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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Join Amplify interns Justin Pita, undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania, and Tamara Morris, alumna of Stanford University, as they share their reading journeys. They highlight the major disparities and barriers that affected their academic experiences. They also reflect on how action must be taken by caregivers and educators to ensure that all students have access to equal opportunities for achievement in literacy, so that no student gets left behind.