WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:07.720 --> 00:00:11.388 Alright, welcome everybody to the EdTech Startup Showcase. 00:00:11.388 --> 00:00:13.068 I'm your host, Jethro Jones. 00:00:13.128 --> 00:00:23.639 So excited for this podcast because this is where we tell the stories of amazing EdTech startups or close to startups people that are doing amazing things in schools. 00:00:23.639 --> 00:00:24.779 And these are not like. 00:00:24.869 --> 00:00:29.489 the big ones that everybody knows and is like all the attention is focused on them. 00:00:29.489 --> 00:00:32.189 These are the people who are making a real difference. 00:00:32.429 --> 00:00:38.849 And today we have Family Engagement Lab and this is the first of about six episodes that we're gonna do. 00:00:39.179 --> 00:00:41.579 And we have Vidia and Elizabeth on. 00:00:41.579 --> 00:00:46.079 And I'll let you ladies introduce yourself and tell us a little bit who you are. 00:00:46.079 --> 00:00:49.199 But as you do, I want you to tell us about Family Lab. 00:00:49.739 --> 00:00:54.089 Also and why you personally said this is the right thing to do. 00:00:54.089 --> 00:00:56.189 So Elizabeth, let's start with you. 00:00:57.453 --> 00:00:57.843 Great. 00:00:57.843 --> 00:00:59.583 Well thank you so much for having us here. 00:00:59.583 --> 00:01:01.233 And I'm Elizabeth O'Brien. 00:01:01.233 --> 00:01:05.283 the co-founders of Family Engagement Lab and also our Chief Impact Officer. 00:01:05.563 --> 00:01:13.003 And just a little bit about my background, I have a PhD in psychology and started my career in education as a bilingual school psychologist. 00:01:13.063 --> 00:01:15.553 And I think this connection that I've been able to have. 00:01:15.773 --> 00:01:23.783 Families, 'cause I speak Spanish has been really like fueled my interest and just passion around connecting families in schools. 00:01:24.083 --> 00:01:25.733 And so a really big focus. 00:01:25.733 --> 00:01:33.623 A lot of the research that I've done and my applied experiences have been around, all right, how can we support culturally and linguistically diverse students and families? 00:01:33.623 --> 00:01:39.143 How can teachers and schools really support those culturally lead diverse families? 00:01:39.503 --> 00:01:42.863 And what I really have seen is that there's this. 00:01:43.468 --> 00:01:50.698 Huge interests and passion that families have in wanting to know what their children are learning and how they can help at home. 00:01:50.698 --> 00:01:53.878 And often families don't get that information from schools. 00:01:53.938 --> 00:02:10.978 And so part of the reason we, you know, founded Family Engagement Lab was to help really address that gap and help families really feel like partners and that those assets are really recognized that families bring in supporting their children's learning and collaboration with teachers in schools. 00:02:11.938 --> 00:02:12.868 I love it Vidia. 00:02:13.488 --> 00:02:14.958 Um, I'm Vidya Rum. 00:02:14.958 --> 00:02:17.898 I am co-founder and CEO of Family Engagement Lab. 00:02:18.468 --> 00:02:31.058 And, I became very interested in education and the role of education in, a student's like life and a person's life. 00:02:31.108 --> 00:02:37.868 Very early on, growing up I was the first in my family to be born in the United States. 00:02:37.868 --> 00:02:46.608 My parents had immigrated from India the early seventies, and they came because of educational opportunities. 00:02:46.608 --> 00:03:01.428 My dad came here to do his PhD in engineering, and big deal because you know, even just this previous generation of like my grandparents' generation, you, you just didn't, you, it was a taboo to travel across the seas. 00:03:01.828 --> 00:03:13.168 And so for my dad's generation he was the first, among the first wave of immigrants after you know, 68 and immigration opening up to people from more parts of the world. 00:03:13.893 --> 00:03:17.973 It was a really big deal in my family for my dad to come here. 00:03:18.003 --> 00:03:32.963 And he ended up you know, my mom came, my sister came my older sister came and ended up having me you know, and, and, deciding because of the educational opportunities in the United States to raise their family here in the us. 00:03:32.963 --> 00:03:37.578 And so, it, that, that was my home story, my family story. 00:03:37.608 --> 00:03:48.478 But at school it was a very kind of a different kind of experience because at school I, the messages from school was that, you know, school is where you did all your learning and that was it. 00:03:48.478 --> 00:03:49.858 home is separate. 00:03:50.008 --> 00:03:58.628 Like, and, and for me, my parents were very engaged and active and involved in helping me learn new skills and develop in different ways. 00:03:58.628 --> 00:04:06.128 And it was huge, you know, dissonance there you know, that I trying to reconcile for a long time. 00:04:07.118 --> 00:04:12.448 Then I started to study more of like what was, what was going on in in, in college. 00:04:12.448 --> 00:04:23.168 I, I in grad school I got to take more classes in public policy or a degree in public policy and started to have this opportunity to really understand some of the dynamics in the education system. 00:04:23.468 --> 00:04:25.328 And I got to talk with a lot more. 00:04:25.673 --> 00:04:32.753 Parents had a wonderful opportunity to work with an organization called Great Schools during my, my graduate school through Education Pioneers. 00:04:32.753 --> 00:04:40.643 So I definitely wanna plug ed Pioneers for the amazing opportunities I have to connect people with experience in the education sector. 00:04:40.963 --> 00:04:50.503 It was a transformative experience for me to understand that my lived experience growing up and feeling this disconnect between my home life and school, was something that. 00:04:50.723 --> 00:04:59.163 A lot of families experience today that school and home are, there's not a lot of, you know, flow of information. 00:04:59.163 --> 00:05:29.816 There are a lot of, or a lot of recognition, especially among schools of the value the families bring and difference or that distance that I'd been trying to reconcile throughout my childhood I realized was my calling was something I wanted to spend my career focusing on figuring out how to bridge so that more families who come here for educational opportunities feel welcome, feel part of their child's educational process, and can be activated in ways that really strengthen and support students' chance of being really successful. 00:05:31.299 --> 00:05:35.534 I just, I love that so much, and one of the things that is. 00:05:35.954 --> 00:05:46.814 Is so powerful to me is that I personally believe that education, wherever it happens, learning wherever it happens, should be valued and recognized. 00:05:46.814 --> 00:05:57.939 And parents are kids first and last teachers, and what whatever we do in schools coming from a school perspective, whatever we do. 00:05:58.754 --> 00:06:05.594 Whatever is happening at the home is going to be the driving force and the thing that really makes the impact. 00:06:05.954 --> 00:06:16.754 And it's a rare occasion when we can take a kid out of their home environment and expect any major change to be impacted on them. 00:06:16.754 --> 00:06:19.934 And you, you mentioned Vidia about this idea of. 00:06:20.259 --> 00:06:38.009 Of schools not knowing how to connect with parents and not seeing the value that parents bring and how detrimental that is because they, they know their kids better than anybody else and, and they know how to, how to help them, but that doesn't mean that they know. 00:06:38.539 --> 00:06:39.919 The answer to everything. 00:06:40.009 --> 00:06:40.519 Right? 00:06:40.609 --> 00:06:53.179 And, and so if we, if we take that approach of respect for who they are and where they're at, and find ways to incorporate what they're doing at home with what we're doing in school. 00:06:53.549 --> 00:07:01.169 Then we can create this super powerful dynamic team that helps the kids be as successful as possible. 00:07:01.529 --> 00:07:05.789 And that's why when I first read about Family Engagement Lab, I was like, oh, we gotta do this. 00:07:05.789 --> 00:07:11.189 We gotta, we gotta talk more about them because this is so powerful of what it can do. 00:07:11.489 --> 00:07:22.949 So talk to us about the, the little things or the big things, whatever, either way, the things that you do that make a big impact on what. 00:07:23.299 --> 00:07:26.539 What kids are experiencing from home and school. 00:07:27.768 --> 00:07:29.178 I can get us started there. 00:07:29.418 --> 00:07:41.298 So what we do is we really like to bring to life for families what is happening for children during the day and in classroom as part of that instruction that's happening between their teacher and the the class. 00:07:41.388 --> 00:07:43.863 And so what we wanna do is what. 00:07:44.333 --> 00:07:58.503 Give families in really accessible, actionable ways an idea of like, alright, what's an important thing for my kindergartner to know and what can I do to help reinforce that and continue to build those skills outside of the classroom? 00:07:58.923 --> 00:08:08.043 And I think, Jethro, you mentioned something really important that it's like the teacher has, you know, 20 kids and maybe 18 different needs there. 00:08:08.313 --> 00:08:10.233 And the adult, you know, that, that. 00:08:10.668 --> 00:08:14.778 Child's parent or caregiver, you know, is so focused on that one kid. 00:08:14.778 --> 00:08:25.248 And to be able to activate all of those parents or caregivers as you know, someone who can be supportive of that child's learning is huge for a teacher and for that child's learning experience. 00:08:25.248 --> 00:08:33.978 And so what we do is we learn a lot about, you know, what are the grade levels, standards, skills, objectives, and like the curricular objectives. 00:08:34.278 --> 00:08:36.948 And we turned that into like bite sized. 00:08:37.588 --> 00:08:43.558 Actionable text messages for families with ideas of things that they can do at home to reinforce that learning. 00:08:44.337 --> 00:08:48.297 I love that idea because parents want to know how they can help. 00:08:49.022 --> 00:08:51.842 They don't always understand like what it means. 00:08:51.842 --> 00:08:54.002 And we have so much jargon in education. 00:08:54.362 --> 00:08:58.022 It's very easy for them to feel like I don't know what guided reading is. 00:08:58.322 --> 00:09:01.082 I just read to my kid and it's like, that's great. 00:09:02.012 --> 00:09:02.942 Keep doing that. 00:09:03.142 --> 00:09:05.332 But here are some things that you could do in addition. 00:09:05.332 --> 00:09:06.442 What would you add to that video? 00:09:07.407 --> 00:09:18.314 Yeah, I think is a big black box for parents to know what their kids are learning and know how to support it at the right time. 00:09:18.314 --> 00:09:29.799 So, for example one thing that was very interesting to me when I was working on, on helping families understand the new, you know, at the time, like the new common core state standards. 00:09:30.761 --> 00:09:37.845 The idea of standards and then, and testing kids on standards was a really big challenge, I think, for a lot of parents. 00:09:37.875 --> 00:09:42.795 'cause it's like, like no, my child is unique, my child is special. 00:09:43.035 --> 00:09:50.805 But when you start to talk about really concrete skills, like your child count to a hundred? 00:09:52.245 --> 00:09:58.365 you know, in the first grade, like it's like, oh yeah, I want my child to be able to do that. 00:09:58.365 --> 00:10:11.565 Like, can they add and subtract within 20, like when you start to refer to really specific concrete skills, parents start to understand, oh yeah, that's really important and. 00:10:11.883 --> 00:10:14.223 Those are things That I can actually support. 00:10:14.361 --> 00:10:30.201 I think there's a lot of fears about supporting math in particular where it's like, oh, I don't have enough confidence or like, I, you know, after fourth grade, I, I can't touch math anymore because you start getting your fractions and I. I'm done. 00:10:30.201 --> 00:10:41.901 Like, so there are a lot of areas where parents are may one they don't know, but also even when they kind of know at a very abstract level, it's intimidating. 00:10:42.321 --> 00:10:48.531 So what we do is we break it down to really specific concrete things that parents can do just day to day. 00:10:48.531 --> 00:10:54.231 So very early grades, like if you're out and you're walking down the street and you see a sign. 00:10:55.026 --> 00:10:56.466 at the letters in the sign. 00:10:56.766 --> 00:10:58.716 Can your child identify the letters? 00:10:58.866 --> 00:11:01.536 Can they identify the sounds that those letters make? 00:11:01.836 --> 00:11:06.576 And can you talk about the meaning behind characters in a story? 00:11:06.856 --> 00:11:09.586 If you're reading a story, stop and ask questions. 00:11:09.796 --> 00:11:12.406 What do you think this character is going to do next? 00:11:12.506 --> 00:11:14.936 Based on what we know about this character now? 00:11:14.936 --> 00:11:15.356 And so. 00:11:15.686 --> 00:11:24.786 There's all sorts of things in literacy and math that can help parents build their confidence as their child is building those skills. 00:11:24.996 --> 00:11:35.886 And what we found that's really cool is that when you give them really bite-sized tips, then understand, oh wait, I can support these skills in so many other ways. 00:11:35.886 --> 00:11:41.466 And you start to see parents talk about, oh, well I didn't, I may not necessarily did, I didn't do that specific thing. 00:11:41.466 --> 00:11:44.576 But when we were having a bath we were doing bath time. 00:11:44.626 --> 00:11:45.256 We were. 00:11:45.436 --> 00:12:08.416 You know, measuring, we are using our measuring cups in, in in the bathtub and doing different things with it to show half and quarter and, you know, things like that that a parent may not have necessarily thought of, could be learning time, but we're exposing a parent more to a way of thinking about how learning is everywhere and what's developmentally and grade level appropriate based on what the kids are learning in the classroom. 00:12:08.656 --> 00:12:12.466 So creating that connective tissue for parents is just like. 00:12:12.951 --> 00:12:33.941 It's like opening up a whole new lens on the world that not only helps the parent support learning skills, but the amazing thing is that parents learn new ways to become closer to their children and to develop stronger relationships with them that just continue over time. 00:12:35.012 --> 00:12:40.897 I, I'm so glad you said that part because the, the real value in this is not that. 00:12:41.662 --> 00:12:43.972 Schools are connecting with families. 00:12:44.362 --> 00:12:58.102 The real value is in building that relationship within the family and by extension within the school because it, that is just so valuable and when the way that it typically goes with every kid. 00:12:58.402 --> 00:12:59.482 How is school today? 00:12:59.692 --> 00:13:00.232 Fine. 00:13:00.442 --> 00:13:01.162 What'd you learn? 00:13:01.252 --> 00:13:01.852 Nothing. 00:13:02.362 --> 00:13:03.507 We all know that's not true. 00:13:04.177 --> 00:13:10.027 It was either a great day or a terrible day because they're kids and those are the two options, right? 00:13:10.087 --> 00:13:12.787 And so it was one of those two, so fine. 00:13:12.817 --> 00:13:13.717 Probably not. 00:13:14.077 --> 00:13:14.857 Did you learn anything? 00:13:16.002 --> 00:13:17.832 Yes, you absolutely learned something. 00:13:17.832 --> 00:13:24.432 You learned that Susie is a total jerk and will turn on you in a heartbeat, but you're not gonna come home and tell your parents that, right? 00:13:24.732 --> 00:13:32.942 You learned that your teacher favors another kid and doesn't give you the time of day, and you feel really hurt about that, but you're not gonna come and tell your parents about that. 00:13:33.482 --> 00:13:39.632 But when, when your parents can ask you a question in a different way and get engagement in a different way. 00:13:40.187 --> 00:13:46.727 Then you can feel more comfortable coming out about these things that you're experiencing and struggling with. 00:13:47.117 --> 00:13:59.782 And so much of education is, is happening within the kid's head that they don't talk about and they don't share it, and they're learning all the time and nobody gives them enough credit for that. 00:13:59.927 --> 00:14:01.607 What would you, what would you add to that? 00:14:02.365 --> 00:14:07.825 I mean, one thing it's making me think of is I have a first grader who, right, the same thing is like, what did you learn today? 00:14:07.885 --> 00:14:08.545 Nothing. 00:14:08.605 --> 00:14:12.595 He started talking about Mesopotamia the other day and I was like, wait, what? 00:14:12.775 --> 00:14:18.475 So, you know, it's so common that families just don't have that lens into what children are. 00:14:18.715 --> 00:14:22.675 Discovering and really getting creative with during the day. 00:14:22.765 --> 00:14:30.595 And so, you know, what we're trying to create is that bridge so that families have an idea of like, what's that conversation starter that's really gonna hook my child? 00:14:30.625 --> 00:14:32.575 'cause that's what they were doing that day. 00:14:32.575 --> 00:14:37.705 And so, you know, things like, alright, we're eating oranges and we're talking about fractions or. 00:14:37.810 --> 00:14:47.470 Folding laundry and fractions, things that kids can sort of show off what they know and they're surprised that their parents are like, wait a minute, you know, they, my parents know what I'm doing. 00:14:47.500 --> 00:14:55.330 It's, it's this, it's great opportunity for just kids to end up being sort of the teacher and for children and their families to have this special moment of connection. 00:14:55.330 --> 00:15:03.550 And we really do hear from families, like, I feel more connected to my child and the teacher and the school 'cause I'm getting all this information really regularly. 00:15:03.550 --> 00:15:06.550 And that's something that parents are not used to experiencing. 00:15:07.389 --> 00:15:11.659 Well, and, and what you provide is giving that information to them so that it's not a burden on teach. 00:15:12.829 --> 00:15:25.519 Now, let me, for example, my daughter's math teacher does a fantastic job of sending out an email of what math is looking like this week, and she calls it a family math update. 00:15:25.519 --> 00:15:28.369 And it's great and she puts a lot of work into it. 00:15:28.909 --> 00:15:36.469 And I'm an very involved parent and an educator myself, so I know how important it is. 00:15:36.529 --> 00:15:37.849 And guess what I don't do? 00:15:38.329 --> 00:15:39.529 I don't read her email. 00:15:40.219 --> 00:15:53.029 Because it's just so much and it's like, okay, like, and now it's overboard and it's over communication, and I'm just not gonna read any of it because I'm gonna have to devote 15 minutes to reading through everything. 00:15:53.569 --> 00:16:01.609 And she's, I love her for it, but it's just too much and it's too hard for me to, with all the other stuff I've got going on. 00:16:01.609 --> 00:16:05.569 And my kid's not struggling with math, and so I'm not really worried about it, like. 00:16:06.424 --> 00:16:08.854 It, it just doesn't become something important. 00:16:08.884 --> 00:16:15.484 If there was a bite size, Hey, this week we're studying fractions and so do this to help your kid. 00:16:15.994 --> 00:16:27.214 That would be a lot different than the six paragraph email with charts and graphs and tables that she's sending and, and I want to be in involved and engaged. 00:16:27.214 --> 00:16:34.804 But you know, to be honest, as a, as a busy parent, there's just, there's not a ton of time for it, and it's easy to get distracted. 00:16:34.804 --> 00:16:38.044 So what you guys do is provide those bite-sized pieces. 00:16:38.044 --> 00:16:38.434 Right. 00:16:38.674 --> 00:16:41.044 And how else would you describe that video? 00:16:42.543 --> 00:16:47.683 It's, it's so as you were describing, you know, these long emails that it was reminding, reminding me, I think it was a, it was a Truman. 00:16:48.368 --> 00:17:03.848 Who has that quote about like, if I'm giving a you know, an hour speech I can prepare it and, you know, this short amount of time, but if I have to give a, you know, and then it, the amount of time it takes to prepare the shorter and shorter speeches, like 00:17:04.419 --> 00:17:04.899 Yes. 00:17:04.958 --> 00:17:06.548 exponentially longer and longer. 00:17:06.548 --> 00:17:14.278 So figuring out what to say in a very short and impactful way is is very. 00:17:15.018 --> 00:17:16.518 It takes a lot of time, right? 00:17:16.518 --> 00:17:29.063 If you were to ask you know, that same teacher to distill six paragraph email into 160 characters, which is, you know, what we, we do with our messaging, it's literally the size of text message. 00:17:30.083 --> 00:17:48.168 But with enough information and a call to action in that that then results in improved learning outcomes has a very challenging task for a teacher, especially given the statistic that fewer than 40% of teachers feel adequately trained in in, in family engagement. 00:17:48.418 --> 00:17:48.928 And so. 00:17:50.083 --> 00:18:08.473 It's so important to equip educators with really good quality content and support so that the families can receive information that is relevant, actionable, and is also accessible. 00:18:08.743 --> 00:18:09.438 So the other. 00:18:10.093 --> 00:18:22.683 Sort of dimension I was thinking of as you were talking about you know, this communication is that sometimes like literacy, like if you have, if you have a low, low level of literacy, even getting through six paragraphs would be very challenging. 00:18:22.683 --> 00:18:22.863 Right. 00:18:22.863 --> 00:18:23.913 But getting through a shorter message. 00:18:24.708 --> 00:18:27.318 Would be much more accessible language. 00:18:27.378 --> 00:18:33.538 Are those, are, are the materials that are sent home, are they accessible, like by language? 00:18:33.638 --> 00:18:35.498 Does, would the parent even have email? 00:18:35.498 --> 00:18:52.128 Most parents universally will have text message SMS and so, you know, accessibility can take a lot of forms and shapes and having the training in order and, and support and the tools to be able to communicate effectively across a wide range of needs. 00:18:52.398 --> 00:18:54.168 And given like. 00:18:54.588 --> 00:19:14.453 The attention bandwidth and time constraints that a lot of families have and experience takes a lot of thoughtful planning, careful consideration upfront because ultimately parents do wanna act on the information, but have a lot of time to sift through and figure out what's the right next step for me. 00:19:15.397 --> 00:19:15.607 Yeah. 00:19:15.607 --> 00:19:19.917 So you brought up impact and I think that that is a good next place to go. 00:19:19.917 --> 00:19:22.437 What is the impact that you're seeing from this? 00:19:22.467 --> 00:19:25.977 And thankfully Elizabeth, as the Chief impact officer is here. 00:19:26.277 --> 00:19:27.777 she's getting all ready for it. 00:19:27.837 --> 00:19:30.297 what's some of the impact that you're seeing with this? 00:19:30.885 --> 00:19:31.305 Yeah. 00:19:31.305 --> 00:19:43.575 You know, it's been really important for us from the beginning to be getting, you know, the stories from families hearing, like, you know, what is it like when you have these conversations or engage with these activities with your children? 00:19:43.575 --> 00:19:50.505 So there's like a qualitative angle there of, of hearing what, what, how it's impacting sort of your life and relationships. 00:19:50.595 --> 00:19:55.605 And then of course, it's important for us to get, you know, more quantitative data. 00:19:55.605 --> 00:19:57.045 We do a lot of surveying with. 00:19:57.050 --> 00:20:00.890 Families and teachers to make sure the program is really working as intended. 00:20:00.920 --> 00:20:05.390 And then ultimately, you know, our goal is that it affects student learning outcomes. 00:20:05.390 --> 00:20:11.690 And we've done different quasi experimental research to show that it really does impact student learning. 00:20:12.020 --> 00:20:18.740 And what we've found is that the impact is most pronounced for students whose families don't share a common language with the teacher. 00:20:18.950 --> 00:20:21.710 Which one piece that's really huge for us and you know, is. 00:20:21.715 --> 00:20:25.225 Intentional by design, as Vidia mentioned in terms of accessibility. 00:20:25.285 --> 00:20:37.675 And then also that the program really increased literacy outcomes the most for students whose had started the year behind their peers academically, in terms of, of where they, they started the year with literacy. 00:20:37.765 --> 00:20:47.905 And so those are the type of learning outcomes, you know, we're continuously striving for and that we, you know, get data in new communities so we can make sure we're continuing to have that intended impact. 00:20:48.155 --> 00:20:49.865 But it's just been so important for us. 00:20:49.875 --> 00:20:55.335 To really understand that it's working and for the communities in which it's really intended to have an impact. 00:20:56.447 --> 00:20:57.227 Yeah, that's great. 00:20:57.257 --> 00:21:08.687 One of the things that I was was looking up as we were getting prepared for this is, is some of your impact research showing increased months of literacy gains. 00:21:08.747 --> 00:21:12.997 And and, and that is really cool because that's. 00:21:13.602 --> 00:21:18.102 Like once a kid can read, then they can do anything else and they can learn anything else. 00:21:18.102 --> 00:21:21.852 And that's one of the most powerful things that we can do is, is help people. 00:21:22.302 --> 00:21:25.752 Learn how to read so they can, they can see that, that kind of growth. 00:21:26.112 --> 00:21:31.582 So I wanna talk a little bit about some of the future things that we'll be talking about on this series. 00:21:31.682 --> 00:21:42.022 One of the things that I'm curious about is the the fast talk and the fast talk ai would you talk, kind of hinted at, but didn't say, this is fast talk and this is what it looks like. 00:21:42.332 --> 00:21:44.127 But tell us a little bit about that and then. 00:21:44.697 --> 00:21:49.077 About some of the other things that you, you want people to look forward to hearing about Nvidia. 00:21:49.077 --> 00:21:50.782 We'll start with you and then go to Elizabeth. 00:21:52.191 --> 00:21:52.641 Yeah. 00:21:52.701 --> 00:22:08.681 So, really as Elizabeth mentioned, like focused on understanding how we can strengthen the communication between schools and families, specifically around what students are learning and ways that build a capacity of families. 00:22:09.011 --> 00:22:11.381 The model we developed is called, is called FAST Talk. 00:22:11.381 --> 00:22:12.971 It stands for Families and School Stock. 00:22:13.776 --> 00:22:29.906 And it is a technology-based, research-based model that leverages a lot of the existing capacities and and it, and integrates really well with the instructional and communication focus and goals of schools that we've worked with. 00:22:30.201 --> 00:22:40.261 We've worked with more than 50 school districts across the us and supported more than 70,000 students and their families to strengthen these connections around student learning. 00:22:40.621 --> 00:23:02.191 And what we've learned through this work is that as a model, not only is Fast talk really effective, but the, the thing that I think is really compelling about it is that once you start it at, start it up, unlike a lot of other educational programs it's a, a model that it can run mean a mostly automated way. 00:23:03.276 --> 00:23:10.896 That families, they sustain their engagement and interest because continually sharing information about what kids are learning day to day. 00:23:11.226 --> 00:23:13.146 So it's very compelling for families. 00:23:13.146 --> 00:23:15.636 They always wanna know what their kids are doing in, in school. 00:23:15.916 --> 00:23:19.546 But the setup of it is such that once you've set it up, 00:23:19.726 --> 00:23:32.366 It runs, it doesn't take ongoing like implementation or sustained like a effort within the school system, which can be a, almost like a death sentence for so many programs where it's like, oh, you gotta have sustained engagement. 00:23:32.366 --> 00:23:33.596 How do you keep that going? 00:23:33.956 --> 00:23:42.766 Or that, you know, that, that other f word fidelity that can be really challenging for schools to maintain after, you know, maybe that first initial push. 00:23:43.281 --> 00:23:43.881 Fast Talk. 00:23:43.881 --> 00:23:56.041 We've implemented successfully for many years in different school systems with a lot of success over time and even growing engagement and satisfaction rates from families, which is really promising and exciting. 00:23:56.471 --> 00:24:05.421 What we found too with this model, and I think we're really excited to get into, is that sometimes that initial implementation and setup is something that. 00:24:06.216 --> 00:24:48.151 Requires cooperation and collaboration within systems that can be a little non-intuitive because we're asking different stakeholders within school systems to coordinate on activities that they're not used to generally coordinating around specifically family communication, coordination with instructional priorities, Establishing shared responsibilities and coordination milestones also having the right tools and support for stakeholders to really get things going in a, in a effective way is something that we've learned and honed our expertise in. 00:24:48.301 --> 00:24:55.061 And we are very excited to be sharing more about the effective strategies for. 00:24:55.606 --> 00:25:10.066 Implementation, especially in systems that are looking to get a lot of ROI on their investments in staff time when budgets are getting tighter and squeezed like we really need. 00:25:10.541 --> 00:25:15.901 High impact and you know, very like low cost solutions. 00:25:15.961 --> 00:25:17.611 And this is low hanging fruit. 00:25:17.611 --> 00:25:22.081 Like these are, these are family engagement strategies that any district can implement with the tools they already have. 00:25:23.101 --> 00:25:33.891 But with thinking with a new hat around coordination and and, and thinking about things as a shared responsibility across functions that may not have considered that before. 00:25:34.917 --> 00:25:44.667 The idea of, of having the communications expert work with the curriculum folks at a district level like that can unlock a lot of things. 00:25:45.017 --> 00:25:49.187 And letting them each use their skills to lend to the. 00:25:50.282 --> 00:25:52.742 The process and, and make it better for everybody. 00:25:52.742 --> 00:25:54.212 That's, that's really powerful. 00:25:54.612 --> 00:25:56.077 Elizabeth, anything you wanna add there? 00:25:57.150 --> 00:26:21.780 Yeah, just, you know, something else that we're, we're thinking and learning a lot about right now that we're excited to, to dive deeper into in the future is, you know, we're doing more work around ai naturally and, know, in, in the spirit of listening and learning from families in those cycles of research that we continuously do, we heard from families, you know, like, oh, I love getting these messages each week about, you know, what my kids are learning and how to help. 00:26:22.185 --> 00:26:30.135 However, my child, you know, insert X, Y, Z about their personalized or individualized interests or needs. 00:26:30.255 --> 00:26:35.505 And the bottom line is they just want even more personalized information, which makes a lot of sense as a parent. 00:26:35.725 --> 00:26:37.195 And so that's something that we. 00:26:38.085 --> 00:26:55.875 Took in and we've developed an AI learning coach that sort, that is aware of, you know, the, the fast talk messages that are going out, you know, what those grade level standards and skills are, and it allows a parent to then ask questions like, oh, my child is frustrated about this, or, what is a 10 frame? 00:26:55.875 --> 00:26:56.805 I don't even know where to 00:26:56.977 --> 00:26:57.267 Yeah. 00:26:57.435 --> 00:26:58.455 this new math. 00:26:58.455 --> 00:27:00.505 You know, and so we're giving this safe. 00:27:00.770 --> 00:27:15.590 Space too for families to ask questions, to personalize the activities even further for their children, and also just build their own confidence and just their own knowledge of, you know, what, what are the terms that kids are using and how can I most effectively support my child? 00:27:15.590 --> 00:27:20.780 So we're, we're doing a lot of work there right now and, and excited to share more about what we're learning. 00:27:22.072 --> 00:27:22.732 Very cool. 00:27:22.732 --> 00:27:23.332 I love it. 00:27:23.412 --> 00:27:29.742 So as you've been listening to this, we're gonna do more episodes with them and talk about other things more deeply. 00:27:30.012 --> 00:27:35.457 Talk about fast talk, more fast talk, ai more the impact that they're making and, and all of that. 00:27:35.712 --> 00:27:42.642 So if you wanna learn more about them, go to family engagement lab.org and you can see what they're about and then connect with them. 00:27:42.942 --> 00:27:43.542 And. 00:27:43.922 --> 00:27:47.102 Talk about how they can help your district as well. 00:27:47.402 --> 00:27:56.492 Vidia and Elizabeth, thank you so much for being part of Ed Talk, ed Tech Startup Showcase, and I so look forward to the rest of our episodes, learning about what you do. 00:27:57.128 --> 00:27:57.818 Thank you.