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Public Forum:

July 16, 2026
Topic: “Does Reading Have a Future?”
12:00-1:00pm (eastern)
Location: Zoom link

The George and Barbara Bush Foundation reports that 54% of U.S. adults read below a sixth-grade level, and nearly 60 million Americans (28% of adults aged 16-65) read below a third-grade level. In 2024 the  National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)  reported that 12th-grade reading scores were at their lowest level since the assessment began in 1992. We are now seeing these effects among today’s college students. Writing in Slate, Adam Kotsko says that students who once handled 30 pages of reading per class meeting now seem “intimidated by anything over 10 pages and seem to walk away from readings of as little as 20 pages with no real understanding.” Crucially, he adds that this is “not a matter of laziness on the part of the students” but of underlying skills they were never given a chance to build.
But does an inability to read actually matter?  How important is reading in today’s economy and how necessary will reading be in the future?  

June 11, 2026
Topic: “Automation: An Update”
12:00-1:00pm (eastern)
Location: Zoom link

Where do we stand at the moment with regard to automation? Is the long-predicted jobs apocalypse upon us? Are we about to witness a tsunami of technological unemployment? What are the blockers for such a future? Is an automated economy inevitable?

May 28, 2026
Topic: “Future Ohio: Education”
12:00-1:00pm (eastern)
Location: Zoom link

Announcing the Future Ohio 2076 Public Forums – a new webinar series from America 250-Ohio, in partnership with Columbus Futurists.

What will the future of education look like? We will feature Katherine Prince, Vice President of Foresight and Strategy at KnowledgeWorks, for a conversation “Charting a New Course for Education.” Together, we’ll explore how K–12 education may evolve over the next decade and what leaders can do today to help build a more inclusive, learner-centered future.