Carolina Melo and Pelusa Orellana organized the seminar “Closing Gaps in Reading: Questions and Policy Lessons”, featuring national and international education experts who shared their personal and academic experiences. In the seminar, organized in collaboration with the network “Por un Chile que Lee”, participants reflected on how to close the reading gaps in Chile and discussed experiences from the United States.
After her welcome speech, Carolina Melo kicked off the presentations, sharing the results of her FONDECYT project on the reading crisis in Chile and emphasized the need for network collaboration to build long-term solutions. Pelusa Orellana followed with a detailed analysis of her study, “Radiografía de la Lectura en Segundo Grado en Chile” in which she highlighted the importance of pedagogical interventions and the use of technological platforms to assess and improve students’ reading skills.
Susanna Loeb and Kathy Bendheim, from the National Student Support Accelerator at Stanford University, shared their experience in implementing high-impact tutoring programs in the United States. In their talk, titled “Experiences with Tutoring in the U.S.,” they highlighted the potential of this type of support to reduce educational gaps and improve learning outcomes. This was followed by a presentation from Hasan Alí, CEO of Air Tutors, who shared the results of his online tutoring platform in “Air Tutors: Relationships and Results.” The seminar concluded with a discussion focused on the current challenges of the Chilean education system, with contributions from Pelusa Orellana, Susanna Loeb, Joaquín Walker Martínez, Executive Secretary of the Educational Reactivation Plan from the Ministry of Education, and Francisca Lewin, Co-founder and Executive Director of Fundación Conectado Aprendo.
