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Footsteps 2 Brilliance: Helping Every Student Enjoy a Love of Reading
Episode 14 • 27th April 2024 • Digital Learning Today: Where Productivity Meets Innovation in the Classroom. • Jeffrey Bradbury & Diane Manser - TeacherCast Educational Network
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In this episode of the Digital Learning Today Podcast, Jeff welcomes Ilene Rosenthan and Kathy Maximov from Footsteps2Brilliance on the program to discuss how they have been successfully engaging parents and accelerating literacy for more than a decade. If you are a new listener to TeacherCast, we would love to hear from you.  Please visit our Contact Page and let us know how we can help you today!

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About our Guests:

Ilene Rosenthal

Ilene is a seasoned educator and executive who brings over 25 years of experience designing, developing, and implementing innovative technology to accelerate learning. She was a co-founder of Lightspan, the first educational software company to connect school and home through videogame technology. She also served as President of Strategic Initiatives for Achieve3000, a company that developed groundbreaking technology to differentiate content based on each student’s individual Lexile reading level. Ilene currently serves as CEO of Footsteps2Brilliance®, a company designed to scale early learning by connecting school and home through mobile technology and expanding strategies for parental involvement in order to help all children realize their full potential. Ilene began her career as a teacher, during which time she designed curriculum and authored textbooks. In her capacity as a lawyer, she has served as General Counsel to the Government Operations Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives and as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Columbia. She also served as General Counsel to the Software Publishers Association (now SIIA) and Special Assistant to the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). Ilene received her J.D. from Georgetown University and her B.A. from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn.

Kathy Maximov

Kathy is a product manager, blended learning expert, and business development professional with nearly 20 years in the educational technology industry including early education as well as corporate and teacher professional development. Kathy is passionate about education. After launching her career as a classroom teacher, Kathy found her niche working with educational technology design teams to create engaging content that would help all children learn how to read. Since that time, she has successfully managed large-scale software and app releases, created and executed strategic business partnerships, coached district, and school leadership to create transformative early literacy initiatives, organized pilot projects, written teacher guides, led design and development teams, developed complete e-learning solutions, and trained hundreds of educators around the world.

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Transcripts

::

Hello, everybody,

::

and welcome to the

::

TeacherCast Educational Network.

::

My name is Jeff Bradbury,

::

and I have a fantastic show

::

for you today.

::

Today, we're talking all about literacy.

::

And of course,

::

we can't start any podcast

::

without talking about my edutriplets,

::

10 years old,

::

and they're reading every

::

single thing they can get their hands on.

::

Today,

::

I have two amazing guests talking

::

all about a great program that they've

::

created to help young

::

students enjoy a love of literacy.

::

I want to bring on today

::

from a great website called

::

Footsteps to Brilliance, Ms.

::

Eileen Rosenthal and Kathy Maximoff.

::

Eileen and Kathy, how are you today?

::

Welcome to TeacherCast.

::

Thank you so much.

::

We're great and really

::

appreciate being on here with you.

::

Excited to be here, Jeff.

::

Well,

::

let's get started here because I love

::

talking about reading.

::

I love talking about literature.

::

I love watching my kids open up books.

::

The other day they were at a

::

library and in an hour,

::

I think they each went

::

through like 10 and 11 books.

::

It is so important that we

::

have the supports for

::

students as they are

::

picking up these literary skills,

::

especially in the younger grades.

::

Talk to us a little bit

::

about what's going on at

::

Footsteps to Brilliance.

::

Jeff.

::

You just said it so well.

::

Your children have

::

incredible access to books

::

and they love literature.

::

And they're going to grow up

::

to be incredible readers and thinkers,

::

really building the tools.

::

So the problem is that in

::

the United States,

::

nearly half of our children

::

actually enter school

::

one,

::

two or three years behind where they

::

should be.

::

That's at age five.

::

And the reason for this is

::

that they don't have those

::

resources that your

::

children do that our children did.

::

And so the question is,

::

how do you remedy that?

::

How do you level the playing field?

::

And that's why we created

::

Footsteps to Brilliance.

::

We were one of the very

::

first companies to see

::

mobile technology as a way

::

to remedy the digital

::

divide and to provide

::

parents and their children,

::

even before they came to school,

::

with the books, songs,

::

and games that they needed

::

in order to be prepared to

::

succeed academically.

::

And the beautiful thing is

::

that when you give access to the books,

::

songs, and games that parents need,

::

we leverage their smartphones,

::

their tablets, their computers,

::

the children really do

::

enter kindergarten ready.

::

So it's very exciting.

::

We, of course,

::

also work in the schools

::

because we want to make

::

sure that the second benchmark,

::

reading proficiently at third grade,

::

is met.

::

Now,

::

any parent wants to make sure that

::

their students are educated

::

and well literate,

::

but it's really difficult

::

sometimes on a busy schedule.

::

What advice do you have for parents,

::

especially parents that have many,

::

many younger kids,

::

for helping to instill that

::

love of reading and to get

::

kids starting just to look

::

at the books and start to

::

figure out sounds and sound

::

letters together?

::

How can parents start down

::

this journey to help out their students?

::

Do you want me to jump in there, Eileen?

::

I am also a parent,

::

and I just think that when

::

we are working with our little ones,

::

they already have this

::

inspiration and wonder,

::

and we just want to

::

continue on the path of

::

inspiring their curiosity.

::

asking questions having

::

conversations and I think

::

that's one of the neat

::

things about the digital

::

programs that we put

::

together at footsteps to

::

brilliance is that we have

::

a lot of interactivity in

::

the program that draws the

::

parent in we also have this

::

really neat toggle button

::

that allows the parents to

::

go from english to spanish

::

because we know in a lot of

::

our homes that english is

::

not the first language and

::

we want to be sure that

::

those parents are engaged

::

everything in the program as

::

well is just available at a

::

touch so even parents who

::

might not have those

::

literacy skills that they

::

need or they don't feel

::

really comfortable and

::

literate themselves they

::

may not have that love of

::

reading themselves they can

::

still give it to their

::

child they can still

::

play these books along.

::

They can go to the Spanish side,

::

listen to it in Spanish,

::

and then read along in English as well.

::

And it's a really powerful

::

way to help parents feel

::

empowered by what they've

::

got just right there in

::

their back pocket.

::

let's talk a little bit

::

about students picking up

::

the natural language here

::

because we know that

::

there's many different

::

kinds of reading out there

::

there's reading the words

::

there's reading for

::

comprehension there's

::

reading to have a deeper

::

understanding there's

::

reading to be able to share

::

what you've known I mean

::

it's one of the things that

::

we talk about at the dinner

::

table here is what are you

::

reading tell me about the

::

characters what are the

::

characters doing meaning

::

and stuff like that all of

::

that stuff is translating

::

throughout their entire you

::

know life really but mostly

::

their you know their academic career

::

How can parents help bring

::

their students from simple

::

sounding things out through

::

those early stages of

::

actually what are you reading?

::

What are you understanding?

::

There is a huge gap right

::

now in people who can do

::

that and people who are

::

still trying to learn that.

::

What are some of the things

::

that teachers and parents

::

can do to make sure that

::

our students are able to

::

not only understand what they're saying,

::

but be able to spit it back at them?

::

Jeff,

::

music is one of the marvelous ways to

::

develop oral language.

::

And Footsticks to Brilliance

::

is infused with nursery rhymes,

::

both English and Spanish,

::

and lots of music throughout.

::

So children will learn their

::

counting through music.

::

This is a wonderful way to

::

produce knowledge.

::

But I have to say that one

::

of the podcasts that I saw

::

you do that I loved was

::

about having children tell

::

their own stories.

::

And at Footsteps to Brilliance,

::

we have something called Create a Book.

::

And this allows children,

::

every time they read a book,

::

to take all of the

::

characters and the

::

backgrounds and make a variation of it,

::

create their own story, if you will.

::

And this is so exciting that

::

there are now books

::

published and in libraries

::

throughout the United

::

States written by young

::

children because they've

::

been using the Footsteps to

::

Brilliance platform.

::

Yeah, I would just add, Jeff,

::

that that's kind of part of

::

our collective impact model.

::

Like we come in and we

::

partner with our school districts,

::

we partner with our communities,

::

and we create these

::

challenges that the district rolls out,

::

maybe over spring break,

::

maybe over the summer,

::

those times when there's a lull

::

And they really want to

::

engage with families and

::

not have that slide back

::

from all of the good

::

learning that's been

::

happening in the classroom.

::

And so we'll create a

::

writing challenge and have

::

families be reading the books,

::

writing and submitting

::

their writing work.

::

And then the district can

::

celebrate the amazing work

::

that's happening.

::

There are all kinds of like

::

Eileen was talking about.

::

They're publishing those

::

books and putting them out

::

in libraries and

::

celebrating the writing that

::

students are doing.

::

And when they have a voice,

::

just like you were talking about,

::

it really makes a difference in their,

::

even their motivation to be

::

a reader if they're an author as well.

::

Speaking today to Eileen and

::

Kathy from Footsteps to Brilliance,

::

you can learn more

::

information over at

::

footsteps2brilliance.com.

::

That's footsteps, the number two,

::

brilliance.com.

::

We're going to make sure we

::

have every single link over

::

in our show notes over at

::

Digital Learning Today on

::

teachercast.net.

::

Now,

::

if a school district is looking to

::

bring this program in,

::

generally around what grade

::

does that happen?

::

What does a school district

::

need to have in order for

::

this to be successful and

::

implemented in the classroom?

::

So we are a mission-driven company.

::

And so when we work with school districts,

::

the school districts

::

sponsor the children that

::

are in the school already.

::

And we actually sponsor for

::

free the children who are

::

in the community.

::

And this means that we can

::

start at birth working with parents,

::

showing them how to read, talk,

::

play with their children.

::

taking them up through the

::

foundational skills that

::

they need to be prepared for kindergarten,

::

and then going all the way

::

up until they're really

::

doing very sophisticated

::

critical thinking work in the sciences,

::

in the social sciences,

::

in all of the work that they need to do.

::

And so when a teacher is

::

working with the program,

::

what does that look like to a parent?

::

Sure.

::

So our program is really

::

easy for a teacher to get started.

::

We know that teachers right

::

now are really overwhelmed,

::

that there's a lot of

::

pressure happening around

::

the science of reading, about MTSS,

::

about doing data-informed instruction.

::

And so with Footsteps to Brilliance,

::

we just seamlessly align

::

with what the schools and

::

the districts are already doing.

::

We have pre-curated

::

alignments of our games and

::

books and activities and lessons

::

that align to the core

::

reading programs that are out there.

::

So a teacher would go and

::

look up their program and off they go.

::

They've got a weekly pacing

::

guide where students can be working on

::

the same skills that they're

::

doing in the classroom,

::

and then the teacher

::

automatically gets reports

::

because our games are like

::

formative assessment.

::

So whenever the students are playing,

::

the teachers are getting

::

the reports back.

::

Parents can be interacting

::

with all of that at home.

::

So they're getting exactly a

::

window into what the

::

teacher is teaching in the classroom,

::

but it's all interactive.

::

they don't need to know the

::

phonic skills they don't

::

need to know the sounds

::

even but they just make

::

sure that the students are

::

getting the time and that

::

they can kind of watch over

::

the shoulder also and

::

engage and ask questions

::

and interact with the books

::

and songs as well so it

::

sounds like the parents

::

really are a partner in this program

::

absolutely absolutely and I

::

think that's one of the

::

things that I've loved

::

about footsteps to

::

brilliance um coming on

::

board is that our program

::

also even from the

::

fundamentals was built for

::

parents um when covet came

::

we were okay in part

::

because our pro is also

::

built to be used with wi-fi

::

or without so even though

::

we're on mobile devices we

::

made a clear decision that

::

we needed to have equity

::

access for all parents and

::

in order to do that we have

::

a totally offline mode and

::

the teachers and the

::

districts still get their

::

data as soon as that device

::

connects to wi-fi again

::

that's pretty amazing that

::

you have that program that

::

is able to access the you

::

know like I said with wi-fi

::

or not could you give us

::

some examples of a school

::

district or a program that

::

you're working with that

::

you've had a lot of success

::

with and what does that look like

::

Oh, you know, we have,

::

thank you for asking that.

::

We have really so much success.

::

I want to tell you maybe two

::

stories that will really illustrate it.

::

One is the other day

::

superintendent Diego Ochoa

::

from San Mateo Foster City

::

podcast that he had done.

::

There was a family that had

::

moved from Brazil and they

::

spoke no English and their

::

young child ended up being

::

one of the top readers on

::

the Footsteps to Brilliance platform.

::

And he has a podcast where he asked the

::

child, you know,

::

why did you spend so much time?

::

And basically she said,

::

I wanted to learn English

::

and I learned how to speak

::

English on the Footsteps to

::

Brilliance platform in just 30 days.

::

So that's the kind of thing

::

that's really exciting.

::

And the parents were

::

learning alongside her.

::

In terms of actual data,

::

California a few years ago

::

gave a standardized test,

::

which was called the California

::

English language development test.

::

And this was done throughout California,

::

but in Napa County,

::

which was our very first client,

::

and they're still with us today,

::

the psychometricians

::

noticed something really unusual.

::

Before they could even analyze the data,

::

there were these outliers

::

that kept popping up of certain children.

::

And when they reversed engineered it,

::

They found out that the

::

children who on average

::

tested 31 points higher

::

than other children had

::

been the children who were

::

using footsteps to brilliance.

::

And that meant that they

::

were being reclassified

::

from English learners to

::

actual English speakers.

::

Wow.

::

That's an amazing story.

::

That's got to make you guys

::

feel pretty awesome that

::

this platform is helping so

::

many students and affecting

::

so many children.

::

Thank you.

::

It does.

::

It's why we get up every

::

morning and are

::

enthusiastic about what we do.

::

When we're looking ahead here,

::

what do you see as the

::

future for Footsteps to Brilliance?

::

What's on the horizon?

::

I always ask the question,

::

where are we going to be in

::

six to 12 months?

::

I'll let you answer that.

::

Where do you see all this

::

going in the future?

::

Well,

::

we have three things that we're

::

working on right now.

::

One is generative AI,

::

how that's gonna be helping teachers,

::

how it's gonna be

::

accelerating student learning.

::

We're really excited about

::

the work that we're doing in that area.

::

We're also doing something

::

that is really transformative.

::

We're doing a transmedia

::

program with San Bernardino County,

::

their PBS station.

::

And what it's going to do is

::

turn television from a

::

passive to a very active

::

experience for parents and

::

their children.

::

And then the even bigger

::

vision is democratizing

::

education for the entire world.

::

We actually have a

::

partnership right now with

::

the government of Pakistan

::

and Teach the World

::

Foundation where we're

::

creating micro schools that

::

children can come and learn English.

::

And the amazing thing is

::

that Nielsen did an

::

evaluation study and they

::

find that the children who

::

frankly, for one reason or another,

::

weren't able to afford even

::

$2 to get into school,

::

could come to these micro

::

schools for a couple of hours a day.

::

And at the end, they were actually

::

testing three times higher

::

on English than their

::

counterparts were in a

::

traditional school with

::

teachers and books and all

::

the other things that go with it.

::

So we're really excited

::

about the future of digital

::

learning in terms of what

::

it can do for the world.

::

That is an amazing story and

::

a remarkable accomplishment.

::

Congratulations on putting

::

all of that together.

::

I mean, those three things that you said,

::

those are huge hurdles to

::

accomplish and it's...

::

It's inspiring.

::

I got to tell you, as a parent here,

::

saying that there are

::

programs that are out there

::

that are going to help

::

students get to where that they need,

::

whether they are learning English,

::

whether they are native

::

English speakers trying to

::

learn how to read.

::

There's so many different things here.

::

And again, Footsteps to Brilliance,

::

it's just that program

::

that's going to go out

::

there and help out.

::

Tell us a little bit about what we can do.

::

Where do we go?

::

How do we reach out to you?

::

If somebody has a question,

::

where can they go?

::

Kathy, do you want to take that one?

::

Sure.

::

Yeah.

::

So we are on footsteps2brilliance.com.

::

So that's footsteps and the number two,

::

brilliance.com.

::

And on our website,

::

you can find out a lot about us.

::

And we also are on social media.

::

And you can follow us on all

::

of the standard platforms there as well.

::

We're going to make sure

::

that we have links to all

::

their social medias, to their website,

::

and to all the great

::

achievements that we've

::

been talking about today.

::

Eileen and Kathy,

::

thank you so much for being

::

on the show today.

::

Do me a favor.

::

Please invite yourself on in the future.

::

We would love to have you

::

come back and share some

::

more great success stories.

::

Thank you so much, Jeff.

::

It's really been a pleasure

::

to be with you today.

::

That's right.

::

Thanks, Jeff.

::

And we hope that you've

::

enjoyed this episode of

::

Digital Learning today.

::

Don't forget to head on over

::

to teachercast.net.

::

Check out all the great stuff.

::

We have our Instructional

::

Coaches podcast called Ask

::

the Tech Coach.

::

And we've also got our Jeff

::

Bradbury show where we've

::

been interviewing amazing

::

educational leaders and

::

innovators in the world of

::

educational technology.

::

And if you're interested in

::

being on the show,

::

please feel free to reach

::

out to us at feedback at teachercast.net.

::

We would love to feature you

::

on a future podcast.

::

And that wraps up this

::

episode of Digital Learning

::

today on behalf of Kathy

::

and Eileen and everybody

::

here on TeacherCast.

::

My name is Jeff Bradbury,

::

reminding you guys to keep

::

up the great work in your

::

classrooms and continue

::

sharing your passions with your students.

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