Last week, our team had the incredible opportunity to attend the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE) Conference in Atlanta. This event brought together educators and education professionals from around the world to collaborate on topics dear to the heart of bilingual education.

From insightful keynotes to valuable networking opportunities, we walked away with fresh ideas and inspiration. Here’s a recap of the most important takeaways from NABE 2025.

Key Themes & Takeaways

Empowering multilingual learners and their families

The NABE conference consistently prioritizes this important issue. According to NCES data, 10.6% of U.S. public school students were classified as English Learners in the fall of 2021 (NCES, 2024). This figure represents a growing segment of the student population and does not account for all multilingual students and families—only those officially designated as English Learners. Ensuring these students and their families receive the necessary resources and support is a challenge, but one that the educators at this conference are ready to tackle.

Leveraging AI and other technology to support multilingual learners and educators

One of the hottest topics in education today is AI, and the NABE conference was no exception. Attendees focused on how to integrate new technology safely and effectively to support students and educators. The key question: How can we save time and resources? If a tool can achieve that while advancing a school or district’s goals, it’s a game-changer.

Ongoing attendance challenges

Like many others in K-12 education, attendees expressed concerns about the continuing chronic absenteeism numbers – especially among the multilingual students population. Conference attendees highlighted how consistent attendance is crucial for the effectiveness of school-based support systems and overall student success. However, educators are facing the dual challenge of addressing absenteeism while also breaking down barriers to trusted family engagement, making it even more critical to implement effective solutions.

Our Presence at NABE 2025

We were thrilled to be part of the event through exhibiting and presenting. The two sessions held by TalkingPoints were an Interactive Session called “Co-designing Equitable Solutions using AI and Technology to Help All Students Succeed” and a session co-led by our partners from Aldine ISD and Tulsa Public Schools entitled, “Unlock the Superpower of Multilingual Families to Drive Student Outcomes through Advanced Technology.”

Our partners at Aldine ISD and Tulsa Public Schools shared their decision-making process for bringing TalkingPoints on board, by listening to the needs of the community. They showed how they’re making family engagement a core district strategy for driving outcomes and the positive results they’re seeing in student attendance.

Download our TalkingPoints Presentation here

Our Favorite NABE Moments

A few standout moments for us included:

• Full seats and engaged faces at our presentations and happy hour! We met so many incredible educators and had powerful conversations. Did you attend the conference? We’d love to hear your favorite moments—let us know on social media!
• Graciela Cáceres-Cuadros, Attendance Recovery Coordinator from Tulsa Public Schools, came to this country three years ago from Peru. She started working for the district connecting families with the resources they need, using her language skills to help others. The district conducted root cause analysis for absences and saw they needed someone with Grace’s skill sets to help families struggling to send their children to school.

I’m always looking for ways to contribute and make lives better for families at TPS and seeing that the Attendance Recovery position became available, I went for it, and it has been a wonderful experience where I could even meet the TalkingPoints team and reach out to support even more families.

• This was Grace’s first time presenting at a conference in the U.S. She thanked TalkingPoints for trusting her and believing in her, for empowering others and herself. She was boldly courageous, all in together, user and mission-oriented — it felt like she was a member of our team. We’re thankful for her courage and the passion she has for advocating for multilingual learners and their families — she was meant to be there.
• Grace Delgado, Executive Director of Multilingual Services at Aldine ISD, shared how building effective family-school partnerships is a district strategy for accelerating student outcomes. We thank Dr. Goffney, Superintendent of Schools for her leadership, the Office of Family and Community Engagement (FACE) and the Multilingual Department for their partnership and collaboration in support of all students and families in Aldine.
• We were also blown away by the dedication of Maricarmen Mitchell, Bilingual, Immigrant, and Refugee Services Manager at Tulsa Public Schools. There was strong collaboration between the Multilingual and Attendance teams to bring the presentation together, serving as inspiration for others.

Looking Ahead

As we reflect on our experience at NABE, we’re excited to apply these insights to our work in Universal Family Engagement. If you missed the event, don’t worry—we’ll be traveling to an area near you soon.

If you’re interested in learning more about Universal Family Engagement, check out www.talkingpts.org.

Want to connect? Learn more about our newest features here and reach out to one of our team members here to request a demo.

Final Thoughts

NABE reinforced the power of empowerment for multilingual students and families. We’re grateful for the experience and can’t wait for what’s next.

Citations

National Center for Education Statistics. (2024). English Learners in Public Schools. Condition of Education. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved [date], from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cgf.