Journalist Emily Hanford to join local education leaders for panel discussion on literacy

Local education leaders in Winston-Salem are participating in a panel discussion this week to talk about literacy and equity in the community.

The event will be hosted by Read Write Spell, a local organization working to improve literacy in Forsyth County and address racial disparities in achievement.

Esharan Monroe-Johnson, the executive director, says this will be the first event in the organization’s new "Between the Lines Speaker Series." She hopes to have quarterly gatherings to discuss literacy, and the achievement gap between white students, and Black and Latino students. 

“We really want to look at how we can significantly influence closing that gap," Monroe-Johnson said. "And we know that it's going to take more than us to do it and that's why we're having this series because it's going to take the community coming together to talk about solutions and try things and really work together in service of kids.”

For the first event in the series, award-winning education reporter Emily Hanford will be the keynote speaker, and give a presentation about her findings from her reporting about literacy instruction across the country. 

A panel discussion will follow with local education leaders, including Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Superintendent Tricia McManus, Ashley Kazouh with Action4Equity, and Winston-Salem Freedom Schools Leader Russ May. 

“We just want to have a broader conversation about OK, what are the other things that we need outside of research-based instruction to hit this target of closing the achievement gap and making sure that all kids have the necessary literacy skills?" Monroe-Johnson said. 

The event will take place at Forsyth Tech on Nov. 7 at 4:30 p.m. More information and a link to register can be found here.

Amy Diaz covers education for WFDD in partnership with Report For America. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.