Books Teenagers will Read

Only one state has recovered its pre-pandemic 4th grade reading scores, and roughly 70% of 4th and 8th graders nationally are not reading proficiently. On this episode, host Scott Titsworth talks with Louise Baigelman, founder and CEO of Storyshares, about building a public benefit corporation focused on older striving readers in grades 3-12. Baigelman, a former middle school teacher, discusses why Storyshares chose a hybrid business model over a traditional nonprofit, what makes its decodable, age-appropriate books work for teenage readers, and what the evidence shows about closing the literacy gap after 3rd grade. Storyshares: https://www.storyshares.org/