My Child Can’t Read: A Heartland Crisis

What if the question isn’t whether children can learn to read— but whether we’ve built systems that actually teach them?

In this episode, we step inside a real example of what happens when research, instruction, leadership, and community support are aligned. Through the story of the Phillips Fundamental Learning Center, we explore what it actually takes to move from awareness to implementation—and what beco...

If we know how children learn to read—why hasn’t it reached every classroom?

In this episode, we examine who holds the power to shape education in Kansas—and what happens when policy, preparation, and practice aren’t aligned.

From state-level decision-making to classroom reality, this conversation explores why change is complex… and what it actually takes to ensure every child receives instruction tha...

What if the problem isn’t that we don’t know what works—but that everything around it is out of sync?

In this episode, we explore the growing gap between policy and practice, where teacher preparation, curriculum, and classroom expectations often operate in silos. We unpack what happens when reading struggles go unidentified—and how those challenges extend far beyond the classroom, shaping behavior, confiden...

What does the research actually say about how children learn to read—and why hasn’t it reached every classroom?

In this episode, we examine decades of reading science alongside the real experiences of teachers, parents, and students. From the National Institutes of Health to classrooms across Kansas, the evidence is clear: we know how children learn to read.

So why are so many still being left behind?

As national organi...

In this episode of My Child Can’t Read: A Heartland Crisis, we move up the ladder of responsibility to examine the adults caught in the middle of the literacy crisis. Teachers, administrators, and community members care deeply and take action—but knowledge gaps, systemic limits, and bureaucratic obstacles often stop even the most well-intentioned efforts. From classroom struggles to a privately funded structured literac...

We begin Season 4 not with policy — but with harm.

This episode centers the children and families who have borne the greatest cost of reading failure. Before we examine systems, infrastructure, and preparation, we must confront what literacy breakdown actually feels like in homes and classrooms.

Reading failure is not neutral. And it is not rare.

• Jamie...

 Next season on My Child Can’t Read: A Heartland Crisis… we’re widening the lens.

For the past three seasons, we’ve told the stories of parents, teachers, and children fighting for the right to read — often inside systems that weren’t built to help them.

We listened to the pain. We traced the history. We followed the science.

And along the way, something became clear.

This isn’t just...

In this special bonus episode, Jesica Glover sits down with Dr. Joyce S. Pickering — a globally respected leader in literacy, learning differences, teacher training, and multisensory instruction. With more than fifty years devoted to helping children with language-based learning differences, Dr. Pickering’s wisdom offers a rare, grounding perspective in the midst of America’s literacy reform movement.

Through deep...

In rural Kansas, access to reading specialists, dyslexia services, and evidence-based literacy instruction can be limited — or completely unavailable. When schools say “wait and see,” families are often left navigating the system alone.

In this episode, we tell the story of what happens when the system says no — and communities rise.

You’ll hear how parents, teachers, and local advocates organize, trai...

In this episode of My Child Can’t Read: A Heartland Crisis, we explore how dyslexia language finally entered Kansas law, the advocacy and relationships behind that change, and the reality that recognition alone does not fix instruc...

Even when families and teachers advocate for struggling readers, systemic blind spots in Special Education can lead to misdiagnosis, mislabeling, and emotional harm. In this episode, we examine how children with dyslexia are frequently misidentified as having behavioral or attention issues, the consequences of delayed intervention, and how parents and teachers can navigate the system to ensure children receive the instruction and s...

In this episode, we explore the essential role parents play in advocating for their children’s right to read. From early concerns to navigating school systems and special education processes, families and experts share how informed advocacy transforms fear and confusion into clarity and action.

Through parent stories, advocacy experts, and research voices, this episode shows how policy on paper only becomes real support when ...

 In this premiere episode of Season 3, Teacher Voices: What We Were Never Taught, we explore the stories of teachers who were never taught how the brain actually learns to read. From decades of classroom experience to the challenges of supporting struggling readers, our guests reveal the gaps in teacher preparation and the deep impact on children, parents, and educators alike.

We connect these experiences to the neuroscience o...

In this special bonus episode of My Child Can’t Read: A Heartland Crisis, host Jesica Glover sits down with Tammy Kofford, whose 30-year journey from classroom confusion to literacy transformation captures the heart of our bonus title: When the Teacher Gets It, Literacy is Unlocked for Everyone.

Tammy’s story begins in the era of whole language, where teachers were told that reading would come “na...

Mississippi has gone from near the bottom to top 10 in the nation for fourth-grade reading — and other states are following its lead. In this episode, we explore the blueprint behind Mississippi’s success: statewide alignment, sustained professional learning, intensive coaching, strategic assessment, and university partnerships. We also look at what Kansas can learn from these models and the actio...

Show Notes:

What actually happens in the brain when a child learns to read?

In this episode, host Jesica Glover explores the neuroscience behind reading — uncovering why the Science of Reading works from a biological standpoint and how understanding the brain’s reading circuitry can transform how we teach.

You’ll hear from experts, educators, and Kansas leaders who explain what decades of research have revealed ab...

Show notes:  What happens when a school doesn’t just talk about the Science of Reading — but builds everything around it? In this episode, Jesica takes listeners inside the Phillips Fundamental Learning Center in Wichita, Kansas — a place where reading science meets compassion and children who once struggled to read are now thriving. Through powerful stories from parents, assessors, teachers, and leaders, we ...