Science of Reading: The Podcast

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 an...

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, ...

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....

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 stamin...

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, a...

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 ...

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...

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:

• Acce...

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 i...

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 bigg...

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 ineffect...

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 rat...

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

Show notes:

• Access ...

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. ...

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...

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 b...

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...

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 wheth...

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 t...