Teaching Teachers and Empowering Parents

From the President

Grace Sharma

Mark Your Calendar for Hopeville Screening and Panel

Saturday, April 25, 2026 10am - 12:30pm

Harvey Hubbell V’s Hopeville documentary followed by an expert panel discussion

1500 Ralston Avenue, Belmont, CA (formerly Notre Dame du Namur’s Taube Hall) 

Our discussion panel will include Doug Killian, Director of Compass High School, and public and private teachers and specialists.

Entry is free; suggested donation of $20 helps us offset our costs.

Filmmaker Harvey Hubbell V counts himself a casualty of “The Reading Wars.” As a child with dyslexia, he struggled in school, where he was not taught using evidence-based literacy practices. As an adult, he discovered a growing body of research—known as the Science of Reading—that explains how the brain learns to read and which teaching methods are most effective. This discovery sparked his quest to change how literacy is taught in schools. To explore how this research translates into classroom practice, he spent a year with a class of diverse first graders and their teachers in Waterbury, CT, capturing the challenging and inspiring process of learning to read. The result is Hopeville: How to Win the Reading Wars.

Welcome New Board Members

IDA NorCal elected three new board members at its annual meeting, held January 31 at Children’s Health Council in Palo Alto. San Carlos-based Orton-Gillingham practitioner Lana Bakour is the founder of Literacy Beyond Words. Pam O’Sullivan is a seasoned marketing and communications professional who currently serves in University Communications at Stanford University. Doug Killon, head of school at Compass High School in Belmont, has an extensive background in teaching and leading organizations for students with learning differences. In addition to these new directors, Angie Kastner was re-elected to a second three-year term. The board also thanked outgoing Director and Board Secretary Beth Lucey for her years of service. Elected to serve as officers for the coming year are Grace Sharma (president), Moriah Geller-Goldstein (vice president/president-elect), Angie Kastner (secretary), and Erin Berg (treasurer)

You can find a full description of our board members and their bios here.  

Assembly Members Honored for Dyslexia Legislation

At its annual meeting on January 31, 2026, IDA Nor Cal honored the three assembly members who sponsored Assembly Bill 1454: Speaker Robert Rivas, and Assembly members Blanca Rubio and Al Muratsuchi. Passed into law in October 2025, this important pupil literacy legislation provides elementary school teachers with training in the science of reading and requires the State Board of Education to adopt compatible instructional materials for 1st - 8th grades. The bill included $480 million in the 25-26 budget to support literacy instruction, including $200 million in one-time funding for science of literacy training for elementary school teachers.  Speaking for the three honorees via video presentation, Blanca Rubio, a former teacher who grew up in a large immigrant family, spoke of the importance of building strong literacy skills for all students.