A: Anyone interested in adult and family literacy in Texas is welcome at the symposium. We believe that the people who will gain the most are instructors – very much including volunteer tutors and teachers – at community-based adult and family literacy organizations and nonprofits.

Our regional symposia are designed to reflect the local needs of each region, and to represent a low-to-no cost opportunity to gain quality professional development without needing a large budget for travel or an overnight stay, in the vast majority of cases. We hope that multiple folks from the same organization will be able to come to the symposium – there’s no limit on how many people can attend from one place – something that’s harder to achieve at conferences.

We use the broadest definition of “literacy”, to include all of Adult Foundational Education: adult basic education, English as an additional language, high school equivalency, digital literacy, and workforce readiness, along with other kinds of teaching and learning.

A: Yes! Literacy Texas offers PD credit in conjunction with TCALL. 

A: The symposium is free to attend. Literacy Texas will cover the costs of your tuition, any meals and snacks offered, materials, and other resources. 

Starting September 2024, we require a fully refundable deposit at some symposia to hold your registration space. If paying a deposit causes you any hardship, please get in touch: events@literacytexas.org

A: Unfortunately, we have significant numbers of people who register for our symposia and then don’t attend, without getting in touch to let us know. Every time that happens, it costs us money – we’ve paid the caterer for that person’s meals, done printing on their behalf, prepared a nametag, in some cases paid for parking, and often purchased other items.

Last year, an average of almost 25% of symposium registrants were no-shows – as high as 40% at some events. Unfortunately, we can’t afford that wasted money any longer – and it’s hard to justify to our grant funders, too. The deposit will cover our costs if someone doesn’t attend – and will be 100% refunded if someone does attend, or gets in touch to cancel within the advertised timeframe.