We're off this week, but Melanie pops in to say hello and give a quick book recommendation. Hope everyone is getting a moment to rest and recharge!

See you next week.

"Schools were not built to optimize learning." This week, Michael Horn, creator of podcast and Substack The Future of Education, joins us to unpack what it would take to rethink education for the students actually sitting in classrooms today. From mastery-based learning to the false binary around small group instruction, Michael and Louise dig into what it would really take to rebuild a system around how kids actually learn — starting with the most foundational skill of all: reading.

Resources: https://michaelbhorn.substack.com/

What does a student's day actually feel like when everything around them is disconnected? Different teachers, different routines, different language, different expectations — class after class after class. For older striving readers already carrying years of compounding gaps, that disconnection isn't just frustrating… it's a barrier.

This week, we're joined by Kate Crist, founder of Education 4500 and member of the steering committee for the Project for Adolescent Literacy. In this episode, Kate and Louise discuss concrete strategies to transform literacy instruction for middle and high school students. We dig into:

• What coherence really means for secondary literacy

• How to connect intervention with core instruction so the two are actually working together

• What disciplinary literacy looks like across every content area

• What it means to graduate every student literate

• School culture vs. structure – and which to prioritize to see real change

Resources: Education 4500, IES Practice Guide for grades 4-9, Project for Adolescent Literacy (PAL)

What if the time students are already spending on screens isn't the enemy of literacy — but the opportunity?

This week, we sit down with Julia Rivard, founder of Shoelace Learning, to talk about what it really looks like to leverage technology in order to prioritize engagement for older striving readers.

In this episode, we get into:

• the relationship between fun and rigor
• why turning away from technology means turning away from students
• how gamification can produce authentic engagement and real learning outcomes at the same time
• the Olympics?!

Resources: https://dreamscape.shoelacegaming.com/

Literacy improvement can't rest on the shoulders of a single teacher. So what does it actually look like to make secondary literacy a shared responsibility across an entire school or district?

This week, Emily Russin from the HILL for Literacy joins us to dig into what a truly collaborative approach to adolescent literacy looks like — from the classroom to the district level. Emily takes us through concrete ideas about how to leverage structures that already exist within schools and districts to make literacy a shared, continuous experience. Like any good teacher can, Emily helps us use what we already have to build something transformational. 

We talk about:

• How to create a Literacy Action Plan
• The social-emotional nuances that deeply inform working with middle and high school students
• Concrete ideas and strategies district leaders can use to transform secondary literacy through collaboration

Resources for this episode:

• HILL for Literacy professional learning: https://hillforliteracy.org/
• Adolescent Literacy Vision Paper by Storyshares

We throw around the phrase "research-based" a lot in education — but is it actually enough?

This week, Dr. Mary Schreuder from The Achievement Network (ANet) joins us to unpack the difference between research-based and evidence-based practice, walk us through her evidence-based literacy curriculum checklist, and talk about what meaningful data and assessment really look like for older readers — including a closer look at the ROAR (Rapid Online Assessment of Reading) and Capti assessments.

We close with a story you won't forget: a middle school student who wrote an essay titled "How Morphology Helped Me Win a Pageant." 🏆 Yes, really.

Practical, data-driven, and genuinely inspiring — this one has it all.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

🔗 ROAR (Rapid Online Assessment of Reading): roar.stanford.edu🔗 Capti Reading Assessment: serpinstitute.org🔗 New Comprehension Assessment by ANet: View here📧 Reach Dr. Mary Schreuder directly: [email protected]

There's a growing narrative in education that adapting text for struggling readers means lowering the bar. This week, we're pushing back on that — hard.

We sat down with Ethan Pierce from Adaptive Reader to unpack what accessibility actually means in the context of literacy — and why the current conversation about access vs. rigor is missing the mark.

Together, we dig into the real relationship between access and rigor, what accessible reading looks like inside a classroom in practice, and where technology fits into expanding opportunity without compromising the integrity of the text or the learning experience.

If you've ever felt the tension between meeting students where they are and holding high expectations — this episode is for you.

In this episode, we dive in to what it takes to build a true literacy ecosystem in middle and high school. Melanie McDermott and Louise Baigelman sit down with Dr. Sarah Holbrook, Director of Humanities in Kingston City Schools and co-creator of the SUNY New Paltz Science of Reading Microcredential, to discuss the infrastructure of adolescent literacy.

Learn more about Dr. Holbrook's work at: www.sundayswithsarah.org/

What would it look like if we truly went all in on adolescent literacy? What if grades 3–12 received the same time, resources, and investment we've dedicated to K–3?

In Episode 2, host Melanie McDermott sits down with adolescent literacy expert Shira Engel to unpack the Future of Adolescent Literacy Vision Paper — a bold roadmap built by the leading voices in secondary literacy.

We've heard it too many times: if a student isn't reading by third grade, you've lost them. This episode pushes back on that — hard. Because millions of students beyond grade 3 are counting on us to refuse to give up.

Seventy percent of 8th graders in this country are not reading on grade level. It's a statistic that should stop us in our tracks — and yet, for too long, it hasn't.

In our inaugural episode, we sit down with adolescent literacy expert Louise Baigelman and middle school educator Shira Engel to tackle one of the most urgent and underserved challenges in education: adolescent literacy. What makes it different from early literacy? Why have older struggling readers been so overlooked? And what does it actually take to change outcomes for a 14-year-old who has spent years feeling like reading just isn't for them?

Louise and Shira bring together vision and research in a conversation that is equal parts honest, hopeful, and actionable — exploring what the science tells us, what's working in classrooms right now, and why transforming adolescent literacy requires all of us to think and do things differently.

This is where the conversation starts.