Explore every episode of the podcast Science of Reading: The Podcast
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| S11 E2: Putting your MTSS into practice, with Matthew Burns, Ph.D. | 23 Sep 2026 | 00:39:10 | |
What does it actually take to move a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) from concept to practice? That's what University of Florida's Fien Endowed Professor of Special Education and University of Florida Literacy Institute Assistant Director Matthew Burns, Ph.D., explores with host Susan Lambert, Ed.D., on this new episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast. Together, Matt and Susan also discuss the real difference between an MTSS and Response to Intervention (RTI), and why the two get conflated so often; why strong core instruction is the foundation upon which everything else depends; and three trouble spots that can derail an MTSS: data use, team meetings, and intervention matching. Show notes:
Quotes: "Without good core instruction, nothing else matters." —Matthew Burns Timestamps*: | |||
| S11 E1: MTSS 101: What it is and what it isn't, with Joan Schumann, Ph.D. | 09 Sep 2026 | 00:50:05 | |
MTSS explores the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS), from foundational concepts to practical implementation. To kick things off, Joan Schumann, Ph.D., founding executive director of the International MTSS Association, joins host Susan Lambert, Ed.D., to provide an overview of an MTSS—what it is, what it isn't, and its core elements. Together, Joan and Susan discuss the core beliefs that make or break an MTSS implementation, what a prevention-oriented mindset looks like in a school, and why early access to intervention is central to the MTSS framework. Show notes:
Quotes: "You cannot implement the [MTSS] framework if you don't believe all kids can learn." —Joan Schumann "If we all start engaging in these small shifts and calls for change, it'll be just like the Science of Reading, only it'll be the science of learning." —Joan Schumann "Don't underestimate the power of starting small, or raising a question in a meeting, or challenging a belief that you hear. I think it's through these small acts of courage that you can have a big impact." Timestamps*: | |||
| Season 11 trailer: The MTSS season | 02 Sep 2026 | 00:02:09 | |
Host Susan Lambert gives you a first look at Season 11 of Science of Reading: The Podcast, which will focus on using a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS). Along with her expert guests, Susan will take a close look at what MTSS really means, how its different components work, and what it takes to implement and scale it successfully in a real school or classroom. Check out the trailer to get a glimpse of the season's conversations on Tier 1, screening, intervention, progress monitoring, and data teaming, and see clips of the guests you can look forward to hearing from! Show notes:
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| Science of Reading Essentials: Assessment | 26 Aug 2026 | 00:45:02 | |
In our latest Science of Reading: Essentials episode, Susan Lambert, Ed.D., draws on expert voices from across the podcast to show how assessment can be one of the most exciting and empowering tools an educator has at their disposal. Featuring Jan Hasbrouck, Ph.D.; Stephanie Stollar, Ph.D.; Kate Winn; Kymyona Burk, Ed.D.; Kajal Patel Below; Gina Biancarosa, Ed.D.; and Melissa Farrall, Ph.D., this episode covers the three types of assessment every educator needs—universal screening, diagnostic assessment, and progress monitoring—and how they work together; what the Oral Reading Fluency measure actually measures, why it matters, and how it's often misunderstood; and why assessing comprehension is so complex, and what teachers can do about it. Show notes:
Quotes: “We never want to do one iota, one second, one minute of extra assessment that we don’t have to do unless it answers a key question that makes us better teachers.” —Jan Hasbrouck “About 90% of all reading challenges are due to difficulty recognizing the words.” —Melissa Farrall “We don’t want more testing. We want the right kind of testing.” —Kymyona Burk “Once you ask a question, you can change what it is that someone has understood from what they read.” —Gina Biancarosa “When we love the kids, we want to do the best for them.” —Kate Winn “Ideally, kids would be assessed in their home language.” —Kajal Patel Below | |||
| Summer '26 Rewind: Implementing a Multi-Tiered System of Supports, with Brittney Bills, Ed.D. | 12 Aug 2026 | 00:46:12 | |
On this encore episode of Science of Reading: The Podcast, host Susan Lambert, Ed.D., is joined by Brittney Bills, Ed.D., educator and senior manager of literacy partnerships at Amplify. Brittney explains what a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) is and how it centers on prevention, rather than intervention. She also talks about the intersection of universal screening data and an MTSS, and provides advice on evidence-based strategies and techniques to make a positive impact in your classroom. Drawing on examples from her former district, Brittney discusses how to prevent burnout, use data effectively, and support ongoing improvement. Show notes:
Quotes: "[An] MTSS is not a thing that lives outside of the Science of Reading. They're two things that complement each other very, very well." —Brittney Bills "We need better processes that we can apply more widely to effectively arrive at our outcomes for our students who need more intensive support." —Brittney Bills "It's the student's needs that should drive the decisions, not a cool presentation that we saw at a conference." —Brittney Bills Timestamps*: | |||
| Summer Special '26: How research builds on research, with Sonia Cabell, Ph.D. | 29 Jul 2026 | 00:51:06 | |
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:
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*: | |||
| Adolescent Literacy, Episode 4: A proactive response to the adolescent literacy crisis, with Kymyona Burk, Ed.D. | 15 Jul 2026 | 00:41:55 | |
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:
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*: | |||
| Adolescent Literacy, Episode 3: What adolescent readers really need, with Jeanne Schopf | 01 Jul 2026 | 00:50:43 | |
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:
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*: | |||
| Adolescent Literacy, Episode 2: Moving the needle for adolescent readers, with Julie Burtscher Brown, Ed.D. | 17 Jun 2026 | 00:52:38 | |
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:
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*: | |||
| Adolescent Literacy, Episode 1: Foundational skills for adolescent learners, with Doug Fisher, Ph.D. | 03 Jun 2026 | 00:51:10 | |
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:
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 | |||
| Science of Reading Essentials: The Science of learning | 20 May 2026 | 00:33:45 | |
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:
Quotes: "Memory is a cognitive process. It's the way the brain encodes, stores, and retrieves information." —Susan Lambert Timestamps*: | |||
| Spring Special '26: Systematizing literacy, with Reid Lyon, Ph.D. | 06 May 2026 | 01:00:25 | |
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:
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*: | |||
| Spring Special '26: Assessment as your best friend, with Kate Winn and Stephanie Stollar, Ph.D. | 22 Apr 2026 | 00:51:54 | |
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:
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*: | |||
| Spring Special '26: Fighting for people with dyslexia, with Teresa May, Ph.D. | 08 Apr 2026 | 00:49:07 | |
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:
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*: | |||
| S10 E14: Your comprehension questions answered, with Nathaniel Swain, Ph.D. | 25 Mar 2026 | 00:46:27 | |
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:
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*: | |||
| S10 E13: Building blocks for deep comprehension, with Susan Lambert | 11 Mar 2026 | 00:24:29 | |
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:
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*: | |||
| S10 E12: Filling the gaps with inferences, with Kristen McMaster, Ph.D. | 25 Feb 2026 | 00:48:19 | |
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:
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*: | |||
| S10 E11: Learning to read vs. reading to learn, with Timothy Shanahan, Ph.D. | 11 Feb 2026 | 00:51:36 | |
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:
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.
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| Special episode: Cultivating critical thinkers in your classroom, starring Mitchell Brookins, Ph.D. | 04 Feb 2026 | 00:42:20 | |
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:
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*: | |||
| S10 E10: How language skills shape reading success, with Charles Hulme, D.Phil., and MaryKate DeSantis | 28 Jan 2026 | 00:46:28 | |
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:
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*: | |||
| S10 E9: From research to reality: Breaking down comprehension barriers, with Phil Capin, Ph.D. | 14 Jan 2026 | 00:53:10 | |
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:
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*:
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| S10 E8: Beyond decoding: The power of syntax, with Nancy Chapel Eberhardt | 31 Dec 2025 | 00:59:33 | |
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:
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: | |||
| S10 E7: Syntax and comprehension, with Julie Van Dyke, Ph.D. | 17 Dec 2025 | 00:49:19 | |
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:
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: *Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute | |||
| S10 E6: Understanding assessment, with Melissa Farrall, Ph.D. | 03 Dec 2025 | 00:52:00 | |
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:
Quotes:
Episode Timestamps: *Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute | |||
| S10 E5: Reimagining comprehension assessment, with Gina Biancarosa, Ed.D. | 19 Nov 2025 | 00:46:09 | |
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:
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: | |||
| S10 E4: The science of memory and misinformation, with David Rapp, Ph.D. | 05 Nov 2025 | 00:49:45 | |
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:
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 | |||
| S10 E3: Finding fluency at the heart of comprehension, with Doug Lemov | 22 Oct 2025 | 00:58:47 | |
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:
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 | |||
| Science of Reading Essentials: Dyslexia | 08 Oct 2025 | 00:38:25 | |
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:
Episode Timestamps | |||
| S10 E2: Orthographic mapping is a cognitive process, with Katie Pace Miles, Ph.D. | 24 Sep 2025 | 00:49:00 | |
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:
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* | |||
| S10 E1: The (not so) Simple View of Reading, with Wesley Hoover, Ph.D. | 10 Sep 2025 | 00:44:30 | |
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:
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* | |||
| Season 10 trailer: The comprehension season | 03 Sep 2025 | 00:01:56 | |
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:
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| Everything is literacy, with Susan Lambert, Ed.D. | 27 Aug 2025 | 00:45:44 | |
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:
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 | |||
| Translating research into action, with Amie Burkholder | 13 Aug 2025 | 00:29:20 | |
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:
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* | |||
| Leveled reading, leveled lives, with Tim Shanahan, Ph.D. | 30 Jul 2025 | 00:43:01 | |
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:
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* | |||
| Science of Reading Essentials: Comprehension | 16 Jul 2025 | 00:39:49 | |
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:
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* | |||
| Summer ‘25 Rewind: The missing link in reading comprehension, with Anne Lucas | 02 Jul 2025 | 00:34:00 | |
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:
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* | |||
| Unlocking reading: Comprehension strategies vs. knowledge building, with Daniel Willingham, Ph.D. | 18 Jun 2025 | 00:43:16 | |
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:
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* | |||
| The truth behind learning, with Nathaniel Swain, Ph.D. | 04 Jun 2025 | 00:49:09 | |
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:
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* | |||
| Science of Reading Essentials: Writing | 21 May 2025 | 00:35:47 | |
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:
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* | |||
| A guide to integrating knowledge building into your classroom, with Jackie Relyea, Ph.D. | 07 May 2025 | 00:44:01 | |
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:
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* | |||
| A better way to teach our teachers, with Dr. Karen Betz | 23 Apr 2025 | 00:38:59 | |
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:
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* | |||
| S9 E14: Your questions answered, with Claude Goldenberg, Ph.D., and Susan Lambert | 09 Apr 2025 | 00:59:00 | |
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:
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* | |||
| S9 E13: Empowering instruction through mental models, with Young-Suk Grace Kim, Ed.D. | 26 Mar 2025 | 00:49:31 | |
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:
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* | |||
| S9 E12: Explicit instruction of academic language, with Adrea Truckenmiller, Ph.D. | 12 Mar 2025 | 00:43:31 | |
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:
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* | |||
| S9 E11: Writing the way to better reading, with Judith Hochman, Ed.D. | 26 Feb 2025 | 00:39:32 | |
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:
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* | |||
| S9 E10: Phonology as a settled science, with Jane Ashby, Ph.D. | 12 Feb 2025 | 00:45:24 | |
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
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? *Timestamps are approximate, rounded to nearest minute | |||
| S9 E9: Identify Developmental Language Disorder in your classroom, with Tiffany Hogan, Ph.D. | 29 Jan 2025 | 00:40:41 | |
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.
Quotes: ”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. | |||
| S9 E8: Cognitive science-informed teaching, with Natalie Wexler | 15 Jan 2025 | 00:40:04 | |
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.
Quotes: “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 | |||
| Special Episode: Award-winning ways to put science into practice | 01 Jan 2025 | 00:26:12 | |
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.
Quotes: “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 | |||
| Special: Lessons from the 2024 National Teacher of the Year, with Missy Testerman | 11 Dec 2024 | 00:51:57 | |
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.
Quotes: “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 | |||