S6 E13: From education outsider to literacy expert with Todd Collins

<p>Todd Collins went from education outsider to literacy expert when he joined his local school board after a career in finance and technology. When Todd saw the literacy assessment number, his data-driven mind said &quot;this isn&apos;t good enough&quot; and got to work. Todd went on to organize the California Reading Coalition, a movement of educators, advocates, parents, and policymakers committed to improving reading instruction and outcomes for California&apos;s six million students. In this episode, he joins Susan Lambert to discuss what it really takes to make effective change; the importance of clear, ambitious goals and strong leadership in schools; and which numbers within literacy data are most important to focus on.<br/><br/><b>Show notes: </b></p><ul><li><a href='https://www.careads.org/'><b>California Reading Coalition </b></a></li><li><a href='https://www.careads.org/reportcard'><b>California Reading Report Card</b></a></li><li><a href='https://mobile.twitter.com/careads'><b>California Reading Coalition on Twitter</b></a></li><li><a href='https://www.facebook.com/CalReadingCoalition'><b>California Reading Coalition on Facebook</b></a></li></ul><p><b>Quotes:</b><br/>“We have to help everybody kind of collectively align our voices and help people who wanna find out more about this, find out more about it.” —Todd Collins<br/><br/>“If the pieces of the system aren&apos;t all working together, then you just don&apos;t achieve sustained change.” —Todd Collins<br/><br/>“Leaders have a critical function. They communicate to everybody in a state or in an organization what&apos;s important. You don&apos;t have to tell &apos;em what to do, but you need to tell &apos;em what the goal is.” —Todd Collins<br/><br/>“Teachers aren&apos;t the problem. Teachers are the solution.” —Todd Collins<br/><br/>“We simply can&apos;t call ourselves a great school district unless we get great results for our most challenged and least resourced students.” —Todd Collins<br/><br/>“It&apos;s not a new thing to be concerned about th