Poverty, Race, & Excellence In Schools

In this insightful episode of Literacy Now Together, hosts Brett Tingley of Parents for Reading Justice and Kareem Weaver of FULCRUM welcome education journalist and author Karin Chenoweth for a wide-ranging conversation about what truly drives school improvement. Drawing on nearly two decades of studying high-performing schools serving students from low-income backgrounds and communities of color, Chenoweth challenges the notion that poverty and race determine academic outcomes. She argues that success begins with a shared belief that all children can learn—but that belief must be matched by coherent systems, strong instructional leadership, collective responsibility, and a relentless commitment to continuous improvement. Through stories from extraordinary schools and districts across the country, she illustrates how educators use data to learn rather than blame, work together rather than in isolation, and continually refine their practice based on evidence and student results. The conversation explores the critical role of principals in building cultures of improvement, the importance of learning from successful schools, and why reading failure should never be accepted as inevitable. Ultimately, Chenoweth offers a hopeful but challenging message: extraordinary outcomes are possible when educators stop making excuses, start studying success, and commit to doing the hard, systematic work required to ensure every child learns to read.Books:It's Being Done: Academic Success in Unexpected Schools (Harvard Education Press, 2007)https://hep.gse.harvard.edu/9781891792397/its-being-done/How It's Being Done: Urgent Lessons from Unexpected Schools (Harvard Education Press, 2009)https://hep.gse.harvard.edu/9781934742280/how-its-being-done/Getting It Done: Leading Academic Success in Unexpected Schools (Harvard Education Press, 2011), co-authored with Christina Theokashttps://hep.gse.harvard.edu/9781612501017/getting-it-done/Schools That Succeed: How Educators Marshal the Power of Systems for Improvement (Harvard Education Press, 2020)https://hep.gse.harvard.edu/9781682530290/schools-that-succeed/Districts That Succeed: Breaking the Correlation Between Race, Poverty, and Achievement (Harvard Education Press, 2021https://hep.gse.harvard.edu/9781682536261/districts-that-succeed/Podcast:ExtraOrdinary Districts: Ordinary Districts that Get ExtraOrdinary Results (The Education Trust)https://edtrust.org/rti/extraordinary-districts/Website:https://www.karinchenoweth.com____________________________________________________________Parents for Reading Justice has teamed up with FULCRUM’s Kareem Weaver to bring you "Literacy Now, Together" — a podcast mini-series that takes a closer look at the reading crisis and explores real solutions with literacy leaders and families across the country. Parents for Reading Justice is a nonprofit grassroots movement dedicated to ensuring every child learns to read by engaging parents and educators in adopting the science of teaching reading. Our mission is to activate, train, and guide parent groups to flip their school districts to evidence-based reading instruction. About Brett Tingley: ⁠⁠https://parentsforreadingjustice.org/brett-tingley-bio⁠⁠About Kareem Weaver: ⁠⁠https://tinyurl.com/KareemWeaverBio⁠⁠About Parents for Reading Justice: ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/parentsforreadingjustice⁠⁠About FULCRUM:⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/fulcrumliteracy⁠⁠ DISCLAIMER: All information in this video is presented as our shared experience only, to help others understand our efforts and experience. Nothing presented herein should be construed as offering legal advice. We encourage everyone to seek professional legal advice for their circumstances. We welcome you to share your experiences with us on all matters relating to dyslexia as we are continuously learning new information to help push our cause to help as many people with dyslexia as possible. Thank you for your continued support!