Technology can be an extremely powerful tool for connecting people and broadening participation. At the same time, family engagement with children’s schooling has been shown to benefit students and communities. How might digital technologies help support home and school connections for families with young children? Presenters will share models currently in the field and discuss further avenues to explore.
Carlin Llorente is Director of Media and Learning Research in SRI Education’s Center for Technology in Learning (CTL). Mr. Llorente’s research focuses on how developmentally appropriate media can support mathematics and science learning across formal and informal settings, how children learn by engaging with emerging educational media and technology, and how collaborative engagements with adults and peers can be a catalyst for learning. He is SRI’s PI for evaluation research of the CPB/PBS Ready to Learn initiative (in partnership with CCT/EDC), co-leads the LIFE Center’s Joint Engagements with Media project, and is co-PI of research on The Jim Henson Company’s Splash and Bubbles production. He previously led the technology task force for the Head Start National Center for Quality Teaching and Learning.
As Director of the Parent Partner Program at Mission Graduates, Eric seeks to develop the capacity of Latino parents to be strong partners in their children's academic success and effective advocates for educational needs all children in their school communities, especially those of English Language Learner students. Through his three-and-a-half years in this position, Eric has grown the program to have an on-site presence at 9 different Elementary, Middle and High Schools in the Mission District and surrounding neighborhoods. With a background in community and economic development and civic engagement in immigrant communities, Eric has continued to seek out opportunities throughout his career to support the self-determination and increased agency of historically marginalized communities, particularly those of Latino immigrants.
Ben York is the Executive Director of CEPA Labs, a branch of the Center for Education Policy Analysis (CEPA) at Stanford University focused on the intersection of technology and behavior change. His research focuses on using technology to help students and educators, broadly defined, overcome the behavioral barriers associated with beneficial practices. For example, Ben recently co-led a large-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a literacy-focused text messaging intervention for low-income parents of preschoolers, which he co-developed with Susanna Loeb. The program had positive effects on parental involvement at home and school, which translated into student learning gains ranging from 0.21 to 0.34 standard deviations. He is currently co-leading the expansion of the intervention in California and beyond. Ben has led other large-scale RCTs and has professional experience in finance, education, and philanthropy.
Amber Maria Levinson, Ph.D. is Research Associate at Stanford Graduate School of Education where she helps to lead the TELOS initiative (Technology for Equity in Learning Opportunities). She is also Postdoctoral Scholar at the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, where she contributes to the Families and Media Project. Her recent research examines how Hispanic-Latino immigrant families use media and opportunities for technology to support intergenerational language learning. Previously she worked with Dr. Brigid Barron on ethnographic studies of youth media creators and digital citizenship as part of the Digital Youth Network. Amber has a background in language teaching, media education, and media production, and is passionate about design and creating tools that support language minority families and other underserved groups.
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