This week we sit down with Kevin Smith, adolescent literacy expert and co-founder of the Adolescent Literacy Alliance, to talk about building the systems that older striving readers deserve. Kevin is one of the minds behind the Self-Study Guide for Implementing Literacy Interventions in Grades 3–8, developed for the Institute of Education Sciences — and today he walks us through how schools and districts can use it to move from good intentions to real, measurable change.

We dig into:

• The eight areas every school needs to examine when implementing literacy intervention

• The biggest systemic barriers to getting adolescent literacy right at scale

• Tangible steps school leaders can take to create a cohesive literacy ecosystem

• What educators can do tomorrow — without waiting for district-level change

🔗 Links to resources:

• Self-Study Guide for Implementing Literacy Interventions in Grades 3-8 : https://ies.ed.gov/sites/default/files/migrated/rel/regions/southeast/pdf/REL_2016224.pdf

• Adolescent Literacy Infographic : https://ies.ed.gov/sites/default/files/rel-southeast/document/2025/12/6.2.x.14%20Improving%20Adolescent%20Literacy%20ELA.pdf

• Florida Center for Reading Research : https://fcrr.org/

• Adolescent Literacy Alliance: https://fcrr.org/educators/adolescent-literacy-alliance

• Kevin’s email: ksmith@fcrr.org

Questions or want to connect? Reach out to melanie@storyshares.org