Adolescent Literacy, Episode 3: What adolescent readers really need, with Jeanne Schopf

In this third episode of our four-part adolescent literacy miniseries, Susan Lambert, Ed.D., speaks with Jeanne Schopf, interventionist, national literacy consultant, and editor of the new book Reading Isn't Optional: Fulfilling the Promise of Literacy for Secondary Students. Susan and Jeanne discuss why belief systems about at-risk readers are often the biggest barrier to change, and why that's true at every level of a school system. They also explore how scheduling, data, and coaching serve as system-level levers that principals and teachers can use to transform secondary literacy outcomes—and why leadership remains the single most powerful lever of all.

Show notes:

• Our Summer Learning Academy is underway! Reserve your spot now to join Susan Lambert for the next session and dive deeper into the latest reading comprehension research.
• Check out our Science of Reading resources for grades 6–8.
• Read Jeanne's book Reading Isn't Optional: Fulfilling the Promise of Literacy for Secondary Students.
• Check out Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and Intervention Practices.
• Read Providing Reading Interventions for Students in Grades 4–9.
• Listen to "Focused Implementation: Doing less to do more," with Doug Reeves, Ph.D.
• Get ready for Season 3 of the Amplify podcast Beyond My Years.
• Read Susan's NEW Science of Reading Substack.
• Join our community Faceook group.
• Connect with Susan Lambert. 

Quotes:

"Everything rises and falls on leadership." —Jeanne Schopf

"I had to learn that people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." —Jeanne Schopf

"If we really, truly want to change kids' lives and graduate readers, it's going to take all hands on deck. Everybody has to have a voice." —Jeanne Schopf

"Success is a team sport." —Jeanne Schopf

Timestamps*:
0:00 Introduction What adolescent readers really need, with Jeanne Schopf
3:00 Jeanne's journey from whole language to structured literacy
7:00 Discovering structured literacy
10:00 "We fall to the level of our systems"
15:00 "Everything rises and falls on leadership."
20:00 Belief systems and their impact on instruction and expectations
22:00 Building intervention time into the secondary schedule
26:00 What a good data meeting looks like
30:00 Reading Isn't Optional as a call for action
34:00 Inside the book: from belief to transformation
42:00 Oral language and scaffolding grade-level text
46:00 "You were never taught to read and it's not your fault"
47:00 Closing thoughts
*Timestamps are approximate