Ed Leaders In Literacy Podcast

A podcast series that features educators and administrators who have made hard decisions about instruction, curriculum, intervention & school systems to close the achievement gap & build equity by improving literacy.

Decoding the Data 09/25/2022

Decoding the Data What's Inside: In this episode, we chat with Dr. Jill Dunlap Brown and Jana Schmidt about their work as leaders in the field of literacy. Together Dr. Jill Brown and Jana Schmidt wrote to serve as an accessible guide for teachers so they can better determine their student's instructional needs. Dr. Jill Dunlap Brown has worked in the education field for 20 years as a teacher, literacy coach and Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education in a school district of 19,000 students. Jana Schmidt has worked as an associate director in the Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis Department at the University of Missouri-Columbia and as an educational consultant. Jana served as a language arts coordinator for kindergarten through eighth grade in a school district with approximately 19,000 students. Resources mentioned in this episode: This podcast episode was sponsored by /episode/index/show/b9982b9b-c82b-406a-ae18-b3bd8756147a/id/39459535

From PD to Implementation in New Orleans 04/15/2022

From PD to Implementation in New Orleans Whatâ€™s Inside: In this episode, we chat with three dynamic educators working to change the way teachers collaborate, teach and learn in New Orleans: Nan Sterling, Dr. Jawan Brown-Alexander, and Adrienne Dowden. Nan Sterling serves as the Executive Director of Instructional Quality with (NSNO) where she provides opportunities to support charter schools with professional learning and curriculum implementation. Dr. Jawan Brown - Alexander is Chief of Schools at NSNO and Adrienne Dowden is an educational consultant and owner of ASD Educational Consulting Group, LLC. ASD a consulting company that specializes in providing on-going job embedded professional development who works with NSNO on their school-based initiatives. Jawan, Nan and Adrienne share their experiences navigating the challenge of providing consistent, high-quality research -based professional development in a district made up of several different Charter management Organizations (CMO) while also providing the time and space for teachers to collaborate and learn across CMOs. Resources mentioned in this episode: This podcast episode was sponsored by /episode/index/show/b9982b9b-c82b-406a-ae18-b3bd8756147a/id/39459540

Leading the Charge for Change in Louisiana Literacy 02/01/2022

Leading the Charge for Change in Louisiana Literacy n this episode, we chat with Shanna Beber, Director of Literacy, and Catsaha Edwards, Literacy Professional Development Specialist, with the Louisiana Dept of Education (LDOE). Beber and Edwards share their work in Louisiana to support the initiatives passed in two recent pieces of state legislation: Senate Resolution 182 and House Resolution 222. /episode/index/show/b9982b9b-c82b-406a-ae18-b3bd8756147a/id/39459545

District Literacy Improvement for Administrators 12/28/2021

District Literacy Improvement for Administrators In this episode, we chat with Brent Conway, Assistant Superintendent of Pentucket Regional School District in Massachusetts about his experience with district literacy improvement. /episode/index/show/b9982b9b-c82b-406a-ae18-b3bd8756147a/id/39459550

Special Edition: Meet the Staff - Introducing Nita Cerise 12/07/2021

Special Edition: Meet the Staff - Introducing Nita Cerise In this episode, we chat with Nita Cherise, state-level trainer and podcast producer at Glean Education about her experience as a school leader, trainer, and coach about what teachers need to know about literacy instruction. Nita explores her experience rising through the ranks from teacher to coach to school leader. She talks about how she supported her students with high quality literacy instruction and the importance of bringing your whole self to the classroom. Links: See links mentioned in this podcast listed below - August, The Short Movie (Featuring Nita Cherise): Debbie Diller: This podcast episode was sponsored by /episode/index/show/b9982b9b-c82b-406a-ae18-b3bd8756147a/id/39459560

Analyzing District Literacy Achievement from a School Board Member Lens 11/21/2021

Analyzing District Literacy Achievement from a School Board Member Lens Whatâ€™s inside: Palo Alto Unified is widely recognized as the one of best school districts in California, but a dive into district literacy data reveals a different story. In this episode we chat with Todd Collins, school board member at Palo Alto Unified School District, about his journey investigating how his district was supporting their â€œmost challenged and least resourced studentsâ€. His exploration led to an understanding of how all districts should look at their district data with an eye to equity and how doing so can reveal important opportunities for school improvement. Toddâ€™s data dive also prompted him not only to learn more about literacy instruction best practices to help guide decisions he may make in Palo Alto related to his board duties, but also motivated him to create the , an initiative founded with the vision of bringing reading experts and change makers together to collaborate on issues regarding literacy improvement and equity specifically related to California. Links: See links mentioned in this podcast listed below - Palo Alto Unified: California Reading Coalition: This podcast episode was sponsored by . /episode/index/show/b9982b9b-c82b-406a-ae18-b3bd8756147a/id/39459565

Blasting Away Classroom Barriers through Antiracism & UDL 08/20/2021

Blasting Away Classroom Barriers through Antiracism & UDL Whatâ€™s inside: In this episode, Andratesha Fritzgerald, Director of Teaching & Learning at the East Cleveland City School District and founder of Education Consulting firm , joins us to talk about her life-changing, impactful work in and outside of the classroom as an instructor and fierce advocate of UDL (Universal Design for Learning). Andratesha shares her experiences building capacity in her students to affect social change as well as supporting and leading Teachers in implementing Anti-racist practices in instruction. In her latest book, , Andratesha shares how implementing UDL can help teachers uncover the genius within each and every student. Through this book and her work in the field, Andratesha helps teachers create classroom environments that set students up for success by meeting their individual needs. Links: See links mentioned in this podcast listed below - Book: Antiracism and Universal Design for Learning: Building Pathways to Success: Andratesha Fritzgeraldâ€™s Professional Development Organization: Building Blocks of Brilliance: ï»¿ Universal Design for Learning: CAST: This podcast episode was sponsored by . /episode/index/show/b9982b9b-c82b-406a-ae18-b3bd8756147a/id/39459570

Train the Teachers Well 07/16/2021

Train the Teachers Well Alana Mangham, Literacy and Learning Specialist for the Center on the Development of Literacy (cdl.org) talks to Glean Education about her work with Rapides Parish and how she empowered the teachers in her district through training, school systems, and support. /episode/index/show/b9982b9b-c82b-406a-ae18-b3bd8756147a/id/39459575

Turning It Around: New Madrid, MO Administrators Share Their Recipe for Literacy Success 06/23/2021

Turning It Around: New Madrid, MO Administrators Share Their Recipe for Literacy Success In this episode, we chat with New Madrid, MO principal Angie Hanlin and Superintendent Dr. Sam Duncan about their work to raise literacy rates in their school district. /episode/index/show/b9982b9b-c82b-406a-ae18-b3bd8756147a/id/39459580

Getting Reading Right in LA County 05/07/2021

Getting Reading Right in LA County Leslie Zoroya, Reading and Language Arts Coordinator at the Los Angeles County Office of Education talks about Structured Literacy and how instructional practices can help build educational equity. /episode/index/show/b9982b9b-c82b-406a-ae18-b3bd8756147a/id/39459585

Going Beyond Civil Rights Heroes & Holidays with Culturally Responsive Teaching 04/02/2021

Going Beyond Civil Rights Heroes & Holidays with Culturally Responsive Teaching In this episode, we chat with Dr. Lauryn Mascareñaz about her work at Wake County Public Schools supporting teachers to implement Culturally Responsive instruction in their practice. /episode/index/show/b9982b9b-c82b-406a-ae18-b3bd8756147a/id/39459590

How Teaching with an Anti-Racist Lens Can Improve Student Outcomes 08/31/2020

How Teaching with an Anti-Racist Lens Can Improve Student Outcomes In this episode, Lacey Robinson, CEO of UnboundEd, talks about systemic racism in the US education system and the importance of teaching with an anti-racist and anti-bias lens. /episode/index/show/b9982b9b-c82b-406a-ae18-b3bd8756147a/id/39459595

What Incarcerated Youth Can Teach Us About Literacy Instruction 06/16/2020

What Incarcerated Youth Can Teach Us About Literacy Instruction In this episode, we chat with Mr. Pelzer about his work in the juvenile justice system and how it informed his understanding about how important high-quality instruction is in the early grades and how schools can support their teachers (through training and systems) to provide it. /episode/index/show/b9982b9b-c82b-406a-ae18-b3bd8756147a/id/39459600

What District Leaders Need to Know About Online Instruction 05/05/2020

What District Leaders Need to Know About Online Instruction In this episode, we talk about the online learning shift and what traditional classroom teachers should know about designing and delivering online instruction. /episode/index/show/b9982b9b-c82b-406a-ae18-b3bd8756147a/id/39459605

The Secret to Mississippi's State-Wide Literacy Success 04/11/2020

The Secret to Mississippi's State-Wide Literacy Success We talk with State Literacy Director Kristen (Wells) Wynn and School Systems Coach Pati Montgomery about their work on Mississippi's state literacy initiative. /episode/index/show/b9982b9b-c82b-406a-ae18-b3bd8756147a/id/39459610

What Remote Learning Looks Like in Mississippi’s Only Urban School District 04/02/2020

What Remote Learning Looks Like in Mississippi’s Only Urban School District In this episode, we chat with Michael Cormack, Chief of Staff at Jackson Public Schools in Jackson, Mississippi about their shift to remote learning and the work they are doing to ensure equity in the district, which is the second largest district in Mississippi and the only urban district in the state. /episode/index/show/b9982b9b-c82b-406a-ae18-b3bd8756147a/id/39459615

Remote Learning Check-In with District Leaders Adapting to School Closures 03/25/2020

Remote Learning Check-In with District Leaders Adapting to School Closures We chat with two principals and the superintendent of Demarest School District in New Jersey to hear about their strong start to remote learning due to Coronavirus school closures. /episode/index/show/b9982b9b-c82b-406a-ae18-b3bd8756147a/id/39459620

How Leaders Can Build a District Culture of Inclusion and Impact 02/02/2020

How Leaders Can Build a District Culture of Inclusion and Impact In this episode, we talk to Dr. Nakia Hardy, Deputy Superintendent of Durham Public Schools on how leaders can build a culture focused on inclusion and impact. /episode/index/show/b9982b9b-c82b-406a-ae18-b3bd8756147a/id/39459625

Making Equity an Instructional Priority 01/13/2020

Making Equity an Instructional Priority Shannon Wheatley talks with us about the importance of student literacy, academic rigor, and holding equity at the center of education work to improve outcomes for all students. /episode/index/show/b9982b9b-c82b-406a-ae18-b3bd8756147a/id/39459630

Unpacking Progress: What it Takes to Raise School Literacy Rates 12/02/2019

Unpacking Progress: What it Takes to Raise School Literacy Rates In this episode, we talk with Sharon Dunn, former principal of Loudon Elementary School. She lead the school through positive change from one of the lowest performing in the district, to one of the highest. This is the story of how. /episode/index/show/b9982b9b-c82b-406a-ae18-b3bd8756147a/id/39459635

What It Takes in to Ensure Students Are Reading At Grade-Level By Third Grade 10/20/2019

What It Takes in to Ensure Students Are Reading At Grade-Level By Third Grade Dr. Jack Silva is the Assistant Superintendent and Chief Academic Officer at the Bethlehem Area School District (BASD) in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. In this podcast, we talk about the process his district took to begin reaching the goal of having all 90% of BASD students read at grade level by third grade (RBG3). /episode/index/show/b9982b9b-c82b-406a-ae18-b3bd8756147a/id/39459640

How to Successfully Adopt and Implement a New District-Wide Curriculum 10/14/2019

How to Successfully Adopt and Implement a New District-Wide Curriculum Jana Beth Francis is the Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning for Daviess County Public Schools, Kentucky. She oversees all aspects of the learning process for approximately 12,000 students, working closely with administrators to provide professional learning. In this podcast we talk about the key factors that should go into the decision to adopt and implement a new district-wide curriculum. /episode/index/show/b9982b9b-c82b-406a-ae18-b3bd8756147a/id/39459645

Ed Leaders In Literacy Podcast

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