The Authority Podcast — Expert Insights and Fresh Ideas for Education Leaders

Ross Romano: [00:00:00] Hello, everybody. You are listening to The Authority podcast here on the Be Podcast Network. If you are a listener, who's been with us before you're a regular listener, thanks as always for being with us. We really appreciate your engagement with the show. We hope we're rewarding you with great guests, great content and a variety of good conversations to really help you learn about all the different topics that that are of interest and are of service to you and your role.
If you're new to the show, welcome. Really great to have you with us. Appreciate you joining and and it's a great time to be here as we are kicking off our National Literacy Month campaign, a [00:01:00] partnership between us at the Be Podcast Network, and Reading is Fundamental, in which we are going to be hosting a number of productive conversations across our network about Bye for now.
developing kids reading and literacy skills for life, the joy of reading, the love of reading, a lot more. We have so many great guests that'll be speaking with not only me, but other hosts across our network of shows, and and it's going to be a really Productive month focused on a topic that's critically important.
And I have a wonderful guest, the perfect guest to start it off. It is the president and CEO of Reading is Fundamental, Alicia Levi. Alicia started her tenure with Reading is Fundamental in 2016. And since then her vision and guidance have led to an increased digital presence. offering substantial book resources, a greater depth and breadth of community engagement, and a growth of program [00:02:00] offerings, including the digital library, which is called Skybrary.
Alicia's leadership has also ushered in an enhanced focus on the importance of race, equity, and inclusion within children's literacy, and a key pillar of RIF's programmatic offerings. During her tenure, Reading is Fundamental reached an amazing and notable milestone of serving its 100 millionth child.
This is an organization that, as she'll share in our interview, started in 1966 and its work has really been amazing. Critical, but this is an amazing milestone throughout her career. Alicia really has been committed to advancing education. She has worked to transform the lives of children through smart strategies to improve academic outcomes.
And this is a conversation that has something for everybody out there. I hope you really enjoy it. Alicia, welcome to the show.
Well, thank you for having me. I am thrilled to be here and just [00:03:00] so excited, So I actually first wanted to ask you about some of the reasons for optimism about what the current trajectory looks like around literacy stats, some of the reasons to believe that we are doing some great things to solve, you know, what has been a long standing, decades long, Crisis around reading skills, and we'll talk a little bit more about that, of course, and give context, but I think it's great to start out on the positive note, show people that there's great things happening, but then we'll fill in the details, of course, about why there still is a lot more to be done.
Can you tell us a bit about, you know, what, what is some of the good stuff that you're seeing right now?
Alicia Levi: well, there's a lot to celebrate for sure, Ross. I think the most important thing is to note that every time we touch a child with the power of reading and literacy, we create joy, we create opportunity. And we touch children throughout the country every day through our print and digital platforms. And it's, you know, that's, that's a win.
That's exactly what Reading is [00:04:00] Fundamental and every community in this country should be doing every day, creating a culture of reading for children nationwide. There is an enormous amount of work to do, but I really appreciate that you're starting with the, with the positive because there is positive movement.
There's positive. There's positives every day, and every day that we reach a child and we create a reason for them to want to read, when we engage them in the power of reading, when we motivate them and empower them to choose their own book, we've made a difference in that child's life, and through that child, hopefully, their family, their community, throughout their lives.
So those are the positives, and, and we are, reading is fundamental in partnership with. Federal, local, state, corporate, individual advocates we are working really hard to, to ensure that every child in this country has the opportunity to read.
Ross Romano: Yeah, absolutely. And that said, of course, you know, there's [00:05:00] still, there's, there's work to be done. There's always going to be likely work to be done that we can never be complacent or satisfied that and there's always evolving needs, right? And evolving opportunities, evolving goals and challenges. What is the state?
of children's literacy looking like overall, you know, is there certain statistics that, that kind of are at the forefront or how, how in general is that measured and assessed?
Alicia Levi: Yeah, it's a really great question. I like to joke with my husband, who has put up with me for over 30 years now that my job is to work my way out of a job. I, I would love to see a day in this country where every child can read proficiently. I am realistic enough to, to recognize that it's unlikely to happen in my lifetime, but man, I'm going to work hard with all of those partners I mentioned in communities across the country to ensure that [00:06:00] we're on the right path.
But we have a lot of work to do. 67%, 67 67 percent of children entering fourth grade are not reading at a proficient level. Only one in three children living below the poverty line in this country actually have a book in their home. Those are things that RIF believes have to change, and our job, our work, is to intersect in a child's reading journey at a place that creates that excitement, that willingness, that power of reading creating joy, really, for them, so that they see a reason to want to read, and, of course, you and I both know, if you want to do something, you're more likely to do it again.
And frequency is one of the most important. Fundamental building blocks and reading profic proficiency. So that's really what RIF focuses on. The stats are, it can be overwhelming and they have gotten worse since Covid. And the post covid environment and [00:07:00] all the learning loss that children particularly.
Those in the most under resourced communities experience, there is an enormous amount of work to do, but as you can probably tell from the tone of my voice and and the work that Reading is Fundamental continues to do, we are optimistic, we are energetic, we are convinced that this is a problem. (ad here)
Ross Romano: Yeah, and it's something that, I mean, there's no there's not a saturation point, I guess, right? There's, there's these, Benchmarks and definitions around proficiency and grade level and, and things like that. But ultimately, there's no limit to how much somebody can read, how much they can enjoy reading, how many different things we can read, and how many different ways to apply it.
So it's, it's the type of thing where there's you know, there's a clear focus on looking [00:08:00] at what are the, the impacts on kids, on students when they are not proficient according to their current age or grade level and how that affects everything that they're able to do academically and otherwise. But then also, you know, instilling, of course, that in that engagement and that joy of reading to make it a lifelong pursuit to say, okay, Once you have the fundamentals, once you have the skills, then you still want to keep pursuing knowledge, looking at all the different ways you're applying that and seeing how literacy skills, reading, writing communicating really, you know, is, it helps to fuel everything that kids may want to do in the future, right?
And and, and helping them to understand that. And as you said, making them really feel like this is something they want to do and want to do well is [00:09:00] maybe, you know, as critical as anything else that, that if, if kids really continue to want to read and believe that they can, you know, that they can and will be able to, that That's the best way to ensure that they will develop those skills.
Alicia Levi: I think that's exactly right. And you, I think what you said there at the end is, is so, so important. It's, it's really the confidence that, that a child feels, the empowerment that they feel. Knowledge is power, of course, and, and over anyone's lifetime, more knowledge creates more opportunity. But for a child who is struggling to read, who is in, Fifth grade with a bunch of kids that can pick up a Harry Potter book and they can barely read the cover.
That creates a, an endless cycle of a lack of confidence and so if, so, so part of What Reading is [00:10:00] Fundamental is really committed to is, is really empowering children to make them see themselves and their experiences in books, to help them understand that there is a book for them. There is an opportunity for them to read in any format, right?
It doesn't have to be a print book. It can be something that they read on a digital screen. It can be a digital book. It can be a billboard. It can be a graphic novel. It can be a gaming experience, but empowering them, giving them the confidence to recognize. that they have the power to read. They just might not read in the same way that someone else does.
And I think one of the biggest challenges that we face today in this century, educators are outstanding. Like, their job, along with parents, is to teach a child to read, to get them ready to read. That's not where re reading is fundamental really intersects with a child. What we do is we empower them.
We create that sense of joy. And we give them resources that are leveled to their reading [00:11:00] level so that they don't feel like they were left behind. If, if, I, again, you and I and everybody listening can appreciate this, if I'm sitting in front of something and I can't decipher it, I, I feel less, I feel less engaged, I feel less empowered, and I'm less likely to continue to try and do it.
And so at Reading is Fundamental, we work really hard. to make sure that there are not just resources for kids that are age appropriate, but that are reading level appropriate as well. So that child that struggles to read Harry Potter, they might be really interested in fantasy. We need to make sure that they have resources that are at their level, that, that are relatable for them, but that they can pick up and they can feel empowered to be able to read.
Ross Romano: So for, you know, I'm sure we have plenty of listeners who are quite familiar with Reading is Fundamental, but we probably have others who aren't. I've, I've [00:12:00] definitely talked to some people in planning this campaign who said, Oh, I didn't, I didn't know about that. Or I, myself. I remember hearing about Reading is Fundamental as a kid, but at the time, not realizing it was a whole organization, right?
Thinking, oh, this is a, you know, it's a public service campaign or something like that, right? And then later on, learning more about it. But can you just share a little bit more, you know, and our listeners here are primarily folks who work in education, but we I'm sure I have a lot of other stakeholder groups, especially engaged currently as well.
Kind of what are, you know, what are some of the programs, some of the ways that Audiences engage with your organization.
Alicia Levi: Sure. Well, I am just the lucky steward today of Reading Is Fundamental's amazing brand. Reading Is Fundamental was founded in 1966. We're actually heading into the future. By a remarkable woman, Margaret McNamara, who took a book off her [00:13:00] daughter's shelf and said, if my child has books, so should every child in my community.
And that started an organization that you mentioned earlier. has served over a hundred million children over the last 60 years. And the principle behind reading a sentimental is, is really very basic, but very critical to ensuring that children are on a path to being able to read. And that's creating opportunities for them, giving them choice of books, giving them access to reading resources, working with educators and parents and community partners that, that really create that culture of literacy around that child.
And, and again, empowering them to want to read, motivating them to read, encouraging them to read. And so what we've done over 60 years is partnered with community organizations, local literacy advocates, schools. We do a lot of work with schools. And we have [00:14:00] distributed hundreds of millions of books to children across the country over the last 60 years.
It's no more complicated than that. Our work is to create a joy of reading in every child, in every community, in every family across the country. And empower them and encourage them to want to read. And with that, we believe that drives all the other outcomes. Because For all your listeners, and you as well, we all know that there's no one thing that drives learning outcomes for children.
There are 85 million levers that you've got to pull to ensure that a child can optimize their learning. And for Reading is Fundamental, we believe that reading is that core foundational building block. needed for all learning outcomes. So creating joy for a child, ensuring that they feel like there's a reason for them to need to read, to want to read over the [00:15:00] course of their lifetime.
That's really what our mission is all about.
Ross Romano: Yeah. And and I'm sure there's a number of potential, at least contributing factors to that joy and to sustaining that joy. And I would imagine, you know, part of that goes to a little bit of what I referenced in the intro around, you know, looking at, at things as far as what. What books are available?
Not just the availability, but how do we choose the books? And who are the kids that are reading these books? And, you know, equity and inclusion considerations. Are there ongoing, you know, trends or, and or conversations in, in that regard about, you know, looking at, like, what are the, how do we select books?
Like, what kind of books do kids want to access, right? Beyond just if we're able to at least get to the point of solving the initial baseline of saying, okay, we can make books [00:16:00] available. Okay, now what books should we be making available or how do we give, give kids voice and choice in that?
Alicia Levi: Yeah. And I think such a great question. And I think it's, it's one of the things that so remarkable about the vision that Margaret McEnamara had when she, when she really launched Reading is Fundamental. And it's one of the reasons that that RIF has really navigated through some complicated times over the last 60 years.
Because it's all about local choice and local voice. Our, we believe firmly that children should have access to books that they can relate to, in formats that they can relate to. You, you mentioned in my intro as you were reading my bio you know, one of the things that, that I really focused on when I joined Reading is Fundamental was ensuring that we had a multi platform approach to delivering access to books.
21st century children deserve 21st century [00:17:00] solutions. There are many people out there that would have said to me and would say to me probably after hearing this, Alicia, children have to have a print book, and they should have print books, but many, many children optimize learning and digital platforms and digital is here to stay, but you know, so we have to reach kids where we, where they are in formats and with resources that they can relate to.
So that's, that's, you know, job one, making sure that. experiences in books that they might choose, but also experience other children's kind of lives and experiences as well. So having a broad range of diverse titles and resources available, that's critical. That having been said, from there, local decision makers, educators, parents, community advocates, they know the children that they serve better than anybody.
So the choices that a, that an educator [00:18:00] might make for the books that they want to make available for the children in their community in Mississippi. Might be very different than the choices that a Montana educator might make. And that's okay because it really is about ensuring that those local decision makers have access to a diverse, broad range of, of resources.
And then they curate those resources appropriately for the children they serve. And then from there, they put those choices in front of children and families so that they can then engage in the power of reading.
Ross Romano: Yeah. Yeah. The verse is, is a good word. Cause I mean, it, it, relates to not only representation and and having access to books and other reading materials that are aligned with an individual's background, culture, experience, interests, etc. but also having the ability to engage with a variety of [00:19:00] different types of texts and coming from different perspectives and how you know, one of the things that seems clear to me is that information, literacy, media literacy are like, you know, inextricable from literacy skills in the modern era.
It's not just about phonics and the reading fundamentals and reading comprehension. In fact, you know, reading comprehension can serve you poorly if you're only reading. one thing or, you know, or only accessing individual sources and not having the ability to compare or contrast that information to other things you've read about or to understand, of course, in the age of artificial intelligence and just the internet in [00:20:00] general what is the source of information, what information is legitimate or manipulated or you know, all of those kind of things.
things that really require reading skills to, to be, again, like, you know, wanting to really go out there and engage and be able to make those decisions about, this was interesting. Good. I challenged my perspective on this. Hmm. This doesn't really seem to add up because the last thing I read or the last couple of things didn't seem to indicate this.
What, where's this information coming from? Those kinds of things. But you know, that, that's the kind of, that those are, I guess, more long term things, but kids are going to deal with those kids, especially as they get into their adolescent years. They're, they're certainly exposed to the world of online and and there are things that maybe, you know, when previous At least, you know, one to two generations earlier didn't have to grapple with that at a [00:21:00] young age.
It, they were thought of as sort of separate things, but now you know, it just really drives home how important that is.
Alicia Levi: boy, that's so true. And I just, I can say just speaking from experience in my personal life. I have three children. They're amazing, the most amazing thing my husband and I ever did. I'm so proud of all three of them. But I have two children that are out of college, out of grad school. I have one son pursuing his PhD in Instructional Technology.
But I have a 14 year old daughter. There's a 10 year age gap. And, and how I have observed, How they learn, how they consume media, how they read is very different. Just in that little microcosm, right, of three children, the generational change is significant. You mentioned earlier that some of your colleagues had heard of Reading is Fundamental when they were, You know, remember it from being a [00:22:00] child.
That's exactly right. Reading is fundamental was everywhere in the 70s and 80s and even into the 90s, partially because there were only four channels, right? Cable didn't even come around until the late 80s. There, the way RIF made people aware of the importance of reading was largely through public service campaigns, through PSAs on, on broadcast.
Well, fast forward 30 years, we live in an incredibly diversified media environment. Information is consumed in a variety of different ways. Again, my family example, my 20 something children consume information very differently than my teenager. We have to meet kids where they are. We have to provide them with information that they can, to your point, assess, consume, comprehend, make informed decisions about.
So [00:23:00] I agree with you. Diversity has a very broad definition, and it's about a lot of different things. It's about representation. It's about format. It's about, it's about ensuring. Equity and access. It's about ensuring that every child has the opportunity to read, to comprehend, to learn, to grow in whatever way reaches them most effectively.
And so it's our jobs as educators and advocates. To ensure that we're providing those tools and resources so that we can capture those kids and ensure that they have the opportunities that reading provides, because if you can't read, then all the statistics and they're endless will tell you that, that you, you don't, have social, economic stability, and we need this.
I keep saying this is a problem we can solve. If everybody would focus on this [00:24:00] issue we would provide such sustainable outcomes for this generation of children, because if adults can read, then they're going to ensure that their children can read.
Ross Romano: Yeah, and, and going back to the joy piece. I mean, I love that. And, and in some of the episodes that'll come up later this month that we talk about that more, but but I've had conversations about it a number of times on this show about we don't prioritize joy as the goal enough in life, right? But in education specifically, where we have so many concerns and spend so much time and effort and resources and anxiety around engagement and thinking about, okay, well, if we aimed for joy, what impact would that have on engagement, on interest, on sustaining that?[00:25:00]
And, you know, when you think about reading again, there's all these things that It requires kind of that, that. burning fire of interest and determination inside you, right? When you're trying to ascertain tone in an email that somebody sent, you know, what assumptions should I make? What should I not make?
Or is this content on social media? Is this sarcastic or is it not? Or you know, and, you know, and then those are things that of course are included in books and other reading materials and all of that. And, but then they have these direct implications. And, but I think navigating all of that stuff and the.
potential fatigue that goes along with it, with the amount of content we're all exposed to all the time it requires that determination and that engagement to say, I really want to understand the world around me and I want to think about [00:26:00] these things critically and I have confidence that when I engage with it, I will be able to draw an informed conclusion, and I'm, you know, I'm not afraid of that or intimidated by it, and, you know, because whether we're a kid or not, whether we are learning a second language, right, or moving to a new country, or it just in a new field I'm, you know, if you, if you change the industry that you're working in.
Now you're, you're reading a bunch of different information about stuff that you haven't read about before, right? Do you have confidence in your ability to engage with it? Or is it intimidating? These things follow us throughout a lifetime, but it all starts sometimes way too early. And I don't, you know, Riff may not have a, I'm not aware of there being a specific stance on this, but I've certainly [00:27:00] observed how early in the schooling years, sometimes the pressure builds around, specifically around, I think, reading skills, but it could be other skills as well, that kids that are three and four years old already start to develop a self conception that They might be not as, you know, advanced as their peers are not able to do these things versus just looking at it as, how do we just make this something that we're just enjoying it for the sake of it.
and understanding that if we do that, the rest will follow and that eventually once we get to the appropriate stage, right, there's more rigor to the instruction and all of that, but as soon as kids start to think, okay, this is not something I'm good at, or this is something I'm going to shy away from, that's, that's hard to [00:28:00] break.
Alicia Levi: Boy, that, that is, you hit the nail on the head. That is exactly right. Those, those impressions, those feelings in young children become self fulfilling. And that's where, you know, that's where RIF really believes we make a difference. Unbelievably talented professionals ensure that children have the fundamental building blocks of reading, the science of reading, everybody's talking about the science of reading, but those core skills, vocabulary, phonics, all those things, right, that are so critical.
Teach a child decoding to teach a child how to read that. That's, that's incredibly important. You can measure that. What we measure and what studies show absolutely make a difference. We measure the, the, the joy. We measure the, the. The motivation, the frequency, the engagement. We [00:29:00] ensure that a child doesn't feel pressure, they feel empowered.
We ensure that a child sees opportunity, that they don't feel left behind. We ensure that they see themselves and their experiences and the things they're interested in. They, we give them a reason to want to read. And, and I think we can all agree that confidence is a key driver for learning outcomes.
And, and again, there are lots of studies that demonstrate that if that reading, motivation, frequency, and engagement are as important. the long term sustained reading outcomes as those core building blocks from the science of reading. We actually we, we took some liberties with the Scarborough Rope at one point, the Scarborough Reading Rope, and, and wove in, right, the joy of reading, that strand that is so important in ensuring that kids don't just know how to read, but that they want to, because that.
As we've talked about here that's really the critical sustaining [00:30:00] factor that drives lifelong love of learning.
Ross Romano: Yeah, so. relevant to these goals around, around reading, you know, educational objectives. And of course also just the objectives, I think, of organizations. Collaboration is a hugely effective tactic. Something that I think a lot of organizations could be doing more of, but certainly it's a big part of reading is fundamental and what you're doing with partnerships.
I think it would be great for a lot of our listeners who may be, you know, maybe have opportunities to, to think about how this can apply to their work to hear about why partnerships and looking for strategic partners is a valuable part of, of the approach at, at RIF.
Alicia Levi: Well, I, look, I appreciate the question and I, my core belief is that partnership is important in all aspects of our lives, right? Nobody does anything [00:31:00] alone. They shouldn't have to do anything alone. Communities are there for a reason, right? Communities empower and engage. And they're a critical part of all aspects of our life.
Creating a community of reading partners Just makes sense for us. We absolutely recognize that, again, there are so many things that go into ensuring that a child can read and, and we very much believe that you partner with all those groups that are experts in That's the things that they do. We believe RIF is an expert at creating joy, at celebrating reading and making reading fun and empowering children to read.
And so in, in, in recognizing that it takes a community we are, are really committed to partnerships and that, that really, You know, runs the gamut. A, a parent is a partner, a parent is a child's first teacher. The more words a child has heard in their early [00:32:00] years the more likely they are to be on a path for reading proficiency.
The more books a child has in their home can be directly tied to reading outcomes for a child. So, so parents are partners, caregivers grandparents, just people in a child's. you know, whole life are an important partner for, for reading is fundamental to ensure that kind of culture of reading, that joy of reading.
Educators, of course, are a critical partner. School adjacent programs are a critical partner. Most children experience a school adjacent, free, you know, You know, before school, after school care, summer camps and care those, those programs are partners of RIF. We also part, partner at, at the state level, at the local level, and at the federal level with other thought leaders in this space.
to ensure that we are developing the most cutting edge resources, ensure that we are reaching as many children as possible. [00:33:00] Beyond that, I consider any corporate organization local company, that wants to make a difference in their community, that wants to make sure that kids have access to books.
And notes to make sure that their employees are engaged in activities in their community through book distributions. We work with a lot of corporate partners throughout the country. And then finally, just general literacy advocates. We, I believe that anybody that donates a dollar to RIF, I believe anybody that, is part of a book club.
I believe anybody that goes to the library and reads a book for themselves, they're literacy advocates. If you're reading, then you want to make sure that every, every child can read and, and really working with those literacy advocates across the country, again, create the message, create the message.
The advocacy to ensure that the more people are talking about it, the more people will be engaged. So [00:34:00] that's a really long answer to your very simple question but I think that that everybody can be and should be a partner in ensuring that children can read, because you will never convince me that there's anybody out there that thinks children shouldn't be able to read.
And they might have their own opinions on what they should read and, and print versus digital and all of that is super fair. I've never come across a person in, in all of my years of doing this that has said to me, Oh, I disagree with you, Alicia, kids shouldn't be able to read. And, and so I believe everybody can be a partner in this crusade to ensure that all children can read. (ad here)
Ross Romano: Yeah, there's there's I think a lot of alignment in understanding of these goals and, and buy in for it. And yeah, there's, you know, I think this is part of why some people may Be hesitant to engage in the literacy [00:35:00] conversation because some of the debates about how to do instruction can feel tedious or they can just feel like approaches that they don't believe in are getting too much oxygen, but everybody agrees that this is an important thing and and there's a lot of opportunities to expand the reach of these discussions of just surfacing.
The challenges and the goals of giving people sometimes just very simple solutions, sometimes it's not as complicated on an individual level as just a reminder to prioritize it or to, you know, to get one extra book or take one extra trip to the library or whatever it can be that as, you know, systemically and across, you know, the scope of the entire population.
It's a large challenge, but that doesn't mean that at the [00:36:00] individual level for every kid and every adult that it has to be quite that difficult, right? Sometimes
Alicia Levi: Boy, I,
Ross Romano: with simple steps.
Alicia Levi: I couldn't, I think, so appreciate you saying that because I think that's so true, like, we can get overwhelmed with the scope, 67%, over two thirds of children entering fourth grade are not reading at a proficient level, you might see that and be like, oh my god, I've had people say to me, Alicia, Riff's been doing this a long time, that's a terrible statistic, how do you know what you're doing is working?
And my answer is, is largely what you just said. It's one child at a time, it's one parent at a time, it's one family at a time, it's one community at a time, and again, you don't give up! Like, you, you, you, never, ever have I talked to somebody that said, we shouldn't be doing this. How we do it, to your point, what different people might choose to do, that varies from home to home, community to community, but [00:37:00] nobody, nobody would disagree that every child should be able to read.
And so with that, how do we do it? We chunk it down to one child at a time, one family at a time. And to your point, You know, it's little things, right, that people can do, but if everybody's doing something, then that creates momentum, and that drives change. So if a parent at home reads a story aloud to their child for 20 minutes every night, that makes a difference.
So many parents in this country are not proficient readers themselves. So part of our challenge is figuring out a way to help them, but there are solutions. RIF has a whole host of resources for parents and community partners that are available for free on our website at rif. org. You can go to our website and find all kinds of tools and resources to help Impacting one child at a time, exactly what we're talking [00:38:00] about, and really addressing the different challenges that different people might face, but again, critical mass, one child at a time, one family at a time, one school at a time, one community at a time, and suddenly we're talking Everybody's talking about it again.
Everybody's talking about the importance of reading. Everybody's talking about how do we make a difference for the children in our community, in our lives, and that kind of momentum really drives change.
Ross Romano: Yeah, absolutely. So Alicia, are you ready for a little bit of a lightning round?
Alicia Levi: I'm good. I'm ready.
Ross Romano: Alright, here we go. If you weren't leading Reading is Fundamental, what would you want to be doing?
Alicia Levi: Well, I will tell you that I am a mom and a wife first, and I would like to think that I'm very, very good at it, because I have an outstanding family but I can honestly tell you, I don't know. I've spent my entire career dedicated to the idea of That education is truly the great equalizer, and every [00:39:00] child should have access to the power of learning.
I, my core belief is that you start with the ability to read. So if I wasn't doing this, I'd be volunteering and making, I would be one of those literacy advocates that we just talked about. I'd be in my community doing read alouds at the local school. I'd be volunteering at my local library. I'd be doing fundraisers.
So that we could raise funds so every child could have a book. I'd be doing something related to this issue because I, you know, I, I believe that this is the sustainable difference that we can make in children's lives.
Ross Romano: absolutely. So if if a parent feels that their child is not engaged, they're not currently interested in reading, what's one thing they might try?
Alicia Levi: Make it relatable. When you're making dinner at night, pull out a recipe book. When you're watching TV, put closed captions on. If you're on a device, point [00:40:00] out where there are words. If you're driving down the street, point to a billboard. If you're taking the bus, try and help them look at the map. Reading happens everywhere.
It doesn't just have to happen in a book. So if I'm a parent and I have a child that's a struggling reader, Just pointing out the multitude of ways that reading happens every day, that's the step that, that they can take to really start to make a difference.
Ross Romano: Yeah. Is there one thing that you feel like is misunderstood about the the literacy crisis as it's called?
Alicia Levi: I think the thing that's misunderstood, I'm probably going to get myself in trouble here, so you can edit this part out if you need to but here's, here's my position on reading, and I mentioned it several times in our conversation today. I believe that it is the fundamental core building block of learning.
And I think the thing that's [00:41:00] misunderstood about reading and the importance of literacy as an investment that philanthropists, that decision makers and that parents need to focus on is this is more important than anything. I think STEM is awesome. I think every kid should want to be able to code.
I think, you know, I love girls who code, and I love, you know, science and technology, and I hate that math scores are low, but if you can't read, you can't STEM. If you can't read, you can't code. If you can't read, you really can't math. So I I think the thing that people misunderstand about literacy is that they don't think it's sexy.
That's what I'm getting myself in trouble for. If we could make literacy sexy, I think everybody would be involved in it. I think everybody would be talking about it, and I think we would be making more progress more rapidly. So, that's the thing I think that's the most misunderstood. They, I think, people just assume everybody can read.
You know, I can't tell you the number of people [00:42:00] that have said to me. I don't believe you. Like, prove it to me. Prove to me that that many kids in this country are struggling readers. And no matter how many staff I put in front of them, and no matter how many times I talk to the brilliant people in Silicon Valley and all the, all the places where all the technology and advancements are happening, they still really want to focus on what they can relate to, which is, you know, You know, which is STEM related fields, and they're important.
Don't get me wrong. I want to solve every problem, but my issue, my problem is reading, and reading is the core, core, core building block for all things that come after. So I wish, you know, I wish that we can make it a little more sexy for people.
Ross Romano: Yeah. We might've just landed on the next campaign idea, I think. Right.
Alicia Levi: Well, don't get me in too much trouble.
Ross Romano: Excellent. Are there are there a couple of books that stand out that made a [00:43:00] difference for you in your career? Yeah.
Alicia Levi: Well, I have to tell you I will say books that stood out in my life. I grew up in a uh, single mom. She raised four amazing children. All of my siblings are, I admire every single one of them. They, they're incredibly successful. We're very, very close. But my mom, while working and raising a family and ensuring that, you know, we all have the opportunities that an education would provide, she made sure that reading was important.
You know, I, I, I will share this quick story. I was in fourth grade. I grew up in a very, very small farm community in Central Illinois, and in fourth grade I won the battle of the books. I was competing against all the other fourth graders in my community, and I read the most books and could answer the most questions about those books.
And and that has stuck with me. My, my picture made its way in the local paper and my mom sent me that picture because she had saved it when I took the job [00:44:00] as, as the steward of Riff's Brand. And I think that it wasn't necessarily one book to answer your question. It was more that culture of reading, that importance of reading that my mom created for us, my grandparents created for us.
That I think has just stuck with me. But he did read this one book I'll Love You Forever to all of us, all four of us. She gave us all a copy when we had our own children. I then purchased copies of that book for my children when they were born. It's just, it's just about a mother's love and, and the importance of family.
So, you know, That's a really special one for me. But it was really not one book that I, I would, you know, get under the covers and read every night. It was more about being able to read as many as I could, learn as much as I could, experience all kinds of different things from all different aspects of life.
You [00:45:00] know, books open the door to the world. And for a, for a young girl that grew up in a farm in, in the Midwest, Boy, I was inspired. I
Ross Romano: son when he picked that book off the shelf to see if he wanted another one, because I knew I couldn't get through it without crying, but eventually, eventually I guess I became desensitized, but, or we just kept getting more and more books, but I know what you mean. Last question to the lightning round. If, if there's one thing you'd like our listeners to remember today, whether it's something we've talked about here that you want to highlight or, or anything else what would it be
Alicia Levi: think that National Literacy Month is so important. It's such a wonderful way to kind of have everybody focus on one issue at one time. What I hope listeners take away is this is an everyday [00:46:00] issue, 365 days a year, 12 months out of the year. If we focus on getting just one child reading. Encouraging, creating a you know, a joy of reading in, in their lives that will spread from them to the people in their lives.
So I think you know, that's the one thing I would, I would hope people take away that this is a problem we can solve by staying focused on the problem and the solution.
Ross Romano: so Alicia, it's been so great to have you here and we're going to have Lots of great conversations throughout the month and hopefully our listeners are going to find them super valuable. For listeners out there who are interested in getting involved or checking out any resources, of course they can go over to the website at org. But uh, is there anything in particular you might want them to check out or just any, you know, any good ways for [00:47:00] somebody to get involved as a first step?
Alicia Levi: Yeah, so going to rif. org is, is a wonderful first step. One thing I didn't mention, but I think you'll hear about throughout the month is some of my colleagues are part of, are part of the conversation. We have literally 30 plus thousand resources aligned to over 6, 000 children's books that are available for free.
Downloadable Puzzles, Vocabulary Tips, Lesson Plans, Parent Engagement Tips, Volunteer Ideas. All of these resources are available for free on our website, so I really encourage anybody listening to go to RIF. org. And spend some time navigating that site and see if there are resources, I am confident there are, that will help you in impacting children in your community and encouraging them to read and creating a joy of reading.
Ross Romano: Excellent. Well, [00:48:00] listeners, please do check that out. We'll put the link below to make it really easy. www. rif. org for reading is fundamental, but we'll put the link below. You can click and head right on over there and check out those resources. You can also go to the website. bpodcast. network to learn about all of the shows across the network.
And if you're new and you're enjoying this conversation, you may want to consider subscribing to the authority. I'm going to have probably two episodes a week throughout September talking all about literacy in addition to 100 plus episodes already on the feed. Feed around all the topics that you may find interesting.
So check all of that out below. You can also check out Alicia's social media and other information. So we'll put all those links there and, and you can check that out and make it easy for yourself. Alicia, thanks again for being here.
Alicia Levi: Thank you and happy National Literacy Month.
Ross Romano: Yes, you too. [00:49:00]