2026 CEL Annual Convention Call for Proposals
November 22–24, 2026 | Philadelphia, PA
Integrated Leadership: Bridging Literacy and English
The deadline for proposal submissions is 9:00 a.m. ET, Tuesday, March 17, 2026.
Proposal notifications will be sent by May 29, 2026.
Submit a Proposal
NEW for 2026! See this collection of proposal mentor texts providing models for first-time (or returning) presenters on how to design successful proposals.
In schools across the country, the lines between literacy and English language arts are increasingly blurred. Leaders in both fields are navigating evolving academic standards, assessment mandates, and culturally sustaining practices—all while supporting teachers and students with a shared goal of deep, meaningful engagement with texts and ideas. In middle schools and high schools, English teachers assist striving adolescent students with foundational literacy skills, while elementary teachers devote time not only to foundational literacy skills but also to literary elements and devices. Yet despite overlapping aims, English and literacy often operate in silos, with teachers in the same school district who have different professional identities, priorities, and pedagogical approaches.
This year’s Conference on English Leadership Annual Convention invites participants to explore the dynamic intersections, tensions, and opportunities that arise when we work to integrate leadership across literacy and English. While younger students focus primarily on building foundational (e.g., phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency) and content area (e.g., summarizing, paraphrasing, inferencing) literacy skills, the emphasis shifts as students advance through grade levels, with disciplinary literacy skills within specific subject areas (e.g., English, social studies, science) becoming increasingly prominent. With this arc in mind, how can leaders create coherence between literacy instruction and English teaching while honoring their distinctions? What strategies build collaborative cultures among elementary and secondary teachers, literacy coaches, curriculum designers, college professors, and instructional leaders? And how can school, district, and state leaders guide the work of literacy and English to strengthen learning, honor differences, and respond to today’s complex educational challenges?
We invite proposals that offer practical tools, research-based practices, case studies, or provocations to help CEL Convention attendees think deeply and act courageously at the intersection of English and literacy leadership. Proposals may focus on PK–12 contexts, teacher preparation, leadership development, coaching, or systems-level change. We especially encourage sessions that foster interactive dialogue, share field-tested strategies, and amplify the voices of teachers and students.
This Convention invites 60-minute individual or group workshops on this year’s theme. To support proposal development, consider addressing one or more of the following questions:
- What are the advantages and challenges of treating literacy and English language arts as synonymous in leadership, curriculum design, professional learning, and other arenas?
- How do leaders help educators manage and attend to the proliferation of literacies in both ELA and beyond (e.g., visual literacy, digital literacy, media literacy, information literacy, critical literacy, generative artificial intelligence literacy)?
- How do foundational literacy, disciplinary literacy, and other literacies factor into a school or district’s approach to English teaching? Conversely, how does the discipline of English inform a district’s approach to the teaching of foundational, disciplinary, and other literacies?
- How do leaders support teachers’ or professors’ identities and professional growth when they straddle the fields of English and literacy or when they feel more at home in one realm but need to work in both?
- How can leaders build bridges between literacy initiatives and English departments within schools or districts—and, at the college level, among English, composition, creative writing, and writing centers?
- What does effective instructional coaching look like at the crossroads of literacy and English? How do leaders effectively empower literacy coaches who work with teachers inside and outside English language arts?
- In what ways does the growing use of generative artificial intelligence change or challenge the instruction or assessment of literacy and/or English, including writing, in your setting?
- How does the recursive nature of reading and writing both help and hinder leaders as they seek to improve both literacy and English?
- Which stories of success, resistance, or adaptation inform future leadership in the shared space of literacy and English?
- How do we center student voice in both literacy and English?
Proposals should aim to share information, research, and/or findings through a collaborative and/or interactive format. We are not seeking research presentations or reading of papers, however.
Jason Stephenson
2026 CEL Annual Convention Program Chair
Submit a Proposal
IMPORTANT DATES
- Proposal database is open.
- Proposal submission deadline: 9:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday, March 17, 2026
- Proposal notifications: by May 29, 2026
- Registration & housing information available: Summer 2026
- Convention dates & location: November 22–24, 2026, Philadelphia, PA
NOTE: As a nonprofit organization of educators, we are not able to provide a stipend or reimburse expenses to presenters. All presenters must register for the CEL Annual Convention.