:

• Seeing each family as unique, hearing their story, and serving them with the most respect and passion.
• Providing a safe and welcoming environment for students and families.
• Making sure teachers are supported so they can serve families with quality education and resources.
• Forging ahead and continuing to do the work regardless of climate and committing to bold, brave, intentional action.
• Continuing to learn from others for effective ways to engage and support family learning.
• Engaging in joyful service and advocacy.

During our opening session, we received hundreds of these hand-written commitments. I can’t wait to share more of them with you in the days and weeks ahead.

The opening session of the 2025 Families Learning Conference also featured a keynote by Dr. Rebecca Winthrop, a leading global authority on education and the director of the Center for University Education at the Brookings Institution. Dr. Winthrop shared with us some of the key findings from her recent book, The Disengaged Teen, including the importance of learner engagement as a key determinant of the kinds of knowledge, mindsets, and skills that those learners are able to build. Dr. Winthrop reminded us that, in a time of increasing student use of AI, we must ensure that students are not just passive passengers using AI to think for them. Instead, they must be given the opportunity to be engaged explorers who see AI as another tool with which to investigate the world around them.

Tuesday morning kicked off with an inspiring keynote from Dr. Karen Mapp, professor of practice at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Dr. Mapp’s talk underscored the importance of ensuring that educators are provided with the systems, structures, and leadership to support deep and meaningful family engagement in schools. Engagement, Dr. Mapp reminded us, is a strategy and not a goal–and effective family engagement can only be achieved when it is viewed not as a box to check, but as an ongoing process that actively responds to family voice and needs.

Day two of the Families Learning Conference ended with a powerful panel discussion around valuing a sense of place when working towards systems change. During the wide-ranging discussion, Spartanburg Academic Movement CEO Dr. Russell Booker shared that, when it comes to improving the lives of children and families, “it’s not the chicken or the egg that comes first–it’s the nest.” Only by valuing the “nest” and making deep investments in place can we ensure that children and families are supported in ways that put them on the path towards upward mobility. It was my honor to be joined on the mainstage by Dr. Booker, Blue Meridian Managing Director Cecilia Gutierrez, and my dear friend Dream Gentry, founder of Partners for Rural Impact, for this important conversation.

Wednesday morning brought another panel discussion, this one around the ways parents, educators, and communities are preparing for the promise and pitfalls of AI. Dr. Tasha Austin-Williams, principal with Deloitte, kicked off the discussion by reminding the audience that AI bias isn’t inherent to the technology, it’s the result of human programming. Her research has shown that AI can, in fact, be used as a diagnostic tool to unpack our own human biases. During the conversation, Holly Walters, group vice president with Toyota and member of NCFL’s board of directors, noted that AI functions best when we use it as an accompaniment to, rather than a replacement for, human creativity and problem solving. And Grace Hoyt, with global product partnerships at Google, challenged attendees to remember that they are the experts in determining which AI tools are the most relevant for children and families in their communities.

Dr. Iheoma Iruka, professor and founding director of the Equity Research Action Coalition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, provided the keynote address for our closing session. Dr. Iruka’s take home message for the audience included the idea that relationships are vital for children’s learning and development and that authentic partnerships with families and children are a vital strategy for empowerment and justice. 

During the closing session, we also had the chance to honor three outstanding educators as our Toyota Family Teacher of the Year winner, Dr. Shalun Matthews, and runners-up, Paige Reuber and Anne Abbott. These educators are leading the charge in their communities to build the very relationships that our keynote speakers highlighted in their sessions. It was a privilege to acknowledge their success from the main stage.

Throughout all three days of the conference, we also heard stories from parent participants about the ways that family learning programming has impacted their lives and that of their children. Sally shared how Play with Purpose helped her build stronger bonds with her young boys through play, all while helping them to overcome their developmental delays. Mario shared the ways in which family learning programming helped him to connect with community challenges and develop the confidence to contribute to solutions that drive community improvement from within. Khadija shared how Activate! Local helped her to strengthen her leadership skills and discover how to make use of those skills to connect with her new home. These stories serve as an urgent reminder about why it is so vital for us to remain committed to our mission on behalf of children and families. They also underscore the importance of our continued programmatic focus on multigenerational learning and the power of this approach to positively impact whole families.

Whether or not you were able to join us in Charlotte, I hope you’ll stay on the lookout for the proceedings of the 2025 Families Learning Conference. That publication will provide additional conference highlights when it’s published early next year. Too, I hope you’ll make plans to join us at the 2026 Families Learning Conference, scheduled for November 8-11, 2026 in San Antonio, Texas. 

In the meantime, I hope you’ll dare to be powerful in 2026 as you stay true to the mission in support of children and families. And I invite you to join our movement to advance family learning in your community. You can discover more at familieslearning.org or by reaching out to us via email at info@familieslearning.org. 

About the Author

As President and CEO of the National Center for Families Learning, Dr. Felicia C. Smith brings decades of valuable experience to advance NCFL’s mission of eradicating poverty through education solutions for families. She is a firm believer in the power of family literacy and family learning for multi-generational impact, transforming the lives of families and communities.

Smith has served in a variety of leadership roles in P-12, higher education, nonprofits, and philanthropy. Her unique vantage point of a learner’s educational trajectory, from preschool to adulthood, is a result of her experience leading across multiple education systems. Recognized as an Aspen-Pahara education fellow, she serves on several local and national boards. She also holds the position of Vice Chair for the Southern Regional Education Board and was appointed by Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear to chair the state’s Early Childhood Advisory Council. In 2021, Smith participated in The Equity Lab’s prestigious year-long Nexus Fellowship.

Smith holds an Ed.D. in education leadership and administration from the University of Kentucky, an M.A. in elementary education with an emphasis on K-12 literacy development, and a B.S. in elementary education from the University of Louisville.

Follow Dr. Felicia C. Smith on LinkedIn.