Science of Reading: The Podcast: Recent Episodes

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In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, host Susan Lambert, Ed.D., does something a little different, sharing her own research alongside that of her guest, Sonia Cabell, Ph.D. Together, they trace how Sonia's large-scale Institute of Education Sciences (IES) study directly inspired Susan's dissertation, and what that process reveals about how evidence in literacy education actually gets built. Susan and Sonia also discuss what Sonia's IES study on content-rich literacy instruction found; how Susan's own dissertation research built directly on those findings; what it really means for research to "accumulate" and why it matters for classroom practice.

Show notes:

• Sign up for our fall Literacy Data and MTSS Week.
• Listen to Sonia's previous Science of Reading: The Podcast appearances:
  • Deconstructing the Rope: Language comprehension
  • Research, comprehension, and content-rich literacy instruction
• Read Sonia's book, Strive-for-Five Conversations: A Framework That Gets Kids Talking to Accelerate Their Language Comprehension and Literacy.
• Learn more about the Florida Center for Reading Research.
• Check out Sonia's IES study.
• Listen to Reid Lyon, Ph.D., on Science of Reading: The Podcast
  • Embracing the complexity of learning to read, Part 1 and Part 2
  • Systematizing literacy
• Listen to Season 3 of Amplify's Beyond My Years podcast.
• Subscribe to Susan's new Science of Reading Substack.
• Join our Science of Reading community Facebook group.
• Connect with Susan Lambert.

Quotes:

"The Science of Reading is not like a product. It's not a thing. It's an ever-accumulating body of work." —Sonia Cabell

"You're doing better than you think. Keep being a learner." —Sonia Cabell

"It's the accumulation of research over time that leads us to an evidence base, not just any one study." —Sonia Cabell

Timestamps:**
0:00 Introduction: How research builds on research
3:00 Sonia's research focus: oral language as the foundation of reading
7:00 The origin of the IES study
10:00 Sonia's study design and what cut it short
16:00 Results of the IES study
23:00 What is an IES study?
25:00 Causation versus correlation
28:00 Susan's dissertation: building on Sonia's research
31:00 What Susan found
35:00 "It's not about just one landmark study"
41:00 Trusted organizations for educators
44:00 Reasons for optimism
48:00 Closing thoughts
Timestamps are approximate**

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In this final episode of our four-part adolescent literacy miniseries, Susan Lamber, Ed.D., is joined by Kymyona Burk, Ed.D., a senior policy fellow for literacy at ExcelinEd and former Mississippi state literacy director and secondary English teacher. Together, Susan and Kymyona connect what we know from early literacy to the urgent needs of middle school reading, including the policies, professional development, and practices it will take to reach the adolescent readers who need us most. They also explore what comprehensive adolescent literacy policy must include, what other states' legislative momentum for secondary literacy can teach us, and why literacy belongs in every content-area classroom.

Show notes:

• Check out our Science of Reading resources for grades 6–8.
• Read the Educator Preparation Program Literacy Policy Playbook.
• Learn more about the Advancing Adolescent Literacy Model Policy.
• Listen to Kymyona Burk's episode from Season 5.
• Learn more about Kymyona Burk.
• Connect with Kymyona Burk on LinkedIn.
• Get ready for Season 3 of the Amplify podcast Beyond My Years.
• Join our community Facebook group.
• Connect with Susan Lambert.

Quotes:

There's a literacy crisis in middle and high school, too." —Kymyona Burk

"We've been ver proactive with early literacy, but more reactive, I believe, in adolescent literacy." —Kymyona Burk

"Think more about what the students need in response to data instead of pacing." —Kymyona Burk

Timestamps:**
0:00 Introduction: Adolescent literacy policy, with Kymyona Burk, Ed.D.
5:00 "I knew how to teach English, but I did not know how to teach reading."
7:00 Comparing and contrasting early literacy and adolescent literacy policy
12:00 What good adolescent literacy policy looks like
15:00 The case for universal screeners in middle school
18:00 The Virginia Literacy Act and other states building momentum
24:00 Professional development for middle and high school educators
28:00 Advice for secondary educators
33:00 "Think more about what students need in response to data instead of pacing"
35:00 Educator preparation programs: the next frontier
39:00 Closing thoughts
Timestamps are approximate**

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In this third episode of our four-part adolescent literacy miniseries, Susan Lambert, Ed.D., speaks with Jeanne Schopf, interventionist, national literacy consultant, and editor of the new book Reading Isn't Optional: Fulfilling the Promise of Literacy for Secondary Students. Susan and Jeanne discuss why belief systems about at-risk readers are often the biggest barrier to change, and why that's true at every level of a school system. They also explore how scheduling, data, and coaching serve as system-level levers that principals and teachers can use to transform secondary literacy outcomes—and why leadership remains the single most powerful lever of all.

Show notes:

• Our Summer Learning Academy is underway! Reserve your spot now to join Susan Lambert for the next session and dive deeper into the latest reading comprehension research.
• Check out our Science of Reading resources for grades 6–8.
• Read Jeanne's book Reading Isn't Optional: Fulfilling the Promise of Literacy for Secondary Students.
• Check out Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and Intervention Practices.
• Read Providing Reading Interventions for Students in Grades 4–9.
• Listen to "Focused Implementation: Doing less to do more," with Doug Reeves, Ph.D.
• Get ready for Season 3 of the Amplify podcast Beyond My Years.
• Read Susan's NEW Science of Reading Substack.
• Join our community Faceook group.
• Connect with Susan Lambert.

Quotes:

"Everything rises and falls on leadership." —Jeanne Schopf

"I had to learn that people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." —Jeanne Schopf

"If we really, truly want to change kids' lives and graduate readers, it's going to take all hands on deck. Everybody has to have a voice." —Jeanne Schopf

"Success is a team sport." —Jeanne Schopf

Timestamps:**
0:00 Introduction What adolescent readers really need, with Jeanne Schopf
3:00 Jeanne's journey from whole language to structured literacy
7:00 Discovering structured literacy
10:00 "We fall to the level of our systems"
15:00 "Everything rises and falls on leadership."
20:00 Belief systems and their impact on instruction and expectations
22:00 Building intervention time into the secondary schedule
26:00 What a good data meeting looks like
30:00 Reading Isn't Optional as a call for action
34:00 Inside the book: from belief to transformation
42:00 Oral language and scaffolding grade-level text
46:00 "You were never taught to read and it's not your fault"
47:00 Closing thoughts
Timestamps are approximate**

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In the second episode of a special four-part Science of Reading: The Podcast adolescent literacy miniseries, Susan Lambert, Ed.D., speaks with Julie Burtscher Brown, Ed.D. a PreK–12 literacy facilitator. Julie talks about how she and her colleagues built a whole-school literacy initiative from the ground up, and what three years of data about it then revealed. Together, she and Susan also discuss why a few targeted, evidence-based practices (not sweeping overhauls) were what actually moved the needle for Julie's students; how content-area teachers can begin supporting literacy without reinventing their lessons; and what real, measurable change can look like at the secondary level when a whole school commits to the same practices.

Show notes:

• Our Summer Learning Academy is back! Reserve your spot now to join Susan Lambert to dive deeper into the latest reading comprehension research.
• Check out our Science of Reading resources for grades 6-8.
• Connect with Julie Burtscher Brown on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about the Project for Adolescent Literacy.
• Explore Structured Literacy Interventions with Secondary Students.
• Review the IES 2022 Practice Guide
• Watch: Anita Archer: Secondary Reading—Implementing High-Leverage Practices.
• Get ready for Season 3 of the Amplify podcast Beyond My Years.
• Join our community Facebook group.
• Connect with Susan Lambert.

Quotes:

"Adolescent literacy is enormous and multifaceted. There's specialized instruction that needs to happen." —Julie Burtscher Brown

"If you think of the word 'intervene' as a verb, it means to take action to prevent a predictable outcome." —Julie Burtscher Brown

"Real, meaningful change can happen." —Julie Burtscher Brown

"We reframed the word 'intervention' as an action, not a place." —Julie Burtscher Brown

Timestamps:**
01:00 Introduction: Actually moving the needle for adolescent readers, with Julie Burtscher Brown, Ed.D.
09:00 A structured literacy program at Vermont's Woodstock Union High school and Middle School
11:00 Grouping students by readiness
17:00 Moving toward a whole-school literacy initiative
23:00 High-leverage practices #1 and #2: Reading accurately and fluently
30:00 High-leverage practices #3 and #4: Building word and world knowledge and accessing complex texts
39:00 Building teacher leadership
44:00 "Adolescent literacy is enormous and multifaceted. There's specialized instruction that needs to happen."
46:00 Closing thoughts: what three years of whole-school effort produced
Timestamps are approximate**

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In this first episode of our special four-part Science of Reading: The Podcast Adolescent Literacy miniseries, Susan Lambert, Ed.D., speaks with Doug Fisher, Ph.D., a celebrated professor, author, and one of the most influential voices in adolescent literacy. They explore what the evidence really tells us about supporting adolescent learners, and what it means for classroom practice. They also discuss why Doug and his colleagues set out to find a new model for adolescent literacy, how self-efficacy powers literacy development in adolescent learners and what teachers can do to build it, and what "foundational skills" in reading truly means for adolescent readers—and why it is non-negotiable.

Show notes:

• Our Summer Learning Academy is back! Reserve your spot now to join Susan Lambert for a pair of sessions that will help you dive deeper into the latest reading comprehension research.
• Check out our Science of Reading resources for grades 6–8.
• Connect with Doug on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Doug’s book, Teaching Foundational Skills to Adolescent Readers.
• Read Doug’s article, A Model for Adolescent Reading Instruction.
• Get ready for Season 3 of the Amplify podcast Beyond My Years.
• Join our community Facebook group.
• Connect with Susan Lambert.

Quotes:

"Our literacy skills contiue to grow across our lifetimes." —Doug Fisher

"The human brain operates on language, and reading, writing, speaking and listening, are the language operating systems of our brain." —Doug Fisher

"The word 'foundational' to me means not optional." —Doug Fisher

"Literacy is a gatekeeper. If we can develop stronger literacy skills in our student, we will change their lives." —Doug Fisher

"The passion that educators bring also makes learning relevant." —Doug Fisher

Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction: New adolescent literacy mini-series
02:00 Foundational skills for adolescent learners, with Doug Fisher
06:00 "Our literacy skills continue to grow across our lifetimes
08:00 In search of a new adolescent literacy model
14:00 Distinguishing early, general, and disciplinary literacy
17:00 Why the Reading Rope was not designed for adolescent learners
19:00 Introducing the reading circuit and self-efficacy
27:00 Sentence level analysis
31:00 Building self-efficacy through academic risk taking
34:00 Redefining "foundational skills" for adolescent readers
38:00 What this looks like in high school classrooms
43:00 Teacher self-efficacy and the joy of student learning
48:00 Closing thoughts: "Literacy as a gatekeeper"
*Timestamps are approximate

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On this Science of Reading Essentials episode we're diving into the science of learning to explore how memory, cognitive load, and knowledge building can transform your literacy instruction. Host Susan Lambert, Ed.D., weaves in the insights of our experts—Natalie Wexler; Nathaniel Swain, Ph.D.; Hugh Catts, Ph.D.; Daniel Willingham, Ph.D.; Peter C. Brown; Jamey Peavler, Ed.D.; and David Rapp, Ph.D. Susan reflects on: how memory works and why understanding its processes is foundational to effective teaching; why cognitive load theory and background knowledge are game-changers for literacy instruction; evidence-based strategies that make learning stick.

Show notes:

• Our Summer Learning Academy is back! Reserve your spot now to join Susan Lambert for a pair of sessions that will help you dive deeper into reading comprehension research.
• Check out full episodes with our featured guests:
  • The science of learning, the humility of teaching, with Peter C. Brown
  • Comprehension is not a skill, with Hugh Catts
  • When not to differentiate: A guide to small-group instruction with Jamey Peavler
  • The truth behind learning, with Nathaniel Swain
  • The Knowledge Gap: Natalie Wexler
  • Cognitive science-informed teaching, with Natalie Wexler
  • Unlocking reading: Comprehension strategies vs. knowledge building, with Daniel Willingham
  • The science of memory and misinformation, with David Rapp
• Listen to Amplify's Beyond My Years podcast
• Check out our Science of Reading Essentials episodes.
• Join our community Facebook group.
• Connect with Susan Lambert.

Quotes:

"Memory is a cognitive process. It's the way the brain encodes, stores, and retrieves information." —Susan Lambert

Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
05:00 Memory is a cognitive process
07:00 Cognitive load theory
10:00 Role of long-term memory for reading
15:00 Process of building knowledge in long-term memory
21:00 You can't learn something new if it doesn't connect to something you already know.
24:00 Applying learning science to the literacy classroom
30:00 Power of writing
31:00 Final advice
Timestamps are approximate

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On this week’s episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert, Ed.D., is joined by one of the most influential people in American education, Reid Lyon, Ph.D., to explore what it takes to make systemic change in literacy instruction. Together, Reid and Susan also discuss how literacy education could benefit from a shared vocabulary, how systems must work together from teacher preparation to classroom implementation, and what we can do to close the implementation gap.

Show notes:

• Our Summer Learning Academy is back! Reserve your spot now to join Susan Lambert for a pair of sessions that will help you dive deeper into the latest reading comprehension research.
• Learn more about Reid Lyon’s 10 Maxims of Reading Instruction.
• Learn more about Drexel University's ALLIED Hub for literacy education.
• Download our free Science of Reading Change Management Playbook.
• Listen to our previous episodes with Reid Lyon (Sept. 2023, Part 1 & Part 2).
• Get ready for Season 3 of the Amplify podcast Beyond My Years.
• Join our community Facebook group.
• Connect with Susan Lambert.

Quotes:

"I know we've let children down, but boy have we let teachers down." —Reid Lyon

"The hallmark of a profession is a common language displaying a common knowledge." —Reid Lyon

"How is it that we know so much yet we are still far behind the curve in helping the majority of struggling readers learn to read?" —Reid Lyon

"Much of our difficulties moving the science [of literacy] into classrooms is a function of not having established ourselves as a profession." —Reid Lyon

"We have a responsibility to use the best information possible that has taught us how we can improve the person's life." —Reid Lyon

"Assessment is a great friend." —Reid Lyon

Timestamps:**00:00: Introduction: Systematizing literacy with Reid Lyon, Ph.D.
07:00: We are still far behind the curve in helping the majority of struggling readers learn to read.
11:00: The hallmark of a profession is a common language displaying a common knowledge.
18:00: Listening and speaking occur with exposure and being showered with language around us.
23:00: The science of reading is not a belief system. It's a container with facts that constantly evolves.
29:00: Can the field of literacy have a common language and common knowledge?
35:00: The systemic challenge is understanding the whole picture.
41:00: Assessment is a great friend.
48:00: Explanation of the evolving 10 Maxim Framework
52:00: What is the work happening at Drexel?
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute**

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In this episode of Science of reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert, Ed.D., is joined by Kate Winn and Stephanie Stollar, Ph.D, coauthors of Reading Assessment Done Right, who explain how to use assessment to actually accelerate student progress and drive instructional decisions. Stephanie, Kate, and Susan also discuss how to cut through assessment overload and focus on what truly drives instruction, the four essential purposes of assessment, and how they work together within Multi-Tiered System of Supports framework, and the common misconceptions that lead to ineffective practices.

Show notes:

• Check out Reading Assessment Done Right.
• Learn more about Stephanie Stollar.
• Connect with Stephanie Stollar LinkedIn.
• Connect with Stephanie Stollar on Facebook.
• Connect with Kate Winn on LinkedIn.
• Connect with Kate Winn on Facebook.
• Listen to the podcast Reading Road Trip.
• Listen to Season 2 of the Amplify podcast Beyond My Years.
• Join our community Facebook group.
• Connect with Susan Lambert.

Quotes:

"Assessment is a tool for conversation. It's an investigation. It's uncovering what is known, and there are multiple purposes. All assessments are constructed to answer questions." —Stephanie Stollar

"If you don't have a question about your students, you don't need to do more assessment. This should not be a compliance activity." —Stephanie Stollar

"Progress monitoring is like the GPS for educators." —Stephanie Stollar

"We can actually do something with the information when you're using good assessments." —Kate Winn

"Believe it or not, reading assessment can be so exciting. It can also be empowering." —Kate Winn

"Having lots and lots of assessment data is not helpful. It can actually be counterproductive." —Stephanie Stollar

"When I use my universal screener, it tells me which students are meeting benchmark, which ones aren't, and then I know exactly what to work on with those students." —Kate Winn

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction: Assessment as your best friend
05:00 The need for practical assessment guidance
09:00 What is assessment and what is its purpose in education?
15:00 Understanding the differences between universal screening vs. diagnostic assessment
21:00 Progress monitoring: The GPS for educators
25:00 Building supportive systems and communities for teachers
28:00 The continuous improvement cycle of reading instruction
30:00 Addressing the "too many assessments" problem with an assessment audit
34:00 Misconceptions about assessment
40:00 The power of Tier 1 instruction
43:00 Why we need to screen all students multiple times per year
48:00 Final thoughts: Assessment as a tool for conversation and empowerment
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan is joined by executive director of the Margaret Byrd Rawson Institute, Teresa May, Ph.D. Teresa shares her powerful story, from being a student with dyslexia to fighting systemic barriers in education. Teresa and Susan also discuss Teresa's legal advocacy for her sons' right to appropriate dyslexia education; the legacy of Margaret Byrd Rawson, a groundbreaking activist who dedicated her life to helping students with dyslexia success; and the importance of early intervention and understanding each child's unique learning needs.

Show notes:

• Download the Dyslexia Support Power Pack.
• Listen to Science of Reading Essentials: Dyslexia.
• Learn more about the Margaret Byrd Rawson Institute.
• Follow the Rawson Institute on Instagram.
• Like the Rawson Institute on Facebook.
• Connect with the Rawson Institute on LinkedIn.
• Listen to Season 2 of Amplify's Beyond My Years podcast.
• Join our community Facebook group.
• Connect with Susan Lambert.

Quotes:

"There's no time to waste. A child only gets one childhood." —Teresa May

"You teach this complex language as it is to the child, as he or she is. If you do that, you don't leave anyone behind." —Teresa May

"There is a science and an approach that we can take to help kids learn how to read." —Teresa May

"[People] remember the kindness of a teacher or the meanness, but they don't remember the explicit way they learned [to read]." —Teresa May

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction: Fighting for learners with dyslexia, with Teresa May
04:00 Teresa's childhood struggles with dyslexia
07:00 The moment of discovery: Finding Margaret Byrd Rawson
09:00 Meeting Margaret: "There is a key, but not many people hold that key"
14:00 The legal battle begins—fighting for her sons' education
19:00 Taking the case through courts and starting parent advocacy
22:00 Margaret Byrd Rawson as an educational pioneer
27:00 Margaret's biological background and the start of her longitudinal research in the 1930s
30:00 The 55-year study following 56 boys: groundbreaking research without technology
33:00 The human impact of good teaching
39:00 The Margaret Byrd Rawson Institute's mission and current projects
44:00 The complexity of dyslexia remediation
45:00 Final thoughts on advocating for children with dyslexia
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, returning guest, Nathaniel Swain, Ph.D., joins Susan Lambert to close out the season by answering thoughtful and thought-provoking comprehension questions submitted by listeners. Nathaniel and Susan answer questions about comprehension strategies, the relationship between comprehension and memorization, and how to shift the mindset amongst your teaching colleagues to help them understand comprehension.

Show notes:

• Submit your literacy questions!
• Bonus: Watch Dr. Hoover's complete responses to a listener guest.
• Learn more about Nathaniel Swain on his website
• Connect with Nathaniel Swain on LinkedIn.
• Access free, high-quality resources—including our recent Essentials episode on Science of Reading: The Podcast—at our companion professional learning page
• Download our free Comprension 101 bundle for comprehension resources, including ebooks, and on-demand professional learning
• Listen to Season 2 of Amplify's Beyond My Years podcast
• Join our community Facebook group
• Connect with Susan Lambert

Quotes:

"What we're trying to do is create meaningful text experiences. ... The strategies are background, the powerhouse behind the work we're doing, but the star of the show is the language and the text." —Nathaniel Swain, Ph.D.

"If you ever feel like your comprehension work only allows students to produce or perform something on a particular day in which you've just read that text, then you may be missing the opportunity to weave meaningful text together." —Nathaniel Swain, Ph.D.

"When we're teaching reading comprehension, really let the text be the center of what we're doing." —Susan Lambert

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction: Answering listeners' questions on comprehension
03:00 The difference between oral and written language as it relates to comprehension
06:00 Supporting students who read fluently but struggle with comprehension
16:00 The role of comprehension strategies
21:00 Oral language development and comprehension
28:00 The connection between memory and comprehension
36:00 How to help colleagues adjust their mindset on comprehension
42:00 Overall takeaways from this batch of mailbag questions
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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Host Susan Lambert hits the home stretch of her comprehension-focused season of Science of Reading: The Podcast with a reflective episode based on her presentation at this year's Plain Talk About Literacy and Learning conference. Instead of being joined by a guest, Susan breaks down some of her biggest takeaways from this season—explaining how reading comprehension is far more intricate than the ability to decode words on a page, and detailing how the expert guests this season helped illustrate all of comprehension's amazing complexities. Whether you hear her Plain Talk conversation live or not, this episode captures those same insights in a format you can revisit anytime.

Show notes:

• Submit your literacy questions!
• Access free, high-quality resources—including our recent Science of Reading: The Podcast Essentials: “Comprehension” episode—at our companion professional learning page.
• Download our Comprehension 101 bundle: Access free comprehension resources, including ebooks and on-demand professional learning.
• Listen to Season 2 of Amplify’s Beyond My Years podcast.
• Join our community Facebook group.
• Connect with Susan Lambert.

Quotes:

"Comprehension is an active process. It usually requires active engagement and effect from the reader." —Susan Lambert

"Comprehension is an integration of knowledge and experience that requires the reader to connect new information from the text with their own knowledge and experiences." —Susan Lambert

"Comprehension is dynamic and ongoing. It requires the reader to update and revise their understanding as new information is encountered." —Susan Lambert

"What constitutes good comprehension is relative, and it depends on who is reading the text and why they're reading it." —Susan Lambert

"The components of comprehension don't develop in isolation. They bootstrap and support each other throughout a reader's development." —Susan Lambert

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction: Building blocks for deep comprehension
04:00 Common themes from guests' definitions of comprehension
07:00 The simple view of reading
10:00 Oral language, syntax and fluency
13:00 Syntax is the critical missing piece needed to improve reading comprehension outcomes
16:00 Fluency is a critical but often overlooked prerequisite to reading comprehension
21:00 The components of comprehension don't develop in isolation
22:00 Closing thoughts o our comprehension focused season
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by Kristen McMaster, Ph.D., Guy Bond Chair in Reading and professor of special education in the Department of Educational Psychology at University of Minnesota. Together, they explore how reading comprehension isn't just about what's on the page—it's also about what's not there—and share practical insights on how to support students in developing inference skills. Susan and Kristen also discuss the dual processes of activation and integration when making inferences; the distinction between teaching students to process text actively versus teaching students to apply comprehension strategies; and different types of inferences, including causal, bridging, and elaborative.

Show notes:

• Submit your questions to our listener mailbag
• Access free, high-quality resources—including our recent Science of Reading: The Podcast Essentials "Comprehension" episode—at our companion professional learning page
• Download our Comprehension 101 bundle: Access free comprehension resources, including e-books, and on-demand professional learning
• Connect with Kristen McMaster
• Learn more about Kristen McMaster
• Listen to Season 2 of Amplify's Beyond My Years podcast
• Join our community Facebook group
• Connect with Susan Lambert

Quotes:

"Inferencing is really central to comprehension. We wouldn't comprehend if we didn't make inferences." —Kristen McMaster

"I would encourage teachers not to underestimate the importance of supporting even the inferences that might seem obvious to us." —Kristen McMaster

"Good comprehenders are often making very automatic inferences that they don't even realize." —Kristen McMaster

"It helps to explicitly teach what an inference is in language that students will understand." —Kristen McMaster

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction: Filling in the gaps with inferences, with Kristen McMaster, Ph.D.
05:00 Comprehension is how we make sense of the world around us
09:00 The types of inferences: Causal, bridging, elaborative, and theory of mind
17:00 How teachers can help students develop inference skills
22:00 Creating an effective questioning strategy
27:00 How teachers can preview a text and think about the inferences that might need to be made
31:00 Supporting students who process texts in different ways
37:00 The timing of comprehension questions
40:00 The connection between oral language comprehension and text comprehension
45:00 Final thought: Teacher's shouldn't underestimate the importance of inferences that might seem obvious.
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Timothy Shanahan, Ph.D., distinguished professor emeritus from the University of Illinois at Chicago, joins Susan Lambert to distinguish between reading comprehension, learning from a text, and the process of learning to read. He compares learning to read with athletic training, explaining that just as athletes need to vary their workout intensities to maximize their strength, students need to vary their text difficulty to maximize their comprehension, reading skills, and overall learning. Together, Timothy and Susan also discuss why reading comprehension is an ethical act and the power of simply rereading to increase comprehension.

Show notes:

• Submit your questions on comprehension!
• Access free, high-quality resources at our brand-new companion professional learning page
• Connect with Timothy Shanahan, Ph.D.
• Learn more about Timothy Shanahan, Ph.D.
• Read the blog post "Don't Confuse Reading Comprehension and Learning to Read (and to Reread)"
• Listen to Leveled reading, leveled lives, with Tim Shanahan, Ph.D.
• Listen to Mitchell Brookins, Ph.D. on Beyond My Years
• Listen to Season 2 of Amplify’s Beyond My Years podcast
• Join our community Facebook group.
• Connect with Susan Lambert

Quotes:

"We're trying to teach kids to read, and a text that is immediately comprehensible leaves you very little to learn." —Timothy Shanahan, Ph.D.

"Reading comprehension is not just a psychological or cognitive action—it's an ethical action." —Timothy Shanahan, Ph.D.

"Comprehension is not automatic. It isn't just, 'Oh, if you decode, you're going to comprehend.'" —Timothy Shanahan, Ph.D.

"A good reader has to start out with a determination. 'My job here is to understand it, not just to read it.'" —Timothy Shanahan, Ph.D.

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction: Learning to read vs. reading to learn with Timothy Shanahan, Ph.D.
06:00 Reading comprehension is not just a psychological or cognitive action, it's an ethical action.
09:00 Authors know their readers and so they put in affordances aimed at the reader.
15:00 Timothy's motivation for writing his blog post, "Don't Confuse Reading Comprehension and Learning to Read."
17:00 A text that is immediately comprehensible, leaves you very little to learn.
19:00 You can increase the learning for most people if you increase the difficulty.
24:00 An argument for students to read more rigorous texts.
28:00 A good reader has to start out with determination.
35:00 The different between learning and understanding is an issue of remembering.
39:00 Teachers need to teach kids to be strategic.
42:00 Timothy Shanahan's new wrinkle in thinking about comprehension, understanding, and learning.
44:00 In conclusion: Kids should be reading texts with varying levels of difficulty.
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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We're excited to share a special episode from our friends at our sister podcast, Beyond My Years.

Host Ana Torres is joined by nationally recognized educational consultant and thought leader, Mitchell Brookins, Ph.D., to discuss what critical thinking is and how to help students develop it. He also explains why critical thinking is crucial for long-term academic success. Mitchell also gives gives educators four clear steps that they can implement to effectively nurture critical thinking skills in their classrooms. Ana is then joined by Beyond My Years Classroom Insider extraordinaire Eric Cross, who discusses how he encourages his students to hone their critical thinking skills in class.

Show notes:

• Binge all of Beyond My Years podcast Season 2 now: https://amplify.com/bmy
• Submit your questions on comprehension
• Access free, high-quality resources at our brand-new companion professional learning page
• Visit Mitchell Brookins, Ph.D,’s website
• Connect with Mitchell Brookins, Ph.D., on LinkedIn
• Connect with Ana Torres
• Connect with Eric Cross
• Join our community Facebook group.
• Connect with Susan Lambert

Quotes:

"When you are a school administrator, you can't be confused as to what your identity is. People expect you to step in with voice, with passion, with vision, and direct the path." —Mitchell Brookins, Ph.D.

"That's how you know you're in a classroom with critical thinking: We're not rushing the conversation. We're enjoying it." —Mitchell Brookins, Ph.D.

"There's an art and science to teaching, and I think that they're two different things." —Eric Cross

"The importance of modeling can’t be overstated." — Ana Torres

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
02:00 Ana Torres & Eric Cross preview Ana's conversation about critical thinking
04:00 Introducing Mitchell Brookins, Ph.D.
10:00 Why should critical thinking be top of mind for educators?
15:00 Where should teachers begin when trying to help students develop critical thinking skills?
20:00 Questioning that reveals classrooms in which teachers honor students' thinking
24:00 You can't get to a higher level if you don't have the knowledge.
28:00 For a lot of us, this work is more than just a profession it's a calling
30:00 Classroom Insider conversation with Eric Cross
37:00 Recap of Classroom Insider takeaways
39:00 Closing thoughts from Susan Lambert
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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Susan Lambert is joined by emeritus professor of psychology and education and the University of Oxford, Charles Hulme, D.Phil., and founder of Left Side Strong LLC, MaryKate DeSantis. They dive into the critial connection between oral language development and reading comprehension. They also explore exactly what oral language development is, how to screen children for deficits in oral language abilities, and the most effective strategies educators can use for intervention.

Show notes:

• Submit your comprehension questions!
• Access free resources on our companion professional learning page.
• Connect with Charles on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Charles.
• Connect with MaryKate on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Left Side Strong LLC.
• Listen to our episode with Wesley Hoover, Ph.D.
• Listen to our episode with Julie Van Dyke, Ph.D.
• Listen to our episode with Tiffany Hogan, Ph.D.
• Listen to Amplify’s Beyond My Years podcast.
• Join our Facebook group.
• Read Book Language: What It Is, How Children Can “Get It”.
• Connect with Susan Lambert.

Quotes:

"Language comprehension is really what leads us to reading comprehension." —MaryKate DeSantis

"We talk about learning to read, but we also need to talk about reading to learn. A lot of what we learn in our lives is through reading, and reading is certainly a powerful drive of vocabulary and language development." —Charles Hulme, D.Phil.

"Language skills are unconstrained, meaning the sky's the limit. As long as you continue to engage in any sort of way, your language skills can continue to develop throughout your lifetime." —Susan Lambert

Timestamps:
00:00 How language skills shape reading success
06:00 Defining reading comprehension
08:00 Reading is language. Without language, there would be no reading.
12:00 Importance of language skills for comprehension
16:00 Our main purpose in life is to communicate with others
21:00 Development of language skills
23:00 Moving the needle on literacy achievement
28:00 How students can help develop students' language capacity
31:00 Screening to assess oral language skills
35:00 Why early language instruction is effective and sustainable
39:00 Key takeaways
41:00 Focusing on language is worth the time
43:00 Closing thoughts
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by Phil Capin, Ph.D., assistant professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. They explore why recommended reading comprehension practices aren't widely implemented in schools, and what educators can do to change that. Together, they also discuss how knowledge building is foundational to reading comprehension, how writing is a powerful tool in supporting reading comprehension, and why we should structure reading instruction based on what happens before, during, and after reading.

Show notes:

• Submit your questions on comprehension: http://www.amplify.com/sor-mailbag
• Access free resources at our professional learning page: https://amplify.com/science-of-reading/professional-learning/
• Connect with Phil Capin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phil-capin-02105550
• Read Hugh Catts' article, "Rethinking How to Promote Reading Comprehension": https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1322088.pdf
• Read Catherine Snow's article, "Reading for Understanding": https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1465.html
• Learn more about Dolores Durkin's report, "What Classroom Observations Reveal about Reading Comprehension Instruction": https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED162259
• Read How People Learn: https://www.nationalacademies.org/read/9853/chapter/1
• Listen to the podcast episode with Nancy Hennessy: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s3-09-deconstructing-the-rope-vocabulary-with/id1483513974?i=1000520380191
• Listen to Season 2 of Amplify's Beyond My Years podcast: http://at.amplify.com/bmy
• Join our Facebook community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading

Quotes:

"We've underestimated the value of writing in supporting reading comprehension." —Phil Capin, Ph.D.

"Reading and writing rely on a lot of the same language processes, and writing supports the consolidation of knowledge." —Phil Capin, Ph.D.

"Students should engage with meaningful problems, and they should have a reason for learning." —Phil Capin, Ph.D.

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
04:00 Phil Capin's career path
08:00 Reading comprehension is the byproduct of a constellation of competencies
11:00 The complexity of comprehension
16:00 Dolores Durkin's findings on comprehension testing vs. teaching
22:00 Students should engage with meaningful problems
24:00 Comprehension instruction is organized by before, during, and after reading.
27:00 The value of writing for comprehension
31:00 Where comprehension strategies could be helpful
39:00 How much time should teachers dedicate to strategy instruction?
41:00 The strongest predictor of whether you're going to understand the text is the knowledge you bring.
46:00 Every teacher is a reading teacher
48:00 Closing thoughts
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by educational consultant Nancy Chapel Eberhardt, who explains why focusing on syntax at the sentence level is just as important for comprehension as word-level decoding. Together, Nancy and Susan also discuss how syntax helps students process meaning while reading, why we should start early and teach syntax to students from the beginning, and a more functional approach to syntax.

Show notes:

• Submit your questions on comprehension!
• Connect with Nancy on LinkedIn.
• Read Nancy’s article “Syntax: Somewhere Between the Words and Text.”
• Learn more about Nancy’s book Syntax: Knowledge to Practice.
• Learn more about the Syntax online course.
• Listen to last week’s syntax-focused episode, with Julie Van Dyke, Ph.D.
• Listen to the podcast the episode with Nancy Hennessy, M.Ed.
• Read Maryellen MacDonald’s article “Book Language: What It Is, How Children Can ‘Get It’.”
• Listen to Season 2 of Amplify’s Beyond My Years podcast.
• Join our community Facebook group.
• Connect with Susan Lambert.

Quotes:

"Syntax is somewhere between the individual words and the meaning of the text. It's the processing piece that's going on there." —Nancy Chapel Eberhardt

"Syntax isn't just for older kids anymore. Syntax is really something that we can start promoting, developing, encouraging, embracing from the beginning." —Nancy Chapel Eberhardt

"I actually think that as teachers embrace this idea of syntax, they're going to have a lot of fun with it. It's way more fun to talk about the meanings of words than to just decode them." —Nancy Chapel Eberhardt

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction: Diving deeper into syntax, with Nancy Chapel Eberhardt
08:00 Comprehension is lifting the meaning out of text
11:00 Sentence-level abilities make as large a contribution as word reading for comprehension
14:00 The difference between syntax and grammar
20:00 Why syntactical knowledge is so helpful in the comprehension process
24:00 Prosody helps us with our fluency with reading
30:00 Syntax is somewhere between the individual words and the meaning of the text
33:00 We've gone through several generations of students who aren't being taught syntax
37:00 It's more fun to talk about the meanings of words
39:00 Start teaching syntax by thinking about the most essential build block
45:00 Connecting words are meaningless in the absence of other words
53:00 By spending more time instructing on syntax, we will reach more of our students.
56:00 Closing: Syntax is something we can start promoting, developing, encouraging, and embracing from the beginning.
*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by research scientist and professor Julie Van Dyke, Ph.D., who explains why syntax instruction may be the missing piece in our mission to improve comprehension outcomes for all students. Together, Julie and Susan discuss why syntax is the part of the language system that matters for comprehension, how the same systematicity and rule governance that you find in teaching phonics also exists in syntax, and how explicit syntax instruction could be the next breakthrough in evidence-based literacy education.

Show notes:

• Submit your questions on comprehension!
• Connect with Julie Van Dyke on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Julie Van Dyke's research on her website.
• Watch an interview about Syntax Comes First: Understanding How Syntax Is the Backbone of Comprehension
• Watch Dr. Van Dyke's webinar: Finding the Missing Link in Reading Comprehension.
• Access recent Perspectives issues via the IDA.
• Listen to Season 2 of Amplify's Beyond My Years podcast.
• Join our community Facebook group.
• Connect with Susan Lambert.

Quotes:

"In English, syntax is word order. Syntax is the relationship between the entities in a sentence." —Julie Van Dyke, Ph.D.

"If you want to increase comprehension, you need to be explicit in syntax because that's the part of the language system that matters for comprehension." —Julie Van Dyke, Ph.D.

"Comprehension is the glue between the words. It's the process of gluing the words together, each word as you go." —Julie Van Dyke, Ph.D.

Episode Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction: Syntax and comprehension with Julie Van Dyke, Ph.D.
06:00 Nervousness around syntax instruction
11:00 Comprehension is the glue between words
15:00 The difference between grammar and syntax
19:00 How the brain learns language and how syntax is related to that learning
24:00 Oral language is much less complicated than written language
30:00 Explaining regressions
33:00 The need to be explicit in syntax instruction
36:00 How we develop fluency as syntax
44:00 Closing thoughts: Syntax can move the needle on the nation's report card

*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by Affiliated Scholar at the Stern Center for Language and Learning, Melissa Farrall, Ph.D., to discuss understanding assessment. Melissa explains why it's beneficial for every educator to understand the fundamentals of assessment, especially comprehension assessment. Together, Melissa and Susan discuss the relationship between reading comprehension and language comprehension, why reading comprehension can be challenging to assess, and how, in a perfect world, educators would be trained both in the Science of Reading and assessment.

Show notes:

• Submit your questions on comprehension!
• Access free, high-quality resources at our brand new, companion professional learning page.
• Connect with Melissa Farrall on LinkedIn.
• Learn more about Chall's Stages of Reading Development.
• Read Reading Assessment: Linking Language, Literacy, and Cognition
• Read The Academic Achievement Challenge: What Really Works in the Classroom
• Listen to Season 2 of Amplify's Beyond My Years podcast.
• Join our community Facebook group.
• Connect with Susan Lambert.

Quotes:

• "My view of reading comprehension is that it is thinking guided by print." —Melissa Farrall, Ph.D.
• "If we supplement our evaluation with measures of listening comprehension, we can then get a sense of an individual's ability to make meaning." —Melissa Farrall, Ph.D.
• "In a perfect world, we would have not just evaluators, but educators who are trained both in the Science of Reading and in assessment so that we can all sit at the same table and participate." —Melissa Farrall, Ph.D.

Episode Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction: Exploring comprehension assessment, with Melissa Farrall
07:00 The legacy of Jean Chall's research on the developmental stages of reading
10:00 "Reading Assessment: Linking Language, Literacy, and Cognition"
17:00 Comprehension is thinking guided by print
21:00 Different ways of assessing reading comprehension
27:00 Kintsch's construction-integration model
30:00 Word recognition
33:00 Reading comprehension is not easily quantified
38:00 How background knowledge affect the meaning-making process
41:00 The two modalities of language comprehension
45:00 How today's educators might think differently about comprehension instruction
48:00 Closing thoughts

*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by University of Oregon College of Education Professor and Ann Swindells Chair in Education Gina Biancarosa, Ed.D., to explore how best to assess for comprehension. Gina elaborates on her extensive work developing more precise and informative measurements of reading comprehension and discusses think-aloud research, demonstrating how to infer for coherence, and examining how students who are struggling with comprehension tend to rely too heavily on making inferences or paraphrasing.

Show notes:

• Submit your questions on comprehension!
• Access free, high-quality resources at our brand new, companion professional learning page.
• Connect with Gina on LinkedIn.
• Read “Diagnostic and Instructionally Relevant Measurement of Reading Comprehension”
• Watch Dr. Biancarosa's recent Amplify webinar appearance: Where and How to Measure Comprehension to Drive Improvement
• Listen to Season 2 of Amplify’s Beyond My Years podcast.
• Join our community Facebook group.
• Connect with Susan Lambert.

Quotes:

"A lot of what we know about reading comprehension comes from think-alouds where you ask someone to tell you what they're thinking as they read." —Gina Biancarosa, Ed.D

"To model reading comprehension, [try] thinking aloud in front of a classroom of students in a way that is instructive for them, and also authentic to the reading process." —Gina Biancarosa, Ed.D.

"Students are making causal inferences in their daily lives, when they watch movies, and when they're hearing stories. And so what we're really trying to do is get them to generalize these behaviors that they engage in outside of the task of reading, during reading." —Gina Biancarosa, Ed.D.

Episode Timestamps:
02:00 Introduction: Gina Biancarosa, Ed.D. and comprehension assessment
08:00 How do we assess comprehension?
14:00 Think-aloud research
21:00 MOCCA (Multiple-Choice Online Causal Comprehension Assessment)
24:00 Causal coherence
30:00 Paraphrasers and elaborators
33:00 Comprehension assessment research
39:00 Professional development and comprehension assessment
42:00 Closing thoughts
*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by Northwestern University Professor of Education, Social Policy, and Psychology David Rapp. David’s research focuses on language and memory, and his conversation with Susan gives insight into how memory is connected to comprehension. The first half of the episode is spent defining comprehension as a process, a product, and a higher-order cognitive process. David then digs into how that definition informs the ways in which educators assess comprehension and where they can look for potential failure points. One of these failure points includes misinformation. David addresses what happens when misinformation is stored in long-term memory. He details the issues this can cause for student comprehension, and he gives guidance on how to prevent and correct them.

Show notes:

• Submit your questions on comprehension!
• Access free, high-quality resources at our brand new, companion professional learning page.
• Check out David Rapp's lab.
• Resources:
  • Listen to Season 2 of Amplify’s Beyond My Years podcast.
• Join our community Facebook group.
• Connect with Susan Lambert.

Quotes:

“Once the information is in memory, you can't really get rid of it. What you can try to do is make other memories more powerful, more likely to resonate to things.” —David Rapp, Ph.D.

“Sometimes our most effective processes actually lead us to misunderstand. For example, you're really good at encoding information to memory, that's great, except if you're exposed to inaccurate ideas, that's a problem.” —David Rapp, Ph.D.

“It feels easy for us to comprehend texts if we're well practiced at it, it feels easy, but it's actually a lot of cognitive operations going on behind the scenes and a lot of years of practice.” —David Rapp, Ph.D.

“In terms of being exposed to misinformation, we see even if people have been exposed to inaccurate ideas, even once, it's encoded into memory, it's potentially gonna be there to influence you.” —David Rapp, Ph.D.

Episode Timestamps
02:00 Introduction: Who is David Rapp?
04:00 Defining reading comprehension
05:00 Comprehension as a process vs a product
08:00 Comprehension as a higher order cognitive process
12:00 Coherence
18:00 Memory activation and misinformation
21:00 Consequences of misinformation
25:00 Correcting misinformation
28:00 Preventing misinformation
36:00 The evolution of thinking on comprehension
40:00 Current research
45:00 Closing thoughts and encouragement to dig into research
*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by Doug Lemov, former teacher and school principal, to discuss how teachers can identify when disfluency is actually the root cause for students’ struggles with comprehension—and what they can do about it. Using his new book, The Teach Like a Champion Guide to the Science of Reading, to guide the discussion, Susan and Doug address building attention stamina, the argument for reading whole books, and the value of expressive read-alouds. Finally, Doug ends the episode asserting that humans are meant to live in community, and that a deeper level of comprehension is unlocked through deep empathic connection to text and the experience of reading with others.

Show notes:

• Listen to Season 2 of the Beyond My Years podcast for solutions to common teaching challenges directly from seasoned educators.
• Connect with Doug Lemov:
  • X: @Doug_Lemov
• Resources:
  • Read: The Teach Like a Champion Guide to the Science of Reading
  • Watch: Gabby Woolf’s Dr. Jekyll Lesson and the Power of Reading Fluency
  • Listen: ”Phonology as a settled science”
  • Listen: ”The plea to preserve deep reading, with Maryanne Wolf, Ed.D.”
  • Listen: ”Writing the way to better reading, with Judith Hochman, Ed.D.”
  • Listen: ”The joy of reading aloud, with Molly Ness”
  • Download: cComprehension 101 Bundle
• Submit your questions on comprehension!
• Join our community Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading
• Connect with Susan Lambert: www.linkedin.com/in/susan-lambert-b1512761/

Quotes:

“If you're not a fluent reader, you can't be a deep reader.”—Doug Lemov

“The research is clear that when you start to read expressively externally, then your internal reading voice while reading silently is much more expressive and therefore infused with more meaning.”—Doug Lemov

Episode Timestamps
03:00 Introduction: Doug Lemov
05:00 The importance of the middle grades
07:00 Book: The Teach like a Champion Guide to the Science of Reading
13:00 How to build attention stamina
16:00 Background knowledge and vocabulary
19:00 Writing’s impact on memory and reading
22:00 The value in reading whole books
25:00 Embracing smaller writing assignments
27:00 Fluency deep dive
30:00 Working memory
35:00 Troubleshooting fluency
39:00 Expressive reading
41:00 Read-alouds
44:00 Reading as a social act
52:00 The argument for books
*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this special dyslexia-focused Essentials episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert pulls from past episodes to summarize everything you need to know about dyslexia, from experts Emily Lutrick, Ed.D.; Nadine Gaab, Ph.D.; Tim Odegard, Ph.D.; Sally Shaywitz, M.D.; and Francisco Usero-González, Ph.D. You'll also hear first-hand accounts from young people about their personal experiences with dyslexia, reading, and the education system. Even if you have little prior knowledge of dyslexia, you’ll walk away from this episode with a foundational understanding of the condition, including what it is, what causes it, how to identify it, the importance of early screening, how it is a continuum, methods for intervention, and more.

Show notes:

• Resources
  • Access free high-quality resources at our brand new professional learning page: http://amplify.com/science-of-reading/professional-learning
  • Download your Dyslexia Support Power Pack
  • Listen to these additional full-length episodes about dyslexia:
    • Diagnosing dyslexia in multilingual learners, with Francisco Usero-González
    • Growing up with dyslexia, with Kareem Weaver, Margaret Malaika Weaver, and Elijah Valencia
    • Dyslexia: Where we started; where we're going, with Sally Shaywitz
    • Debunking the "gift" of dyslexia, with Tim Odegard
    • A conversation about growing up with dyslexia, with Hadyn Fleming
    • Dyslexia and developmental trajectories, with Nadine Gaab
    • The facts and myths of dyslexia, with Emily Lutrick
• Join our community Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading

Episode Timestamps
00:27 Introduction to SoR: Essentials
01:02 Susan’s personal connection with dyslexia
02:53 Accounts from young people on their experience of dyslexia
05:09 Defining dyslexia with Dr. Emily Lutrick
06:53 Dyslexia as a reading disability with Dr. Nadine Gaab
07:39 Three key characteristics of people with dyslexia with Dr. Tim Odegard
09:42 Longitudinal study with Dr. Sally Shaywitz
11:54 The causes of dyslexia
13:09 Early identification and effective intervention
15:22 Discrepancy model/Waiting to fail model
16:35 How early is too early to screen for dyslexia
18:37 How to know when a student is at risk for dyslexia
21:54 Identifying risk factors in older students
22:54 Decoding nonsense words
24:27 The power of naming a struggle
25:28 The importance of having a cohesive system in place
26:43 Screening students in their home language with Dr. Franci

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In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by Katie Pace Miles, Ph.D., founder of The Reading Institute and director of the Advanced Certificates in Reading Science, Brooklyn College. An expert in orthographic mapping, Pace Miles explains why it’s a cognitive process, why that means it can’t be “taught,” and how we can instead leverage an understanding of it to inform instructional practices across reading, writing, and spelling to improve comprehension. Pace Miles outlines what it takes to develop good word-reading habits in emergent readers, and offers step-by-step advice on how to implement quick intervention when needed.

Show notes:

• Submit your questions on comprehension!
• Access free, high-quality resources at our brand-new companion professional learning page.
• Connect with Katie Pace Miles:
  • Website: https://www.katiepacemilesphd.com/
  • Instagram: @thereadinginstitutenyc
• Resources:
  • Book: Making Words Stick: A Four-Step Instructional Routine to Power Up Orthographic Mapping
  • Article: ”Phases of Development in Learning to Read and Spell Words” by Linnea C. Ehri
  • Podcast episode: The joy of reading aloud, with Molly Ness
• Join our community Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading
• Connect with Susan Lambert: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-lambert-edd-b1512761/
• Check out Season 2 of the Beyond My Years podcast at.amplify.com/bmy

Quotes:

"You don't teach orthographic mapping, 'cause, again, that's a cognitive process, but you can facilitate support for long-term storage of words." —Katie Pace Miles, Ph.D.

"Never acquiesce to illiteracy. We all, as a community that supports all readers, have to figure out what instruction needs to be provided and what dosage over what duration of time … and it will happen." —Katie Pace Miles, Ph.D.

"If you're focused only on phonics and not on spelling, you are going to miss a whole bunch of decoding instruction, word analysis work." —Katie Pace Miles, Ph.D.

"You don't need a Ph.D. to have that knowledge. That should come in all teacher training. The complexity of the English language—every teacher I've ever met can handle it once we teach it." —Katie Pace Miles, Ph.D.

Episode timestamps
03:00 Introduction: Who is Katie Pace Miles?
04:00 Beginnings as a teacher
07:00 Book: Making Words Stick: A four step instructional routine to power up orthographic mapping
10:00 The motivation behind the book
13:00 Orthographic mapping as a cognitive process
17:00 Can you teach orthographic mapping?
19:00 Research behind the theory of orthographic mapping
24:00 Developing good word reading habits with emergent readers
28:00 Reading-spelling connection
32:00 Rubberband analogy: Developing speaking and reading skills in tandem
34:00 Orthographic mapping can support or impede comprehension
39:00 Intervention
43:00 Activities and strategies from the book
44:00 Final thoughts
Timestam

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In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by Wesley Hoover, a psycholinguist at the University of Texas at Austin, to discuss the Simple View of Reading and how it can serve as the basis for our understanding of comprehension. Wesley digs into all the complexities of this model—which is only simple at a high level—including the meaning of language comprehension vs. reading comprehension, the impact of word recognition, and using the simple view to identify struggling students. He’ll even address the limitations of the simple view of reading, untangle common misconceptions, and give you tools for assessing the value of any model for reading that you might encounter.

Show notes:

• Submit your questions on comprehension!
• Access free, high-quality resources at our brand-new, companion professional learning page: http://amplify.com/science-of-reading/professional-learning
• Resources:
  • Listen: Science of Reading Essentials: Comprehension
  • Read: The Primacy of Science in Communicating Advances in the Science of Reading
• Join our community Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading
• Connect with Susan Lambert: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-lambert-edd-b1512761/
• Check out Season 2 of the Beyond My Years podcast at.amplify.com/bmy

Quotes:

"Language comprehension is unbounded… the knowledge of the world and being able to express the knowledge of the world in language—that's always a key difficulty you work on for your entire life.” —Wesley Hoover, Ph.D.

“If you're a teacher thinking about language comprehension, whatever time you devote to helping people understand language, if you can be effective in doing that, you'll never waste a kid's time.” —Wesley Hoover, Ph.D.

"To be a reader, you have to be good at two things: word recognition and language comprehension. Both of them are necessary components of reading, but neither one of them is sufficient on its own.”—Wesley Hoover, Ph.D.

Episode timestamps
03:00 Introduction: Wesley Hoover and the simple view of reading
06:00 What is the simple view of reading?
08:00 What is language comprehension?
10:00 What is word recognition?
11:00 Defining reading comprehension
12:00 Dr. Gough’s big A-Ha! Moment
15:00 Reading competency
16:00 Misconceptions of the simple view of reading
21:00 Changing the size of the boxes
23:00 Extension of the simple view
26:00 Using the simple view to identify kids that are struggling
29:00 What the simple view does or does not address
33:00 Navigating models of reading comprehension
35:00 Is the simple view outdated?
38:00 Why is comprehension worth exploring?
41:00 Final advice
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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Podcast host Susan Lambert gives you a first look at Season 10 of Science of Reading: The Podcast. This season will focus on reading comprehension, taking a deep dive into what is ultimately the goal of every classroom: breaking down why comprehension matters and how to achieve it. Get a glimpse into the season’s different angles on comprehension, as well as the expert guests you can look forward to hearing from.

Show notes:

• Access free, high-quality resources at our brand new, companion professional learning page: http://amplify.com/science-of-reading/professional-learning
• Join our community Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading
• Connect with Susan Lambert: www.linkedin.com/in/susan-lambert-b1512761/
• Trailer: Beyond My Years is back for Season 2!

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In this crossover episode Susan Lambert joins host Ana Torres and Classroom Insider Eric Cross from sister podcast, Beyond My Years. Together, the trio dive into the idea that all educators contribute to—and thus must invest in—student literacy development, regardless of the content they teach. Throughout the conversation, they discuss how all teachers are literacy teachers, offer four simple tips for developing academic language in any classroom, and explore why Susan still doesn't feel like a "seasoned educator" despite over 30 years in education. Finally, Ana and Eric discuss what they learned and Eric shares his top three takeaways from Susan.

Show notes:

• Subscribe to Beyond My Years https://at.amplify.com/bmy
• Access free, high-quality resources at our brand new, companion professional learning page: http://amplify.com/science-of-reading/professional-learning
• Connect with:
  • Susan Lambert: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-lambert-edd-b1512761/
  • Ana Torres: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anayansi-ana-torres-m-ed-26a10654/
  • Eric Cross: https://www.ericcross.org/
• Resources:
  • Science of Reading: A New Teacher’s Guide
  • Scarborough’s Reading Rope
  • The Knowledge Gap by Natalie Wexler
• Join our community Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading
• Follow us on Instagram @amplify.education

Quotes:

“Reading and writing and understanding language is not just an English language arts teacher's responsibility. It's the responsibility of every educator to communicate their discipline and the words and the concepts from their discipline to their students.” —Susan Lambert

“[The Science of Reading movement] is not being led by one person or another person. … I'm part of a greater community, and to know that I play a certain role or part in that community actually gives me a lot of inspiration on days when it's really, really hard.” —Susan Lambert

“Any teacher in a classroom, no matter what content area they teach, is teaching something about language.” —Susan Lambert

“The more that we can sharpen our tools and our skillset to be those teachers of literacy, the faster we're going to see improvements in learning in our classrooms. They're not two separate things.” —Eric Cross

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In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, literacy coach (and podcast host in her own right) Amie Burkholder joins us to discuss her new book, Literacy Unlocked: How to Implement the Science of Reading With Young Learners. Amie talks through the origins of the book, how she structured it to be really actionable for educators, and what she hopes educators will take away from it. Amie and Susan also discuss some of the biggest recent changes to the Science of Reading movement, the areas Amie most often sees educators struggle when making the switch to research-based literacy instruction, and some tips educators can implement today—including a walkthrough of a classroom activity targeting phonemic awareness.

Show notes:

• Access free, high-quality resources at our brand new, companion professional learning page: http://amplify.com/science-of-reading/professional-learning
• Connect with Amie:
  • Instagram: @literacy.edventures
  • Listen to Amie’s podcast: Route2Reading
• Resources:
  • Book: Literacy Unlocked: How to Implement the Science of Reading With Young Learners
  • Download the Science of Reading: A New Teacher's Guide today!
    amplify.com/sorguide
• Join our community Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading
• Connect with Susan Lambert: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-lambert-edd-b1512761/

Quotes:

“Look to those that you trust to guide you.” —Amie Burkholder

“If you try to change everything you're doing, you're not going to do anything well. Pick one area of your literacy block you’re really gonna nail. Once you nail that—add another one.” —Amie Burkholder

“I want [the book] to follow the research, but I want it to be simple enough for teachers to execute, [and] also engaging enough for kids to want to do it.” —Amie Burkholder

Episode timestamps
02:00 Introduction: Who is Amie Burkholder?
07:00 Literacy Unlocked: How to Implement the Science of Reading with Young Learners
11:00 Book Structure
12:00 Phonemic awareness classroom activity walkthrough
16:00 Learning while writing the book
17:00 Strategy for getting the most out of conferences
18:00 Favorite conferences
19:00 Biggest changes to the science of reading movement
20:00 Recommendation for people diving into the research for the first time
22:00 Implementation: Biggest struggle for teaching making the shift
24:00 Ideal takeaway from the book
25:00 Closing thoughts
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, top literacy scholar Tim Shanahan, Ph.D., returns to discuss his new book, Leveled Reading, Leveled Lives: How Students’ Reading Achievement Has Been Held Back and What We Can Do About It. During his conversation with Susan Lambert, he outlines what existing research says about leveled reading—and why it’s not effective. He also shares how the misuse of theory can lead to ineffectual conclusions, makes a case for the efficacy of more explicit instruction, and provides a few simple tweaks teachers can make to classroom instruction that can make a big difference for their students.

Show notes:

• Access free, high-quality resources at our brand new companion professional learning page.
• Resources:
  • Book:Leveled Reading, Leveled Lives: How Students’ Reading Achievement Has Been Held Back and What We Can Do About It
• Join our community Facebook group.
• Connect with Susan Lambert.

Quotes:

“This notion of trying to match kids to books and get everybody to their right level is, at the very least, wasteful. It's not benefiting kids.” —Tim Shanahan, Ph.D.

“We're spending an awful lot of time doing a lot of work that is not only not paying off, but it's probably holding a lot of kids back.” —Tim Shanahan, Ph.D.

“Maybe we should be having kids read some of these texts more than once. Maybe we should be doing some of our fluency work, not after we did the comprehension work, but ahead of time.” —Tim Shanahan, Ph.D.

Episode timestamps
02:00 Introduction: Who is Tim Shanahan?
03:00 Most proud of as a researcher
05:00 Most proud of in education policy work
06:00 First book: Leveled Reading, Leveled Lives
07:00 Motivation to write: Addressing instructional levels
14:00 Relevance of misuse of theory
17:00 Leveled instruction isn’t effective
21:00 Self-reflections in the writing process
22:00 Parallels to verbal learning
24:00 What can teachers do?
26:00 Fluency and reading things twice
32:00 Grade level teaching opens opportunities
33:00 The future of literacy development
39:00 What is happening in American schools?
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this special Essentials episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert pulls from past episodes to distill reading comprehension insights from experts Hugh Catts, Ph.D.; Sharon Vaughn, Ph.D.; and Reid Smith, Ph.D. Listeners will walk away from this episode with a foundational introduction to the complexities of reading comprehension, and gain an understanding of topics such as reframing comprehension as an outcome rather than a skill, choosing the right texts and asking the right questions, cultivating long term memory and knowledge recall, and understanding the real purpose of reading.

Show notes:

• Access the listening guide—and other free, high-quality resources—at our brand new professional learning page: http://amplify.com/science-of-reading/professional-learning
• Join our community Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading

Quotes:

“This Essentials episode does not answer everything about comprehension. All we're doing here is building a foundation, understanding that comprehension isn't a skill, it's complex.” —Susan Lambert

“ For the most part, if we're paying attention, if we can read words efficiently and know what they mean and have background knowledge, it yields comprehension.” —Sharon Vaughn

“ Some people say that the purpose of reading is comprehension. It's not the purpose of reading. The purpose of reading is whatever you're comprehending for.” —Hugh Catts

“[There’s] a strong literature base that tells us that one of the differences between poor readers and strong readers is their ability to notice when there are inconsistencies in the text, and have strategies that they can employ to resolve those inconsistencies.” —Reid Smith

Episode Timestamps
01:00 What are “Science of Reading: Essentials” episodes
02:00 Introduction to comprehension
05:00 Defining comprehension
07:00 Reading comprehension as an outcome
09:00 The purpose of reading with Hugh Catts
11:00 Comprehension vs foundational reading skills
17:00 The importance of text and asking the right questions with Sharon Vaughn
20:00 Discussion on leveled reading
26:00 Background knowledge with Reid Smith
28:00 Long term memory and knowledge recall
31:00 Final thoughts, tips, & encouragement
34:00 Key takeaways from Susan
36:00 Season 10 preview
39:00 Coming up next: Tim Shanahan
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this rewind episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, we revisit a Season 1 conversation between host Susan Lambert and Anne Lucas, former curriculum director and current Associate Vice President of Product, Literacy Suite Initiatives & Supplementals at Amplify on the complexities of reading comprehension.Together they dive into the complex nature of comprehension and why it’s so difficult to teach.

Show notes:

• Access free, high-quality resources at our brand new, companion professional learning page: http://amplify.com/science-of-reading/professional-learning
• Resources:
  • Read: Understanding and Teaching Reading Comprehension by Jane Oakhill
  • Read: The missing link in comprehension white paper
  • Listen: Science of Reading Essentials: Writing
• Join our community Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading
• Connect with Susan Lambert: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-lambert-edd-b1512761/
• Find our more information – and register – for our Science of Reading Summer Learning Series: https://amplify.com/sorsummerlearning

Quotes:

“We often think about comprehension as a product, or something that happens after kids read, but … the ability for a student to build a model or a network of ideas or a picture in their mind happens while they're reading.” —Anne Lucas

“You know, you don't have to completely change your curriculum; you don't have to completely change the way you're teaching.” —Anne Lucas

“Comprehension is making sense and meaning while you read, so you have the ability to discuss, analyze, and form an opinion about something after you read it.” —Anne Lucas

Episode timestamps
03:00 Introduction: Who is Anne Lucas?
07:00 Defining comprehension
09:00 The missing link in comprehension
10:00 Comprehension micro skills vs decoding
14:00 End goal vs. process
16:00 Current research
18:00 Significance of “small” words
20:00 Targeting micro skills in the classroom
22:00 Comprehension skills vs strategies
27:00 Teacher response to learning about micro skills
29:00 Background knowledge
31:00 Final takeaways on comprehension
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert welcomes back researcher and author Daniel Willingham, Ph.D., to discuss reading comprehension. With only so much instruction time in the day and research supporting both comprehension strategies and knowledge building, it can be tough to know what to prioritize in the classroom. Daniel holds nothing back in outlining exactly where educators should focus their time. Together, he and Susan explore the limitations of comprehension strategies, the place for critical thinking skills in relationship to knowledge, and recognizing when messaging around knowledge has gone too far.

Show notes:

• Access free, high-quality resources at our brand new companion professional learning page: http://amplify.com/science-of-reading/professional-learning
• Resources:
  • Read: Developing Curriculum for Deep Thinking: The Knowledge Revival, multiple authors
  • Read: Raising Kids Who Read, Daniel Willingham
  • Read: The Reading Mind, Daniel Willingham
  • Listen: The basic science in reading instruction, with Daniel Willingham
  • Listen: Background knowledge, with Susan Neuman
  • Listen: ​​Research, comprehension, and content-rich literacy instruction: Sonia Cabell
• Join our community Facebook group
• Connect with Susan Lambert

Quotes:

“Your brain is really good at only bringing out the information from long-term memory that is relevant for the context. All of that's happening outside of awareness.” —Daniel Willingham, Ph.D.

“When reading is really humming, when it's really working well, it's like visual perception. You're just enjoying the view and you're oblivious to all of the cognitive machinery in the background that's letting you see.” —Daniel Willingham, Ph.D.

“Expecting that knowledge-rich curriculum is going to solve all problems… that's [not] what a reading program is. No, a reading program is multifaceted and needs to have lots of components.” —Daniel Willingham, Ph.D.

“Knowledge accrues slowly and it's going to take a while. You need to be patient.” —Daniel Willingham, Ph.D.

Episode timestamps
2:00 Introduction: Who is Daniel Willingham?
05:00 Knowledge and reading comprehension
08:00 What it takes to be comfortable reading
10:00 Academic or disciplinary knowledge
11:00 Comprehension strategies
20:00 Applications of knowledge that can be difficult to appreciate
25:00 Inferences can be automatic
26:00 Taking the “knowledge is important” message too far
31:00 Critical thinking and knowledge building
32:00 How to decide what knowledge is important to teach
36:00 Book: Developing Curriculum for Deep Thinking
39:00 Final thoughts and advice
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by Nathaniel Swain, Ph.D. He’s a teacher, instructional coach, and author of the recent book Harnessing the Science of Learning: Success Stories to Help Kickstart Your School Improvement. Emphasizing the science of learning as an ever-growing resource for updating instruction practices, he provides a comprehensive look at how knowledge powers learning, how to identify knowledge-rich curricula, how cognitive load affects learning, and how to understand several common learning misconceptions.

Show notes:

• Access free, high-quality resources at our brand-new companion professional learning page: http://amplify.com/science-of-reading/professional-learning
• Connect with Nathaniel Swain, Ph.D.:
  • Website: nathanielswain.com
• Resources:
  • Book: Harnessing the Science of Learning
  • Think Forward Educators
  • Deans for Impact
  • Listen: Chalk Dust
• Join our community Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading
• Connect with Susan Lambert: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-lambert-edd-b1512761/

Quotes:

“The greatest thing about the science of learning is that it's never really gonna be finished. Much like the science of reading, it's constantly being updated and it's something that we should be constantly turning to.” –Nathaniel Swain, Ph.D.

“When we have knowledge at our fingertips—or in this case, in our synapses—ready to be used, we can overcome all these limitations that cognitive load theory talks about.” –Nathaniel Swain, Ph.D.

“We're kidding ourselves a little bit if we think that we can replace that rich content knowledge with generic skills and generic competencies.” –Nathaniel Swain, Ph.D.

Episode timestamps
02:00 Introduction: Who is Nathaniel Swain?
03:00 Science of learning book
11:00 Knowledge powers all learning
15:00 Addressing common learning myths
18:00 Knowledge retrieval
21:00 Misconception: Productive struggle
22:00 Misconception: “Preparing students for the 21st century”
26:00 Enriching schema
29:00 Background knowledge and confirmation bias
30:00 Knowledge rich curriculum
32:00 Knowledge that is manageable and achievable
37:00 Skills AND knowledge
44:00 Chalk Dust podcast
45:00 Final thoughts and advice
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this special Science of Reading Essentials episode, Susan Lambert pulls from past episodes of the podcast to give you everything you need to know about science-based writing instruction. Experts include Steve Graham, Ed.D.; Young-Suk Grace Kim, Ed.D.; Natalie Wexler; and Judith Hochman, Ed.D. Listeners will walk away from this episode with a solid foundation for creating a classroom of confident and capable writers, and gain a better understanding of the connection between reading and writing, the role of handwriting and spelling, the power of sentences, and the importance of applying cognitive load theory to writing.

Show notes:

• Resources
  • Access the listening guide—and other free, high-quality resources—at our brand new professional learning page: http://amplify.com/science-of-reading/professional-learning
• Join our community Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading

Quotes:

“This is not learned by osmosis. And it's not learned by vague feedback, like, ‘make it better’ or ‘add more details.’ You've got to be very granular.” —Judith Hochman, Ed.D.

"What we see with exceptional teachers is they have their kids write." —Steve Graham, Ed.D.

“The Science of Reading encapsulates decades of research about both reading and writing—because if writing was never invented, we would not have to teach kids how to read.” —Susan Lambert

Episode timestamps
02:00 The importance of writing
05:00 Mental models: Understand reading and writing, with Young-Suk Grace Kim
10:00 Handwriting and spelling, with Steve Graham
16:00 The power of sentences, with Judith Hochman
21:00 3 ways of thinking about the reading and writing connection, with Steve Graham
21:00 Shared knowledge
23:00 Rhetorical relations
25:00 Functional approach
26:00 Learning science and cognitive load theory, with Natalie Wexler
30:00 Final thoughts, tips, and encouragement
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this special episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by Jackie Relyea, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Literacy Education at North Carolina State University, who’ll give you a comprehensive guide to integrating background knowledge into your teaching as, you create a content-rich classroom. Jackie offers insights on why time-tested classroom staples such as read-alouds and word walls are effective tools for building background knowledge … and how to make them even better. She also digs into why vocabulary is just one facet of conceptual knowledge and what the research says about background knowledge for multilingual learners.

Show notes:

• Connect with Jackie Eunjung Relyea, Ph.D:
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackie-e-relyea-82953242/
  • NC State University: https://ced.ncsu.edu/people/jrelyea/
• Resources
  • The CLICK Lab
  • Effects of Tier 1 Content Literacy Intervention on Early-Grade English Learners’ Reading and Writing.
  • Transactional Development of Science and Mathematics Knowledge and Reading Proficiency for Multilingual Students Across Languages of Instruction
  • Listen: The joy of reading aloud, with Molly Ness
  • Listen: Supporting multilingual/English learners with the Science of Reading
• Join our community Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading
• Connect with Susan Lambert: www.linkedin.com/in/susan-lambert-ed-d-b1512761/

Quotes:

“Literacy for my students meant more than just reading and writing; it was about access, access to the world, and access to knowledge and opportunities, and even independence—finding their voices.” –Jackie Eunjung Relyea, Ph.D.

“You can think of a schema like… mental maps or the frameworks that help us store and organize new information and knowledge. The richer and the more detailed your schema about a particular topic, the easier it is to understand and remember new information about it.” –Jackie Eunjung Relyea, Ph.D.

“Vocabulary oftentimes is the tip of the iceberg of the whole: the conceptual knowledge. It's not a simple definition of the single word; it's really conceptual knowledge and understanding that is represented by the word.” –Jackie Eunjung Relyea, Ph.D.

Episode timestamps
02:00 Introduction: Who is Dr. Jackie Relyea?
10:00 Importance of knowledge building
14:00 Reciprocal relationship between reading and knowledge building
18:00 Reading comprehension strategies as scaffolding
21:00 Using interactive read-alouds
24:00 Concept mapping and word walls
26:00 Vocabulary is the tip of the iceberg
28:00 Multilingual learners
37:00 Research on knowledge building
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this special episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by Assistant Professor of Literacy and Coordinator of Reading Science Programs at Marian University Karen Betz, Ed.D., to discuss a key topic in the Science of Reading movement: higher education. Betz describes how we can better prepare new teachers to provide evidence-based instruction, and her tool to help teachers in higher education assess whether their courses align to reading research. Betz also offers advice for current practitioners on how they can support change at the university level.

Show notes:

• Connect with Karen Betz:
  • Connect via Facebook: Klipsch College
• Resources
  • Website: Marian University’s M.S. in reading science
  • Website: Higher Education Community of Practice for Professors of Literacy
  • Download: Course Alignment Planning Tool
  • The Center for Reading Science: Implementing the Science of Reading in Higher Education
  • The Reading League Compass: Educator Preparation Programs
  • Map: The Reading League Compass: Policymakers and State Education Agencies
  • Read: Teaching Reading Sourcebook
  • Read: Essentials of Assessing, Preventing, and Overcoming Reading Difficulties
  • Website: Stronger Together: The Alliance for Reading Science in Higher Education
  • Listen: What I should have learned in college, with Donna Hejtmanek
• Join our community Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading
• Connect with Susan Lambert: www.linkedin.com/in/susan-lambert-b1512761/

Quotes:

“Don't be afraid to say ‘I don't know.’ I think people respect that, that you say, ‘I just don't know’ and ‘how can you help me learn more?’”—Karen Betz, Ed.D.

And it ultimately always is going to come down to the children, and we can never lose sight of that. It's about the kids.” —Karen Betz, Ed.D.

Episode timestamps
02:00 Introduction: Who is Karen Betz
07:00 First lightbulb moment
09:00 Why is higher education teacher education a hot topic right now?
12:00 Relationship between schools and universities
14:00 Partnering with reading science aligned grade schools
17:00 Legislation for teacher development
20:00 Collaboration between universities
23:00 Professional development for higher education
25:00 Creating a tool to help higher education teachers
32:00 Key takeaways for Dr. Karen Betz
35:00 Final thoughts
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this special episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by Claude Goldenberg, Ph.D., professor of education at Stanford University, to answer questions from our listener mailbag. Together they address a wide range of topics facing today’s educators, such as what to do when your school implements conflicting materials, how to support students that are two or three grade levels behind, best practices for teaching multilingual learners, and more!

Show notes:

• Connect with Claude Goldenberg:
  • Substack: https://claudegoldenberg.substack.com/
• Resources
  • Literacy Foundations for English Learners, A Comprehensive Guide to Evidence-Based Instruction by Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan, Ed.D.
• Join our community Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading
• Connect with Susan Lambert: www.linkedin.com/in/susan-lambert-b1512761/
• Have a burning question? Submit at amplify.com/sormailbag

Quotes:

“Incrementalism is just not going to serve our purpose unless you want to keep things as they are. And I hate to say this, Susan…some people wouldn't mind leaving things as they are. And we can't do that, and we can't do it incrementally. We've got to really move, like last year.” —Claude Goldenberg

“You’ve got to understand how [two programs] fit together and what the purpose is. Giving teachers materials that are literally incoherent and don't fit with each other is not the answer.” —Claude Goldenberg

“We need to have a system ... using the best knowledge that we have systematically throughout the state, throughout the country, with systems that pick up kids who are at risk and don't let them fail.” —Claude Goldenberg

Episode timestamps
02:00 The latest from Claude Goldenberg
04:00 Literacy and the urgency of now
7:00 Question 1: What about the pendulum swing?
15:00 Question 2: What to do when your school implements conflicting materials?
21:00 Question 3: Why are running records and leveled texts discouraged?
22:00 Decoding v.s. Word recognition
29:00 Question 4: How do we support kids that are two or three grade levels behind?
30:00 Dyslexia and the importance of universal screening
35:00 Question 5: How would you increase reading proficiency in a school in which nearly every student is a multilingual learner?
45:00 Question 6: How do you apply the science of reading to an ELL student in middle school that doesn’t yet know the language?
48:00 Question 7: Is it best practice for bilingual students who are being taught to decode and encode in English and Spanish to be screened in English and Spanish?
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by Young-Suk Grace Kim, a professor at University of California at Irvine's School of Education. Dr. Kim begins by defining a theoretical model, outlining its value to teachers as it pertains to literacy instruction. She describes her own interactive dynamic literacy (IDL) model, which seeks to more fully explain reading and writing connections. Dr. Kim emphasizes how reading and writing function as a powerful and closely related system, and examines how this system interacts with developmental phases, linguistic grain size, and reading and writing difficulties, including dyslexia. After navigating the complexities of this conversation, Susan ends the episode by sharing her unique insights and takeaways from her time with Dr. Kim.

Show notes:

• Connect with Young-Suk Grace Kim:
  • X: @YoungSukKim19
• Resources
  • Read: Enhancing Reading and Writing Skills through Systematically Integrated Instruction
  • Read: Reading and Writing Relations Are Not Uniform: They Differ by the Linguistic Grain Size, Developmental Phase, and Measurement
• Join our community Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading
• Connect with Susan Lambert: www.linkedin.com/in/susan-lambert-b1512761/
• Want to hear more of Dr. Kim? Join us for our upcoming Spring Science of Reading Summit where she’ll be giving the keynote address on the relationship between reading, writing, and language. Save your spot: amplify.com/springsorsummit

Quotes:

“Lower order skills are necessary for higher order skills; that means skills and knowledge have a series of causal effects. So if you flip it the other way, any challenges or weaknesses in lower order skills, it's going to have a series of impacts on higher order skills.” —Young-Suk Grace Kim, Ed.D.

“Theory is an explanation about how things work. …It's a structured framework, a mental framework, that helps us explain, and predict, and understand phenomena.” —Young-Suk Grace Kim, Ed.D.

“If an educator goes to a professional development and learns about something like phoneme awareness…but you don't have a framework in which to attach it, you can sort of go down a rabbit trail on one thing instead of thinking about how it relates to the whole.” —Susan Lambert

Episode timestamps
03:00 Introduction: Who is Young-Suk Grace Kim?
05:00: Defining a theoretical model
07:00 Origins of Young-Suk’s model
08:00 Interactive Dynamic Literacy Model Overview
14:00 Why interactive and why dynamic
15:00 Hierarchical relations between low order skills and high order skills
18:00 Breaking down “Interactive”
19:00 Young-Suk’s ideal classroom
20:00 Breaking down “Dynamic”
21:00 Linguistic grain size
22:00 Why linguistic grain size matters for teachers
26:00 Why word reading and spelling are more strongly related than reading comprehension and writing composition
29:00 Dynamic relationship of developmental phases
30:00 Measuring reading and writing
33:00 Interactive Dynamic Literacy Model summarized
35:00 Understanding reading and writing difficulty, including dyslexia
42:00 Dr. Kim’s Final Thoughts
44:00 Susan’s takeaways from the conversation
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by Adrea Truckenmiller, Ph.D., associate professor of special education and school psychology at Michigan State University. Their conversation starts with defining academic language and breaking it down on the level of the word, the sentence, and full text. Adrea then touches on topics such as informational vs. narrative text structure, morphological complexity, and effective writing assessment. She also gives advice on how to implement explicit instruction on informational text and academic language, and details a few examples of what it can look like in the classroom. Adrea ends by discussing her passion for special education and encouraging educators to get involved.

Show notes:

• Resources
  • Read: “Academic language use in middle school informational writing”
  • Read: “Academic language and the challenge of reading for learning about science”
  • Read: “Writing to read: Parallel and independent contributions of writing research to the Science of Reading”
  • Read: “What is important to measure in sentence-level language comprehension?
  • Read: Making the Writing Process Work: Strategies for Composition and Self-Regulation
• Join our Facebook community group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading.
• Connect with Susan Lambert: www.linkedin.com/in/susan-lambert-b1512761/.

Quotes:

“ Academic language is really a new language for everyone to learn.” —Adrea Truckenmiller, Ph.D.

"When we're thinking about teaching academic vocabulary, it's not just one time around. Sometimes we have to layer that instruction for deeper and deeper and deeper meaning.” —Susan Lambert

Episode timestamps
02:00 Introduction: Who is Adrea Truckenmiller?
07:00 Defining academic language
11:00 Differences in academic language at different levels: word, sentence, text.
12:00 Word level: morphological complexity
17:00 Sentence level
18:00 Connectives
21:00 Text level: Informational text structure vs narrative text structure
24:00 Reading research for middle schoolers
26:00 Writing assessment structure for middle school
32:00 What does this type of instruction look like in the classroom?
34:00 Importance of grades 4 & 5 to the development of informational reading and writing skills
35:00 Advice for teachers on teaching information reading and writing
39:00 Get involved in special education
Timestamps are approximate

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In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by Judith Hochman, Ed.D., co-author of “The Writing Revolution.” Their conversation begins as Dr. Hochman recalls the early days of writing instruction and research, then delves into the connection between better writing and better reading. Dr. Hochman touches upon topics such as writing comprehension, her experience implementing writing instruction as a classroom teacher and as an administrator, and how the writing revolution came to be. She also answers a question from our listener mailbag, providing a detailed overview of the scope and sequence for transitioning student writing from sentence composition to paragraphs to whole texts.

Show notes:

• Resources
  • Read: The Writing Revolution 2.0: A Guide to Advancing Thinking Through Writing in All Subjects and Grades
  • Website: The Writing Revolution
  • Read: “The Writing Revolution” in The Atlantic
• Join our community Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading
• Connect with Susan Lambert: www.linkedin.com/in/susan-lambert-b1512761/

Quotes:

“I had an epiphany that our students really had to learn writing as a second language.” —Judith Hochman

“Having students write a lot is not teaching writing. It's just like if you put a lot of books in a classroom, students don't magically begin to read.” —Judith Hochman

“This is not learned by osmosis, and it's not learned by vague feedback like, ‘Make it better,’ or, ‘Add more details.’ You've got to be very granular. This is not a naturally occurring skill in human development for any of us.” —Judith Hochman

Episode timestamps
03:00 Introduction: Who is Judith Hochman?
06:00 Time as an administrator
09:00 Judith’s early days of teaching writing
11:00 Classroom activities for teaching students to write
12:00 Atlantic article and NYC high school case
15:00 The writing revolution
16:00 How kids learn to write based on the research
20:00 Listener mailbag question
21:00 Writing and comprehension
27:00 Transitioning from writing sentences to writing paragraphs
34:00 Final thoughts
Timestamps are approximate

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In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by Jane Ashby, professor in the Reading Science doctoral program at Mount St. Joseph University. They define the concept of “settled science” as a jumping-off point before digging into phonology and the argument for not always basing your teaching practice on the newest research. Dr. Ashby touches on the impact of phonology on comprehension, the Matthew Effect, and why the term “instant words” is more accurate than “sight words.” You’ll walk away from this episode with two practical exercises Dr. Ashby recommends for teaching students to transfer oral segmenting and blending to reading and writing tasks.

Show notes

• Connect with Jane Ashby:
  • Mt. St. Joseph University
• Resources
  • Teaching Phonemic Awareness in 2024: A Guide for Educators
  • Read: Phonological recoding and self-teaching: sine qua non of reading acquisition
  • More: The Four-Part Processing Model for Word Recognition
  • Read: Matthew effects in reading: Some consequences of individual differences in the acquisition of literacy.
• Join our community Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading
• Connect with Susan Lambert: www.linkedin.com/in/susan-lambert-b1512761/
• Want to hear more of Dr. Ashby? Listen to the bonus episode!

Quotes

“To store a vocabulary word, it's not enough to have the meaning. You have to have the entry for it, and the entry for it is the sound form of the word.” —Jane Ashby

“The greatest gift you can give a kid is letting them know that you see that they're special and that they have something unique that they bring to the world. But the second piece is really, can you help them become a confident, independent reader?” —Jane Ashby

Episode timestamps*

2:00 Introduction: Who is Jane Ashby?
6:00 Defining and contextualizing “settled science”
13:00 Phonology as settled science
17:00 Instant words vs sight words
20:00 How phonology impacts comprehension
26:00 Connection to the Matthew Effect
31:00 Listener mailbag question: How do you suggest teachers teach students to transfer oral segmenting and blending to reading and writing tasks?
37:00 Teaching phonemic awareness guide
39:00 Research that should influence teacher practice
41:00 The greatest gift you can give a child

*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by Tiffany Hogan, a professor at MGH Institute of Health Professions in Boston, who studies the connections among speech and language and literacy across time in children. Together, Susan and Dr. Hogan explore the complexities of language, the components that form language, and the significance of language for literacy. Dr. Hogan explains Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)—its characteristics, its prevalence, and the challenges in recognizing it. She emphasizes the importance of supporting children with DLD and the role of educators in making a difference long-term. She also provides listeners with effective strategies for supporting children with oral language deficits, offers insights into the relationship between background knowledge and language, and answers questions from our listener mailbag.
Show notes:

• Connect with Tiffany Hogan
  • X: @tiffanyphogan
  • Facebook: sailliteracylab
  • Instagram: @seehearspeakpodcast
  • Podcast: seehearspeakpodcast.com
• Resources
  • Website: DLDandMe.org
  • Read: A Review of Screeners to Identify Risk of Developmental Language Disorder
  • Website: Raising Awareness of Developmental Language Disorder
  • Listen: SeeHearSpeak podcast with Tiffany Hogan
  • Policy Paper: If we don’t look, we won’t see: Measuring language development to inform literacy instruction
  • Listen: Focused implementation: Doing less to do more, with Doug Reeves, Ph.D.
• Join our community Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading
• Connect with Susan Lambert: www.linkedin.com/in/susan-lambert-b1512761/
• Listen to Beyond My Years: Building an education network to make change, starring A. Simone McQuaige.

Quotes:
“Neurodiversity means that we have lots of different ways to think, and we each come to the table with different brain structures” –Tiffany Hogan, Ph.D.

”Oral language difficulties are a crystal ball into reading comprehension” –Tiffany Hogan, Ph.D.

“You, as an educator, can be the one that really makes a difference for that child. It only takes one person to make a huge difference in the life of a child” –Tiffany Hogan, Ph.D.

Episode timestamps*
02:00 Introduction: Who is Tiffany Hogan?
04:00 Defining language
05:00 Language development and its Impact on literacy
10:00 Variability in language learning
11:00 Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)
18:00 Challenges in Identifying and Supporting DLD
20:00 The Importance of Vision Screening
21:00 Universal Screeners for DLD
24:00 Listener mailbag: How can educators most effectively help students with oral language deficits in early childhood prepare and develop literacy?
28:00 The Connection Between Language and Background Knowledge
30:00 Understanding DLD and Its Challenges
33:00 The Role of Speech Language Pathologists
35:00 Final Thoughts

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In this episode, Susan Lambert rejoins podcast alum Natalie Wexler to discuss Natalie’s new book Beyond the Science of Reading: Connecting Literacy Instruction to the Science of Learning. Listeners will gain insights into why this topic is important, what this book offers educators, why Natalie was so drawn to writing this book, and what cognitive science-informed teaching looks like in general. Natalie addresses how cognitive load theory works in practice with literacy, misconceptions about focusing only on phonics, and scaling science-informed instruction. Natalie also answers a question from the listener mailbag about encouraging colleagues to adopt an evidence-based approach.

Show notes:

• Connect with Natalie Wexler:
  • Website: nataliewexler.com
  • Pre-order Beyond the Science of Reading: Connecting Literacy Instruction to the Science of Learning: https://ascd.org/books/beyond-the-science-of-reading?variant=125006
  • Substack: Minding the Gap, by Natalie Wexler
• Resources:
  • Listen: Special: Why the Science of Reading isn't just about reading, with Natalie Wexler
  • Listen: Conversation with Make It Stick author Peter C. Brown
  • Listen: Cognitive load theory: Four items at a time, with Greg Ashman
  • Substack: The Bell Ringer by Holly Korbey
• Join our community Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/scienceofreading
• Connect with Susan Lambert: www.linkedin.com/in/susan-lambert-b1512761/
• Listen to Illinois administrator Serena Klosa on Beyond My Years!

Quotes:“We’re overlooking the ways in which the typical approach to teaching reading comprehension and writing actually conflict with what cognitive science tells us about how people learn to do those things.” —Natalie Wexler

“We spend much more time trying to teach…them to read, but we kind of expect them to just pick up writing. You know, for most kids, it does not happen.” —Natalie Wexler

“No matter how good you are at making inferences, if you don't have the requisite background knowledge, you're not gonna be able to do it.” —Natalie Wexler

“It doesn't work to just ask inexperienced writers to just write down stuff. That is not going to provide the cognitive benefits.” —Natalie Wexler

Episode timestamps
02:00 Introduction: Who is Natalie Wexler?
04:00 Natalie’s new book
07:00 What is the science of learning?
11:00 Connecting the science of learning to reading, writing, literacy
14:00 Automaticity and cognitive load theory
17:00 Transferable vs non-transferable skills
22:00 Strategies to release cognitive load when learning new skills
24:00 Learning to write, writing to learn.
29:00 Bringing science informed teaching to scale
32:00 What readers will take away from the book
33:00 Mailbag question: How can one person get more colleagues to use an evidence-based approach?
36:00 Final thoughts
Timestamps are approximate

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Amplify’s 2024 Science of Reading Star Award winners share insights from their daily work. They reflect on why it’s so critical to stay grounded in evidence-based literacy practices and how they bring those practices into their schools and classrooms. Listeners will be inspired by the creative ideas of educators who are making a difference in the lives of students across the country. Winners honored in the episode in order of appearance are: Amber Hines, Vance County Schools, NC; Elizabeth Caton, Windber Area Elementary School, PA; Jamie Vannoy, Wirt County Primary Center, WV; Christine Michalik, Cicero School District 99, IL; Andrea Mason, County Line Elementary School, GA; A. Simone McQuaige, Prince George’s County Public Schools, MD.

Show notes:

• Apply for the 2025 Amplify Science of Reading Star Awards
• Learn more about our 2024 Star Award winners
• Subscribe to Beyond My Years

Quotes:“There is no, ‘Let's try this. Let's try that.’ When it's evidence based, you know that it's proven to be effective.” —Amber Hines

“It's important that we are aligning our practices to standards and what the students are required to do—but also what they need.” —Elizabeth Caton

“If we don't make a conscious effort to utilize evidence-based practices, we are going to be failing our most at-risk populations.” —Jamie Vannoy

“All students should have the opportunity for multiple readings of the same text to build comprehension, to build fluency.” —Christine Michalik

“It's really important to utilize assessments, [to] make sure that my students are getting exactly what they need based on the data that I get from assessments, but also based on the data that I get from regular progress monitoring.” —Andrea Mason

“This is not something that can be just done at the schoolhouse. It involves the community and all of our community stakeholders.” —A. Simone McQuaige

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This week, we’re highlighting an episode of Beyond My Years, our sibling podcast that gives you exclusive access to all the wisdom of veteran educators. Beyond My Years host, Ana Torres, learns from the best as she sits down with 2024 National Teacher of the Year Missy Testerman. Missy teaches Ana about being open to new ideas and perspectives, offers tips on building relationships with families, and discusses the importance of slowing down. Missy doesn’t shy away from tough topics, like managing the “who knows best” struggles among administrators, teachers, and parents, and knowing when it’s time to step away from teaching, In addition, Classroom Insider Eric Cross and Ana discuss understanding your community, being more flexible in presenting your lessons, and seeking mentorship and continuous growth.
Show notes:

• Connect with Missy Testerman
  • Instagram: @missytesterman2024ntoy
  • LinkedIn: @missy-testerman
  • X: @missytesterman
• Subscribe to Beyond My Years https://amplify.com/beyond-my-years
• Follow us on Instagram @amplify.education
• Connect with Eric Cross: https://www.ericcross.org/
• Connect with Ana Torres: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anayansi-ana-torres-m-ed-26a10654/

Quotes:“Find a mentor. Someone you trust. Listen to that person, watch that person, ask that person questions. You know, you don't have to figure this out on your own. People want to help you and you have to take that help. It's not a sign of weakness. It's a sign that you want to be better.” —Missy Testerman

“I want them to be proud of where they came from, always, because that's part of their story. It's always going to be an important part of their story.” —Missy Testerman

“I have no magic answers. I have some experiences and I have a little bit of wisdom from three decades of time spent in the education field, but I absolutely do not have it all figured out.” —Missy Testerman

“The reality is that the journey toward wisdom in any career, especially in education, has to be slow and steady.” —Missy Testerman

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Susan is joined by Ioulia Kovelman, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Michigan, to give educators the perspective of a developmental cognitive neuroscientist on literacy development. Starting with the basics of cognitive science versus brain science, Ioulia gives a comprehensive overview into how the brain changes as children learn to read, including differences seen in neurodiverse students and multilingual/English learners. Ioulia then answers a question from our listener mailbag on neuroscience and dyslexia and how current research can inform teaching strategies. Ioulia ends with a rallying message that scientists, teachers, and children cannot stand alone and need to find ways to connect with each other to strengthen literacy as a whole.

Show notes:

• Submit your literacy questions for a chance to win!
• Website: Language & Literacy Lab
• Video: Language & Literacy Project at the University of Michigan
• Listen: Our mini-series exploring how the Science of Reading serves MLs/ELs

Quotes:“We are different learners. And these are really different learners. And by giving them literacy instruction, targeted literacy instruction, we are changing their brains. But that doesn't mean we're making them the same.” —Ioulia Kovelman, Ph.D.
“We talked about languages being different. They're exercising slightly different muscles of your language system.” —Ioulia Kovelman, Ph.D.

“Science is informed by teachers and children. We're all together. I do not teach children. Teachers don't usually do science. But we have to find ways of connecting with each other.” —Ioulia Kovelman, Ph.D.

Episode timestamps02:00 Introduction: Who is Ioulia?
06:00 Cognitive science vs brain science
08:00 How the brain changes as children learn to read
11:00 Following brain development for children that struggle with language development
14:00 Physical differences in brain development between the average brain and a neurodiverse brain
17:00 Mailbag question: Neuroscience and dyslexia
20:00 How neuroscience informs teaching strategies for children with dyslexia
25:00 Monolingual vs multilingual brains
33:00 Language literacy lab
38:00 Connecting research to classroom instruction
41:00 Final thoughts
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this episode, Susan Lambert chats with ReadWorks Chief Academic Officer Susanne Nobles, Ph.D., to explore the organization's mission of making high-quality texts free and accessible to all. Together, they discuss ReadWorks’ Article-A-Day program, which offers articles to build students' knowledge and vocabulary while supporting teachers with resources that promote topical coherence. Susanne shares insights into why text quality matters, including that kids know when text isn’t worth their time and attention. She also details how ReadWorks ensures the quality of their materials, describes the Spanish-English texts they’ve introduced to support multilingual/English learners, and offers advice for listeners thinking about text quality and cohesion.

Show notes:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susannenobles/.
• ReadWorks Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/readworks/?hl=en

Quotes:“I have a fear that too much decoding practice can become ‘Why am I reading?’ We lose the ultimate point of why all of us read, which is to learn and to gain meaning.” —Susanne Nobles

“Kids know when a text is worth their time.” —Susanne Nobles

“We want to put a great book in a kid's hands and have them get excited about reading and therefore get good at reading. And it really goes the other way. And so it's once you build that ability to read, then that excitement comes with reading.” —Susanne Nobles

Episode timestamps
02:00 Introduction: Who is Susanne Nobles?
04:00 Overview of ReadWorks
10:00 Article-A-Day Program
12:00 Importance of Topical Coherence
13:00 Why knowledge is important to reading
16:00 Introduction to Decodables
19:00 Text Quality and Evaluation
24:00 Supporting Multilingual Learners
29:00 Audio and Accessibility
33:00 Final Thoughts and Conclusion *Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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On this episode of the podcast, Lori Josephson joins Susan to talk about her new book Calling All Neurons! How Reading and Spelling Happen. Lori discusses her journey into literacy and how she saw the need for an accessible, digestible book about the brain science behind learning to read — one that would be enjoyable for adults and students alike. Lori explains what a neuron is and shows how understanding neural networks is essential to understanding learning to read. She also delves into the importance of getting everyone in a student’s life involved in their literacy development. Lori and Susan also answer some listener-submitted questions, prompting discussions on how to help older elementary students who lack foundational skills and advice for educators who work with students with significant cognitive disabilities.

Show notes:

• Submit your literacy questions for a chance to win!
• Book: Calling All Neurons! How Reading and Spelling Happen
• Connect with Lori:
  • Website: lorijosephson.com
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lori-josephson/
  • X: @lorijosephson2
  • Facebook: Lori Josephson
  • Instagram: @calling_all_neurons
• Read: Towards a dynamic, comprehensive conceptualization of dyslexia
• Dr. Nancy Young's Ladder of Reading
• Watch: Lori Josephson on the Facebook group Science of Reading—What I Should Have Learned in College

Quotes:“I firmly believe that no matter how old you are, you still need to learn the same information.” —Lori Josephson

“In my mind, I use this equation. Knowledge equals motivation, equals active learning, equals resilience, equals success.” —Lori Josephson

“Creating a literate brain is a team sport. Everyone needs to be involved. The parents, caregivers, teachers—they need to be engaged in an interactive way.” —Lori Josephson

“Literacy is a civil right. It's also a gift. It's an opportunity to share thoughts, feelings with others that can be revisited and saved.” —Lori Josephson

Timestamps02:00 Introduction: Lori Josephson and her Journey into Literacy
05:00 The Motivation Behind 'Calling All Neurons'
08:00 Understanding Neurons and Neural Networks
15:00 The Reciprocal Process of Reading and Spelling
20:00 The Influence of the Cerebellum in Reading
21:00 Unique Aspects of the Book
25:00 Addressing Foundational Skills in Older Students
30:00 Supporting Students with Cognitive Disabilities
31:00 The Importance of Literacy and Empathy
33:00 Final Thoughts
*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this episode Susan Lambert is joined by Hugh Catts, Ph.D., professor at Florida State University, to break down what comprehension is and bust some myths around what it isn’t. With a family history of dyslexia, he has a personal connection to the topic that led him into research in language sciences and language disorders. He discusses how his findings moved him away from viewing comprehension as simply a “component of reading” but rather something entirely separate—a condition created over time, defined by purpose, and influenced by prior knowledge. Together, Susan and Hugh address many comprehension-related contexts, such as the simple view of reading, the five pillars of reading, and comprehension’s relationship to knowledge building. Hugh also gives listeners practical advice for helping students suss out their comprehension before reading, and he clarifies why understanding the standard of coherence is important.

Show notes:

• Submit your literacy questions for a chance to win!
• Read: Rethinking How to Promote Reading Comprehension by Hugh Catts
• Read: The Simple View of Reading: Advancements and False Impressions by Hugh Catts
• Follow Hugh on X: @CattsHugh

Quotes:“If I was going to define comprehension, it's not a single thing. I mean, that's the problem. We want it to be a single thing, but it depends upon what you're reading and why you're reading it.” –Hugh Catts, Ph.D.

“What comprehension is is the interaction of what you bring into that reading situation and what you already know about it and your motivation and purpose to comprehend it.” –Hugh Catts, Ph.D.

“There's just not enough mental reserve to be able to build that meaning that quickly. So it helps tremendously that you have some knowledge about it beforehand. That knowledge gives you a place to put information. So when you read about something, it gives you storage for the information. It's kind of like a cubby hole that you put the mail in, in an office.” ––Hugh Catts, Ph.D.

Episode timestamps02:00 Introduction: Who is Hugh Catts?
03:00 Personal Connection to Dyslexia
07:00 Rethinking comprehension as a component of reading
11:00 Vocabulary and comprehension
15:00 Comprehension as a condition you create
16:00 Language comprehension and the simple view of reading
19:00 Differences in types of comprehension
26:00 What comprehension is and isn’t
32:00 Thinking deeply
39:00 Background knowledge and comprehension
42:00 Automatic inferencing
50:00 Final thoughts
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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On this episode, Kari Kurto, National Science of Reading Project Director at The Reading League, discusses her role in creating the Reading League’s curriculum evaluation tool. Seeing the term “Science of Reading” being misused as a marketing label, Kurto saw the need for a simple way for educators to cut through confusion and evaluate a given curriculum’s claims. Her conversation with Susan Lambert touches on her background teaching students with dyslexia, the non-negotiables in a Science of Reading curriculum, and how educators can use the information about a curriculum once it's been evaluated to inform instruction. While Kurto stresses that no program is perfect, she has made it her mission to equip educators with a tool to more easily and objectively access information when making curriculum choices.

Show notes:Submit your Science of Reading questions for a chance to win!
Quotes:“Just because we have this report and we say, ‘All right, this curriculum has all the stuff,’ if you don't teach it, then you're a red flag of your own.” —Kari Kurto

“It's a movement of improvement, right? We're constantly striving to improve. And don't give up. Share your stories; share your success stories.” —Kari Kurto

“Thank you to those folks who have been listening. Thank you to the folks who are curious about learning more, those who have spent years implementing and tweaking and improving literacy outcomes for our country's next generation. I mean, that's huge.” —Kari Kurto

Episode timestamps
02:00 Introduction: Who is Kari Kurto?
08:00 Teaching kids with dyslexia, what they need to learn to read
10:00 Reading league defining guide
11:00 Curriculum review tool
16:00 Determining which programs to review
20:00 Using the curriculum review tool as professional development
21:00 Non-negotiables in a science of reading curriculum
24:00 How to use the information from a program evaluation
30:00 Long-term plans of the navigation report tool
32:00 The reporting team
34:00 The Reading League compass
37:00 The Reading League journal
40:00 Final Advice
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this episode, Susan Lambert welcomes back Sue Pimentel to discuss the history and impact of the Common Core State Standards on English Language Arts and Literacy (ELA) education in the United States. Susan and Sue revisit what the standards were designed to focus on: knowledge building, college and career readiness, and fluency in both literary and informational texts. Their conversation covers the importance of text complexity, the lack of a research base to support leveled readers, and knowledge building as a matter of equity and content as a matter of access. While acknowledging the value of these standards, the discussion also highlights their limitations. Sue underscores the importance of always returning to the research to ensure students are truly learning, preparing them to navigate the world and ultimately, live happier lives.

Show notes:

• Website: Knowledge Matters Review Tool
• Listen: Season 4, Episode 5: Reading as liberation with Sue Pimentel
• Read: “Standards Are Not Curriculum”
• Website: Knowledge Matters Campaign

Quotes:
“Vocabulary is how we describe concepts; it's how we know how to talk to one another.” —Sue Pimentel

“What the standards say is, ‘Leveled texts are out and complex texts are in.’ There's no research behind assigning a level to students reading and then sort of imprisoning them in that.” —Sue Pimentel

“The more stuff you know, the better you're able to navigate the world….and I think the happier life is. And certainly the happier kids' lives are when they're actually learning stuff.” —Sue Pimentel

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In the Season 9 premiere of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert speaks with Ray James, Head of School at The Ansley School, about the transformative impact of literacy instruction. The Ansley School, which serves children experiencing homelessness, has made evidence-based literacy instruction a key piece of its efforts to foster profound educational and community change. Ray shares his journey and explores how a focus on literacy provides benefits that extend beyond the classroom to the broader community. This episode underscores the importance of foundational literacy skills and sets the stage for a new season dedicated to a literacy reboot.

Show notes:

• The Ansley School Instagram): @theansleyschool
• Ray’s Instagram: @the_rayvolution
• Website: https://theansleyschool.org/

Quotes:
"If you don't get reading right in an elementary school, every piece of the school suffers." —Ray James

"We’re not just doing school, but educating people. I think a lot of people do school, we’re trying to educate our community holistically."—Ray James

"Education isn't just about academics, it's about creating a safe place and providing holistic, evidence-based literacy instruction that catalyzes real change."—Ray James

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In this Science of Reading: The Podcast episode, Susan Lambert speaks with Rebecca Tolson and Lisa Lenhart about their roles at the University of Akron's newly established Center for Structured Literacy. They discuss their personal journeys in literacy education, the large grant received from the Ohio Department of Higher Education, and how the Center aims to prepare pre-service teachers using the Science of Reading and structured literacy. Rebecca and Lisa elaborate on the faculty’s training program, curriculum updates, and the potential community impact. The conversation also touches on the emotional and professional challenges in shifting to evidence-based practices, the history of literacy legislation in Ohio, and the Center's long-term goals—including IDA accreditation and expanding their impact on both pre-service and in-service educators.

Show Notes

• The Reading League: What is the Science of Reading?
• E-books from the Center for Dyslexia at Middle Tennessee State University
• Ohio’s Dyslexia Guidebook
• Read Ohio Website
• International Dyslexia Foundation: Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading

Quotes“We're also making sure that our students are prepared in structured literacy, not just to one program, so they're able to understand the structure and adopt it to any program any district is using.” —Lisa Lenhart

“The Center for Structured Literacy is about empowering teachers at the onset—bachelor's degree. If districts have to retrain them after they graduate, then we're not doing something right.” —Rebecca Tolson

‘The more I learn, the better I'm at my craft and my teaching for my students.” —Rebecca Tolson

“It takes the right person leading you and it takes hard conversations of what we believe.” —Lisa Lenhart

Timestamps*02:00 Introduction: Who is Rebecca Tolson?
04:00 Introduction: Who is Lisa Lenhart?
05:00 Overview: University of Akron Center for Structured Literacy
11:00 Overhauling an undergraduate program
15:00 Origin Story: Center for Structured Literacy
20:00 A Passion for the Science of Reading
23:00 Intersecting goals: Center for Structured Literacy and the state of Ohio
27:00 The importance of training teachers well the first time
33:00 Training teachers to encounter schools with a variety of approaches to literacy
36:00 Long-term goals for the center
39:00 How to get more educators prepared to teach with evidence-based practices
41:00 The importance of having hard conversations

*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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Check out Amplify’s new podcast, Beyond My Years— host and educator Ana Torres seeks out educational insights and hard-won lessons directly from people who have thrived for decades in the classroom: seasoned educators.

On this premiere episode, Ana soaks up wisdom from Joyce Abbott, an educator so passionate about her students that she inspired one of them to go on and write the hit show “Abbott Elementary.” Joyce tells all about her experiences working in a Title 1 school and what it means to know the community of Philadelphia. They also discuss how Joyce’s time serving in the military informed her work as an educator, how she transformed a challenging classroom during her first year, how it has felt to witness the success of “Abbott Elementary,” and her driving force: passion. At the end, Ana is joined by Classroom Insider Eric Cross to discuss some actionable teaching tips for bringing Joyce's lessons into your classroom.

Show notes:

• Subscribe to Beyond My Years on Apple
• Follow Beyond My Years on Spotify
• Website: Beyond My Years

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In this episode, Jamie Clark and Susan Lambert delve into Jamie's new educational resource called: one-pagers, designed to distill complex educational literacy research into accessible, practical one-page summaries for teachers. Jamie, originally from the United Kingdom and now based in Australia, also shares his one-pager journey from ideation, to creating these resources, to witnessing their impact in the classroom. Aside from discussing his methodology, Jamie also highlights the iterative process of refining his work and collaborating with key figures in the educational field, and the importance of contextual application of these strategies in different educational settings. Jamie also gives an in-depth explanation of his Think-Pair-Share one-pager, highlights how important it is for teachers to continue learning, and ends with advice for anyone looking to make research more accessible.

Show Notes

• X: https://x.com/XpatEducator
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/xpateducator/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamieleeclark85/
• Website: https://www.jamieleeclark.com
• Book: Teaching One-Pagers: Evidence-informed Summaries for Busy Educational Professionals
• Website: JamieLeeClark.com
• Book: Teaching WalkThrus: Visual Step-by-Step Guides to Essential Teaching Techniques

Quotes“In order to help our students learn effectively, teachers need to know how they learn and sometimes why they do not learn.” —Jamie Clark

“Think-pair-share is important because it makes students feel safe before they share with the class.” —Jamie Clark

“The main thing as a teacher for me is that you always need to learn and that you never stop learning.” —Jamie Clark

“The best research is the stuff that you can glean information from and then do something with that's actionable and practical.” —Jamie Clark

Episode Timestamps02:00 Introduction: Who is Jamie Clark?
05:00 The Birth of One Pagers: Inspiration and Early Days
08:00 Going Viral: The Impact of One Pagers
10:00 Feedback and Collaboration on One Pagers
11:00 Designing for Educators: The Journey to a Book
19:00 Designing Effective One Pagers
21:00 Exploring the Think-Pair-Share Strategy
24:00 Implementing Think-Pair-Share in the Classroom
26:00 Application Across Subjects and Levels
29:00 Challenges and Insights in Creating One-Pagers
35:00 Advice for Teachers and Educators
39:00 Final Thoughts and Future Directions
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this episode, Susan Lambert talks with Kelly Butler and Margaret Goldberg about their experiences and insights into improving reading instruction, particularly in Mississippi and California. Kelly discusses her work with the Barksdale Reading Institute, its impact on reading education, and the importance of coaching and structured literacy. Margaret shares her experiences as a coach in California, the challenges of teacher training, and the importance of having a clear and effective literacy plan that includes acquiring high quality data and using it to inform all your strategies. Both guests emphasize the need for systemic change and the role of community involvement in educational success.

Show Notes

• Follow: Kelly Butler’s Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/kelly-butler-5b92b31b
• Follow: Kelly Butler’s Twitter/X: @KellyButler8
• Follow: Margaret Goldberg’s Twitter/X and Facebook: @right2readproj
• Follow: Margaret Goldberg’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-goldberg-247613117/
• Listen: S2 E5: The Right to Read Project on nurturing automatic readers, with Margaret Goldberg and Alanna Mednick
• Listen: S6 E1: The other side of Scarborough’s Rope, with Margaret Goldberg
• Listen: Emily Hanford “Sold a Story” series
• Look: Textbook sSpreadsheet from the Center for Reading Science at Mount Saint Joseph University
• Watch: Reading Universe: How Children Learn to Read, with Margaret Goldberg

Quotes“The laws are telling us that time's up. We need to get this job done. The good news is we know how to do it. We just need to get it done everywhere.” —Kelly Butler

“My role is more to help people make sense of information that is much more widely available, and help them understand how it applies to the work that we're doing. Whereas before, I felt like I was trying to alert people to the existence of research that had been kept out of reach.” —Margaret Goldberg

Episode Timestamps*03:00 Introduction: Who are Kelly Butler and Margaret Goldberg?
11:00 Challenges in Teacher Preparation
19:00 Effective Coaching Models
28:00 Margaret's Journey into Coaching
29:00 Collaborative Learning and Best Practices
30:00 Challenges and Solutions in Coaching
35:00 The Impact of Legislation on Coaching
36:00 Reflections on Coaching and Curriculum
48:00 Future Visions and Final Thoughts

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In this episode, Susan Lambert is joined by Arturo Valadez Sáenz, a demonstration teacher from Dallas, Texas, who delves into his journey from his childhood in Mexico to becoming an educator in the United States. He describes his current role, teaching both English and Spanish language arts, and emphasizes the importance of bilingual education. He shares the demographics and linguistic challenges of his students, many of whom are newcomers to the country, some of whom come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds or speak different dialects. Arturo discusses effective strategies like bilingual pairing, feedback for learning, and the impact of Science of Reading practices in his classroom. He also highlights the necessity of creating a positive classroom culture and building students’ confidence. Arturo’s story is a testament to the transformative power of education and the significant difference a dedicated teacher can make in the lives of students.

Show notes:

• Follow on Instagram: @arturosaenzelviajero
• Visit: https://arturosaenz.hearnow.com/

Quotes:“I realized that I truly have a calling of being with kids, and the biggest thing to me is the intrinsic reward that you receive, especially working with economically disadvantaged communities.” —Arturo Valadez Sáenz

“It’s all about confidence, building the student’s confidence. It’s a huge component of preparing students to be successful.” —Arturo Valadez Sáenz

“It’s not about the teacher. When planning, my biggest suggestion is do not plan for your own actions. Plan for what the students are going to be doing in every single portion of the lesson.” —Arturo Valadez Sáenz

Episode timestamps03:00 Introduction: Who is Arturo Valdez Sáenz?
05:00 Journey to Teaching
09:00 Importance of Bilingual Education
14:00 Strategies for creating positive classroom culture
21:00 Parental Involvement
23:00 Challenges in Bilingual Education and the importance of educator collaboration
27:00 Setting High Expectations for Every Child
28:00 The Power of Immediate Feedback
33:00 Building student confidence and classroom collaboration
34:00 Effective Grouping Strategies in Bilingual Classrooms
37:00 Engaging Students Across Different Grade Levels
40:00 Implementing Science of Reading Practices
45:00 Celebrating Student Growth and Success
48:00 Final Thoughts and Encouragement for Educators
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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Listen to this trailer for our new podcast, Beyond My Years, launching August 14th.

Every day headlines tout something “new” in education—the latest research, the hottest tech, the trendiest new hacks for organizing your classroom. However, beyond all the hype there’s one underestimated resource that’s truly deserving of our attention: educators who’ve been doing this for years. In this trailer, you’ll hear from host and educator Ana Torres as she explains her season-long journey of learning from the experiences and lessons of seasoned educators from around the world. Their stories will make you laugh, make you cry, and—just maybe—change the way you think. Subscribe now so you don’t miss a thing.

(Not an Apple user? Subscribe here via Buzzsprout.)

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This episode features an in-depth conversation with Genie Baca, a 33-year education veteran who has spent the last 18 years as a principal in Texas. Baca discusses her career progression from a balanced literacy classroom teacher to various educational roles along her journey to the Science of Reading—and how it all led her to a unique school predominantly serving refugee students. This school, where 39 languages are spoken by the diverse student body, faces different challenges (and opportunities) than most schools. Baca shares some of the transformative strategies implemented under her leadership, particularly focusing on the Science of Reading and high-quality instructional materials. These strategies have significantly improved literacy and engagement, with a systematic approach adjusted for Tier 1 instruction to benefit all students, including monolingual and multilingual learners. Baca’s story showcases the positive influence strong leadership, a dedicated staff, and research-based educational methodologies can have when creating an inclusive, successful learning environment for a diverse student population.

Quotes:

"I couldn't just lead my campus into the Science of Reading if I didn't open myself up to [the possibility that] maybe I was wrong. It wasn't easy, but it really took me looking at student work to prove that what I had been doing all these years wasn't working." —Genie Baca

"It's serving every child we have in the seat, whether they're monolingual or they speak two or three languages. What works is a systematic approach to learning how to read." —Genie Baca

"Now that we know better, and we know more about the research and how speaking and reading go together, we're just getting smarter. We're learning more about how reading works, how the brain works, how kids acquire knowledge, and we just have to be smarter with how we do things." —Genie Baca

Episode timestamps02:00: Introduction: Who is Genie Baca?
03:00: Genie Baca’s journey in education and unique school
10:00: School changes over 14 years
13:00: Change management: Teacher reactions & professional development
15:00: The shift to Science of Reading
27:00: Science of Reading for multilingual learners
33:00: The importance of oral language and leveraging it in the classroom
35:00: Involving parents and caregivers in the learning process
40:00: Reflecting on lessons learned and future directions
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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In this episode, Diane August, Ph.D. shares her journey and expertise supporting multilingual learners, focusing on her transition from a Spanish language teacher to a widely recognized expert in literacy and language acquisition for multilingual students. August recounts her initial teaching experiences, her realization of the need for better support for language development, and her subsequent pursuit of a Ph.D. and further research efforts to deepen her understanding of second language acquisition and content integrated language teaching. August emphasizes the foundational importance of supporting multilingual learners through asset-based approaches, bilingual programming, and research-based instructional strategies, advocating for educational policies and practices that recognize and leverage the linguistic and cultural assets of multilingual learners from the very early grades all the way through the later grades.

Show notes:

• Tool: AIR Project Word Analyzer Vocabulary Tool
• Tool: Wordsmyth.net Educational Dictionary Resource
• Read: Developing Literacy in Second-Language Learners: Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth
• Read: Promoting the Educational Success of Children and Youth Learning English: Promising Futures

Quotes:
“We found there is no indication that bilingual instruction impeded academic achievement, either in the native language or in English. What we observed on average, [was] that kids that were in bilingual programs did a lot better in literacy.” —Diane August, Ph.D.

“There's some sounds in English that aren't present in a first language. Or there are orthography letters that sound different in one language versus the other. So you just have to realize you have to take into consideration the kid's language background when you're teaching foundational skills.” —Diane August, Ph.D

“We develop kids' oral language when they're older in conjunction with teaching them to read and teaching them content area knowledge. You can't not do that from the beginning, you have to support kids in foundational reading skills.” —Diane August, Ph.D.

“Second language learners also come with a lot of knowledge in their first language, which is really important to consider. It's not like they don't have background knowledge.” —Diane August, Ph.D.

Episode timestamps1:00: Introduction: Who is Diane August?
6:00: National literacy panel on language minority children and youth
13:00: Importance of longitudinal research
15:00: Exploring different models for supporting biliteracy development
20:00: The Importance of Oral Language
27:00: Intersection of research on learning on how to read for native english speakers and learning how to read for multilingual learners
30:00: Insights from the 2017 Report on Multilingual Learners
33:00: Understanding the Diversity of Multilingual Learners
36:00: Effective Strategies for Supporting Older Multilingual Learners
47:00: Importance of syntax
52:00: Concluding Thoughts on Supporting Multilingual Learners
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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As we continue our miniseries on English learners and multilingual learners Francisco Usero-González, Ph.D. (Paco, as I call him), a renowned expert in bilingual education and dyslexia intervention, joins Susan Lambert to discuss diagnosing dyslexia in multilingual learners and the intersectional understanding it requires. To accurately approach observation and assessment, educators need all the different parts of their own identity to create a complete picture. Usero-González discusses how moving from Spain to the United States led him to champion professional development that teaches educators to have a linguistic, cognitive, and cultural understanding of students. Together, Susan and Usero-González also touch on the ways in which symptoms of dyslexia and the natural process of language acquisition can be confused, how to diagnose dyslexia in multilingual learners, what dyslexia looks like across languages, and how translanguaging is especially helpful for multilingual learners with dyslexia.
Show Notes:

• Watch: TEDxSHSU Bilingual Learners, Dyslexia, and Inclusive Education
• Read:Translanguaging by Ofelia García and Sara Vogel

Quotes:
“We need to promote collaboration, because we need to talk to the different teachers that the student has in order to see if it is indeed a second language acquisition issue or it belongs to the patterns, the symptoms, that a student with dyslexia might have.” — Francisco Usero-González

“It is very important for us to have this communication with parents and teachers and have them as our best allies. They are going to give us a lot of information that we maybe cannot track during our classroom time.” — Francisco Usero-González

“Dyslexia is something beyond a language. It is something that our students bring with themselves. We need to give them all the tools and resources in order to help them overcome those symptoms.” — Francisco Usero-González

Episode timestamps2:00 Introduction: Who is Francisco Usero-González?
08:00 Going from Spain to the US
09:00 Dyslexia and multilingual learners, why this is an important topic
10:00 Holistic professional development: Linguistic, cognitive, and cultural understanding of students
18:00 Intersection of dyslexia and language acquisition
27:00 Diagnosing dyslexia in multilingual learners
33:00 Symptoms of dyslexia: Spanish vs English
40:00 Dyslexia across languages
48:00 Translanguaging
54:00 Final thoughts: Being a human being
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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Professor Emeritus Jim Cummins, Ph.D., joins Susan Lambert from the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education for an engaging conversation that explores the dynamics of language development and bilingual education, as well as the importance of a supportive learning environment for multilingual/English learners. Cummins shares stories from his extensive experience and research in the field, highlighting the cognitive benefits of bilingualism, the importance of literacy engagement, and the role of translanguaging in educational settings. He also illuminates the challenges and opportunities in fostering multilingual capabilities and underscores the value of embracing students' linguistic diversity in schools.
Show notes:

• Listen to episode 1, Language is always an asset, with Kajal Patel Below
• Read: Translanguaging in Bilingual Education by Ofelia García and Angel M.Y. Lin
• Website: Language Friendly School

Quotes:“Virtually all the research highlights the importance of being in a communicative, interactive context if you want to pick up a language." —Jim Cummins, Ph.D.

“There are differences between the linguistic demands of schooling and the kind of language that we use in everyday conversational context outside of school." —Jim Cummins, Ph.D.

“All of these processes are amplified when there's a community of peers or people that we can discuss these ideas with, we can get feedback, we can explore ideas collectively." —Jim Cummins, Ph.D.
Episode timestamps
02:00 Introduction: Who is Jim Cummins
03:00 Personal Language Journey
10:00 Global Perspectives on Language Education
18:00 Conversion to academic language spectrum
20:00 The process of learning a second language
25:00 Language awareness
37:00 Translanguaging and Language Policy
43:00 Benefits of being multilingual and fostering a supportive environment
49:00 Joint statement
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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To kick off our miniseries focused on how the Science of Reading serves multilingual/English learners (ML/ELs), Amplify Vice President of Biliteracy Kajal Patel Below joins Susan Lambert for a retrospective discussion of the history of literacy education through a biliteracy lens. Together, they discuss the significance of a recent joint statement put out by The Reading League and the National Committee for Effective Literacy. Below sheds light on why this statement is so monumental, and what it means for serving ML/ELs going forward.

Show notes:

• Joint Statement from The Reading League (TRL) and the National Committee for Effective Literacy (NCEL)
• 2006 Report: Developing Literacy in Second-Language Learners

Quotes:
“It must be acknowledged that there is more scientific research, or there has been more scientific research, conducted with monolingual English-speaking children, and that additional research related to teaching literacy development for English learners and emergent bilinguals is needed to advance our understanding of their literacy development.” —Kajal Patel Below

“We have an underserved area that's experiencing a massive growth in student population. And so it's really important to then focus on it. Schools are adjusting, they're quick, they're doing the best they can, but we need to be having these conversations around research [and] best practices so that we can set schools up for success and students up for success." —Kajal Patel Below

“I just think we have an exciting future in this country. I was in a classroom last week—I saw some of their writing. I saw them speaking, heard them speaking in two languages fluently, easily, excitedly. I just got very excited. These kids are going to be our doctors and our teachers and our engineers and they’re bilingual or multilingual.” —Kajal Patel Below

“Their language is an asset, whatever language it is and however much it is.” —Kajal Patel Below

Episode timestamps*5:00 Introduction: Who is Kajal Patel Below?
7:00 Terminology: Bilingual vs biliterate; Multilingual/English learners
10:00 History in the US of multilingual learners being underserved
11:00 Multilingualism as an asset
12:00 Importance of messaging
17:00 Advocates for multilingual learners and the science of reading
21:00 Concerns regarding the science of reading movement
25:00 Screening and assessment
31:00 Teacher support and need for better materials
34:00 What is the joint statement?
43:00 Hopes for the future
46:00 Why is this conversation important?

*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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Science of Reading: The Podcast is launching a special mini-series dedicated to multilingual/English learners (ML/ELs)! Host Susan Lambert will chat with leading researchers and practitioners about how the Science of Reading supports ML/ELs and why this is so important. Through exploration of the key research and enlightening discussions, Susan and guests will discuss the optimal use of the Science of Reading to enhance students’ classroom experiences and overall learning journeys.

Listen to this trailer for a sneak peek and be sure to subscribe now so you don’t miss this exclusive mini-series—the first episode is out April 30!

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Susan Lambert joins biliteracy expert and professor Lillian Durán, who holds a doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Minnesota and researches the improvement of instructional and assessment practices with preschool-aged multilingual/English learners.

Durán begins by pointing out the difference between being bilingual and biliterate, then describes the key advantages of being bilingual and the unique skills students who speak multiple languages bring to school. She then discusses how the Simple View of Reading connects to Spanish, the double standard that often occurs when bilingual students are celebrated vs. when they are not, and the process of screening and assessment for multilingual/English learner students. Lastly, Durán compels educators to avoid viewing biliteracy and dual language support as a sub-population of their classroom and instead prioritize the development of students’ home languages, whatever they may be, alongside English instruction.

Show notes:

• Listen: Science of Reading: The Podcast biliteracy playlist

Quotes:

“Language is inextricably linked to culture. We want to make sure these families and children feel valued and honored within our schools.” —Lillian Durán, Ph.D.

“No matter what language you start to learn some of those skills in, there's a transfer and understanding of how to listen to sounds and how to put sounds together.” —Lillian Durán, Ph.D.

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Join Susan B. Neuman, professor of early childhood and literacy education at the Steinhardt School at New York University, in our Deconstructing the Rope series. She explains the important link between background knowledge and reading comprehension in the Science of Reading, and shares her five research-based principles to build knowledge networks in literacy instruction. She also highlights the connection between speech and reading, and previews her upcoming studies on the role of cross-media connections in children’s learning.

Show notes:

• Book: Changing the Odds for Children at Risk, by Susan B. Neuman. (More books in the link.)
• Article: “Developing Low-Income Children's Vocabulary and Content Knowledge through a Shared Book Reading Program” by Susan B. Neuman and Tanya Kaefer
• Article: “The Information Book Flood: Is Additional Exposure Enough to Support Early Literacy Development?" by Susan B, Neuman

Quotes:“What you’re helping children do is create a mosaic, putting all those ideas together in a knowledge network. If you don’t do it explicitly, many children cannot do it on their own.” —Susan B. Neuman

“We’ve got to start early. We’ve got to start immediately, and know that children are eager to learn and use the content to engage them.” —Susan B. Neuman

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Catherine Snow, Ph.D., Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, joins Susan Lambert on this episode to reflect on the state of language and literacy instruction in the U.S. They begin their conversation by discussing linguistics in young children and the relationship between language and literacy, before diving into Dr. Snow’s biggest takeaways from her work on the National Research Council report, “Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children." Susan and Dr. Snow talk about building vocabulary, growing student curiosity in reading, and exposing students to academic language. Dr. Snow talks about the specific tools educators should be given for meaningful help in the classroom, shares her hopes—and fears—for the future of reading instruction in this country, and explains why she encourages teachers to let their classrooms be noisier.

Show notes:

• Read: National Research Council Report: Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children
• Read: Reading for Understanding: Toward an R&D Program in Reading Comprehension

Quotes:“Part of preventing reading difficulties means focusing on programs to ensure that all children have access to books from birth and that they have access to adults who will read those books with them and discuss them.” —Catherine Snow, Ph.D.

“I see academic language and exposure to academic language as an expansion of children's language skills that both contributes to successful literacy—successful reading comprehension—and gets built through encounters with texts, but also encounters with oral activities.” —Catherine Snow, Ph.D.

“Let your classroom be noisier. Let the kids be more engaged and more socially engaged, because that is actually a contribution to their language development and to their motivation to keep working.” —Catherine Snow, Ph.D.

Episode timestamps2:00 Introduction: Who is Catherine Snow?
3:00 Linguistics in young children
6:00 What is language?
8:00 Language and its impact on literacy
14:00 National Research Council Report: Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children
22:00 Building vocabulary and a love for reading
26:00 Academic language
28:00 “Science of Reading” movement and the reading wars
33:00 Scientific research in the hands of educators in the field
36:00 Tools teachers need in their toolbox
38:00 Hopes and fears for the future of the “Science of Reading movement”
41:00 Final advice
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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Greg Ashman—author of multiple books including A Little Guide for Teachers: Cognitive Load Theory, deputy principal, and professor—sits down with Susan Lambert on this episode to discuss cognitive load theory and how it applies to how students learn and how to best teach them. Together their conversation covers cognitive load theory, including an exploration of working memory and long-term memory; intrinsic load and extraneous load; biologically primary vs. biologically secondary knowledge; and how to apply these concepts in the classroom. Ashman also provides listeners with helpful advice on ensuring their teaching practices are based on evidence.

Show notes:

• Book: “A Little Guide for Teachers: Cognitive Load Theory” by Greg Ashman
• Read: Greg Ahsman’s “Quick Insight Series”
• Subscribe: Greg Ashman’s Substack “Filling The Pail”
• Read: Barak Rosenshine’s “Principles of Instruction”

Quotes:“I now know I shouldn't have felt guilty, but I also know that I could have taught that from the outset in a much more structured way where the students would have left understanding the concepts better without wasting time.” —Greg Ashman

“This idea that kids don't need to know anything anymore, they just need to practice skills is really quite a pernicious and damaging idea.” —Greg Ashman

“Think about the teaching methods that you're being presented with. Ask about the evidence and question whether this is really the optimal way of teaching literacy or whatever it is, or whether it's more based on wishful thinking.” —Greg Ashman

Episode timestamps2:00 Introduction: Who is Dr. Gregg Ashman
5:00 Feeling guilty about the way you had been teaching
7:00 Book talk: A Little Guide for Teachers on Cognitive Load Theory
8:00 Defining cognition
11:00 Working memory and long-term memory
13:00 Retrieval of long-term memory
15:00 What is cognitive load?
19:00 Working memory holds 4 items: What is an item?
24:00 Automaticity
26:00 Biologically primary vs biologically secondary knowledge
31:00 Mythbusting: “Long-term memory is like a computer system”
34:00 How can educators use cognitive load theory?
38:00 Explicit teaching
42:00 Productive struggle and productive failure
49:00 Final advice
Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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Dr. Sharon Vaughn, award-winning researcher and multi-published author, who has advised on literacy across 30 states and 10 different countries, joins Susan Lambert on this episode. She digs into how we can build reading comprehension rather than teach it, and what it means for comprehension to be a learning outcome rather than a skill. She and Susan touch on how to ask the right comprehension questions, how to ensure coherency in teaching background knowledge, and where it's easy to go wrong—with knowledge building and with the Science of Reading as a whole. Listeners will walk away with a deeper understanding of which skills lead to comprehension and how to avoid strategy overload. Show notes:

• What Works Clearinghouse: Providing Reading Interventions for Students in Grades 4—9
• Website: meadowscenter.org

Quotes:
“Comprehension is an outcome, and it's based on being able to read words accurately, know what they mean, have adequate background knowledge, and also being able to make inferences.” —Sharon Vaughn, Ph.D.

“I've seen things go awry. Good things get interpreted incorrectly. The Science of Reading has that potential … where people could take that and sort of start creating their own meaning about what it means and start downloading that in districts and schools in ways that are counterproductive.” —Sharon Vaughn, Ph.D.

“If you look at the early studies from the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, they really were the building blocks for phonemic awareness and phonics and the way in which we have identified the foundation skills as being essential. We act like the Science of Reading is something new, and we've been building this for decades.” —Sharon Vaughn, Ph.D.

Episode timestamps*
02:00: What Works Clearinghouse Practice Guide
04:00: Reading Comprehension: What it is and what it isn’t
09:00: How could we mess up background knowledge?
13:00: The relationship between vocabulary and knowledge building
21:00: Word knowledge and world knowledge, especially in the upper grades
24:00: Strategy of asking and answering questions
26:00: Text matters
27:00: Integrating stretch text
31:00: Collaborative strategic reading
39:00: Project PACT

*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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Dr. HyeJin Hwang is an assistant professor and literacy researcher whose research interests revolve around reading comprehension and content learning in K–12 settings, particularly for multilingual students. In this week’s episode of the podcast, HyeJin Hwang talks with Susan Lambert about background knowledge (what it is, how it’s built, and more), the importance of broad knowledge, the connections between knowledge and vocabulary, and unit planning rather than lesson planning. English wasn’t Dr. Hwang’s own first language, and her research on supporting multi-language learners is informed by her own experiences learning English and later teaching English as a second language. Whether you’re just starting to establish a solid foundation on knowledge building or you’re looking to explore the topic from new angles, this episode is the one to listen to.

Show Notes:

• Meta-Analysis: “Effects of integrated literacy and content-area instruction on vocabulary and comprehension in the elementary years: A meta-analysis,” by HyeJin Hwang et al., 2021
• Practitioner Paper: “What research says about leveraging the literacy block for learning” (p.35-48), by HyeJin Hwang et al., 2021
• Read: “Making the most of read-alouds to support primary-grade students’ inference-making," by HyeJin Hwang et al., 2023
• Read: “A longitudinal investigation of directional relations between domain knowledge and reading in the elementary years,” by HyeJin Hwang, et al., 2022
• Read: “The multidimensional knowledge in text comprehension framework,” by Kathryn S. McCarthy and Danielle S. McNamara, 2022
• Listen: S8E1, with Reid Smith and Pamela Snow
• Listen: S8E2, with Molly Ness

Quotes:“Knowledge building cannot wait… Start from the beginning of schooling, from early grades. Multilingual students and monolingual students, they both need support developing knowledge and literacy skills.” —HyeJin Hwang

“In knowledge building, we usually like to go for cultivating in-depth knowledge. That means interconnected ideas need to be told throughout multiple lessons, multiple classes, rather than planning individual separate lessons.” —HyeJin Hwang

“When readers have good broad knowledge, prior knowledge, then it is more likely the readers can recall text information ideas, and they can make better inferences about missing ideas in text.” —HyeJin Hwang

Episode Content Timestamps*

2:00: Introduction: Who is Dr. HyeJin Hwang?
6:00: Comprehension models
8:00: What is background knowledge?
10:00: Activating and integrating background knowledge
15:00: Mitigating background knowledge issues
21:00: Strategy instruction
22:00: What should knowledge building instruction look like for students?
27:00: Advice for elementary school teachers to change their instruction
32:00: Broad knowledge and why it matters
38:00: Content knowledge and multilingual learners
44:00: Final thoughts and advice

*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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A name known throughout the literacy world, Maryanne Wolf, Ed.D., directs UCLA’s Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice. She’s published over 170 scientific articles and four books focusing on the science of the reading brain. In her conversation with Susan in this episode, she discusses the reading brain in a digital context and delves into some of the tensions of the present moment in literacy instruction: the Science of Reading beyond just phonics, the plea to preserve deep reading, and literacy and screens. She also talks about the topics she’s most focused on and the ones she feels are most pressing in general when it comes to research on the brain and literacy. And she ends with an impassioned message to teachers, expressing her deep respect and gratitude.

Show notes:

• Book: Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain
• Book: Tales of Literacy for the 21st Century: The Literary Agenda
• Book: Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World
• Listen: Maryanne Wolf on The Ezra Klein Show

Quotes:
“What I would say to any teacher of balanced literacy: Let us bring our best selves and expand our knowledge. We both have things we can learn from each other. ” —Maryanne Wolf, Ed.D.

“Pass on why you learned to be a teacher. Pass it on to your students. Let’s make that next generation of teachers truly excited about what we can do to release the potential of every child.” —Maryanne Wolf, Ed.D.

Episode Content Timestamps
2:00: Introduction: Who is Maryanne Wolf?
7:00: Cognitive neuroscience and how it relates to early childhood literacy
14:00: Elements kids aged 0-5 need to develop before build the reading circuits in the brain
21:00: Maryanne’s first book, Proust and the Squid
27:00: Maryanne’s third book, Reader Come Home
31:00: The reading brain in the digital age: What screens do to the reading brain
43:00: Maryanne Wolf and the Science of Reading movement
48:00: Discussing presentation with the Teachers College
55:00: Most important topics in the evolving world of reading research
58:00:* Maryanne’s message to teachers of deep gratitude and respect

*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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As a writer of several books for teachers and parents, former kindergarten teacher, and current associate professor of language and literacy in the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University, Tanya S. Wright, Ph.D., has maintained focus on a singular question: How can we most effectively work with students in the early education setting? In answering that question, Wright has researched and written on two interesting areas: vocabulary development, and best practices for literacy development in young children. Listeners will come away from this conversation with some great tips and strategies for developing vocabulary, working effectively with younger students, and integrating writing and vocabulary.

Show notes:

• Read: “A Teacher's Guide to Vocabulary Development Across the Day: The Classroom Essentials Series”
• Read: “Literacy Learning for Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers: Key Practices for Educators”
• More from Dr. Wright: Follow Tanya S. Wright on X

Quotes:

"We need kids to be able to sound out the words, but we also need them to know what they mean. Otherwise, the text won't make sense. So we really need to be working on both of these at the same time." —Tanya S. Wright

"Really value what kids bring to the classroom, even if it's not perfect yet, or if it's not exactly what adults would say." —Tanya S. Wright

"It's really important that we're thinking about purposeful, planned, and intentional vocabulary supports to make sure that everybody is included in the learning and can participate in the classroom." —Tanya S. Wright

"Realistically, kids love to learn big words. They make use of them. They don't really differentiate it. So that's an adult imposition, right? Which ones are the big ones or which ones are the hard ones? If we use them with kids, they will use them too. And enjoy it." —Tanya S. Wright

Episode content timestamps*:
2:00: Introduction: Who is Tanya Wright?
4:00: Journey to studying vocabulary: What is the importance?
6:00: What does it mean to know a word?
11:00: How do knowledge and vocabulary connect and why can't they be divorced?
17:00: Tips for being planned and purposeful with vocabulary instruction
22:00: Integrating vocabulary across content areas
27:00: What would you say to someone who says a word is "too hard" for a kid?
33:00: How has your thinking changed about the approach to vocabulary from when you started your research?
37:00: Final advice for educators

*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to the nearest minute.

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Returning guest and recent doctoral degree recipient Dr. Jasmine Rogers rejoins the podcast to discuss findings from her research on Black language and teacher perceptions of Black language. Dr. Rogers shares strategies for how educators can better serve students by allowing them to be more themselves in the classroom. She also shares specific teacher approaches she's observed that listeners can apply in their own classrooms. Lastly Dr. Rogers inspires listeners with emotional stories—including her own—about educators learning and growing, and posits that starting with introspection can often have the greatest impact on the classroom.

Show notes:

• Listen: Jasmine’s first appearance on Science of Reading: The Podcast
• Read: “The Importance of Phonemic Awareness Instruction for African American Students” by Ramona T. Pittman, Marianne Rice, Esther Garza, and Myriam J. Guerra
• Read: “Difference or Deficit in Speakers of African American English?” by Linda M. Bland-Stewart
• Reference: “Phonemic Inventories and Cultural and Linguistic Information Across Languages,” American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)

Quotes:
"You address people as human beings because they're human and that's the right thing to do." —Dr. Jasmine Rogers

"The history of our country, the history of who we are as individuals in our families, absolutely impacts who we are as teachers and how we show up in the classroom." —Dr. Jasmine Rogers

"A lot of change is just being open to feedback, being curious, and ensuring that whatever you are doing, you are not causing harm to students." —Dr. Jasmine Rogers

"If I was able to make a change, you 110 percent can make a change. And a lot of that is just being open to feedback, being curious, and ensuring that whatever you are doing, you are not causing harm to students." —Dr. Jasmine Rogers Episode Content Timestamps*

2:00: Recap of the last episode with Dr. Jasmine Rogers
4:00: How teachers respond when students use Black language in their lessons and how that impacts student behavior
11:00: Observation on teacher moves in the classroom, pre and post professional development
23:00: Tips for educators wanting to be more affirming in the classroom
26:00: Resources for learning the phonological features of different languages & the importance of relationship building and knowing your students
31:00: How we teach irregularly spelled words & syllable stresses
35:00: Emotional stories from educators & final encouragement from Dr. Jasmine Rogers

*Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute

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This episode’s guest is Margaret McKeown, Ph.D., a retired professor from the University of Pittsburgh, decades-long researcher, and former elementary school teacher. In it, Margaret and Susan address why vocabulary is so important, particularly for knowledge building; talk about the various elements of effective vocabulary instruction; discuss the key role of informal instruction in vocabulary building; and share best practices for assessing vocabulary. Listeners will come away from this episode with a deeper understanding of the how and why of vocabulary instruction, as well as tips for bolstering vocabulary instruction in their own communities.

Show notes:

• Follow Margaret on X
• Listen: In Season 8 Episode 3, Gina Cervetti also spoke with Susan about vocabulary development
• Book: Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction by Isabel L. Beck, Margaret G. McKeown, Linda Kucan
• Book: Creating Robust Vocabulary by Isabel L. Beck, Margaret G. McKeown, Linda Kucan
• Book: Vocabulary Assessment to Support Instruction by Margaret G. McKeown, Paul D. Deane, Judith A. Scott, Robert Krovetz, and René R. Lawless
• Website: Etymonline.com, for learning about etymology

Quotes:
“Good instruction needs to be interactive. We're using words. Vocabulary pervades the day.” —Margaret McKeown

“Relax, because you're never going to be able to teach kids all the words that they really need to know, so just drop that.” —Margaret McKeown

“There is no perfect set of words, so don't worry about which words you're using, just sort of tune your mind to the kinds of words that turn up in texts a lot, ones that go across texts, not so much ones that are just, domain specific, but what words am I going to read in a novel, a social studies text, a newspaper article? Those are the kinds of words.” —Margaret McKeown

“If you do one thing, set up an attitude about words, this idea of reveling in words, and then just drop them in.” —Margaret McKeown

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On this wide ranging episode, Susan finally gets the chance to speak with famed education thinker and author John Hattie, Ph.D. Hattie has authored dozens and dozens of books. He’s best known for his book, Visible Learning, which now has a sequel. In this episode, he discusses his career and shares with Susan some of the biggest takeaways from his work. He also explains what meta-analysis is and discusses some of the biggest takeaways from meta-analysis in the education field. They both also delve into the importance of successful implementation. And, finally, Hattie shares his thoughts on AI and the future of education. This episode offers many practical tips for educators to realign with their mission and dig into why they do what they do and how to best make an impact.

Show notes:

• Book: Visible Learning: The Sequelby John Hattie
• Book: Visible Learning and the Science of How We Learn by John Hattie and Gregory C.R. Yates
• Book: Making Room for Impact by Arran Hamilton, John Hattie, and Dyland William
• Read: The Future of AI in Education: 13 Things We Can Do to Minimize the Damage

Quotes:“Your job is not to get through the curriculum, your job is not to get kids engaged in authentic, real-world, exciting tasks. Your job is to have an impact across those many notions.” —John Hattie, Ph.D.

“We're very good at finding problems and fixing them but we're not as good—we're not having the courage—to study expertise and scale it up. And that's my mission. Scale up the expertise we have.” —John Hattie, Ph.D.

“I'm an evidence-based person. Sometimes I don't like the results, but that doesn't mean you get to deny it. Some people want to deny it. Some people want to get angry with it. And sometimes evidence does get in the way of a good opinion.” —John Hattie, Ph.D.

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In this episode, Susan Lambert talks to Gina Cervetti, Ph.D., about literacy development, knowledge building, vocabulary expansion—and the deep connections between all three. Gina explains why she sees knowledge and vocabulary as two sides of the same coin. She also attempts to expand the listener's understanding of what knowledge really is; it’s not just subject-area knowledge, it’s also cultural knowledge. In this process, she introduces the idea of conceptual coherence, the benefits of this approach to knowledge building, and avenues for implementing it in the classroom. Lastly, Gina offers strategies for how teachers can effectively build students’ vocabulary without relying on a vocabulary list which she notes is not backed by the research.

Show notes:

• Faculty Page: Gina N. Cervetti
• Website: Seeds of Science/Roots of Reading
• Read: “Research-Based Principles for Improving the Reading Achievement of America’s Children” by the Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement

Quotes:
“Above all other things in education, literacy is a gateway to so many of the things that are essential for human flourishing and human choice.” —Dr. Gina Cervetti

“I like to think about vocabulary, not as individual words, right, but as a set of labels for ideas that we want kids to be able to read about and talk about and write about.” —Dr. Gina Cervetti

“It's really hard to teach individual words in ways where that learning is durable…Because it's not connected to something.” —Dr. Gina Cervetti

“When you can see yourself or connect to the experiences you bring to a text it’s great for your comprehension.” —Dr. Gina Cervetti

“Knowledge is so complex that it actually offers a number of different benefits. And different kinds of knowledge actually benefit literacy development in different ways.” —Dr. Gina Cervetti

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Many educators understand the value of reading aloud to students, but may not have yet unlocked the full power of these tools as an intentional, consistent, and joyful instructional approach. In this episode, we welcome Molly Ness, author or the recent book, Read Alouds for All Learners: A Comprehensive Plan for Every Subject, Every Day, Grades PreK—8. Molly—a former classroom teacher herself, who also spent 16 years as a teacher educator—gives us an overview of the research on read-alouds, detailing the myriad benefits (linguistic, socioemotional, motivational, and physiological) they provide students. Molly also lays out strategies for effective read-alouds, instructions on how to properly plan and implement them, and specific examples of the pre-work process for texts like Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems.

Show notes:

• Book: “Read Alouds for All Learners: A Comprehensive Plan for Every Subject, Every Day, Grades PreK–8” by Molly Ness
  *Use promo code “AmplifyPodcast20” from Oct. 24, 2023–Dec. 15, 2023, for a 20% discount on the paperback version.
• Read: “What are Teachers Reading and Why?: An analysis of elementary read aloud titles and the rationales underlying teachers’ selections” by Kristin Conradi Smith, Craig A. Young, and Jane Core Yatzeck
• Website: www.drmollyness.com
• X account: @drmollyness

*Terms and conditions:
Discount valid on SolutionTree.com only. Enter promo code AmplifyPodcast20 at checkout to receive a 20% discount on the paperback version of Read Alouds for All Learners. Offer expires December 15, 2023. Not valid for bookstores, distributors, or resellers. Continental U.S. only. Cannot be combined with other offers. For customers submitting a purchase order, payment must be received by December 15, 2023, to qualify for this offer.

Quotes:"A read-aloud is an interactive language experience...where a teacher reads something, elicits a conversation from students. Those conversational turns are so essential in [a] read-aloud. It's a shared literacy experience around a text." —Molly Ness

"What I don't think teachers understand, and I say this having been one of those teachers, is the intentionality that needs to happen in planning the read-aloud." —Molly Ness

"When we add things like think-alouds and being explicit in our vocabulary, we are building [students'] metacognition and [their] abiliy to understand text." —Molly Ness

"We all have those gaps in knowledge and life experiences, regardless of where we come from and regardless of our zip code and regardless of our personal or family situation." —Molly Ness

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In the premiere episode of Season 8 of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Susan Lambert is joined by guests Reid Smith and Pamela Snow to lay the groundwork for a season entirely centered on knowledge and knowledge-building. Reid and Pamela—of the SOLAR Lab at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia—recently co-authored (along with many others) a review of the literature on background knowledge and literacy. In this discussion, they share what they learned, including some surprising takeaways. This episode examines the complexity of building background knowledge, the important role it plays in literacy, and the reasons we’ve decided to spend a whole season exploring it!

Show notes:

• Read: "The Role of Background Knowledge in Reading Comprehension: A critical review"
• Read: "Elementary Teachers' Perspectives on Teaching Reading Comprehension"
• Blog: The Snow Report
• Website: The SOLAR Lab

Quotes:“We decided we'd embark on a knowledge-rich curriculum where we would make deliberate decisions about what it is that we would like our students to know about the world in which we live and thinking carefully about the coherence and sequencing of that knowledge.” —Reid Smith

“This idea of having a coherent curriculum that systematically builds knowledge and skills over time is something that we think is really important for our kids.” —Reid Smith

“There's a group of students who, even when they know they have the background knowledge that's required to make inferences in a text, they find that really difficult, that they have difficulty identifying the pieces of knowledge that they actually have that are going to enable them to make inferences with a particular text.” —Reid Smith

“Explicit teaching is an important way of building accurate background knowledge, building schema about a topic that, of course, is an important social equity lever for us to pull because not all students have equal opportunities.” —Pamela Snow

“Background knowledge has a particularly strong effect for those students who don't have other compensatory mechanisms to be able to pick up the ball when they don't have that background knowledge.” —Reid Smith

“The long-term memory makes no distinction between information that's correct or incorrect…so, of course, the incorrect knowledge would impact on our understanding." —Reid Smith

“I think we respect teacher autonomy when we give them the knowledge that they need about how the English writing system works, right across the Reading Rope, and how the English language works, right across the Reading Rope.” —Pamela Snow

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In this episode, in honor of Dyslexia Awareness Month, we highlight Kareem Weaver's daughter Margaret "Margo" and nephew Elijah—both of whom learned they had dyslexia later in their young lives. After many struggles in school, Margo was diagnosed with dyslexia in high school. Meanwhile, Elijah was diagnosed with dyslexia only while he was incarcerated. Margo and Elijah discuss the impact of their diagnoses. Meanwhile, Kareem reflects on their stories and shares lessons learned for families and caregivers. Margo and Elijah also share their advice for educators and other young people about types of dyslexia.

Show notes:

• Listen: Kareem Weaver’s first interview with Susan: What it takes to be a literacy education changemaker.
• Listen: Kareem Weaver’s most recent podcast appearance: The Right to Read: live from Plain Talk
• Much more on dyslexia: Listen to S7E7 with Dr. Tim Odegard and S7E9 with Dr. Sally Shaywitz
• Documentary: The Right to Read
• Website: FULCRUM (Full and Complete Reading is a Universal Mandate)
• Read: How dyslexia diagnosis changed a Bay Area high school softball player’s life

Quotes:

"It made me realize I wasn't the problem; something was wrong with me. I just had a little bump in the road that was making it just a little bit harder for me." —Margo Weaver

"It shouldn't take having to go to jail to get what you need to learn how to read. That's the bottom of it." —Kareem Weaver

"Just try to take a deep breath in and ask questions." —Elijah Valencia

"Even when they were trying to help me ... it's like they were expecting me to be learning at everybody else's pace." —Elijah Valencia

"Real talk as a parent: We got to own up to stuff." —Kareem Weaver

"When a kid can't read and life gets a hold of you, it's a life cycle. Next thing you know, you find yourself in situatins that you never would have imagined." —Kareem Weaver

"Most parents are overwhelmed and they need an ally in the building." —Kareem Weaver

"I just wish somebody kind of sat with me and told me that I wasn't stupid and that I was okay." —Margo Weaver

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This is Part 2 of our conversation with Dr. Reid Lyon, one of the leading experts in reading research. After years working for and with the highest levels of the U.S. government, Dr. Lyon stepped away from working on reading research. However, in May 2023, he released his "Ten Maxims: What We've Learned So Far About How Children Learn to Read." Picking up where we left off last episode, Dr. Lyon continues to expand on what we know about how children learn—and explains how much of this information was known two decades ago when he was testifying before Congress. He also goes into what he sees in the current Science of Reading landscape, and what he hopes for the future, and how both of those things led to the creation of his "Ten Maxims."

Show notes:

• Listen to: Embracing the complexity of learning to read (Part 1)
• Dr. Reid Lyon: “Ten Maxims: What We've Learned So Far About How Children Learn to Read”
• Keith Rayner’s research: “Eye movements in reading and information processing: 20 years of research”
• Marilyn Adams: Beginning to Read
• Susan Brady: Phonological Processes in Literacy
• Emily Hanford: “Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong”

Quotes:“The Science of Reading is cumulative and we’re learning all kinds of new things.” —Dr. Reid Lyon

“A more realistic look at reading is in fact to understand the complexity, but not be intimidated by it.” —Dr. Reid Lyon

“When you’re working on something that’s so critical to a life—to a child’s life—belief systems don’t cut it. Evidence cuts it.” —Dr. Reid Lyon

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Dr. Reid Lyon is one of the leading experts in reading research. After years working for and with the highest levels of the U.S. government, Dr. Lyon stepped away from his reading research. But in May 2023, Dr. Lyon released his "Ten Maxims: What We've Learned So Far About How Children Learn to Read." And of course Susan jumped at the chance to invite him onto the podcast. In a wide-reaching interview, Dr. Lyon traces his life story from the Vietnam War to the National Institute of Health. He also offers an expansive overview of what we know about teaching reading, how children learn—including a discussion of whole language vs. phonics—and his response to educators wondering what reading actually is and what methodology of teaching students to read is most effective.

Be on the lookout for Part 2 of our interview with Dr. Reid Lyon, being released next week.

Show notes:

• Dr. Reid Lyon: “Ten Maxims: What We've Learned So Far About How Children Learn to Read”
• Keith Rayner’s research: “Eye movements in reading and information processing: 20 years of research”
• Marilyn Adams: Beginning to Read
• Susan Brady: Phonological Processes in Literacy
• Emily Hanford: “Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong”

Quotes:“Phonics—that is, looking at letters, letter patterns, learning how to bring sound to associate to those letters—is absolutely essential, non-negotiable. It has to be learned. But it in no way is sufficient to be able to comprehend, which is the goal of reading.” —Dr. Reid Lyon

“Reading is a complex behavior subserved by multiple systems in the brain that integrate and inform each other.” —Dr. Reid Lyon

“It’s a symphony of neural activity that undergirds this very complex behavior of just learning how to read. So when people boil reading down into phonics or whole language, it’s just a false characterization.” —Dr. Reid Lyon

“People somehow conflated this natural ability of oral language to develop—just expose kids, just shower them with language—to reading. And reading is by no means natural. It has to be taught. It does not reside in the brain systems.” —Dr. Reid Lyon

“We’re hampered by the teacher-knowledge issue. That’s not a teacher’s fault. That’s a college of education system that is bereft of responsibility. It operates on philosophical foundations. It operates on belief systems. It’s very politicized. It looks at reading as a right, which it is. But it doesn’t look at the instruction of reading as methodology—strategies, direct and comprehensive programs that can help most kids learn to read.” —Dr. Reid Lyon

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With a background as a classroom teacher, a master's in educational neuroscience, and a doctorate in special education, Dr. Neena Saha has seen all facets of education. In her work, she noticed a gap in the research-to-practice workflow for early literacy and dedicated herself to streamlining the process of finding and disseminating the best educational research for educators. Together, Susan Lambert and Neena discuss the need for reading researchers to work together and collaborate in a more focused and concerted group effort, the challenges of implementation, and how educators can best keep up with research that often feels overwhelming.

Show notes:

• Listen: Our recent episode with Claude Goldenberg
• Read: Neena’s monthly reading research update
• Watch: Neena’s July video about a Bayesian network meta-analysis
• Watch: Celebrating the Legacy of Dr. Bud Rose
• Website: Center for Research Use in Education
• Read: “Survey of Evidence in Education for Schools Descriptive Report”
• Read: “The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect” by Judea Pearl
• Read: Reading Research Recap—If you want to start receiving monthly notifications for this series, please register or sign in to your Lexile & Quantile Hub account and join the Reading Research mailing list.

Quotes:
"What I did was focus really on dissemination, right? Getting rid of that hurdle of, you know, there's so many journals out there." —Dr. Neena Saha

"You have to look at the full body, you're like cherry picking stuff if you're going to social media and the person with the biggest megaphone wins or whoever has the most interesting way of presenting it." —Dr. Neena Saha

"We need a more concerted effort. There needs to be a bunch of researchers that come together and hash it out. It can't just be single ones here and there." —Dr. Neena Saha

"Teachers or educators out there right now, when you're feeling overwhelmed and you can't figure out how to find the evidence, or some evidence, guess what? We're affirming for you that there's no easy way to do it...this is more of a systemic problem." —Dr. Neena Saha

"It's not enough to do the science. You have to make sure it gets out there." —Dr. Neena Saha

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Growing up, Malcolm Mitchell considered reading and academics as a bare minimum means to get to play football. While his journey with football led to playing in the NFL, the work he is most proud of today is his literacy work and his own journey of learning to love reading, advocating for literacy, and writing children's books. In this conversation with Susan Lambert at the 2023 Plain Talk Conference—where Malcolm was the keynote speaker—Malcolm dives into his own process of teaching himself to become a proficient reader at the age of 19. Through the lens of his own struggles and triumphs, Malcolm shares a powerful testimony to the importance of cultural connection, access to books, community building, and understanding the true "why" behind reading to get students motivated to read.

Show notes:

• Website: Share The Magic Foundation (ReadWithMalcolm.com)
• Watch: Malcolm’s 2019 TEDxUGA talk
• Read with Malcolm's Instagram
• Read with Malcolm's Twitter
• Read with Malcolm's LinkedIn

Quotes:
"I saw that [reading] as the thing that would allow me to become the best version of myself." —Malcolm Mitchell

"Reading is the most self empowering tool a person could possess." —Malcolm Mitchell

"I knew that I needed to surround myself with a group of readers to help foster an even greater love or deeper connection." —Malcolm Mitchell

"It's not whether people want to do something or not. It's whether they understand the value of it." —Malcolm Mitchell

"Our challenge is to create an atmosphere that hopefully makes students willing to learn. And that opens the door for a teacher to do what they do best." –Malcolm Mitchell

"High school is probably the most confusing place because the things that you need to do most to position yourself for a fruitful life are the things that are ridiculed" —Malcolm Mitchell

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Here to continue our discussion on dyslexia from earlier episodes in the season is an all-time leading expert on the topic: Dr. Sally Shaywitz, Co-founder and Co-director of the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity. This literacy legend shares how she came to study dyslexia, the story of her seminal Connecticut Longitudinal Study, and all she's learned from her years of dyslexia research. Shaywitz will cover some of the biggest myths about dyslexia and also explain the "sea of strengths" possessed by people with dyslexia.

Show notes:

• Book: Overcoming Dyslexia
• Coursera: Overcoming Dyslexia https://www.coursera.org/learn/dyslexia
• New York Times story: The Couple Who Helped Decode Dyslexia
• Yale Center for Dyslexia: website

Quotes:
"It's so important to screen, to learn early that you may be at risk and then to follow up with more testing that may confirm you're dyslexic. When you have something, but it doesn't have a name, it leads to anxiety." —Dr. Sally Shaywitz

"There are so many people who are slow readers who are brilliant thinkers. That's our 'sea of strengths' model." —Dr. Sally Shaywitz

"We are so genetically driven to speak ... but we're not genetically driven to read." —Dr. Sally Shaywitz

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When it comes to literacy education and cross-domain learning, it’s critical to understand the relationship between reading and writing. In this episode, Susan talks to Steve Graham all about writing—and how it can be used to strengthen literacy. Graham served as chair of the What Works Clearinghouse Practice Guides on elementary and secondary writing, and is the current Regents and Warner Professor at Arizona State University. Together, he and Susan discuss ways to support student writing, hindrances to writing development, the importance of teaching handwriting skills, and why writing is essential to any literacy program.

Show Notes:

• What Works Clearinghouse: “Teaching Elementary School Students To Be Effective Writers”
• Meta-analysis: “The Effects of Writing on Learning in Science, Social Studies, and Mathematics: A Meta-Analysis”
• Book: Handbook of Writing Research
• Arizona State University: Profile

Quotes:“Our development as writers might be something that you can think of as open-ended…it can expand ever outward.” —Steve Graham

“Handwriting gets better, spelling gets better…students become better at constructing sentences in their writing. They tend to generate more content, and the quality of their writing may improve as well.” —Steve Graham

“Any kid who has trouble with handwriting [or] spelling usually dislikes writing much more than their peers that do not have those difficulties, and they typically don't produce as much. And what they produce usually is just not as coherent or well connected.” —Steve Graham

“What we see with exceptional teachers is they have their kids write. And at least through grades one to six, when students write, the quality of their writing gets better and their reading comprehension gets better.” —Steve Graham

“Kids need to write, they need to write for a variety of purposes. And they also need to write for real reasons, for real audiences.” —Steve Graham

“We want to create a community in which kids can thrive as writers and take risks.” —Steve Graham

“We want to make sure that we're using reading and writing for the functional purposes of learning, because they make a huge difference. They're really the basic building blocks around which we acquire and understand information.” —Steve Graham

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When we surveyed listeners, more than half of respondents said they wanted more conversations about teaching students with dyslexia! With that in mind, in this episode Susan is joined by Dr. Tim Odegard from Middle Tennessee State University. Odegard is a professor of psychology and holds the Katherine Davis Murfree Chair of Excellence in Dyslexic Studies. As someone with dyslexia himself, Odegard brings a unique perspective to this discussion where they debunk the idea of "the gift of dyslexia," discuss neurodiversity and talk about what needs to be done to change the system.

Show notes:

• Dr. Tim Odegard’s Twitter: @OdegardTim
• Tennessee Center for the Study and Treatment of Dyslexia
• E-books from the Center for Dyslexia at Middle Tennessee State University

Quotes:“It's not easy, but life isn't easy and it's not fair and you don't get to write the rules. But how you play the game and how you persist is what defines you as a human being.” —Tim Odegard

“Sure. You can turn lemons into lemonade, but all they're saying ism that it's a gift because you find a way to persevere, and any hardship could be that way, but when you're in the thick of it and you're actually living it, and you're just trying to get the ability to do your work and not feel like you're stupid. That's not a gift.” —Tim Odegard

“We need to change the dialogue and say, this is about what's right for all kids. And this isn't about just dyslexia, that’s the byproduct of doing what's right for all children.” —Tim Odegard

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From reading street signs and menus to checking the weather, and using a ruler, there are so many examples of how a student's math and literacy adventure continues beyond the classroom. That's why we're sharing another bonus episode—this time from our friends at Math Teacher Lounge, to show the connection between math and children's literature.

In this episode, Mathematizing Children's Literature authors Allison Hintz and Antony Smith join Math Teacher Lounge hosts Bethany Lockhart Johnson and Dan Meyer to discuss what would happen if we were to approach children's literature, and life, through a math lens, and how we can apply those techniques to classroom teaching.

Show notes:

• Dr. Hintz’s Twitter: @allisonhintz124
• Dr. Smith’s Twitter: @smithant
• Dr. Hintz and Dr. Smith’s Instagram: @MathematizeChildrensLiterature

Quotes:

“We started asking ourselves what would happen if we considered any story a chance to engage as mathematical sensemakers.” —Allison Hintz

“We think of stories as mirrors or windows. We really want to be mindful of story selection, of whose stories are told and whose stories are heard.”—Allison Hintz

“Modeling what I, as a teacher, notice or wonder about helps set the expectation for what kind of response would be encouraged.” —Antony Smith

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In this episode, we take on the difficult topic of literacy education in the American juvenile justice system. Susan is joined by Hilderbrand Pelzer III, who discusses his experience as an educational leader in the Philadelphia prison system. Pelzer talks about what he saw and learned—and explains why he advocates for aspiring teachers to work with incarcerated youth. This passionate and moving discussion breaks down the myths surrounding literacy's relationship with juvenile incarceration and also leaves listeners with advice on how to become more involved in their own communities.

Show notes:

• Hilderbrand Pelzer III's Facebook
• Hilderbrand Pelzer III's LinkedIn
• Hilderbrand Pelzer III's Intragram: @hilderbrandpelzer3
• Hilderbrand Pelzer III"s Twitter: @HP3Potential
• Website: www.hilderbrandpelzer3.com

Quotes:

“Once we have our understanding and expectations, what are the opportunities we are going to put in place to help them thrive? It’s as simple as that. Expectations and opportunities.” —Hilderbrand Pelzer III

“Teacher preparation training should be [taking place] inside correctional settings. Why? Because inside correctional settings, you will see all the challenges that we talk about… [the teachers] will not run away from challenges. They will be able to understand, navigate, and already have a plan of action to help.” —Hilderbrand Pelzer III

“These are real stories about children living their [lives] unable to read. It’s not data. They’re telling you they’re in a situation of incarceration and they’ve figured that their life is over as a result of not being taught in school.” —Hilderbrand Pelzer III

“I said, ‘Well, I’m gonna be at the Philadelphia prison system,’ and he looked at me like my career was dead...not knowing that my career started in juvenile prisons. Going from this to that [felt] like, ‘I’m about to do something extraordinary.’” —Hilderbrand Pelzer III

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We're excited to share a special episode from our friends at the Science Connections podcast!

Literacy learning doesn't end when a student leaves their English class; it continues to develop, grow and be challenged across all subject domains. In this episode, host Eric Cross sits down with Susan Gomez Zwiep, former middle school science teacher and senior science educator at BSCC Science Learning. She shares research that shows the benefits of integrating science and literacy, strategies for applying these ideas in the classroom, and what she's learned through her own experiences.

Show notes:

• Listen to more Science Connections episodes
• Dr. Susan Gomez Zwiep’s BSCS profile, link: bit.ly/SC-zwiep-profile
• Inquiry Science: The Gateway to English Language Proficiency, link: bit.ly/SC-zwiep-research
• Twitter: @SusanGomezZwiep
• Study guide (episode 2)

Quotes:

"If we wait until students develop English proficiency to allow them access to quality learning, we've lost a tremendous number of students that could not only benefit from science, we could benefit from their entering this science conversation." —Susan Gomez Zwiep

"When kids were excited about this thing in a Ziploc bag, they didn't care. They communicated however they could—sometimes in their primary language or in their home language, sometimes in imperfect English ...but you and large, they just communicated." —Susan Gomez Zwiep

"This expansion of language including non standard dialects and even home language, is really important for letting students bring their whole selves into the classroom."

"...The kids were coming into the office and had transitioned to communicating in English, especially when they wanted to talk about science, and they really wanted to talk about science, 'cause they were super excited about the stuff that they were learning." —Susan Gomez Zwiep

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Susan interviews Danielle "Nell" Thompson, literacy multi-hyphenate and the creator of the Big Sky Literacy Summit. This August, the summit returns with a star-studded lineup of mentors, sages, teachers, and leaders, and in this episode, Nell shares how her own background—working with students in Alaska and Mississippi, among many other places—has helped shape this year's conference theme. She and Susan discuss the importance of mentorship in advancing evidence-based literacy practice and literacy instruction.

Show notes:

• Website: Big Sky Literacy Summit
• Twitter: The Transformative Reading Teacher Group
• Danielle Thompson's Twitter: @Nelliet11
• Danielle Thompsons's LinkedIn: @Danielle Nell Thompson
• Book: From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life

Quote:
I was feeling like the numbers were too great and that the systems were broken. … If I could build better systems, I could also support the educators' success within those systems." —Dr. Danielle "Nell" Thompson

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While in New Orleans at the Plain Talk About Literacy and Learning conference, Susan sat down with keynoter Zaretta Hammond. Zaretta shared her thoughts on the importance of scaffolding in literacy education. In this episode, Susan and Zaretta also look back on Zaretta’s impactful book Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students and talk about scaffolding, mastery, and the importance of learning how to learn.

Show notes:

• Book: Culturally Responsive Teaching and The Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students by Zaretta L. Hammond
• Twitter: @ready4rigor
• Instagram: @crtandthebrain
• Newsletter sign up: www.crtandthebrain.com

Quotes:“What I have come to believe is the obstacle is the way. So what worries me becomes my research project. What worries me becomes my new mission.” —Zaretta Hammond

“For me, justice is the mastery. I'm a movie fan and so I, in this case, think of Master Yoda all the time. You know, he said there's no try or not try. You're just doing it. Either you're teaching them to read or not.” —Zaretta Hammond

“When that scaffold stays [up] too long, it becomes a crutch and the child actually believes they cannot learn without it.” —Zaretta Hammond

“So this idea of somehow we get overprotective and we don't want them to fall. We don't want them to fail. We don't want them, you know, their self, self-esteem, to be bruised. We are actually doing that when we delay this because the only way we learn is through error. And we have not reframed errors as information.” —Zaretta Hammond

“Number one, you assign yourself, and number two, you always go for mastery. Not a grade. No one will ever ask you about your grades four years after college, ever. Go for mastery. They will ask you what you know how to do.” —Zaretta Hammond

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After three years and more than 3 million downloads, Science of Reading: The Podcast recently conducted its first ever taping in front of a live audience. The recording took place on March 9, 2023, in New Orleans at the Plain Talk About Literacy and Learning conference. Susan Lambert was joined by none other than Kareem Weaver, NAACP activist, whose first appearance on this podcast remains an all-time favorite among listeners. This time around, Kareem gave Susan a behind-the-scenes look at his involvement with the new film: The Right to Read. Kareem also offered insights into his latest work with NAACP. Plus, Kareem addressed the topic of accountability: can we make the changes we need to make when it comes to literacy instruction without holding some people accountable?

Show notes:

• More info on The Right to Read film
• Trailer: The Right to Read
• Kareem Weaver on Twitter
• FULCRUM website
• Kareem Weaver’s first appearance on “Science of Reading: The Podcast”

Quotes:
“You could look at it from every endeavor, every social sector. Literacy is at the core.” —Kareem Weaver

“Hope it's not a strategy. It's great to have hope, but that can't be the strategy for our kids and our systems that serve 'em.” —Kareem Weaver

“There has to be some accountability at a human level for people to open up and be willing to believe enough.” —Kareem Weaver

“People often get so caught up in their own feelings and their own agenda and what they can't wait to do and they forget about the people they're supposed to be. Leadership starts with service.” —Kareem Weaver

“Many of us have divested ourselves from our own values to accommodate the narratives and lies we've been told to calm the dissonance.” —Kareem Weaver

“I believe in our potential to solve big problems if we're honest with each other and if we ask the right questions and push the right way.” —Kareem Weaver

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This season is all about tackling the hard stuff, and there is no harder pill to swallow than being told by a student that you don't know how to teach reading—especially when you realize they're right! After this happened to Jamey Peavler, Co-Director in the Reading Science Graduate Program at Mount St. Joseph University, she leaned in and took the opportunity to completely rethink her approach to literacy instruction. Now, her research focuses on maximizing small-group instruction. In this episode, she'll share her findings and her advice, as well as some best practices for small-group instruction and balancing small- and whole-group work.

Show notes:

• Book: Explicit Instruction: Effective and Efficient Teaching by Anita L. Archer and Charles A. Hughes
• Graphic: Instructional Hierarchy: Matching Interventions to Student Learning Stage (Haring, et al., 1978)
• Webinar: Maximizing the Benefits of Small-Group Instruction with Jamey Peavler
• Book: 10 Success Factors for Literacy Intervention: Getting Results with MTSS in Elementary Schools by Susan L. Hall

Quotes:“We have this mindset of that small-group differentiated golden standard, but there's a certain amount of instruction, again, [that] all kids need and there isn't a lot of difference between those things.” —Jamey Peavler

“There's a certain amount of proactive, preventative foundation-building work that should be done for all kids. We can do that more efficiently in a whole-group setting and then reserve that small-group setting for what truly needs to be differentiated, because not everything has to be differentiated.” —Jamey Peavler

“If we can set aside the idea of introducing a new program, and instead focus our core instruction on how that language and how those routines could actually be intensified in that small-group setting, we're going to minimize that cognitive overload.” —Jamey Peavler

“What we know about overlearning is when you get that fluency down and that generalization down, you are more likely to accurately reach adaptation sooner. So it's not causing harm for the kids who have already learned that skill.” —Jamey Peavler

“When you mess up, it's okay. Just mess up again tomorrow in a different way.” —Jamey Peavler

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For the second episode in our new season focused on tackling the hard stuff, we're taking on a question that listeners have asked: how can we apply the Science of Reading in a Montessori setting? To help explore that question, we're joined by the three authors of the recent book Powerful Literacy in the Montessori Classroom: Aligning Reading Research and Practice. Listen to Dr. Susan Zoll, Dr. Natasha Feinberg, and Dr. Laura Saylor as they explore the shared qualities between the Science of Reading and Montessori approach. They share tips and guidance for literacy instruction both inside and outside a Montessori setting and end with an impassioned call to educators from all approaches to come together and learn from each other for the benefit of students everywhere.

Show notes:

• Book: Powerful Literacy in the Montessori Classroom: Aligning Reading Research and Practice, by Susan Zoll, Natasha Feinberg, and Laura Saylor
• Book: Explicit Instruction: Effective and Efficient Teaching, by Anita Archer and Charles Hughes

Quotes:
“Maria Montessori was a scientist first. She developed her methods based on science.” —Laura Saylor

“Reading is the human rights issue of our era in education and we want all children to be successful.”—Susan Zoll

“I encourage everyone, get together with your colleagues, talk about the different pedagogy, talk about the different strategies that are out there, because that is what is going to help us become better in the field of education.”— Natasha Feinberg

“For those trained in both Science of Reading and Montessori education, there were clear and undeniable parallels between them.”—Susan Zoll

“Teachers want students to be good readers. That is what is underlying our instruction— whether we are Montessori, whether we're teaching in a public school.”—Natasha Feinberg

“If you're a Montessori and continue to use your Montessori language, absolutely follow your philosophy and the pedagogy, but also begin to engage with this language of research because it can elevate the conversation and it can expand our reach into the greater world of education.”—Susan Zoll

“Come see what we do and know that we're willing to share.” —Laura Saylor

“We all want children to have access to wonderful reading instruction. We all want children to have the opportunities and life that each of them deserves. And if we are not working together and we're busy labeling and [in a] silo then we really aren't going to have the collective impact we might have otherwise.” —Laura Saylor

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Claude “Skeptic” Goldenberg, professor of Education at Stanford, rejoins Susan Lambert to kick off season seven of this Science of Reading podcast—all centered around “tackling the hard stuff.” In this week’s episode, Claude and Susan take on the topic of what is actually true when it comes to the Science of Reading and how to navigate the noise to find it! Together they discuss the opportunities and challenges of social media, the importance of limitations of foundational skills, and striving to maintain hope even when the journey towards success gets overwhelming.

Show notes:

• Tim Shanahan’s blog
• The New England Journal of Medicine: “Physicians Spreading Misinformation on Social Media — Do Right and Wrong Answers Still Exist in Medicine?”
• Bloom’s Taxonomy
• “Reading Wars, Reading Science, and English Learners,” by Claude Goldenberg
• “Stages of Reading Development,” by Jeanne S. Chall
• “Scientific Basis of the Art of Teaching,” by N.L. Gage

**Quotes:

"**I wish there were a simple solution, but I don't really think there is."—Claude Goldenberg

"It's really gonna take leadership and clear communication and less one-sidedness by people who are influential thought leaders."—Claude Goldenberg

"We know that coaching and professional development and training and observations, we know all those things are important, but it's very important to be efficient because we don't have enough time."—Claude Goldenberg

"We've gotta be really scrupulous and careful about what we mandate and require and expect of teachers and provide them with the knowledge, information, and training that is really important."—Claude Goldenberg

"You can think of literacy as a structure, as something that gets constructed in your mind."—Claude Goldenberg

"If all you have is a foundation, you don't have much."—Claude Goldenberg

"It's really about the kids. I mean, it's really about the students, particularly those kids who are so dependent on schools because they don't have the resources and the opportunities and the affordances at home and in their communities."—Claude Goldenberg

"There are millions of those kids. They're so deeply dependent on the schools to do the right thing. We really owe it to them to get it right."—Claude Goldenberg

"We owe it to the teachers, we owe it to the kids, we owe it to the communities. That's my hope, that people will see the responsibility that we bear, to acknowledge the uncertainties, to acknowledge that we don't know everything."—Claude Goldenberg

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We're thrilled to share that we are about to launch brand new seasons of our hit podcasts— Science of Reading: The Podcast, Science Connections, Math Teacher Lounge.

Listen to this trailer to learn more about what's to come in season 7 of Science of Reading: The Podcast, Tackling the Hard Stuff; season 3 of Science Connections, Science is the Underdog; and season 5 of Math Teacher Lounge, Math Anxiety. Click here to visit the new Amplify Podcast Hub and watch the video trailer promoting all three new seasons.

Show notes:

• Science of Reading: The Podcast page
• Science Connections podcast page
• Math Teacher Lounge podcast page
• Amplify Podcast Hub
• Crossover episode: The science of learning, the humility of teaching

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Learning is at the center of everything in education, so understanding how the human brain processes, retains, and retrieves new information is essential to student growth. In this special crossover episode, Susan joins forces with fellow Amplify podcast hosts Eric Cross from Science Connections, and Dan Meyer and Bethany Lockhart Johnson from Math Teacher Lounge, to discuss what learning really means across subjects. Susan is also joined by Peter C. Brown, author of the book Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, to dive into the cognitive science behind how our brains learn and ways you can apply that research in your classroom right now!

Show notes:

• Amplify podcast hub
• Podcast: Science of Reading: The Podcast
• Podcast: Math Teacher Lounge
  Podcast: Science Connections
• Book: “Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning,” by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III,, Mark A. McDaniel
• Website: Retrieval Practice

Quotes:
“As much as I'm into the science of learning, I really wanna be into, like, the humility of teaching” —Dan Meyer

“Learning is this fluid thing. It's social, it's dynamic, it's experiential. It is the process of acquiring knowledge and understanding, and developing these behavioral skills, but it's also embedded in this bigger context of your background, your identity.” —Eric Cross

“For myself as an educator, I am just a lily pad as [students] hop across the pond, but I want to be the best lily pad possible. I want to give them the strongest surface. I want to give them the most security that I can.” —Eric Cross

“There's new ways to solve the problem. There's new ways to look at the problem. There's new ways to take apart the problem and put it back together. And for me, that's when learning happens.” —Bethany Lockhart Johnson

“The scientists have discovered that for something to be learned and retained, you need to help the brain do that by practicing, retrieving it from memory, and practicing explaining it in your own words to somebody else asking.” —Peter C. Brown

“There's really great evidence that we can then teach our students or maybe even ourselves how to be a better learner.” —Susan Lambert

“Joy in the classroom is a much better context for learning than anxiety.” —Susan Lambert

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Back in 2019, Natalie Wexler joined Susan Lambert as the very first guest on Science of Reading: The Podcast. Now—more than three years and three million downloads later—Science of Reading: The Podcast welcomes Natalie back on the show. She and Susan discuss what she's seen in the 3+ years since releasing her groundbreaking book The Knowledge Gap and delve into the importance of managing cognitive load, building long-term memory, writing, and the broader science of literacy. Lastly, Natalie shares what she hopes to see in the education headlines in the not-so-distant future.

Show notes:

• Our first episode with Natalie Wexler, The Knowledge Gap
• The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America's Broken Education System—And How to Fix It , by Natalie Wexler
• Bloom's Taxonomy
• One Sentence At A Time, by Judith C. Hochman and Natalie Wexler
• The Writing Revolution website
• Knowledge Matters Campaign
• Statement from Knowledge Matters Campaign

Quotes:“I'm a little worried that Science of Reading, narrowly defined, isn’t encompassing everything we need to do. And people are getting the idea that if they just add more phonics to what they're already doing, they'll have solved the problem.” —Natalie Wexler

“Even if we do a great job on that foundational skills side of things, if we are not also changing current standard practice with regard to comprehension. If we don't start building kids' academic knowledge and vocabulary early, we are gonna find, at higher grade levels, kids are gonna be able to decode complex text, but they may not be able to understand it.” —Natalie Wexler

“There are serious problems with how we have been approaching decoding instruction. There are equally serious problems with how we've been approaching comprehension instruction, and that's the message that I think is not getting out.” —Natalie Wexler

“You can't get to the top without going through the bottom. You can't think critically about a topic that you don't have understanding or knowledge of, it's just not going to work.” —Natalie Wexler

“Here's the catch about writing: It's hugely important. It can help cement knowledge and long-term memory, and deepen knowledge.” —Natalie Wexler

“Even if you as a teacher have doubts about the curriculum. It's really important to give it your best shot and approach it with enthusiasm.” —Natalie Wexler

“It's great to focus attention on problems with phonics instruction, but we also need to bring attention to problems with comprehension instruction and the failure to build a kind of knowledge that fuels comprehension.” —Natalie Wexler

“What has amazed me is how many teachers and educators have nevertheless really embraced this message. And I think that really speaks to how much they care about their students. Change is hard, but they are undertaking it daily.” —Natalie Wexler

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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 "this isn't good enough" 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'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.

Show notes:

• California Reading Coalition
• California Reading Report Card
• California Reading Coalition on Twitter
• California Reading Coalition on Facebook

Quotes:
“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

“If the pieces of the system aren't all working together, then you just don't achieve sustained change.” —Todd Collins

“Leaders have a critical function. They communicate to everybody in a state or in an organization what's important. You don't have to tell 'em what to do, but you need to tell 'em what the goal is.” —Todd Collins

“Teachers aren't the problem. Teachers are the solution.” —Todd Collins

“We simply can't call ourselves a great school district unless we get great results for our most challenged and least resourced students.” —Todd Collins

“It's not a new thing to be concerned about the low achievement among low-income students but it's a relatively new thing to do something about it.” —Todd Collins

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While working with students, one educator came to a realization that put her on a path to fascinating research in the Science of Reading. In this episode, Jasmine Rogers—manager and coach with the In Schools program at the DC Reading Clinic and an early literacy intervention lead at American University—shares her story and delves into her research on dialects and best practices for structured literacy instruction. She discusses Black language and how it connects with the language comprehension strand of Scarborough's Reading Rope. Jasmine also offers recommendations for classroom teachers who have bidialectal students.

Show notes:

• DC Reading Clinic
• S1-22: Success using the Science of Reading: Mary Clayman
• Jasmine Rogers - Linkedin
• S4-07: Linguistic Variety and Dialects: Difference, not error: Julie Washington
• “Teaching Reading to African American Children,” by Julie A. Washington and Mark S. Seidenberg
• “Linguistic Justice: Black Language, Literacy, Identity, and Pedagogy,” by April Baker-Bell
• “An Informed Lens on African American English,” by Megan-Brette Hamilton
• “Multilingualism and Codeswitching in Education,” by Nkonko M. Kamwangamalu

Quotes:

“As a teacher, a Black woman, who speaks Black English, who knows the language, who is very well versed in structured literacy, if I overlooked this, if that caught me off guard a little bit, then that means that could potentially catch someone else off guard.” —Jasmine Rogers

“With language comprehension, and considering in your native language, there may be a word that doesn’t necessarily match up with a language that you are learning in the classroom. So you have to then use your incredible cognitive skills that speak two completely different codes, comprehend what is happening, and then tie that back into, of course, the Rope to become a fluent reader.” —Jasmine Rogers

“I consider Black English to be a very complex and complicated language…but I think typically in society it has been viewed very negatively. You can see in the media and in research where people have talked about it and used negative connotations. And I think those beliefs from society have seeped into the classroom.” —Jasmine Rogers

“A strength of children that are bidialectal is the similar strength to students that are bilingual—they have an ability to take language that is different from theirs and translate it. That right there is an asset.” —Jasmine Rogers

“The languages that we speak and bring from home also are not wrong. They’re simply different. And we’re gonna work together so that we take what we know differently and come together with a common language so that we’re communicating with one another.” —Jasmine Rogers

“We have got to give our students access to this code so that they can become literate and run our society one day.” —Jasmine Rogers

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Throughout this season, we've explored different tiers of the education system. In this episode, we look at the role higher education plays in equipping teachers with the right training and tools. Our guest Donna Hejtmanek, a retired special education teacher and reading specialist, shares her disappointing first-hand experience of going back to school at the age of 58—an experience that made her realize many universities weren't training educators in the Science of Reading. Donna tells Susan the story of how she came to create the incredibly popular Facebook group Science of Reading–What I Should Have Learned in College, and discusses what it will take to change higher education.

Additional resources:

• Facebook group: Science of Reading—What I Should Have Learned in College
• Stephanie Stollar’s group Stronger Together: The Alliance for Reading Science in Higher Education
• Facebook group: Training Reading Rocket Scientists
• Facebook group: Science of Reading for Administrators—What Teachers Want You to Know
• Find Donna on Twitter.
• Find Donna on LinkedIn.

Quotes:“The door's been cracked. It has to happen and it has to happen by having relationships with people. You just can’t walk in and just say, you know, this is the way it needs to be done. It's a slow process.” —Donna Hejtmanek

“If you're trained in a certain way, you're only exposing yourself to those researchers doing those things and that type of information. And so you don't know other sources of information of other researchers and what else might be going on.” —Donna Hejtmanek

“Learning the Science of Reading is not a, ‘You get it in one day.’ It's not like that. It's a journey and it takes time to assimilate everything you read and then turning that into a practice and shifting the thinking of millions of people.” —Donna Hejtmanek

“You get better and better at it the longer you do it. So if we just stay stagnant and are closed-minded to new things that are out there, then we can't grow.” —Donna Hejtmanek

Announcing the 2023 Science of Reading Star Awards!The Science of Reading Star Awards are back to honor and celebrate another group of outstanding educators. Do you know someone who has empowered their students with the Science of Reading? Whether that someone is you or a colleague, nominate them to be the next star!

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With Utah's recent passing of Senate Bill 127, a sweeping piece of literacy legislation, many are turning to the state as a model of what statewide implementation of the Science of Reading can look like. In this episode, Dr. Jennifer Throndsen, Director of Teaching and Learning at Utah State Board of Education, joins Susan to tell the story of how Senate Bill 127 came to be and how they are continuing to make changes to schools across Utah. Together, they discuss what the bill included, the opportunities and challenges the bill provides when it comes to implementation, and advice for other states looking to enact literacy legislation. Throndsen also discusses her experience as a teacher and her journey with the Science of Reading.

Additional resources:

• Utah’s S.B. 127 Early Literacy Outcomes Improvement
• Western States Take Aim at Early Literacy During 2022 Legislative Sessions (The Council of State Governments West)

Quotes:

"Our students are the state's greatest asset, and we need to invest in them with all the energy and knowledge we have to do our best to serve them with urgency, compassion, and high expectations." —Jennifer Throndsen

"If kids can't read, that really keeps them from accessing other content areas like science, social studies, and being able to engage in story problems in mathematics." —Jennifer Throndsen

"Being able to read is today's civil right's movement." —Jennifer Throndsen

"With requirements comes resistance. No matter how great the opportunity is." —Jennifer Throndsen

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In this episode, we take you behind the scenes of the smash hit foundational reading series The Reading League’s “Reading Buddies,” aimed at students in pre-K through third grade. Susan is joined by Andrea Dotto and Brendan Malafronte—artists, performers, and co-founders of children's story hour and media company Dusty & Dott—as well as "Reading Buddies" executive producer Toni Ann Walsh. Together, the four of them discuss how the show started and how Andrea and Brendan got up to speed on the Science of Reading, and share tips for educators and caregivers on how to make reading instruction fun for kids.

Additional resources:

• YouTube Channel
• Website: https://www.thereadingleague.org/reading-buddies/
• Email: ReadingBuddies@thereadingleague.org
• Facebook
• Instagram
• The Reading League website
• Dusty and Dott website

Quotes:“Our mission is to educate educators on the Science of Reading because we believe that if educators have that knowledge, they can transform kids' lives.” —Toni Ann Walsh

“Little by little you can learn to read, you can do something hard and we can do it together.” —Andrea Dotto

“As a storyteller, I can go on a stage and tell a story and know, ‘Oh, that song made somebody connect to a memory,’ or ‘These two hours, they got to escape whatever is bothering them at home.’ That escapism is special and magical. But with reading buddies you get escapism and then you also get impact.” —Andrea Dotto

“God bless teachers. They're incredible. And we are here to help you continue to be incredible. We're here to give you tools to excite your students and just complement everything that you are doing.” —Brendan Malafronte

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Dr. Nyshawana Francis-Thompson, Deputy Chief of Curriculum and Instruction in the School District of Philadelphia, has played an integral role leading and sustaining a transition to the Science of Reading in the Philadelphia public school district. But making such a change across a large district is difficult. In this episode, Dr. Francis-Thompson (who goes by Dr. Ny) talks with Susan about Philadelphia’s experience. She also talks about her own experience learning about the Science of Reading, and offers tips to other district-level leaders and wisdom about providing all students with the liberation that comes through reading and leading—all with love at the center.

Additional Resources:

• Dr. Ny’s LinkedIn profile
• Focused implementation: Doing less to do more with Dr. Doug Reeves—Podcast episode
• 2021 The Philadelphia Citizen story: “A Better Way to Teach Reading”
• 2021 Chalkbeat Philadelphia story: “Just 32% of Philadelphia third graders read on grade level. Freedom Schools Literacy Academy could be a model to change that.”
• A 2017 Accountability Review Council report on Philadelphia: “Promoting the Science of Reading Instruction in Philadelphia Public Elementary Schools: Early Implementation Lessons”
• Video of Dr. Ny speaking: “Equity in Curriculum”
• Dr. Ny’s 2017 dissertation: “Beyond the Pink Sand: Case Studies of Experiences of Multi-Tier System of Supports Implementation in the Bermuda Public School System”

Quotes:“I have never met a student that did not want to learn how to read or a family that did not understand the importance of their children knowing how to read.”
—Dr. Nyshawana Francis-Thompson

“We have to listen to our young people in order to be able to move with that sense of urgency.”
—Dr. Nyshawana Francis-Thompson

“Liberation is connected to our students being literate… In order for our students to truly be free, we [need to] understand the power that reading has in their future.”
—Dr. Nyshawana Francis-Thompson

“We have to remember who we are serving and why we are serving them.”
—Dr. Nyshawana Francis-Thompson

“A lot of times when you’re in a large system and you’re leading a large system, it can become very robotic-like a machine. You do this, you get this, you do this, you get this. But there’s a human aspect that if you have not considered that human aspect, you could very well end up in the same place that you’re trying to move away from.”
—Dr. Nyshawana Francis-Thompson

“And while it’s a five-year strategic plan, we do have a sense of urgency and I’m sure within that there are gonna be benchmarks and hundred-day plans and smaller plans to make sure that we are actually doubling down again on the things that truly matter, that are gonna lead, outcomes for our students here in the school district.”
—Dr. Nyshawana Francis-Thompson

“If we’re only in the business of educating some students, then what are we really doing? It’s important to look at the students that are not benefitting and really identifying the things that work for that population of students rather than continuing with practices that aren’t meeting the needs of the students we’re serving.”
—Dr. Nyshawana Francis-Thompson

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As the former chief academic officer at the Louisiana Department of Education, Rebecca Kockler made it her mission to empower districts to select higher quality materials. This involved a thorough and rigorous curriculum review, and allowing teachers to choose the program they wanted once they knew exactly what they were getting. This work built Kockler’s case for focusing on quality curricula as a vital part of student success. Using Kockler’s work in Louisiana as a case study, this episode shows why state governments should focus on logistics, procurement, and equipping educators with the information they need to make the best decision for their students.

Additional Resources:

• Louisiana Department of Education’s instructional materials review
• Education Next: Louisiana Threads the Needle on Ed Reform
• Bio on the the Advanced Education Research and Development Fund (AERDF) website
• US News: A Compelling Case for Curriculum

Quotes:“It was really our teachers who led so much of the charge to say, ‘No, this is what we want. We believe kids should be held to high expectations. We believe they're capable, we believe they deserve it.’”
– Rebecca Kockler, Program Director of Reading Reimagined within AERDF, CEO and Founder of Illuminate Literacy, and former Assistant Superintendent of Academics at the Louisiana Department of Education

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Mimi Stewart is a state senator from New Mexico and previously worked as a public school elementary special education teacher for thirty years, with an expertise in reading literacy. Her unique background has turned into a passion for and a history of championing educational policies as a legislator. This episode focuses on how state government and state legislation can work to improve literacy instruction. She takes us through the process of creating a piece of literacy legislation, New Mexico Senate Bill 398, which passed in 2019. Sen. Stewart also shares the latest on that bill and also talks about what she’s now focusing on from her place in the legislature—like changing that way we teach teachers from a university level.
Additional Resources:

• New Mexico Senate Bill 398
• Mimi Stewart - Twitter
• People for Mimi Stewart - Facebook Page
• Mimi Stewart - Website
• American Educator, Spring/Summer 1998
• National Conference of State Legislatures’ “No Time To Lose” Report
• The May Center for Learning - Website

Quote:“Think about how many young kids in school right now we are not reaching and that have that feeling that they're dumb and they can't get it. I had one kid say to me, Ms. Stewart, I think there's just a secret code. And I said to him, You are right . There is a secret code. It's called the alphabetic code, and you can learn that easily.”
– Mimi Stewart, New Mexico State Senator, representing New Mexico’s District 17

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Equal parts educational leader, educator, and life-long learner of reading science, Mitchell Brookins has leveraged his passion and dedication to affect change in the lives of the students and teachers he works with, as well as the many educators he has inspired online. In this episode, he opens up about the emotional journey he took—from realizing everything he’d been doing wasn’t working and that he’d never actually learned how to teach kids to read, to seeking out reading research and encountering the Science of Reading—a path that brought unparalleled transformation and success to his schools. Mitchell talks about how he is still learning and keeping students at the forefront of what he does every day, ending on a powerful story of a student who changed his life forever.

Additional Resources:

• The National Reading Panel Report: Practical Advice for Teachers
• Mitchell Brookins - Twitter
• Scanning Pens webinar: Learning to Read & How to Support Older Learners
• Free Poster: Why are you thankful for literacy?

Quotes:
“My calling is so that children can one day stand on their own without scaffolds, that children will one day reap the benefits that literacy is liberty, that children will one day be able to teach someone else the power that only literacy can bring.” – Mitchell Brookins

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Community and education activist Naomi Peña and clinical psychologist Dr. Akeela Azcuy knew that, as moms of struggling readers themselves, they had the opportunity to advocate for not only their own children but all children. These two leaders and changemakers founded Literacy Academy Collective with the goal of one day creating a stand-alone New York City public school devoted to educating children with language-based learning disabilities as well as struggling readers. In this episode, our guests share their own families’ experiences with dyslexia, how that impacted their activism, and how listeners at home can effect grassroots change in their own communities.

Additional Resources:

• Literacy Academy Collective homepage
• “Parents play a major role in new dyslexia pilot program”—NY1
• “The rise and fall of vibes-based literacy”—The New Yorker
• “In the fight over how to teach reading, this guru makes a major retreat”—The New York Times
• Become an Amplify Tutor—Don’t miss this opportunity to make an impact in young readers' lives!

Quotes:“Leaders tend to forget that you get more out of parents if you collaborate with them, if you're honest.” — Naomi Peña

“With the level and degree of training, understanding, and privilege that I had, it was still – and still continues to be – an overwhelming battle to get your child the services that they need.” — Akeela Azcuy

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As an educator, researcher, author, and leadership consultant—there is little within the education world that Doug Reeves has not done. Twice named to the Harvard University Distinguished Authors Series, Doug has written more than forty books and joins Susan to discuss one in particular—Building to Impact. Together they dive into what evidence-based implementation looks like including the importance of de-implementation. Doug provides tangible advice for educators on what success looks like, how to define it for your school, and the ways to make it happen by focusing on one thing at a time until it becomes part of your school’s culture.

**Show Notes:

Join us for our webinar series all about building a Science of Reading ecosystem. At our next session on Oct. 10, Dr. Jan Hasbrouck will join us for a webinar on Dyslexia Awareness Month.

Additional resources:**

• Building to Impact: The 5D Implementation Playbook for Educators
• Fearless Schools: Building Trust and Resilience for Learning, Teaching, and Leading
• 100-Day Leaders: Turning Short-Term Wins Into Long-Term Success in Schools
• Doug Reeves - Homepage
• Creative Leadership - Website
• Doug Reeves - Twitter
• “The Engagement Illusion” by Doug Reeves
• Webinar: “Fearless Schools”

Quotes:

“When was the last time in education, anybody heard of de-implementation? All we do is pile one thing on top of another, on top of another, and then we don't then, then we wonder why it didn't work.” —Doug Reeves

“If you're not gonna have deep implementation, which requires a level of focus and allocation of time and resources, then don't bother.” —Doug Reeves

“You have to have a singular focus and, and it's gotta be sustained year after year after year until it becomes part of your culture.” —Doug Reeves

“You have to distinguish between an initiative, something that is new, and culture, something that's part of what we do every day and that is embedded. That is more important.” —Doug Reeves

“The problem is this. If you only look at the results, then you don't know what caused it. Somebody has to look at underlying causes.” —Doug Reeves

“It's really important for administrators to say, hey, I can deal with some chaos. I can deal with students making mistakes. That's real learning.” —Doug Reeves

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On this episode, we dive deep into the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation’s report card. Chester Finn, Jr., author of the new book Assessing the Nation's Report Card: Challenges and Choices for NAEP, joins Susan to discuss the NAEP assessment—which he likes to call the most important test you’ve probably never heard of. Together, Susan and Chester discuss how the assessment works, what it is and isn’t, and what benefits and opportunities it provides as the achievement gap continues to grow.

Show Notes:

Assessing the Nation's Report Card: Challenges and Choices for NAEP by Chester Finn, Jr.

Want to hang out with Susan and chat live about this episode of this podcast? Don’t miss our next “Off the Pod” FB live on our Community Facebook Group, where you can ask Susan your questions in real time!

Also, join Susan on Sept. 26, as she kicks off a webinar series all about building a Science of Reading ecosystem. The first session will focus on demystifying the Science of Reading and MTSS.

Additional resources:

• PolicyEd video: “Overhauling the Nation’s Report Card” | Perspectives on Policy
• Flypaper: “Assessing the Nation’s Report Card: Challenges and choices for NAEP”
• Education Next piece: “It felt like guerrilla warfare”
• Webinar: What you may not know—but should—about the Nation's Report Card
• Chester Finn bio at Thomas B. Fordham Institute

Quotes:

“For this to work, we need both great teachers and great curricula.”

—Chester Finn

“The single most important thing NAEP cannot do [is that] it cannot in any definitive way explain why scores are what they are or are rising or falling.”

—Chester Finn

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In our kick-off episode for season six, host Susan Lambert is joined by podcast alum Margaret Goldberg, the co-founder of the Right to Read Project. They discuss the new, animated Science of Reading series Brain Builders, and how this free tool can be shared directly with students and with their caregivers. Importantly, Margaret also elevates the need to focus on the comprehension strand of the Science of Reading.

Show Notes:Right to Read Project

Brain Builders animated videos

Brain Builders: VIP launch partyKnowledge at the Center of English Language Arts Instruction by Gina Cerveti and Freddy Heibert

**Quotes:

“We looked at Scarborough's Rope. If we're really focused just on word recognition, we're not going to get all of our kids to where they need and deserve to be."**

— Margaret Goldberg

“It's never too late to learn how to read. We can get you there.”

— Margaret Goldberg

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**In this episode, Susan Lambert was joined by Dr. Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan to discuss the unique challenges and opportunities presented when teaching multilingual learners how to read. Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan is a bilingual speech language pathologist and a certified academic language therapist. She is also the director of Valley Speech Language and Learning Center in Brownsville, Texas. On the podcast, she and Susan talked about how teachers can make connections between students’ home languages and English in order to celebrate their language and give them new tools to better understand English. She stressed the importance of teachers educating themselves on their students’ home languages so they can spot orthographic and phonological similarities and differences, and highlighted the importance of educator collaboration to drive student success.

Show notes:**

Literacy Foundations for English Learners: A Comprehensive Guide to Evidence-Based Instruction by Dr. Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan

Presentation: “Making Connections for Structured Literacy Instruction Among English Learners”

Reading SOS special video series: Expert Answers to Family Questions About Reading

Online book study of Literacy Foundations for English Learners By Dr. Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan

Mylanguages.org

Podcast survey **Quotes:

“The more we’re able to read, the more we’re able to learn.“**

—Dr. Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan

“Sometimes as teachers, we feel so overwhelmed with, Oh, I don't know that language. How in the world am I going to introduce a whole new thing? Instead we should be starting to understand connections.”

—Dr. Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan

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Dr. Nancy Nelson, assistant professor of special education at Boston University, discusses myths and misconceptions around RTI, MTSS, and assessment screening in reading and mathematics instruction. She highlights what tools need to be in place for the RTI system to be implemented well, her work on DIBELS®, and the importance of dyslexia screeners.
Show notes:

DIBELS® at the University of Oregon

Podcast Survey

Quotes:“Relying on data allows us to engage in a systematic process to implement systems to meet the needs of all kids.”
           —Dr. Nancy Nelson

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Join Sonia Cabell, associate professor at the School of Teacher Education at Florida State University, as she shares findings from her research trials on content-rich literacy curricula and discusses whether activating students’ background knowledge alongside explicit phonics instruction is more effective than the traditional approaches. She also describes what constitutes “compelling evidence” in the Science of Reading and explains why students need to interact with both written and spoken language while learning to read.

Show notes:

Florida Center for Reading Research

Core Knowledge Language Arts

Writing Into Literacy TEDx Talk by Sonia Cabell

National Reading Panel Report 2000

EdWeek Science of Reading article by Sonia Cabell

Special Issue: The Science of Reading: Supports, Critiques, and Questions

Live with the Author interview

The Power of Conversations: Building Primary Grade Students’ Vocabulary and Comprehension in a Changing Educational Landscape by Sonia Cabell

Twitter: @SoniaCabell

Quotes:“The knowledge that you have about a particular subject matters for your reading comprehension.”
—Sonia Cabell

“When I think about content-rich English Language Arts, I think about how we can integrate science and social studies into the language arts in ways that make sense.”
—Sonia Cabell

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Jacquey Barber, director emerita of The Learning Design Group at UC Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science , joins the podcast to discuss her research on the symbiotic relationship between literacy and science, as well as what educators should be looking for in high-quality, literacy-rich science curricula. She also goes into strategies for engaging students, including the do, talk, read, write model, then ends the episode by highlighting the many ways science supports reading.

Show notes:UCLA CRESST

The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America's Broken Education System—and How to Fix It by Natalie Wexler

No More Science Kits or Texts in Isolationby Jacqueline Barber and Gina Cervetti.

Podcast Discussion Guide

Quotes:
“Literacy is a domain in search of content; science is a domain in need of communication.”—Jacquey Barber

“Develop opportunities for students to learn to read, write, and talk like scientists do.”—Jacquey Barber

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Dr. Amy Murdoch is the assistant dean of Reading Science in the School of Education at Mount St. Joseph University. She received her doctorate in school psychology with an emphasis in early literacy from the University of Cincinnati. In this episode, she chats with Susan Lambert about creating prominent graduate and doctoral programs in the Science of Reading, and the responsibility of training the next generation of early literacy educators. She discusses how she has seen Science of Reading interest escalate, shares her hopes for the future of reading science in schools, and offers advice for those who are new to the Science of Reading and/or exploring an advanced degree rooted in reading science.

Show notes:Beginning to Read by Marilyn Adams

Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children by Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley

Project Ready! An Early Language and Literacy Program to Close the Readiness Gap - Research article

Mount St. Joseph University Reading Science Program

Center for Reading Science

Quotes:

"Don't do it alone, try to find community and find people you can, you know, your trusted colleagues that you can bounce ideas off of and grow your learning."
—Dr. Amy Murdoch

"Sometimes things are not completely clear and we need to collect more evidence in data and we do the best we can until we kind of refine a practice that we're trying to figure out, especially for children who really have significant struggles with reading."
—Dr. Amy Murdoch

"We're all working towards the same goal of helping all children enter the world of reading successfully and continue that path of reading successfully."
—Dr. Amy Murdoch

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Mickey Smith Jr. is an acclaimed Louisiana educator, author, saxophonist, and self-described "solutionist" who feels a strong calling to help educators and teachers. Mickey, who received the Grammy Music Educator Award in 2020, brings his motivational blend of music and message to this very special episode in which he and Susan Lambert discuss music, perseverance, and finding purpose as educators and human beings. In between interludes of uplifting songs and stories, Mickey shares his proven principles for helping educators create sound connections and culture in today's classrooms. He also describes his methods for providing all-purpose encouragement and offers a tangible approach to finding one's own personal mission statements—or, as he likes to call it, our legacy song.

Show notes:Mickey Smith Jr. - Website

See the Sound - Podcast

The Keep Going Tour

Quotes:

“I want to share some of the things that helped me to keep going, so that someone else won’t miss their next and best steps.”
—Mickey Smith Jr.

“I believe we all have a sound. I think our success comes, number one, from the promises we make and keep with ourselves, but also the authenticity we live out that sound with.”
—Mickey Smith Jr.

“If we all have a sound, ultimately I think our goal should be to create a legacy song.”
—Mickey Smith Jr.

“The sound I’m talking about is not the audible but the internal. It’s that thing that leaves an effect with folks beyond what you just teach them. It’s how you reach them.”
—Mickey Smith Jr.

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Dr. Desirée Pallais-Downing is an assistant professor of instruction in the Bilingual/Bicultural Education Program at the University of Texas at Austin. Having lived in Nicaragua, England, the United States, and Spain, she has experienced bilingual learning across four different countries. In this episode, she differentiates between sequential and simultaneous bilingualism, and the importance of assessment in the home and second languages before diving deep into the linguistic structures of Spanish vs. English. She also offers advice for non-Spanish speakers on the best ways to support Spanish speakers.

Show notes:

Dr. Desirée Pallais-Downing - Website

Quotes:"The way we position students in our classrooms can open or close opportunities for them to shine. When we bring in their knowledge and cultural experiences, we open more opportunities for them to be successful."

• Dr. Desirée Pallais-Downing

"There's very strong research on how language and literacy skills are transferable from Spanish to English, and that transfer from Spanish to English is not automatic."

• Dr. Desirée Pallais-Downing

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Dr. Kymyona Burk is Policy Director for Early Literacy at the Foundation for Excellence in Education (ExcelinEd). In this role, she supports states pursuing a comprehensive approach to K–3 reading policy. She joins host Susan Lambert to give listeners a look behind the curtain of the legislative process creating education policy, including writing and passing literacy legislation, the politics of advocating for the Science of Reading within legislation, and what the results look like for states that have this legislation in place.

Show notes:ExcelinEd profile page

The Perfect Storm: Mississippi’s Momentum for Improving Reading Achievement - The Reading League JournalAmplify’s Virtual Symposium 2022 - Celebrating Biliteracy: Realizing a Better Future for Our Spanish SpeakersQuotes:“A literacy law is an equity law … there has to be some type of consistent language around what effective reading instruction looks like in classrooms.”

— Dr. Kymyona Burk

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Claude Goldenberg joined the podcast to introduce what he argues is much-needed skepticism to the conversation of reading science. Goldenberg mentions that while the Science of Reading may be the latest buzzword, reading science is here to stay and, like any other science, will only grow stronger alongside informed critique. He later talks about the foundational skills and what the movement can learn from the failings of Reading First; offers advice for implementation; and ends with a hopeful note, highlighting that all educators can come together around a shared mission to see students succeed.

Show notes:

Quote:
“If we listen, if we communicate clearly, if we pay attention, giving people the benefit of the doubt that what they want is for all kids [to succeed], I think we can move forward.”

— Dr. Claude Goldenberg

Lessons Learned? Reading Wars, Reading First, and a Way Forward by Margaret Goldberg and Claude Goldenberg

Reading Wars, Reading Science, and English Learners by Claude Goldenberg

Amplify’s Virtual Symposium 2022 - Celebrating Biliteracy: Realizing a Better Future for Our Spanish Speakers

Teaching All Students to Read: Practices from Reading First Schools With Strong Intervention Outcomes by Elizabeth Crawford & Joseph Torgesen

Catch Them Before They Fall by Joseph K. Torgesen

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Susan Lambert is joined by Dr. Brittney Bills, educator and recent Science of Reading Star Award Winner to discuss MTSS. Dr. Bills began her journey as a school psychologist for six years before transitioning to the role of curriculum coordinator at Grand Island Public Schools. In this episode, Dr. Bills explains what MTSS is and how it centers on prevention rather than intervention. She talks about the intersection of universal screening data and MTSS and provides advice on evidence-based strategies and techniques to make a positive impact in your classroom. Using examples from her own district, Dr. Bills discusses avoiding burnout, learning to use data, and the process of ongoing improvement.

Show notes:Learn more about the Science of Reading for English learners at Celebrating Biliteracy: Realizing a Better Future for Our Spanish Speakers. Register here!

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Joining host Susan Lambert, Dr. Doris Baker speaks from her background researching the academic outcomes of English language learners to discuss ways educators can better engage and support all of their students. Dr. Baker emphasizes how much there is to learn about our native language by learning another language, and the many advantages of bilingualism. She then dives into a conversation around codeswitching and the importance of cultural awareness. Dr. Baker also gives listeners practical advice on how to include English language learners in core instruction and highlights how critical it is to provide students with opportunities to engage in sophisticated and deep conversations. Lastly, Dr. Baker outlines how educators can include parents in their children’s language learning by teaching them how, when, and what to read to their kids—in their native language!

Show notes:Learn more about the Science of Reading for English learners from Dr. Baker and other experts at Celebrating Biliteracy: Realizing a Better Future for Our Spanish Speakers. Register here!
Webinar: The Importance of Dual Language Assessment and How to Deliver It in Your Classroom

Research paper: Effects of Spanish vocabulary knowledge on the English word knowledge and listening comprehension of bilingual students

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Today on the podcast, we‘re joined by literacy expert Jan Hasbrouck, Ph.D. Dr. Hasbrouck is an education consultant, author, and researcher. She opens the episode talking about her start with literacy, underscoring how she was one of the lucky ones who learned how to teach reading correctly in college. Dr. Hasbrouck also discusses what it’s like to combat skepticism—both of the Science of Reading and the power of assessment. She then goes on to talk about the book she co-authored on student-focused coaching and ends the episode by addressing assessment anxiety directly, including a discussion of where it comes from, the importance of progress monitoring, and more!

Student-Focused Coaching by Jan Hasbrouck, Ph.D., Daryl Michel, Ph.D.

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Susan Lambert joins biliteracy expert and professor Dr. Lillian Durán, who holds a doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Minnesota and researches the improvement of instructional and assessment practices with preschool-aged dual language learners (DLLs).

Durán begins by pointing out the difference between being bilingual and biliterate, then describes the key advantages of being bilingual and the unique skills students who speak multiple languages bring to school. She then discusses how the Simple View of Reading connects to Spanish, the double standard often occurring when bilingual students are celebrated vs. when they are not, and the process of screening and assessment for multilingual students. Lastly, Dr. Durán compels educators to avoid viewing biliteracy and dual language support as a sub-population of their classroom and instead prioritize the development of students’ home languages, whatever they may be, alongside English instruction.

Quotes: 

“Language is inextricably linked to culture. We want to make sure these families and children feel valued and honored within our schools.” —Dr. Lillian Durán

“No matter what language you start to learn some of those skills in, there's a transfer and understanding of how to listen to sounds and how to put sounds together.” —Dr. Lillian Durán 

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In this episode, host Susan Lambert is joined by Lacey Robinson, Chief Executive Officer of UnboundEd. Robinson opens the podcast by telling her personal story of learning to read, discussing those who influenced her, and sharing how literacy empowered her to pursue education reform.

Robinson emphasizes the responsibility that educational practitioners and leaders have to dismantle and eliminate all barriers to education. She helps to define equity and equitable instruction and describes the literacy experiences of Black students, stressing how an understanding of history is essential to moving forward and not repeating past mistakes. Lastly, Robinson outlines what productive struggle should look like in the classroom, encouraging educators to embrace their students’ local, cultural, linguistic, and historical context to enable more rigorous reading opportunities. Listen now. Quotes:“Not everybody has to love to read. Everybody deserves the right to read."
— Lacey Robinson“I would lose myself in books. I would wrap myself up in characters and lands and places. My mother told me that day that once they taught me how to read, nobody would ever be able to take that away.” —Lacey Robinson

Show notes:

GLEAM instruction

UnboundEd

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In this episode, Susan Lambert sits down with all of our Science of Reading Star Award winners to discuss their journey with the Science of Reading—from the very beginning, to the work they are doing now. Susan is joined by Brittney Bills (Curriculum Coordinator, Grand Island Public Schools, Nebraska) and Alli Rice (Elementary ELA Lead, Kansas City Public Schools, Kansas), who both won our Amplifying Your District award. Susan also talks with Anila Nayak (Instructional Coach and Reading Intervention Teacher, Los Angeles Unified School District, California), winner of our Superstar award that celebrates a teacher who has made a direct impact on their students by applying the Science of Reading. Lastly, this episode features Cathy Dorbish (Principal, Austintown Elementary School, Ohio), who won the Standout School award that celebrates educators successfully shifting their school to the Science of Reading. These incredible educators share their stories of driving change, giving listeners inspiration and advice to take back to their own schools and classrooms.

Quotes:“School is a happy place. You need to enjoy being with the kids and making a lasting impact that really matters.” —Anila Nayak

“When you’re helping teachers and supporting other people’s classrooms, you do as much as you can.” —Alli Rice

Show notes:

Learn more about our winners.

Read Brittney’s spotlight.

Read Alli’s spotlight.

Read Anila’s spotlight.

Read Cathy’s spotlight.

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In this episode, Susan Lambert joins senior product specialist at Amplify, Kamilah Simpson. Kamilah’s roots in education took shape when she was a Title 1 middle school intensive reading teacher and from there she became an instructional coach. Kamilah shares her knowledge with podcast listeners as she dives into teaching reading to middle school students. She gives tangible advice on how to allow for productive struggle so that students can learn through discovery. Some of the topics Kamilah highlights include complex text and rigor, learning to scaffold, the importance of having students listen to text, incorporating writing practice, and supporting students without over-supporting. Finally, Kamilah stresses the importance of motivating middle school students to read by providing texts that they can see themselves and their world in.

Quotes:

“Students are going to write more when they have something to write about. It goes back to that discovery. It goes back to allowing them to have a productive struggle.” —Kamilah Simpson

“Are these texts that my students can find something of themselves in? Or are these just texts that have absolutely nothing to do with anything pertaining to their lives, their world, or their peers? What would motivate them?” —Kamilah Simpson

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In this episode, Susan Lambert sits down with Kareem Weaver to discuss change management for educators implementing the Science of Reading. Kareem Weaver is a member of the Oakland NAACP Education Committee and a leader of the organization Full and Complete Reading is a Universal Mandate (FULCRUM). He was also an award-winning teacher and administrator in Oakland, California, and Columbia, South Carolina. Kareem discusses what the Science of Reading is at the simplest level and why it’s important that educators are undivided in backing the research. He goes on to give an impassioned plea to educators to come together, because this is an issue that impacts all kids. Kareem also highlights the importance of meeting educators where they are and realizing that change cannot happen if teachers aren’t given the tools and support they need first. Lastly, Kareem calls for systemic changes to education so that teachers can do their jobs in a way that is balanced, sustainable, and ultimately benefits the students.

Quotes:“In order to save our kids and to get them competitive in the information age, they have to be able to access information. And so we’ve got to focus on literacy.” —Kareem Weaver

Show Notes:

FULCRUM:Full and Complete Reading is a Universal Mandate

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In this episode, we join Susan Lambert as she revisits a conversation she had during season 1 with Dr. Nancy Nelson, a research assistant professor at the Center on Teaching and Learning at the University of Oregon. They discuss myths and misconceptions around Response to Intervention (RTI), Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), and universal screening in reading instruction. Dr. Nelson also describes her work on DIBELSⓇ and explains the importance of dyslexia screeners and what tools need to be in place for RTI to work well.

Quotes:

“Education is one of the few things that students experience in life that has the ability to change their trajectory.” —Dr. Nancy Nelson

“I feel very strongly that students get access to instruction that is delivered through evidence-based practices, because that’s what we know works.” —Dr. Nancy Nelson

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In this episode, we join Susan Lambert as she talks to 10th grader Hadyn Fleming about his experiences growing up with dyslexia. Hadyn shares his story of moving around a lot and what it took in his educational journey to feel like he had the tools and resources to be successful. Hadyn openly discusses the experiences that made a difference in his life and candidly discloses what it really feels like to have dyslexia. He also shares the way that dyslexia impacts all facets of education and, conversely, how becoming a confident reader gave him increased confidence in other areas of his life. Lastly, Hadyn helps debunk dyslexia myths, and talks about how an educator's belief in their students' potential is essential to student success.

Quote:“Give us the opportunity to be great and we will not disappoint you.” —Hadyn Fleming

Show Notes:

Rocky Mountain Camp for Kids with Dyslexiahttps://www.verticalskillsacademy.org/

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In this episode, we join Susan Lambert as she talks to Ricky Robertson about building systems of support for students impacted by Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and the educators who work with them. Ricky is an educator, author, and consultant who has worked with alternative and traditional schools. The episode focuses first on how teachers can prioritize their own self-care and why it is essential in order to care for students. Ricky then goes into explaining what ACEs are and the ways that fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses can manifest in the classroom. Lastly, they go into explaining resilience and how routine and relationships help build a foundation for resilience—ending on a note of encouragement to educators that their investment is never wasted.

Quote:
"Books have been some of my most meaningful companions … there’s a form of attachment that can occur between a reader and a story or a book that can actually be a safe space of refuge." — Ricky Robertson

Show Notes:Teach for Trust - Ricky Robertson

Building Resilience in Students Impacted by Adverse Childhood Experiencesby Ricky Robertson, Victoria E. Romero, and Amber Warner

Ricky Robertson: Adverse Childhood Experiences Webinar [Video/Webinar]

Adverse Childhood Experiences: Trauma-Informed Strategies for Teacher and Student Well-Being[Video/Webinar]

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In this episode, we join Susan Lambert as she rewinds the tape and highlights some of the standout learning moments that have occurred throughout this season of the podcast. Guests like Sue Pimentel, Julie Washington, Nadine Gaab, and more have all taught us invaluable lessons about the Science of Reading. You’ll hear top takeaways from each of their episodes as they cover topics such as literacy accelerators, learning to read digitally versus in print, teaching reading to multi-language learners, dialectical variety, and so much more.

Quotes:

"My gratitude extends to these amazing guests who are helping us become more informed about the complexities and realities of learning to read."

Show notes:Podcast Episode 5: Sue PimentelReading as Liberation—An Examination of the Research Base by Sue Pimentel, Meredith Liben, and Student Achievement Partners
Podcast Episode 4: Lauren Trakhman & Patricia Alexander (UMD)

Podcast Episode 7: Julie Washington

Podcast Episode 8: Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan

Podcast Episode 9: Nadine Gaab

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In this episode, Susan Lambert joins Dr. Nadine Gaab to discuss dyslexia and the developmental progression of the brain and behavior of students as they learn to read. Dr. Gaab, an Associate Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, focuses on both typical and atypical learning trajectories from infancy to adulthood, with a special emphasis on language and reading development and the role of the environment in shaping these trajectories. In this episode, Dr. Gaab provides further insight into these developmental trajectories as they relate to early intervention for at-risk students. She differentiates between early diagnosis of dyslexia versus early identification of at-risk students. Adding nuance and complexity to the discussion of dyslexia, Dr. Gaab emphasizes the ways educators can ensure that all students experience the joy of learning to read.

Quote:“We want to make sure that we find everyone who is struggling with learning to read and make sure that everyone gets to experience the joy of learning to read.“ —Dr. Nadine Gaab

Show Notes:

Gaab Lab website

Gaab Lab - myths about dyslexia , by Nadine Gaab

National Center for Improving Literacy

Video - How the brain learns to read by Nadine Gaab

Tracing the Roots of Language and Literacy

Reading to Rewire

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In this episode, Susan Lambert is joined by Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan to discuss the unique challenges and opportunities presented when teaching multilingual learners how to read. Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan is a bilingual speech language pathologist and a certified academic language therapist. She is also the director of Valley Speech Language and Learning Center in Brownsville, Texas. She discusses how teachers can make connections between students’ home languages and English in order to celebrate their language and give them new tools to better understand English. She stresses the importance of teachers educating themselves on their students’ home languages so they can spot orthographic and phonological similarities and differences. Lastly, she highlights the importance of educators collaborating for the success of the students.

Quotes:

“The more we’re able to read, the more we’re able to learn.“—Dr. Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan

“Sometimes as teachers, we feel so overwhelmed with, “Oh, I don't know that language. How in the world am I going to introduce a whole new thing?” Instead we should be starting to understand connections.”—Dr. Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan

Show Notes:

Literacy Foundations for English Learners: A Comprehensive Guide to Evidence-Based Instruction by Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan

Presentation: Making Connections for Structured Literacy Instruction Among English Learners

Reading SOS Special Video Series: Expert Answers to Family Questions About Reading

Online book study of Literacy Foundations for English Learners By Dr. Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan

Mylanguages.org

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In this episode, Susan Lambert is joined by Dr. Julie Washington to discuss linguistic variety and dialects as difference, not error, and how to best support all students as they learn to read. Dr. Washington, professor in the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) and a speech-language pathologist, offers practical advice for educators teaching reading to children who don’t use general American English and discusses how to do so in a way that respects students' community languages and dialects. She reminds educators that students rise or fall to the expectations set for them, and encourages educators to remember that if they embrace language variety as something that needs to be understood and incorporated into developing successful readers, they will develop successful readers.

Quotes:
“Teachers need to know about the language variety that their students are speaking.” —Dr. Julie Washington

“Educating yourself as a teacher and recognizing where there is variety and difference and not error is critical for how you'll respond to it.” —Dr. Julie Washington

Show Notes:

Teaching Reading to African American Children by Julie A. Washington and Mark S. Seidenberg

Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy by Gholdy Muhammad

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In this episode, Susan Lambert joins elementary educator Lindsay Kemeny for a conversation about her journey of discovery with the Science of Reading. A current second grade teacher with ten years of experience in elementary education, Lindsay Kemeny has been published in the Reading League Journal and spoken alongside literacy experts like Emily Hanford. In this episode, Lindsay discusses how she processed her shock and guilt at realizing she’d never been taught how to properly teach reading. She also discusses the journey she took as a mother and an educator when her son was diagnosed with severe dyslexia alongside depression, and how that inspired her to dive into what is needed for good literacy instruction and what students with learning disabilities need. Listeners will also hear stories from additional educators from across the country about how the Science of Reading has transformed their classrooms.

Show Notes:

The Learning Spark blog

Sink or Swim: The Appearance of Reading by Lindsay Kemeny

Quotes:

“The ability to read is so tightly connected to our self-esteem.” —Lindsay Kemeny

“I love the phrase we have in the Science of Reading community: Know better, do better.” —Lindsay Kemeny

Content Warning:

CW // depression, suicide

This episode includes discussion of depression and suicidal thoughts, specifically as it impacts students with learning disabilities. This is a very sensitive but important topic that impacts educators, parents, and students alike. It is also a pivotal part of today’s guest’s story. We understand that not everyone is in a place to listen to today’s episode and we look forward to having you with us next week.

If you or a loved one is struggling with depression or suicidal thoughts please call the national suicide prevention hotline at 1-800-273-8255. For additional resources, please visit:https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/

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In this episode, Sue Pimentel—co-founder of the nonprofit StandardWorks, founding partner of Student Achievement Partners, and lead author of the Common Core State Standards for ELA—joins Susan Lambert to discuss her new report "Reading as Liberation—An Examination of the Research Base." Sharing key insights, she expands on her findings about personalization, literacy accelerators, and implementation, as well as how mutual respect between student and teacher is key to reading success.

Quote:“Reading is power. In our society, in our culture, it is about power and freedom when you learn how to read.” - Sue Pimentel
Resources:Reading as Liberation—An Examination of the Research Base by Sue Pimentel, Meredith Liben, and Student Achievement Partners
Announcements:
Looking to adopt the Science of Reading in your classroom or district? We have all the tools to help you make the shift at scienceofreading.amplify.com

Announcing the inaugural Science of Reading Star Awards! Nominate a Science of Reading champion in your district for a chance to win $500. https://amplify.com/sor-star-awards/

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In this episode, Susan Lambert sits down with Lauren Trakhman and Patricia Alexander, professors from the Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology within the College of Education at the University of Maryland, College Park, to discuss their research on the effectiveness of teaching reading in print vs. digitally. Their conversation explores the ways in which teaching reading in print remains vital even in a digital world. Drs. Trakhman and Alexander also explain why it's important to avoid making assumptions about students' abilities to use technology and how that can be a detriment to reading success. Lastly, they discuss strategies for using technology to boost children's foundational skills.

Quotes:
“Rule one is: no teacher at any level should assume that their students are digital natives.” - Dr. Patricia Alexander

“As we saw in this pandemic, reading digitally is not going anywhere ... and, in fact, is what made learning even a possibility the past year and a half.” - Dr. Lauren Trakhman

Resources:
Lauren Trakhman Bio and research

Patricia A. Alexander Bio and research

Announcements:
Looking to adopt the Science of Reading in your classroom or district? We have all the tools to help you make the shift at scienceofreading.amplify.com

Announcing the inaugural Science of Reading Star Awards! Nominate a Science of Reading champion in your district for a chance to win $500. https://amplify.com/sor-star-awards/

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This episode features Dr. Sheila Clonan discussing her work with identifying learning disabilities (particularly dyslexia) in children. Dr. Clonan also explores the mental and emotional effects of learning to read with dyslexia and how it impacts behavior and self-concept, providing two insightful analogies that illustrate what it feels like for students who aren’t given explicit instruction but are still expected to know how to read. She then ends the episode with practical advice for educators and parents on how to support and encourage children.

Quotes:“Find your child's interests or your student's interests and strengths and pursue those and give them opportunities to let those feed their soul.”

“I don’t think there’s anyone who goes into teaching, not caring about children and not wanting what’s best for children.”

Show Notes:

Dyslexia by Sally E. Shaywitz

International Dyslexia Association Fact SheetsWant to discuss the episode? Join our Facebook group Science of Reading: The Community.

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Dr. Tracy Weeden, CEO and President of the Neuhaus Education Center, joins host Susan Lambert to discuss ensuring literacy success for all. She shares what it means to be a literacy ally, what the ‘COVID Chrysalis’ is, and how teachers need to bridge the gap between the language students learn in school and the language they bring from home.

Quote:

“Quality of life and literacy are intrinsically tied to one another.”

Resources:

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Kicking off our new season, Susan Lambert hosts this special episode with Laura Cusack, Executive Director of K–8 ELA Strategy at Amplify. This dynamic duo sheds light on the pandemic’s effects on literacy achievement and strategizes how to make up for lost foundational skills while keeping students moving forward in grade-level learning. They also urge educators to make it a point to honor the diverse experience of their students during reading instruction.

Quotes:

“It’s all about growing and learning.”

“When we get that diversity of kids in the classroom, we have to honor all of their experiences.”

Resources:

The Reading Comprehension Blueprint by Nancy Hennessy

Speech to Print by Louisa Moats

Amplify Science of Reading Handbook (Primers #1 and #2)

Science of Reading: The Podcast w/ Louisa Moats Episode

Science of Reading: The Podcast w/ Nancy Hennessy Episode

Science of Reading: The Podcast w/ Laurence Holt Episode

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Join your host, Susan Lambert, as she recaps Deconstructing the Rope, our series for season 3 of Science of Reading: The Podcast. She highlights the special guests we’ve had this season such as Louisa Moats, Bruce McCandliss, and Sonia Cabell and shares their expert insights on Scarborough’s Reading Rope. From vocabulary to word and sight recognition, tune into this special episode and cement this knowledge in your Science of Reading journey.

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Join DeJunne’ Clark Jackson, Vice President of Program Development for the Center for Development and Learning, as she underscores how to overcome barriers in the delivery of accessible instruction to students. She also urges listeners to recognize and confront bias both inside and outside of the classroom in order to foster better experiences for educators and students. Finally, she leaves us with an anecdote on diversity, equity, and inclusion and speaks on the connection between the Science of Reading and dyslexia.

Quotes:

“The intersection of the Science of Reading and dyslexia is that the Science of Reading is the foundation for what dyslexia therapy is built upon.”

“Access is the core and focus of equity. Bias is the major barrier of diversity. Inclusion is the ultimate goal.”

Resources:

Center for Development and Learning

Plain Talk Conference

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Join Alana Mangham, literacy specialist for the Center for Development and Learning, as she shares her pathway from educator to changemaker in the Science of Reading field. She’ll also highlight her successful four-part literacy plan and urge you to question your instructional practices to better foster reading achievement in children today.

Quotes:

“The power in not being an expert to start out with is that we grow together.”

“We need to give teachers credit, but we need to get to work. We have things to do.

Resources:

Center for Development and Learning

Growing Reading Brains

Plain Talk Conference

Narrowing the Third Grade Reading Gap | EAB

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Join Kate Cain, professor of language and literacy at Lancaster University, as she unwinds language structures, a strand of Scarborough’s Reading Rope. In the latest episode of our Deconstructing the Rope series, Kate explores language structures in the simple view of reading and explains its connections across reading comprehension in literacy development. She also highlights the reciprocal relationship between books and conversation and underscores the importance of reading aloud to children from a young age to develop their vocabulary and semantics.

Quotes:

“Simply knowing the individual word meanings and the word order alone is not going to be sufficient to have accurate sentence comprehension.”

“The language of books is different from the language of conversation.”

References:

Professor Kate Cain’s Publications Site

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Join Nancy Hennessy, past president of the International Dyslexia Association, as she unwinds vocabulary, a strand of Scarborough’s Reading Rope. In the latest episode of our Deconstructing the Rope series, Nancy defines the role of vocabulary and elaborates on the nuanced structures of comprehension in literacy instruction. She also highlights how to explicitly teach vocabulary to students through her research-backed, four-pronged approach.

Quotes:

"Every one of the strands of the rope is important. If any strand frays, then reading is in jeopardy. "

"Vocabulary instruction is really getting our students interested in words as the building blocks of our language."

Resources:

The Reading Comprehension Blueprint: Helping Students Make Meaning from Text by Nancy Hennessy

Daniel Willingham–Science & Education

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Join Sonia Cabell, assistant professor at the School of Teacher Education at Florida State University, in the latest episode of our Deconstructing the Rope series as she unwinds language comprehension, a strand of Scarborough’s Reading Rope. Sonia explains the true definition of language comprehension in relation to the simple view of reading and highlights the role of parents and educators in the use of advanced language models in literacy development. She also reflects on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on teachers and families and discusses how it has highlighted the importance of education today.

Quotes:

“Young children are very smart. They know a great deal more than we give them credit for and they can do a lot more than we understand.”

“Parents are childrens’ first teachers and so, to really embrace parents in childrens’ learning process is really critical.”

Show Notes:

• Florida Center for Reading Research
• Core Knowledge Language Arts
• Writing Into Literacy TEDx Talk by Sonia Cabell
• EdWeek Science of Reading Article by Sonia Cabell
• Live with the Author interview
• The Power of Conversations: Building Primary Grade Students’ Vocabulary and Comprehension in a Changing Educational Landscape by Sonia Cabell
• Twitter: @SoniaCabell

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In this special episode, Dr. Maria Murray, President and CEO of The Reading League, analyzes the intricacies of literacy instruction and shares common misconceptions that educators have about the science of reading. She explains why The Science of Reading: A Defining Movement coalition was founded: the belief of clear understandings of what the science of reading is and what it is not to promote the proper use of instructional practices aligned with the findings from the science of reading.

Quotes:

“What systems do we need to change and strengthen to ensure that everyone is successful?”

“Nothing creates excitement more than success.”

Resources:

The Science of Reading: A Defining Movement

The Reading League

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Join Susan Neuman, Professor of Childhood and Literacy Education at the Steinhardt School at New York University, as she unwinds background knowledge, a strand of Scarborough’s Reading Rope. In the sixth episode of our Deconstructing the Rope series, Susan explains the important link between background knowledge and reading comprehension in the science of reading and shares about her five research-based principles to build knowledge networks in literacy instruction. She also highlights the connection between speech and reading and previews her upcoming studies on the role of cross-media connections in children’s learning.

Quotes:

*“What you’re helping children do is create a mosaic; putting all those ideas together in a knowledge network. If you don’t do it explicitly, many children cannot do it on their own.”

“We’ve got to start early. We’ve got to start immediately and know that children are eager to learn and use the content to engage them.”*

Resources:

Book: "Giving Our Children a Fighting Chance" by Susan Neuman. More books in the link.

Article: Developing Low-Income Children's Vocabulary and Content Knowledge through a Shared Book Reading Program by Susan Neuman and Tanya Kaefer

Article: The information book flood: Is additional exposure enough to support early literacy development? by Susan Neuman

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Join Dr. Bruce McCandliss, Professor at the Graduate School of Education of Stanford University, as he unwinds sight recognition, a strand of Scarborough’s Reading Rope. In the fifth episode of our series, Bruce explains the role of sight and word recognition in the science of reading and highlights the importance of the rapid integration of print, speech, and meaning. He also encourages listeners to be cognizant of the ever-changing, technological learning environment while nurturing young readers and writers.

Quotes:

“You’re continually developing the system of word recognition. It’s not a one-and-done kind of thing. It’s continually being refined; it becomes more and more automatic.“

“Word recognition is the ability to see a written word and then in your mind link it very precisely to how that word is spoken and what that word might mean.”

Resources:

• Word Recognition in Beginning Literacy by Linnea Ehri
• Stanford University Educational Neuroscience Initiative
• Science of Reading: The Podcast, Season 1 Episode 12 with Bruce McCandliss

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Join leading experts Natalie Wexler, Ernesto Ortiz, Dr. Carolyn Strom, and Susan Lambert for a podcast on making the shift to the science of reading. In this special episode, they discuss how educators can implement the science of reading through an incremental change on all levels, from a classroom to entire districts. Sharing their research and both professional and personal experiences, the panelists share the leadership knowledge, training, and curriculum advice you’ve been looking for.

Quotes:”We need to show how research can translate to practice–making it accessible to teachers and deeply connect it to their local reality.” –Dr. Carolyn Strom, Professor of Early Childhood Literacy and Innovation at NYU

“My advice for building leaders: you have the next bigger impact on students after teachers. It’s never too late to start and it’s okay to not know everything.” –Ernesto Ortiz, Principal at McDonald Elementary School, PA

Show notes:Plain Talk about Literacy and Learning Conference
Ernesto's blog: Decoding Leadership

Carolyn Strom NYU Bio

Natalie's books:
The Knowledge Gap: The hidden cause of America's broken education system--and how to fix it

The Writing Revolution: A Guide to Advancing Thinking Through Writing in All Subjects and Grade

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Join Dr. Louisa Moats, President of Moats Associates Consulting, as she unwinds decoding, a strand of Scarborough’s Reading Rope. In the third episode of our Deconstructing the Rope series, Louisa highlights the significance of decoding in the science of reading and discusses the value of becoming students of our own language. She also mentions the reciprocal relationship between decoding and encoding and why both are essential to provide effective phonics instruction to children in the classroom.

Quotes:

“We need to be students of our own language so that when we accept the responsibility of teaching kids how it works, we’re very comfortable.”

“We have much more insight into how kids learn any language-based academic skill, not only from neuroscience but also cognitive, developmental, linguistic, and educational intervention research.”

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Join Alice Wiggins, Vice President of Instructional Design & Products at UnboundEd, as she unwinds word recognition, a strand of Scarborough’s Reading Rope. In the second episode of our Deconstructing the Rope series, Alice explains the role of word recognition in the science of reading and highlights the importance of explicit phonics instruction. She also urges listeners to advocate for an aligned curriculum to bring forth a systematic and equitable approach to reading for all students.

Quotes:

“By explicitly teaching sound spellings, we’re strengthening students’ abilities to read so they can learn more.”

“For equity’s sake, we want to teach reading in a way that we cast the widest net possible and support the most students possible.”

Resources:

• UnboundEd
• The Reading Mind: A Cognitive Approach to Understanding How the Mind Reads by Daniel Willingham
  Language at the Speed of Sight: How We Read, Why So Many Can't, and What Can Be Done About It by Mark Seidenberg
• International Dyslexia Association
• The Reading League

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Dive into our first episode as Dr. Jane Oakhill, Professor of Experimental Psychology at the University of Sussex, gives a high-level overview of Scarborough’s Reading Rope. She also emphasizes the importance of inferencing in comprehension, why the Simple View of Reading is still relevant almost 40 years later, and how each element of the rope comes together to deconstruct the complexity of reading.

Quotes:

“We’re often quite surprised at what children don’t understand and we make a lot of assumptions about things we find utterly trivial.”

“It’s not just having knowledge that’s important, but also being able to activate that knowledge when appropriate.”

Resources:

Understanding and Teaching Reading Comprehension by Jane Oakhill

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Join Danielle Damico, Director of Learning Science at Amplify, as she explores the impact of the pandemic on at-risk students and those in need of intervention. She shares the insights drawn from DIBELS 8th Edition and highlights how data is now more important than ever in understanding where students are—whether assessments are administered in person or through a digital platform. Finally, she leaves our listeners with best practices to nurture readers moving forward and ensure growth and success through the end of the year.

Quotes:

“Teachers and students need the right tools to help accelerate student learning and growth–especially in early literacy.”

“We need to lean on the data we can collect and the science of reading.”

Resources:

Instructional Learning Loss Brief

Amplify Literacy Hub

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One of our most popular guests, Tim Shanahan, returns! In our most recent episode, he reminisces about the creation of the National Reading Panel in 1997 and the release of its subsequent groundbreaking report. He highlights how reading instruction has evolved and discusses how new research seems to be changing the landscape of the “reading wars” he thought were settled long ago.

Quotes:

“We continue to learn, and we continue to refine.”

“When people are trying to tell you how you should teach, I think you need to ask some real basic questions about what evidence supports those recommendations.”

Resources:

• National Reading Panel Report
• The Review of Educational Research Journal
• ERIC, Educational Clearinghouse
• Shanahan on Literacy Blog
• What Works Clearinghouse

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Join Sonia Cabell, Assistant Professor of Education at Florida State University, as she shares findings from her research trials on content-rich literacy curricula and whether activating students’ background knowledge alongside explicit phonics instruction is more effective than traditional approaches. She also explains what constitutes “compelling evidence” in the science of reading and why students need to interact with both written and spoken language while learning to read.

Quotes:“The knowledge that you have about a particular subject matters for your reading comprehension.”

“When I think about content-rich English language arts, I think about how we can integrate science and social studies into the language arts in ways that make sense.”

Resources:

• Florida Center for Reading Research
• Core Knowledge Language Arts
• Writing Into Literacy TEDx Talk by Sonia Cabell
• National Reading Panel Report 2000
• EdWeek Science of Reading Article by Sonia Cabell
• Special Issue: The Science of Reading: Supports, Critiques, and Questions
• Live with the Author interview
• The Power of Conversations: Building Primary Grade Students’ Vocabulary and Comprehension in a Changing Educational Landscape by Sonia Cabell
• Twitter: @SoniaCabell

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Join Kelly Moran, Curriculum Supervisor of Chardon Local Schools in Ohio, as she shares her journey of implementing a curriculum based around the science of reading. Hear about the steps her district took to reshape literacy instructional practices and about the challenges they faced along the way. Find out how the fostering of reading achievement in students renders all efforts worthwhile.

Quotes:

“We’re really taking advantage of every minute of direct, explicit instruction we have with our students.”

“Once we invested the time in professional development and high-quality materials aligned to the science of reading, we could see a difference.”

Resources:

• Why Our Children Can't Read and What We Can Do About It: A Scientific Revolution in Reading by Diane Mcguiness
• Natalie Wexler’s The Knowledge Gap

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Join Margaret Goldberg and Alanna Mednick from the Right to Read Project as they address the science of reading and its translation into easy practice for educators. They break down the Seidenberg and McClelland Four-Part Processing Model and explain how it relates to the simple view of reading. They also reflect on how educators should approach reading as scientists and be ready to teach in a way that may be uncomfortable for a time—the “labor of love” stage of literacy instruction.

Quotes:

“We should anticipate reading difficulties and we should be prepared to be able to address them.” —Margaret Goldberg

“We need to go at the pace of the child and we can’t leave anything up to chance.” —Alanna Mednick

Resources:

• The Seidenberg & McClelland Four-Part Processing Model
• Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print by Marilyn Adams
• Nancy Young’s Ladder of Reading
• Right to Read Project

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Join Afrika Afeni Mills—diversity, equity, and inclusion director of BetterLesson—as she reflects on race, culture, and identity in education. She’ll shed light on the significance of integrating students' schemas to nurture language comprehension in early literacy, discuss the difference between asset- and deficit-based teaching, and highlight the impact “windows and mirrors” have on students’ classroom experiences.

Quotes:

“A lot of the foundational work starts by making sure that we’re inquisitive about the resources we’re providing students.”

“We don’t spend enough time thinking about students’ families as their first teachers.”

Resources:

• BetterLesson
• Afrika’s Equity Guardian Facebook Page
• TedTalk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Danger of a Single Story

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In our first international episode, join The Reading League CEO and President Maria Murray and La Trobe University Professor of Cognitive Psychology Pamela Snow as they reflect on the long history of the science of reading. They’ll explain the true definition of “the science of reading” and explore why this knowledge has not been translated for the practitioners that need it the most—teachers. Our guests will also discuss the pandemic’s silver lining: the opportunity to reflect on instructional practices and how to best support educators and students now, and in the future.

Quotes:

“The science of reading informs approaches in all areas of reading.” —Maria Murray

“We’ve had knowledge for decades that has not been translated for the practitioners that need it the most.” —Pamela Snow

Resources:

• TheReadingLeague.org
• FB Group: The Reading League Teacher Group - The Science of Reading is For YOU!
• Annual Conference: The Science of Reading: Now More Than Ever
• David Kilpatrick’s “Essentials of Assessing and Preventing Reading Difficulties”

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Join Amplify interns Justin Pita, undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania, and Tamara Morris, graduate of Stanford University, as they share their reading journeys. They highlight the major disparities and barriers that affected their academic experiences and reflect on how action must be taken by caregivers and educators to ensure that students across the nation have access to equal opportunities for achievement in literacy so that no student gets left behind.

Quotes:
“You don’t have to be great to start. You have to start to be great.” —Tamara Morris

“Students nowadays don’t have the opportunities to hone in on literacy as much as we want them to.” —Justin Pita

Resources:
HighJump Chicago
Kumon

Join our Virtual Literacy Symposium on Thursday, Oct 15!

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Join Dr. LaTonya Goffney, Superintendent of Schools for Aldine Independent School District in Texas, as she recounts her two-year journey with her team of district educators to adopt a new early literacy curriculum. Hear how they successfully challenged the traditional adoption process, studied the science of teaching reading, analyzed student data and experiences, and developed a district-wide set of beliefs and expectations.

Quotes:

“If you can read, you can go anywhere. Reading is a gateway to opportunity.”

“As leaders, we have to be prepared to challenge the notion of low expectations."

Resources:

The Knowledge Gap: The hidden cause of America's broken education system--and how to fix it by Natalie Wexler

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Join us in reflecting on Season One and preview what’s in store for an exciting Season Two. In this special episode, we visit the highlights of Season One, with key clips from Emily Hanford, Natalie Wexler, Ernesto Ortiz, David and Meredith Liben, and Shawn Joseph, and other moments that inspired us and changed how we think about literacy.

Quotes:

“When our first episode launched last year, we had no idea what it might become, only hope that you would find it helpful to grow your knowledge and impact."

“So much progress has been made in spite of some recent challenges—or maybe because of them.”

Resources:

Virtual Literacy Symposium on Oct. 15, 2020

Learning to Read: Primer Part One

Learning to Read Primer: Part Two

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Join Dr. Catherine Barnes, CEO of Sudden Impact Solutions and leader of the Black Parents Support Network, as she addresses the shortcomings of the educational system during the pandemic in underserved communities, the need for overcoming parents’ perceptions of judgment by educators, and how educators can foster relationships with parents in order to ensure continuous learning for students during these trying times.

Quotes:

“We are not coming in to judge parents and we are not expecting them to be teachers, but we do value what they bring to the table.”

“We need to make sure that we are addressing students where they are today, socially as well as academically”

Resources:

Black Parent Support Network Facebook group
Co-organizers:
Dr. Diedre Houchen, UF professor
Karla Hutchinson, H.O.M.E Church youth advocate)
Chanae Jackson, parent & parent organizer

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Author and University of Virginia psychology professor Daniel Willingham discusses the “reading wars” (and mischaracterizations among their factions), the importance of understanding basic science to teach reading, and the variations in implementation of the science of reading in literacy instruction across districts.

Quotes:

“Reading is central to (virtually) every educator’s concerns.”

“Everything touches education."

Resources:

• The Reading Mind: A Cognitive Approach to Understanding How the Mind Reads
• When Can You Trust the Experts?
• Blog: What Will Your Children Tell their Grandchildren About the Pandemic?
• Website: www.danielwillingham.com
• Twitter: @DTWillingham
• Facebook: DTWillingham
• Podcast Discussion Guide

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Doug Lemov, author and managing director of Uncommon Schools, discusses the role of technology in the classroom and remote instruction, how educators should reconsider how they approach literacy, and his experience reconstructing a reading curriculum for this next phase of digital learning while holding true to the values of the science of reading.

Quotes:

"Classrooms are first and foremost cultures and they shape students’ experiences."

"Everything is challenging to teach online, but reading is the most challenging."

Resources:

• Teaching the art of listening in the age of me, me, me
• Doug’s blog: Teaching Like a Champion
• Forgetting how to read
• Teach Like a Champion 2.0: 62 Techniques that Put Students on the Path to College
• Practice Perfect: 42 Rules for Getting Better at Getting Better
• Reading Reconsidered: A Practical Guide to Rigorous Literacy Instruction
• Reader, Come Home by Maryanne Wolf
• Podcast Discussion Guide

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Educator, author, and leader Shawn Joseph, shares his passion for social justice and discusses his work advocating for equity in education, shedding light on what he calls the “silent crisis” in literacy instruction. In this episode, you’ll hear about his experience as a former superintendent of several large urban districts and learn how he fostered achievement in all of his students.

Quotes:

“You have millions of children in the country who have not been given a civil right: the right to read.”

“If we don’t speak up and speak out, the inequities will continue.”

Resources:

Becoming a Data Champion in 6 Steps by Shawn Joseph

A research paper written by Shawn, titled School District Grow Your Own Principal Preparation Programs: Effective Elements and Implications for Graduate Schools of Education

A podcast discussion guide to share with your colleagues

Shawn’s book, The Principal's Guide to the First 100 Days of the School Year

Shawn's website

Nashville Unchained

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Multilingual author and expert Elizabeth Jimenez Salinas and host Susan Lambert discuss advocating for underrepresented English Learners (EL), improving dual language instruction, and learned passivity. Elizabeth shares tips for EL students during this time and reinforces the importance of home connection and language development.

Quotes:

“English learners are put at a serious disadvantage by a school system that doesn’t use their home language.”

“It is not just learning to recite rote words–it is comprehending and using the home language for parents.”

Resources:

Eradicating Learned Passivity: Preventing ELs from Becoming Long Term English LearnersTen behavioral skills that interpreters need to know

Reparable HarmStudents train as interpreters, with benefits for all involved

Multicultural Author Project

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Join Mary Clayman, Director of the District of Columbia Reading Clinic, and host Susan Lambert, as Mary shares her experience founding one of the first graduate clinical practicums sponsored by a public school system and discusses how it has influenced the training of DCPS teachers and the success of students in early literacy by using the science of reading.

Quotes:

"Like Louisa Moats said, ‘Teaching reading is rocket science,’ it takes a long time to learn all about the English language.”

“We’re committed to quality training for more teachers.”

Resources:

D.C. Reading Clinic

Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science: What Expert Teachers of Reading Should Know and Be Able To Doby Louisa C. Moats 

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Jacquey Barber, director of design & development at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science, examines her research on the symbiotic relationship between literacy and science and what educators should be looking for in high-quality, literacy-rich science curricula.

Quotes:

“Literacy is a domain in search of content; science is a domain in need of communication.”

“Develop opportunities for students to learn to read, write, and talk like scientists do.”

Resources:

UCLA CRESST

The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America's Broken Education System—and How to Fix It by Natalie Wexler

No More Science Kits or Texts in Isolationby Jacqueline Barber and Gina Cervetti.

Podcast Discussion Guide

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David and Meredith Liben, nationally recognized reading experts and authors of Know Better, Do Better, discuss their need to find evidence-based solutions, the importance of knowledge and skills instruction, and how to tackle unfinished learning in schools.

Quotes:"Teaching reading in the early grades can be intellectually meaningful and fun."

“Students all deserve access. It’s up to us to figure out what that access looks like for EVERY student.”
Show Notes:Podcast Discussion Guide

Know Better, Do Better: Teaching the Foundations So Every Child Can Read

The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America's Broken Education System--and how to Fix it

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Laurence Holt, language acquisition expert and author of the Learning to Read primers, joins host Susan Lambert to discuss the simple view of reading, how the brain rewires itself to learn how to read, and the importance of background knowledge in language comprehension.

Quotes:

“Learning how to read is such a pivotal moment in all of K-12.”

“Decoding and language comprehension need to come together in order to become an expert reader.”

Resources:

Learning to Read: Primer Part One

Learning to Read Primer: Part Two

Podcast discussion guide

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Larry Berger, CEO of Amplify, discusses the use of innovation and technology to inform teaching and learning, his new initiative called Wide Open School, and how we can step back and let this be a time of joy and creativity for kids––letting them discover a love of reading. 

Quotes:

“Make this a time of exploration and openness."

“There is a moment for necessity and necessity brings innovation.”

Show notes:

Wide Open School 

Free remote learning resources from Amplify

Amplify website

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Dr. Elfrieda "Freddy" Hiebert, author and founder of the Text Project, shares insights from her research on vocabulary, the etymology of the English language, and the importance of teaching morphology to enable kids to make connections.

Quotes:

“Vocabulary is the base of building knowledge.”

“Vocabulary represents your knowledge and knowledge is what determines your level of comprehension.”

Show notes:

The Text project

Teaching Words and How They Work by Freddy Hiebert

Twitter

LinkedIn

Facebook

Podcast Discussion Guide

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Jared Myracle, Chief Academic Officer of the Jackson-Madison County School System in Tennessee, shares his district’s experience in adopting the science of reading and navigating the change management process. He stresses the importance of high-quality instructional materials and implementation fidelity.

Quotes:

“Don’t be satisfied with where you are. Where could you be if every student was guaranteed this type of education?”

“Imagine what your results could be if you did ensure that all students were able to experience systematic phonics instruction and opportunities to build background knowledge throughout their K-12 years.”

Resources:

The Hidden Mistake School Leaders Should Avoid This Year by Jared Myracle

The Urgency I Feel Around Instruction – and Why I Look to Curriculum by Jared Myracle

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Ernesto Ortiz, principal at an elementary school in Pennsylvania, discusses how to understand when materials are meaningfully “research-based,” how his school made the shift to the science of reading, and how he is supporting his students with remote learning resources to continue their literacy development at home.

Quotes:

“We need to be more informed than influenced so that we can look at things with a critical eye.”

“As leaders, we need to remain calm and steadfast so we can navigate throughout these unprecedented times.”

Resources:

Hard Words by Emily Hanford

Equipped for Reading Success by David A. Kilpatrick

The Simple View of Reading

Scarborough’s Reading Rope

The Reading League

Speech to Print: Language Essentials for Teachers by Louisa Cook Moats, Ed.D.

Language at the Speed of Sight: How We Read, Why So Many Can't, and What Can Be Done About It by Mark Seidenberg

Ernesto's blog: Decoding Leadership

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David Steiner, Professor and Executive Director of the Institute for Education Policy at Johns Hopkins University, and Susan examine how school closures are impacting learning across the nation, how districts are responding to the rapidly-changing environment, and why maximizing our educational reach via technology should be a priority.

Quotes:

“This is a wake-up call to districts to really see that this digital inequality cannot persist.”

“Don’t make the ideal the enemy of the possible.”

Resources:

USDOE Fact Sheet March 20, 2020

Report: The Problem with Finding the Main Idea by David Steiner

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We’ve been thinking a lot about you -- and our hearts go out to you during this confusing and uncertain time. Helping our students continue to learn in this unusual and unsettling situation is not easy.  And here at the Science of Reading podcast, we want to do what we can to support you where we can.

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Susan and Dr. Bruce McCandliss, a professor in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University, chat about combining neuroscience with education. How does neuroscience help us understand the changes going on in the brain of a child learning to read? Why do some children struggle so profoundly? He shares his research into focusing the student’s attention on letters and sounds versus on the word as a whole.

Quotes:

“Teachers play a huge role in shaping brain development for reading.”

“This is where education and neuroscience are coming together to create a dialogue in the space of how we support children.”

Resources:

Bringing Words to Life, Second Edition: Robust Vocabulary Instruction by Isabel Beck

Where Is Educational Neuroscience? by John T. Bruer, PhD

2019 Education Trends by Carrie Gajowski, MA

Minds, Brains, and Learning: Understanding the Psychological and Educational Relevance of Neuroscientific Research by James P. Byrnes

Podcast discussion guide

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Jasmine Lane, a high school English teacher, discusses the importance of equity and education and the disconnect between how teachers feel and what they need to do to push education forward for all students, regardless of their background. She also shares how education has changed her life, how her students have been impacted by their early literacy teachers, and how high schoolers fill in the gaps for things they missed early on.

Quotes:
“The science of reading–that’s my push for equity because every child deserves to be able to read.”

“We want all kids to succeed. If that’s not equity, I don’t know what is.”

Resources:

Jasmine's Blog

Blog: Project Forever Free

Podcast discussion guide

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Dr. Nancy Nelson, Research Assistant Professor at the Center on Teaching and Learning at the University of  Oregon, discusses myths and misconceptions around  RTI, Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), and universal screening in reading instruction.

Quotes:

“Relying on data allows us to engage in a systematic process to implement systems to meet the needs of all kids.”

Resources:

DIBELS® at the University of Oregon

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Carolyn Strom, Professor of Early Childhood Literacy and Innovation at NYU, discuss her research and interviews with pre-school teachers and how students learn to read, her view on the science of reading and the cognitive science behind it all. She shares her insights on the importance of neuroscience, culturally responsive teaching and dives into Linnea Ehri’s four phases of learning how to read.

Quotes:

“Our brains are not wired to read…we have to do a neurological backflip to teach our brains to read."

“You can’t think about a tree without thinking of its environment the same way you should not be thinking about a kid’s reading development without thinking of their environment.”

Resources:

Reading in the Brain: The New Science of How We Read by Stanislas Dehaene

Carolyn Strom NYU Bio

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Literacy expert and author Tim Shanahan discusses his views on teaching reading in middle school as an extension of evidence-based early literacy practices. What are some of the challenges and what should reading instruction include? Tim and host Susan Lambert dive into boosting comprehension, how the English language is always changing, and how to structure reading instruction across content areas such as history, science, and math so students are equipped to comprehend those texts as well.

Quotes:

“It is absolutely essential in any comprehension lesson that the kids come away with knowledge.”

“Not dealing with vocabulary early on is like leaving ticking time bomb for later.”

Resources:

Shanahan on Literacy website and blog posts

Podcast: A conversation with Tim Rasinski

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What is the missing link in reading comprehension? Anne Lucas, former curriculum director and current product manager of Amplify Reading, discusses the multifaceted nature of comprehension, why it’s so difficult to teach, a teacher's powerful "eureka! moment," and the specific sentence-level skills which, if practiced, improve overall comprehension.

Quotes:“The more tools we give to kids to grapple with texts and concepts, the better they’ll be able to do it.”

“Background knowledge is incredibly important and is something that we need to integrate into instruction and curriculum.”

Resources:

Comprehension Microskills Classroom Activity

The Missing Link in Comprehension White Paper

Understanding and Teaching Reading Comprehension by Jane Oakhill

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Emily Lutrick, a PreK-5 Curriculum and Dyslexia Coordinator with almost 20 years of experience in education, examines the facts and fictional myths of dyslexia, how early is too early to screen for dyslexia, and how to identify the signs and risk factors. Susan and Emily discuss how dyslexia relates to the science of reading and what educators and parents can do to help students after school.

Quotes:“You’ve got to arm yourself with good, strong, core curriculum. Make sure you’re informed in what it means to teach in a structured literacy environment. [These] go hand in hand with the science of reading.”

“Be intentional about identifying what that risk factor is. What is it that’s causing that breakdown?”

Resources:

Twitter @drlutrick 

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Lois Letchford, author of Reversed: A Memoir, shares personal accounts of her son’s struggles with learning how to read as well as her own in school with dyslexia. After being told by a teacher that her son was “the worst child [she’s] ever seen in [her] 25 years of teaching,” she persisted with endless patience to help her son and began writing poems to pique his interest in reading. What is he doing now? Was she successful?

Quote:“Believe in your child, believe they are capable of anything--and tell them that.”

Resources:

Reversed: A Memoir by Lois Letchford

Poetry for kids by Lois Letchford

Website with articles and blog: https://www.loisletchford.com/

Twitter: @LetchfordLois

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Susan and Tim Rasinski, author of The Megabook of Fluency: Strategies and Texts to Engage All Readers, discuss his work at the reading clinic at Kent State University, the aspects of good fluency instruction, what constitutes fluency, and how reading speed is correlated to word recognition and automaticity. He stresses the importance of fluency and finding ways to be artful while teaching reading.

Quotes:

“Fluency is the bridge and we can’t ignore it.”

“Speed is the consequence of automaticity–automaticity is not the consequence of speed.”

Resources:

The Megabook of Fluency: Strategies and Texts to Engage All Readers by Tim Rasinski

Why Reading Should be Hot! by Tim Rasinski

Email: trasinsk@kent.edu

Website with articles and blog: timrasinski.com

Twitter: @trasinski1

Kent State Reading Clinic

Additional resources:

Fluency: The Neglected Reading Goal by Richard Allington

After Decoding: What? by Carol Chomsky

The Method of Repeated Readings by Dr. S. Jay Samuels

Jean Chall's Stages of Reading Development

Tim Shanahan interview on The Science of Reading

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Susan sits down with education reporter and host of the Education Post podcast, Emily Hanford, examines the big takeaways from her experience on reporting on dyslexia, patterns that emerged from her investigating, the science of reading and why schools don’t align with it more, the theory of how reading works, and the evolution of balanced literacy, phonics instruction and whole language.

Quotes:

“We have to be teaching kids how the written language works to help them become good readers.”

“Family income and poverty affect educational opportunities and outcomes.”

Resources:

'Hard Words' Education Post Podcast

At a Loss for Words: How a flawed idea is teaching millions of kids to be poor readers article by Emily Hanford

What to do if your child's school isn't teaching reading right? article by Emily Hanford

Additional resources:

NAEP Reading Scores

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Robert shares what inspired him to embark upon his esteemed career path and how we must acknowledge and address that children come to school from different places and backgrounds along their language trajectory in our schools. Susan and Robert discuss the latest in education reform, the knowledge gap, how it is only going to get larger as kids move through grades, the limited time we have to correct it, and how to start doing so.

Quotes:

“Language is heavily dependent upon readers making correct inferences about context, and that’s background knowledge.”

“Language is a series of inference-making, that’s all knowledge-dependent. And if we’re not operating from the same base of knowledge, it all breaks down.”

Resources:

Robert Pondiscio's book:

How the Other Half Learns: Equality, Excellence, and the Battle Over School Choice

Robert Pondiscio's articles:

How to improve literacy after elementary school

The lost children of Hirsch: Will a fresh argument for content-rich curricula make a difference?

Additional resources:

"How knowledge helps", an article by Daniel Willingham

Teaching Content is Teaching Reading video by Daniel Willingham

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What's broken in our education system? Natalie joins Susan for a provocative talk about her latest book, The Knowledge Gap, and how a knowledge-based curriculum can bring equity into the classroom, and students' futures.

Quotes

“Kids actually love to learn stuff. They love to feel like they’re experts. It does wonders for their self-esteem.” - Wexler

“Once teachers try it and can see what can happen…they’re going to say ‘I’m never going back to what I was doing before.” - Wexler

Resources

Natalie Wexler’s books:

The Knowledge Gap: The hidden cause of America's broken education system--and how to fix it

The Writing Revolution: A Guide to Advancing Thinking Through Writing in All Subjects and Grade

Natalie Wexler’s articles:

“Elementary Education Has Gone Terribly Wrong: The Case for Teaching Kids Stuff” (The Atlantic, August 2019)

“Why American Students Haven't Gotten Better at Reading in 20 Years” (The Atlantic, April 2018)

Additional resources:

Cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham’s education blog

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Welcome to Science of Reading: The Podcast! We bring educators the latest insights from researchers and practitioners in early reading. We believe equity in education begins with reading science.