The Families Learning Conference is heading to San Antonio, November 8-11, 2026!
Each year educators, librarians, community leaders, researchers, and policymakers gather at NCFL’s flagship event to explore best practices and innovations in supporting students and families in achieving their learning goals.
We are seeking family learning professionals to present best practices, strategies, and resources to use in classroom and community settings. Proposals should reflect highly interactive and engaging presentations that include strategies and/or materials that attendees can use right away in their work with families.
This Call for Proposals closes 11:59 pm PDT Monday, April 20.
Apply now
March 9, 2026: Application opens
April 20, 2026: Application closes
June 2026: Applicants notified of application status
July 2026: Presenters notified of date/time for presentation
September 14, 2026: Presenters must be registered for Conference
October 16, 2026: Hotel room block expires
November 2, 2026: Deadline to upload digital presentation materials for Conference mobile app
November 8-11, 2026: Conference event dates
Lead presenters receive:
Upon acceptance, lead presenters agree:
Your proposal has the best chance of being selected if you:
Priority will be given to presentations that address one or more of the following topics:
While education solutions for families are many, this conference and the selected presentations focus on education solutions that involve all members of the family and help to build thriving communities. Presentations must focus on multigenerational learning strategies, best practices, or innovations, or family learning research, evaluation, or policy. To maximize your chance of selection to present, please submit a proposal that meets one of our focused content tracks:
Family Literacy
The four-component family literacy model includes children’s education, adult education, Parent Time, and interactive parent-child literacy and learning activities (Parent and Child Together [PACT] Time®). Presentations in this strand may include such topics as: intergenerational opportunities for learners; high school equivalency preparation; multiple literacies within programming; interactive learning between caregivers and children; career and college readiness; multigenerational digital literacy; goal setting for participants; English language learning; curricular implementation; collaboration among children’s education and adult education; language and literacy strategies for multilingual families; program sustainability; innovative practices across the age span; assessments supporting programming; multigenerational instructional strategies; dual-language learners; supporting learners with disabilities; recruiting and retaining families for programming; community partnerships that align with family literacy; and new innovations in family literacy programming.
Family Engagement and Leadership
Family engagement, across the birth-to-adulthood continuum, includes learning opportunities, events, strategies, and collaborative practices designed to strengthen oral language and literacy development, support developmental milestones and kindergarten readiness, and improve student learning outcomes. Presentations in this strand should reflect strong family engagement efforts that are designed in partnership with schools, districts, and community-based organizations, and are aimed at building dual capacity of families and educators. Suggested topics include building relationships with families, increasing positive communication, supporting at-home learning, involving families in decision making, co-designing family engagement with families, engaging families that are second language learners, and supporting hard-to-reach families. Proposals that target innovative classroom practices and instructional strategies related to literacy, STEAM, inquiry-based learning, integration of technology, and social-emotional learning will also be considered.
Family leadership programs are designed to support parents and caregivers with knowledge and skills needed to advocate for themselves, their children, their families, and their communities. NCFL welcomes the submission of proposals that feature informative practices for family leaders. Suggested topics for this strand include co-design, advocacy, community outreach planning, power and asset mapping, and strategies for parents and caregivers to engage other parents and caregivers, schools, and community organizations.
Family Learning Communities
Sessions under this content track provide information and guidance for attendees who are members of, or are considering becoming, a Family Learning Community™ in NCFL’s Family Learning Communities Network. Suggested topics include lessons learned from implementing a Family Learning Community such as building consensus and collaboration among multiple partners, prioritizing families in community codesign, leveraging community assets to improve family wellbeing, and integrating family literacy, engagement, and leadership programming into existing community programs.
Policy and Advocacy
Successful and sustainable family learning systems (family literacy, family engagement, and family leadership) are built on creative and innovative uses of supportive policies and strong, long-lasting partnerships. This requires combining effective communication of program successes with compelling data and family stories that reinforce the benefits they provide to families and more broadly, communities. Suggested topics within this strand include examples of how family learning programs have braided and/or blended funding streams to provide sustainable services; how stakeholders have advocated for multigeneration education or family-friendly policies at the local, state, and federal levels; activating parents’ leadership skills to support their children’s learning; how data can tell convincing stories; and innovative policy solutions to spreading and scaling multigeneration education to programs.
Research and Evaluation
Sessions that focus on current topics of educational research have long been an integral part of NCFL’s national conference. NCFL welcomes the submissions of proposals that feature the implementation and impact of family programs, particularly programs that focus on multigenerational education. Other suggested topics include sharing insights from research on family-facing coalition efforts, research and evaluation studies with families who are furthest from opportunity; approaching evaluation co-design with families to ensure we are elevating their voices and lived experiences; and conveying quantitative data as well as qualitative data to tell the story of impact and outcomes.
72% of attendees have 5 or more years of experience in education and 56% have 10 or more years of experience.
In 2025, conference attendees shared the following as their primary work categories:
Attendees come to the Families Learning Conference for:
Applications open through April 20, 2026.