What happens after awareness?

One month after concluding Season 4 of My Child Can’t Read: A Heartland Crisis, Jesica Glover sits down with investigative journalist Emily Hanford for a thoughtful conversation about what comes next in the national literacy conversation—and what that means for Kansas.

Together, they explore:

• Why reading reform is so difficult inside large systems
• The ongoing gaps in teacher preparation
• Why quick fixes rarely create lasting change
• What states like Mississippi can teach the rest of the country
• The role of parents in shaping literacy reform
• Why humility, alignment, and sustained effort matter
• What still concerns Emily most about the literacy crisis

This episode is not a recap of Sold a Story.

It’s a conversation about what comes after the awareness stage—and what it will take to continue moving forward for kids.

Emily Hanford is an investigative journalist with APM Reports and creator of the podcast Sold a Story, whose reporting helped spark a national conversation about reading instruction, literacy outcomes, and the Science of Reading movement.

• Sold a Story by APM Reports
• Planet Word Museum interview with Dr. Carey Wright
• Interview featuring Reid Lyon & Margaret Goldberg
• Mississippi Literacy-Based Promotion Act
• Science of Reading
• Structured Literacy

Dyslexia advocacy movement includes many organizations like these: Decoding Dyslexia and International Dyslexia Foundation (IDA)

Resources & References:

• Structured Literacy (International Dyslexia Association): https://dyslexiaida.org/structured-literacy/
• Kansas Literacy Initiatives (KSDE): https://www.ksde.org/Agency/Division-of-Learning-Services/English-Language-Arts/Literacy
• Kansas Policy Institute: https://kansaspolicy.org/
• Phillips Fundamental Learning Center: https://www.funlearn.org/

Sit with it.

Then share this episode with someone—a parent, a teacher, a leader.

And if this conversation helped you see things differently, a quick rating or review helps more people find it—and helps this message reach the people who need it most.

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