Women of the Beachwood & Heights-Hillcrest Chambers Coffee Hour
Thursday, June 11, 2026 (8:30 AM - 9:30 AM) (EDT)
Description
Hear from Joan Spoerl, M.A.T.
of The Literacy Cooperative as the
Director of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library
Addressing Our Literacy Emergency: Fighting Poor Reading Results with Imagination & Motivation
Recent research and reports highlight that we are in the midst of a literacy emergency both locally and nationwide. Two out of three children in Ohio are not ready for kindergarten. That number is even more dire in the city of Cleveland with 8 out of 10 not ready. When a child starts behind, they often stay behind and it’s hard to catch up.
Nationwide, high school seniors tested at the lowest levels ever in reading in the history of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). There’s been a 40% decline in the number of Americans reading for pleasure between 2003 and 2023. College professors report students who balk at the thought of reading an entire book.
In this presentation, you’ll learn about an important, evidence-based and cost-effective solution already making a difference among youngsters and families in our community. Join us in embracing hope and imagination to reverse these trends.
Joan Spoerl has been advocating for practices and policies to optimize young children’s well-being for over thirty years. She currently works for The Literacy Cooperative as Director of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Before coming to Northeast Ohio from Chicago, she taught kindergarten for 10 years in a NAEYC-accredited hospital-based childcare center and then taught Head Start and preschool in the Chicago Public Schools. She was a finalist for the Kohl-McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Award and was chosen as the featured teacher in Voices for Illinois Children’s Start Early: Learning Begins at Birth prime-time television and radio advertising campaign.
She previously served on the boards of NAEYC affiliates in Chicago and Cleveland and currently serves on the board of the Black Child Development Institute of Ohio and as a member of the Ohio Prenatal to Three Coalition Steering Committee. She is a member of the Rotary Club of Cleveland.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in Public Policy Studies from the University of Chicago and her Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education from the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development at Tufts University.
Pricing
FREE for members
$10 for guests
Beachwood Library
25501 Shaker Blvd.
Beachwood, OH 44122 United States
25501 Shaker Blvd.
Beachwood, OH 44122 United States
Thursday, June 11, 2026 (8:30 AM - 9:30 AM)
(EDT)
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