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.

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.

Robert shares his inspirations and emphasizes the need to acknowledge the different places and backgrounds that students come to school from, and how this affects their language trajectory. Susan and Robert also discuss the latest in education reform, as well as the knowledge gap, how it’s only going to get larger as kids move through grades, the limited time we have to correct it, and how to start doing so.

Susan sits down with education reporter and host of the Education Post podcast Emily Hanford to discuss her takeaways from reporting on dyslexia and the patterns that emerged in her investigation; the Science of Reading, and why schools don’t align with it more; theories of how reading works; and the evolution of balanced literacy, phonics, and whole-language instruction.

Susan and Tim Rasinski, author of The Megabook of Fluency: Strategies and Texts to Engage All Readers, discuss Tim’s 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. Tim stresses the importance of fluency and finding ways to be artful while teaching reading.

Lois Letchford, author of Reversed: A Memoir, shares her personal accounts of her son’s struggle with learning how to read, as well as her own when she was 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,” Lois persisted to help her son—and even began writing poems to pique his interest in reading. What is he doing now? Was she successful?

Emily Lutrick, a PreK–5 curriculum and dyslexia coordinator with almost 20 years of experience in education, examines the facts and fictions of dyslexia. She discusses how early is too early to screen for dyslexia, and how to identify the signs and risk factors. Then, Susan and Emily explore how dyslexia relates to the Science of Reading and what educators and parents can do to help students after school.

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 and why it’s so difficult to teach, shares a teacher’s powerful “eureka! moment,” and explains the specific sentence-level skills that improve overall comprehension.

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 the many ways to boost comprehension; discuss how the English language is always changing; and explain how to structure reading instruction across content areas such as history, science, and math so students are equipped to comprehend those texts as well.

Carolyn Strom, professor of early childhood literacy and innovation at New York University, discusses her research and interviews with pre-school teachers and how students learn to read, as well as her view on the Science of Reading and the cognitive science behind it all. She shares her insights on the importance of neuroscience and culturally responsive teaching, and dives into Linnea Ehri’s four phases of learning how to read.

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 System of Supports (MTSS), and universal screening in reading instruction.

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.

Susan and Dr. Bruce McCandliss, 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 students’ attention on letters and sounds versus on whole words.

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 Science of Reading: The Podcast, we want to do what we can to support you.

Susan Lambert and David Steiner, professor and executive director of the Institute for Education Policy at Johns Hopkins University, 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 that enables them to discover a love of reading.

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 to read, and the importance of background knowledge in language comprehension.

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.

Jacquey Barber, director of design & development at UC Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science, discusses her research on the symbiotic relationship between literacy and science and what educators should be looking for in high-quality, literacy-rich science curricula.

Susan Lambert is joined by Mary Clayman, director of the District of Columbia Reading Clinic, who shares her experience founding one of the first graduate clinical practicums sponsored by a public school system, discusses how it influenced the training of DCPS teachers, and celebrates the success of students in early literacy using the Science of Reading.

Multilingual author and expert Elizabeth Jiménez 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.

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.

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.

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.

Join us in reflecting on season one and preview what’s in store for an exciting season two. In this special episode, we revisit 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.

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 in underserved communities during the pandemic, the need to overcome parents’ perceptions of educator judgment, and the ways educators can foster relationships with parents to ensure continuous learning for students during these trying times.