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 s...
Feb 08, 2023•37 min•Ep 12•Transcript available on Metacast 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 te...
Jan 25, 2023•40 min•Ep 11•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Jan 11, 2023•37 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Dec 28, 2022•48 min•Ep 9•Transcript available on Metacast 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, ...
Dec 14, 2022•39 min•Ep 8•Transcript available on Metacast 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 sho...
Nov 30, 2022•45 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast 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 ...
Nov 16, 2022•33 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast 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 encount...
Nov 02, 2022•45 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast 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 gu...
Oct 19, 2022•39 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Oct 05, 2022•42 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast In 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 talk about the NAEP assessment. They 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: C...
Sep 21, 2022•43 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast 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: V...
Sep 07, 2022•45 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast 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 Englis...
Aug 24, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Ep 14•Transcript available on Metacast 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 syst...
Aug 10, 2022•45 min•Ep 13•Transcript available on Metacast 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 lang...
Jul 27, 2022•52 min•Ep 12•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Jul 13, 2022•44 min•Ep 11•Transcript available on Metacast 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 int...
Jun 29, 2022•43 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast 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 ...
Jun 15, 2022•45 min•Ep 9•Transcript available on Metacast 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 Span...
Jun 01, 2022•43 min•Ep 8•Transcript available on Metacast 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 ...
May 18, 2022•50 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast 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 no...
May 04, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast 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 strat...
Apr 20, 2022•55 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast 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 adv...
Apr 06, 2022•40 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast 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-foc...
Mar 23, 2022•56 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast 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 d...
Mar 09, 2022•32 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast Host Susan Lambert is joined by Lacey Robinson, CEO of UnboundEd, who opens the podcast by telling her personal story of learning to read and describing how literacy empowered her to pursue education reform. She emphasizes the responsibility that educational practitioners and leaders have and describes the literacy experiences of Black students. She also outlines what productive struggle should look like in the classroom, encouraging educators to enable more rigorous reading opportunities. Quote...
Feb 23, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast 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 Interve...
Feb 09, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep 16•Transcript available on Metacast 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 h...
Jan 26, 2022•43 min•Ep 15•Transcript available on Metacast 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 importa...
Jan 12, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Ep 14•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Dec 29, 2021•48 min•Ep 13•Transcript available on Metacast 
