Family Engagement Lab with Vidya Sundaram & Elisabeth O'Bryon

About this episode

The episode features an interview with the founders of Family Engagement Lab discussing their platform that enhances family engagement in education.

In this EdTech Startup Showcase episode, host Jethro Jones interviews Vidya Sundaram (CEO) and Elisabeth O'Bryon (Chief Impact Officer) from Family Engagement Lab. The conversation explores how their platform bridges the gap between classroom learning and home support through bite-sized, actionable text messages that help families understand what their children are learning and how to reinforce those skills at home. The founders share their personal motivations—Elizabeth's experience as a bilingual school psychologist working with diverse families, and Vidya's childhood experience of disconnect between her immigrant family's educational values and school communication. They discuss their FAST Talk model (Families and Schools Talk), which has supported over 70,000 students across 50+ districts, and their new AI learning coach that provides personalized support for parents' questions. Key Takeaways Family engagement works best when it's accessible and actionable Short text messages (160 characters) with specific, grade-level appropriate activities are more effective than lengthy emails The impact is greatest for underserved students Research shows the most pronounced learning gains…

People in this episode

Host: Jethro Jones

Guests: Vidya Sundaram, Elisabeth O'Bryon

Topics covered

• family engagement
• education technology
• communication
• student support
• AI learning coach

Keywords

• family engagement
• education
• text messages
• AI learning coach
• student support
• bilingual
• underserved students

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Family Engagement Lab

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