Agenda

While the Science of Reading (SOR) emphasizes explicit instruction in foundational skills, it doesn’t always guarantee fluent readers. Explicit instruction is a cornerstone of the SOR; but, it is through rich and varied practice that students consolidate and generalize their learning so that they can become fluent, confident readers. This interactive session brings rich and varied practice to life, moving the narrative from teacher explanation to student expertise. Blending the SOR with the Science of Learning,  “thrill to skill” activities are featured that show how engaging, purposeful routines work to build fluency.  For years, educators have been encouraged to include rich and varied practice in reading instruction; yet few clear, systematic definitions or frameworks have been offered. In this lively, research-grounded session, the presenters will introduce six learning principles which impact the development of complex skills.   The presenters will demonstrate how these principles can enhance word level knowledge and automatic word recognition while building vocabulary and syntax—all essential for fluency development. Participants will see the power of purposeful practice to boost student engagement, strengthen memory, and consolidate learning to be efficient and automatic.  Most importantly, teachers will leave with ready-to-use classroom strategies and tools that make rich and varied practice doable, meaningful, and energizing for students.

In many classrooms, spelling is treated as practice work, something that follows “real” reading instruction. But research tells us the opposite: spelling is a powerful driver of reading development. This session explores why spelling is not an add-on, but an essential part of evidence-based literacy instruction. Effective spelling instruction strengthens students’ phonology, deepens understanding of orthography, and builds awareness of morphology. Because English spelling is also influenced by etymology, understanding word origins helps explain many seemingly irregular spellings. When students learn to analyze words across these four layers (i.e., phonology, morphology, orthography, and etymology), they develop stronger, more durable word representations that support both reading and writing.
Grounded in the science of reading, this session will provide practical guidance for embedding explicit spelling instruction into daily reading lessons. Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of how spelling strengthens word recognition, vocabulary, and long-term literacy outcomes, and why it deserves a central place in every evidence-based reading classroom.

We are witnessing an increased realization and popularization of the “science of reading.” Yet the integration of scientific knowledge into reading education has been painstakingly slow. At the same time, the ecology of reading is changing more rapidly than the science examining the effects of these changes. Cognitive neuroscience demonstrates that the reading brain is plastic and shaped through sustained engagement with printed text. As children increasingly engage with digital texts, audiobooks, and AI-mediated tools for reading support and writing, it is essential to examine, through rigorous evidence, how these experiences may shape the developing reading brain and what this means for literacy instruction. In this talk, I will describe the multicomponential architecture of the reading and comprehending brain, including the decoding, language, domain-general executive function, theory of mind, affective, and integrative systems that support comprehension and knowledge building. I will examine how AI-mediated literacy environments may influence these systems and discuss the potential of AI to improve the precision and effectiveness of literacy tools when aligned with the science of reading. I will conclude by outlining the urgent need for rigorous, independent evidence in this rapidly expanding space. Unproven methods disproportionately harm the most vulnerable students, particularly those already at risk for reading difficulties. Participants will leave with a framework for evaluating AI-based literacy tools and a clearer understanding of what constitutes scientific evidence in educational technology innovation, including emerging evaluation rubrics to support responsible, research-aligned implementation in K–12 instruction.

There are many pressing questions regarding the screening of multilingual students for reading problems. This session will provide evidence-based and actionable information to guide the screening of multilingual students to improve accuracy and fairness in testing. The language proficiency of students in both their native language and English should be considered when developing a screening plan and when interpreting performance in addition to the language of instruction. Students who are multilingual will have a range of exposure to their native language and English and there are important nuances to consider when making screening decisions to capture a student’s best performance. Guidance and resources will be provided.

Dr. Katie Pace Miles will explain the ins and outs of high-impact tutoring (HIT), a form of tutoring that is equitable and effective for vulnerable populations of students. Dr. Miles will explain the research behind high-impact tutoring, the characteristics that distinguish it from traditional intervention, and how the research has been translated into practice through city and state-level HIT implementations. Dr. Miles will explain how districts incorporate HIT into their MTSS structure and how the approach builds capacity for schools to meet the needs of exponentially more striving readers.

How can secondary schools ensure that evidence-based literacy practices reach every classroom? This session highlights how teacher leadership can be used to embed effective instructional strategies for striving readers within Tier 1, content-area courses. Participants will explore adolescent literacy research, identify high-leverage classroom practices, and consider schoolwide structures that support collective efficacy and continuous improvement. Educators will leave with a framework for using teacher leadership to move research into action and improve outcomes for striving readers.

Explicit instruction is an evidence-based, systematic methodology for teaching academic skills to students across grade levels. While the Science of Reading informs us on what to teach, 50 years of research on Explicit Instruction guides us on how to teach. In this session, Dr. Archer will review, illustrate, and model high-leverage practices concerning the Design of Explicit Instruction lessons in which the teacher would 1) convey the purpose of the lesson, 2) establish a firm foundation for new learning by reviewing necessary prerequisite skills and knowledge, 3) clearly explain or demonstrate what is to be learned, 4) provide scaffolding to optimize student success, and 5) provide adequate guided and independent practice to ensure learning. Note: Dr. Archer is presenting two sessions on Explicit Instruction. This session focuses on the Design of Explicit Instruction, and the second on the Delivery of Explicit Instruction. Participants may attend either session or both.

There are 5.3 million multilingual learners in public schools across the United States. Most of these students participate in English as a Second Language (ESL) programs, while fewer receive instruction in their home language. Important factors, such as home language and available language of instruction models, must be considered when screening, identifying, and treating language and literacy disorders. This session will cover special considerations for screening and assessment. Evidence- based intervention strategies will be modeled and practiced. Additionally, case studies will be presented, providing opportunities for in-depth discussion and treatment design.

Research in the cognitive neuroscience on the reading brain and dyslexia will be used as a rationale for an approach that connects multiple components of the reading brain (POSSuM) with stories that emphasize the multiple processes like critical thinking and empathy in deep reading. Emphases will be placed on how this approach mitigates against the potentially negative effects of digital/AI culture on beginning readers.

Mississippi’s early literacy success was grounded in a prevention-and-intervention strategy designed to ensure that every child received the right instruction and support at the right time. Key principles included strengthening educator knowledge of evidence-based reading instruction, implementing tiered coaching, using early screening and targeted intervention, and ensuring consistent access to high-quality literacy instruction. Importantly, early reading success is not the result of a single program or training. It is the outcome of a coherent system that aligns teacher knowledge, instructional practice, coaching, and leadership implementation. In this session, we share findings and design principles from the Early Reading Success Schools (ERSS) Demonstration Project, a multi-state initiative focused on achieving reading proficiency by the end of first grade. Grounded in the science of reading, implementation science, and key principles of Mississippi’s early literacy success, ERSS integrates high-quality professional learning, job-embedded coaching, and leadership implementation strategies within a multi-tiered system of support. Drawing on evidence collected across Guskey’s five levels of professional learning evaluation, educator reactions, knowledge growth, instructional transfer, organizational change, and student outcomes, this session highlights a central takeaway: sustainable literacy gains are driven by intentional infrastructure, not isolated effort.
Participants will examine:
– How structured literacy-aligned professional learning translates into classroom practice
– The critical role of coaching and leadership in strengthening MTSS for early reading
– Early indicators of student progress using universal screening data
– Practical lessons for scaling implementation while maintaining instructional fidelity
– This session is ideal for district leaders, principals, literacy coaches, and researchers seeking evidence-informed models that move beyond awareness toward measurable, system-level improvement in early literacy outcomes.”

Unlock the power of collaboration in literacy education with this dynamic session on coaching all stakeholders—teachers, parents, and administrators—to teach all words, including high-frequency words, effectively across all grade levels. Grounded in the science of reading, this presentation will explore how cognitive principles like orthographic mapping, retrieval practice, and multisensory engagement can transform instruction for both early and adolescent learners. Attendees will gain actionable strategies, evidence-based tools, and a clear roadmap for fostering student success through targeted coaching practices in high-frequency word instruction, extending beyond third grade. Whether you’re an educator, parent, or leader, you’ll leave with the knowledge and confidence to champion word instruction and empower readers of all ages.

Problems in learning to read words (dyslexia) have typically been thought of as arising from a selective impairment of phonological processing. Our research suggests a revision to this view and highlights the importance of broader early language skills as a foundation for all aspects of reading – both decoding and comprehension. Phonological skills develop from earlier developing language skills and early language difficulties are a major risk factor for dyslexia. I will describe our model of reading development – the Reading Is Language model – and describe its implications for intervention. More broadly, I will argue that language is the medium of instruction and forms a critical foundation for all aspects of formal education, not only literacy. Many children, especially those from socially disadvantage backgrounds, enter school with poor oral language skills which compromise their education. Our work, developing and evaluating the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) programme, shows that an oral language intervention delivered in schools can produce meaningful improvements in children’s oral language skills, as well as resulting in improvements in decoding and reading comprehension.

Unlock the power of a well-implemented MTSS framework to transform early literacy instruction! In this dynamic session, we will define the pillars of a well-implemented MTSS framework and tackle common misconceptions that often hinder implementation progress. Participants will distinguish between the four essential assessment types and clarify the specific questions each must answer to drive both student- and system-level success. We will discuss the critical role of universal screening data and the progression of fluency within essential, predictive early literacy skills. Attendees will consider the stages of the instructional hierarchy and the implications for responsive instruction and appropriate practice. This session equips educators with clarity on the assessment and data-informed practices required to build a strengthened, schoolwide comprehensive assessment system.

Marietta City Schools, led by Superintendent Grant Rivera, has been on a Structured Literacy journey since 2021 — starting with their youngest students and expanding all the way through 12th grade by 2025. The results have been remarkable: while Metro Atlanta schools actually lost ground on state literacy tests and Georgia as a whole gained just 1%, Marietta jumped 11%. Third graders across every demographic group — including students with disabilities, Black, Hispanic, and English Learner students — outpaced their statewide peers by significant margins. But Rivera says the most meaningful outcome wasn’t the test scores at all. It was watching students developmetacognition — a real understanding of how they learn — and that, backed by strong district leadership and a clear shared vision, is what made the difference. Join MCS as they share their literacy journey – from the board room to the classroom – as they supported every child in reaching their fullest reading and writing potential.

Estimating the difficulty of words for developing readers has important implications for assessment and instruction; however, it is difficult. To help alleviate this issue we have developed the Developmental English Lexicon Project (d-ELP), a publicly available data resource. The d-ELP is an interactive database comprising word reading data for the 10,000 most frequently printed English words for children, including continuous IRT-based estimates of word reading difficulty, accompanying word characteristics, and raw trial-level data based on a diverse sample of over 2,000 US children in grades 1-5. This presentation will introduce the d-ELP and give delegates the chance to interact with the database on their own laptops.

In this interactive session, participants will discover how parents, caregivers, and communities can drive literacy success through the science of reading. As Executive Director of FULCRUM Literacy, decorated educator, administrator, and Right to Read movement leader, Kareem shares practical, evidence-based tips families can use immediately to support phonics, language comprehension, and reading development at home. The session also equips attendees with activist strategies for engaging key levers of power (teachers, schools, districts, universities, and state policymakers) to ensure all children receive structured literacy instruction. Learn how to translate science into parent-friendly actions, overcome common barriers, and build effective advocacy campaigns that create lasting change. Attendees leave with ready-to-use family resources, talking points, and community mobilization tools to advance every child’s fundamental right to read.

Handwriting and transcription are often overlooked components of literacy instruction, yet decades of research demonstrate their critical role in reading and writing development. This session examines handwriting through the lens of the Instructional Hierarchy (Haring & Eaton, 1978) to clarify how instruction and practice should change as students move from acquisition to fluency, generalization, and adaptation. Participants will explore evidence from cognitive psychology, writing research, and the science of learning to understand why some forms of practice accelerate automaticity while others reinforce inefficiency. Classroom-ready routines will illustrate how explicit instruction, distributed practice, and feedback support accurate letter formation, increased writing fluency, and reduced cognitive load during composition. Attendees will leave with a practical framework for aligning transcription instruction to the stage of learning so that handwriting becomes a support, not a barrier, to literacy.

When Tier 1 instruction is not effective, student progress is limited. But it doesn’t have to be this way. In this session, I describe characteristics of effective Tier 1 systems. This includes (1) research-based high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) that are essential to its success and (2) systems for school teams to work together to identify Tier 1 needs, plan to address challenges with their Tier 1, maximize the quality of the initial implementation, and prepare for long-term success. Participants will leave with a summary of key ideas that can be used to examine their Tier 1 programs and systems and a list of options to help with immediate and ongoing improvement.

Much of the science that contributed to our understanding of how to teach reading excluded learners with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). In this talk, I will provide an overview of how the Science of Reading applies to this population of learners. I will highlight research findings and provide considerations to more broadly consider the literacy needs of learners with IDD.

High-quality instructional materials and skilled teachers are essential for student learning—and their impact is amplified when supported by coherence: clearly defined roles, supportive systems and structures, instruction aligned to high-quality curriculum, and professional learning linked to shared goals. Drawing on statewide implementation work in Ohio and implementation science, participants will see how coherence enables effective teaching and student learning and gain practical strategies to align people, practices, and systems around a shared instructional vision.

Exceptional foundational literacy instruction honors the sophisticated linguistic systems that define student identity. This session dives into the consistent, rule-governed architecture of Black Language, demonstrating how its phonological and morphosyntactic patterns reflect the cognitive dexterity of its speakers. Through real-world classroom case studies, participants will analyze how Black Language facility connects directly to the five pillars of literacy (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension). Attendees will practice formulating instructional responses to Black Language use that are both affirming and strategically aligned with reading goals. To support this work, participants will receive a Linguistically Sound Response Tracker to help evaluate and refine their instructional feedback. By bridging student brilliance with explicit frameworks, educators will leave equipped with practical, empowering tools to drive elite literacy outcomes through inclusive instruction.

The best solution to reading comprehension problems facing children and adults lies in addressing the root causes. A thorough analysis of the complexities of schools shows that the textbooks’ arbitrary spiraling of skills in isolation, the use of many unproven strategies, and a lack of focus on essential comprehension foundations, such as main ideas, summaries, and inferences, are the causes of the comprehension problems. During this session, you will learn about the research supporting the knowledge acquisition and transformation (KAT) framework and see two model lessons from teachers who have achieved 100% pass rates in their classrooms.

This session challenges the assumption that complex texts are beyond the reach of teachers and students. Literacy practitioner Mitchell Brookins argues that the goal of reading development is not to avoid complexity, but to grow into it. As students become more skilled readers, they must learn to engage with increasingly sophisticated texts—and with the right instruction, they can. In this session, Brookins introduces a practical framework to help students in grades 5–8 unpack how texts are built, identify key ideas, and connect them to deepen their understanding. Participants will explore instructional routines and classroom tools that support students in navigating demanding texts while building confidence, competence, and insight as readers.

As the context in which we teach and learn explodes, whether and how to use AI in education are near constant questions in our daily lives. But we can only answer them if we have a clear, compelling, hopeful vision of the ultimate end of learning—one informed by ancient wisdom and rooted in our experience as human beings. The notion of the irreducible and inherent dignity of every person has withstood the ebbs and flows of political, fiscal, and cultural upheaval across the centuries. And if, as Hannah Arendt articulated, the “essence of education is natality,” we as educators are the midwives to something sacred. While by no means a silver bullet, a robust frame of what we’re calling the dignity of learning can give us hope, cause for optimism, and perhaps even the running start we need to tackle these trying times together.

Panelists will draw upon their experience and expertise to describe how the Science of Reading impacts their work in academia. In addition, they will explain how their research and teaching aim to ensure that evidence-informed reading instruction is culturally and linguistically equitable and inclusive.

In this session we discuss why high-impact instructional routines, grounded in a Direct Instruction approach, are essential for achieving early literacy success for all students. Participants will learn the essential features of routines, grounded in the cycle of model-lead-test-individual turns, including how to monitor students’ responses and provide immediate corrective feedback. The focus will be on beginning reading routines that prevent students from getting stuck at reading words sound-by-sound or support them through this stage if they are stuck there. Brief reference to other routines will illustrate application of the essential features to all aspects of word recognition and language comprehension. This session highlights the aspects of instructional design and delivery that should be implemented with fidelity and can be layered into existing instructional materials if they are not currently included. Participants will receive the sounding out routine, applicable for use with any curricular materials.

As students move into middle and high school, reading and writing demands remain great, and become more contextualized and discipline specific. Yet many secondary classrooms still rely on general literacy strategies that do not reflect how experts in different disciplines use language. Disciplinary literacy refers to the specialized ways that historians, scientists, mathematicians, and other experts read, write, reason, and communicate within their fields. Unlike general literacy approaches, disciplinary literacy explicitly teaches students how knowledge is constructed and communicated in each subject area—an essential shift for middle and high school instruction. This session offers a thoughtful, timely approach to improving adolescent reading and writing outcomes in grades 6–12. This session is designed for school and district literacy leaders, literacy coaches, principals, and teachers who are seeking practical, research-aligned ways to strengthen literacy across content areas. Participants will develop a shared understanding of disciplinary literacy and examine why it is essential now, as secondary students face increasingly complex texts, disciplinary ways of thinking, and high-stakes expectations for postsecondary readiness. The session will connect disciplinary literacy to the science of reading, emphasizing how foundational skills, language comprehension, vocabulary, and writing continue to matter beyond the elementary grades—while also requiring discipline-specific instruction. Through collaborative analysis of classroom examples, guided discussion, and planning tools, participants will explore what disciplinary literacy looks like in practice across subjects such as science, history, and language arts. The workshop will surface common barriers to implementation (e.g., time, coherence, teacher preparation) and highlight practical strategies districts and schools can use to support content-area teachers without turning every class into ELA. Attendees discuss concrete ideas for aligning district guidance, professional learning, and instructional practice to improve reading and writing outcomes across grades 6–12.

Transform vocabulary instruction into a journey of discovery by unlocking the power of morphology! This session bridges theory and practice by covering the three tiers of vocabulary and the three types of morphemes: prefixes, suffixes, and Latin bound bases. We will explore which morphemes to prioritize across the K-12 span, examining how to meet the needs of all learners across Instructional Tiers 1, 2, and 3—from core classroom instruction to intensive intervention. Attendees will walk away with a high-impact weekly routine (optimized for grades 3+) that focuses on a “morpheme of the week” while utilizing differentiated word lists to build academic vocabulary. Leave with a comprehensive toolkit—including assessment tools, graphic organizers, and engaging games—designed to transform literacy instruction immediately across all disciplines.

Join Daryl Michel and Dawn Brookhart for a transformative learning experience where instructional leadership and Student-Focused Coaching converge to create lasting impact. This session explores how educators at every level can move beyond top-down mandates or isolated initiatives to cultivate a culture of trust, curiosity, and continuous improvement.
Participants will learn:
– Modeling the Expectations: How leaders learn alongside their teams and demonstrate evidence-based practices that set the standard for the entire organization.
– Creating the Right Conditions: Strategies for creating psychological safety, aligning coaching with instructional priorities, and protecting time for meaningful learning.
– Shared Leadership in Action: Empowering teacher voice, elevating peer collaboration, and distributing ownership to accelerate implementation and sustain improvement.
– Omnidirectional Leadership: Harnessing insights from classrooms, cross-team collaboration, and data-informed decision-making to transform coaching from an initiative into a system-wide force.
– Focusing on Growth, Not Compliance: Developing systems for ongoing professional learning, collaborative problem-solving, and continuous improvement that become part of the school’s long-term DNA.
Together, we’ll imagine what’s possible when collective leadership and coaching work in harmony to drive scalable, sustainable change for both students and educators. Come learn, reflect, and leave with strategies that transform leadership into action across your school or district.

The average reader instantly recognizes 30,000 to 70,000 words -with no need to sound them out. How does that happen, and why does it matter in reading development? This session explains the cognitive processes of orthographic mapping. Attendees will understand how readers embed words into their long-term memories, as well as the decoding and spelling instruction that facilitates this process. We focus on a four-step, research-based instructional routine that accelerates students’ abilities to lift words off the page and capture them in reading and writing.
This session does the following:
– Explain why words must be mapped, not memorized
– Showcase the theory and research behind orthographic mapping
– Give instructional routines to build readers’ sight word identification

Implementing the Science of Reading within Educator Preparation Programs (EPPs) requires coordinated, interdisciplinary collaboration across departments, programs, certification pathways, faculty roles, and clinical partnerships. This session introduces an action-planning framework developed through The Path Forward–New York initiative, which supports faculty teams working in partnership with The Reading League’s EPP collaboratives to move beyond isolated course revisions toward coherent, program-wide implementation. Participants will explore practical tools for aligning coursework with evidence-based reading research, strengthening structured literacy practices across certification areas, and ensuring coherence between university instruction and clinical experiences. The session highlights collaborative faculty processes grounded in innovation configuration mapping, vertical and horizontal course alignment, data-informed decision making, and sustainable systems change principles. Attendees will leave with a clear, adaptable roadmap for advancing interdisciplinary Science of Reading implementation within higher education contexts.

Current conversations in literacy instruction often frame reading comprehension as a choice between teaching strategies or building knowledge, creating confusion for educators navigating competing messages. This professional development session clarifies this debate by drawing on decades of research, including multiple meta-analyses, showing that explicit comprehension strategy instruction, such as monitoring for meaning, use of text structure, and inference generation, is effective, particularly when situated within instruction that builds knowledge over time. Participants will examine how background knowledge, vocabulary development, and coherent topic development strengthen comprehension when students engage with connected texts that revisit ideas and language across lessons. Participants will explore how aligning strategy instruction with intentional knowledge building and cohesive text sets supports deeper comprehension for diverse learners.

What becomes possible when educators, literacy leaders, and community partners move beyond isolated practices and work together toward collaborative, equity-driven approaches to building strong readers from the very start? This session highlights how research-practice partnerships between communities and universities can be leveraged to build equitable systems that support early literacy through intentional, everyday interactions. Collaborative work between The Village, the community outreach and engagement division at the Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR), and local stakeholders explores ways to translate the science of reading into meaningful, accessible practices for families, educators, and communities. By examining practical models, lessons learned, and implementation strategies, attendees will gain a deeper understanding of how their disciplinary expertise can be used to bridge the gap between research and practice. This session will also showcase how resources developed through FCRR can be used flexibly across contexts, such as homes, classrooms, and libraries.
Attendees will be able to:
– Explain how foundational literacy skills can be embedded into everyday interactions across home, school, and community settings.
– Describe key features of effective research–practice partnerships that center equity and access in early literacy.
– Apply strategies to adapt Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) resources for diverse learners and community-based contexts.

Everyone’s talking about morphology, but not everyone’s talking about it in the same way. When should we begin teaching morphology? How can we fit it into systematic instruction? There is even a question as to whether certain words can be analyzed morphologically or should be left as whole words. We know that there’s a prefix in declassify or decompose, for example, but what about depict or deviate? Your answer to that question may depend on whether you are thinking about spoken or written language. Morphology—and morphological awareness—begins with spoken language, but that’s not the whole story. In this talk, we will examine the morphological structures present in written words and discuss why a focus on written morphology matters for literacy.

Over the past several decades, state and district literacy policies informed by the Science of Reading have significantly reshaped reading instruction across the United States. While these policies have elevated attention to evidence-aligned instruction and improved outcomes in many contexts, they have also generated important questions about how such approaches intersect with the experiences and linguistic assets of minoritized students. This session begins with a brief overview of literacy policy developments affecting historically marginalized communities—highlighting both positive impacts and unintended consequences. Presenters will then examine the historical development of Science of Reading policy and explore where it aligns with broader research on learning, including the importance of safety, motivation, and intellectual rigor, as well as where gaps remain in explicitly addressing the needs and voices of specific student groups.
Participants will use practices uplifted from the Curriculum Evaluation Guidelines developed by The Reading League and explore how evidence-aligned components of reading instruction can be strengthened through specific, actionable culturally and linguistically affirming practices. Practical examples will illustrate how elements such as phonics, decoding, fluency, language comprehension, vocabulary, discourse, reading comprehension, and writing can be implemented in ways that honor students’ linguistic repertoires and cultural knowledge. By bridging evidence-aligned instruction with culturally and linguistically responsive strategies—including contrastive analysis, multilingual morpheme study, translanguaging, culturally relevant texts, and community-connected language examples—this session offers concrete pathways for ensuring that effective reading instruction supports all learners. Participants will leave with actionable strategies and a call to ensure that evidence-aligned literacy instruction is both rigorous and affirming for the diverse students in today’s classrooms.

We have to wire young brains for reading. The science of reading tells us what content they need to master, but the science of learning informs us about how to wire the brain so learning sticks. In this session, Zaretta Hammond, author of Rebuilding Students’ Learning Power, will explain how building automaticity can become a path to achieving equitable literacy for historically marginalized learners at every grade. She’ll share tools and techniques for using the science of learning to turbocharge the science of reading.

This session gives leaders a practical, usable way to understand and respond to resistance in their schools. Participants learn a simple framework that helps them recognize what is driving resistance, gather the right information, and choose responses that build trust and forward movement. Through research-informed insights and real school examples, leaders, coaches, and educators walk away with tools they can use immediately to improve conversations, strengthen relationships, and support meaningful change in their buildings.

A few years into the AI-in-education conversation, enthusiasm and skepticism abound. This session cuts through the noise with a grounded look at what these tools actually are, where they fall short, and where they open genuinely new possibilities. We’ll first examine how generative AI models actually work and what that means for phonics-related use cases specifically. Using concrete examples, we’ll also explore what becomes possible for both teachers and students when AI is built with foundational skills in mind.

In this session, research-practitioners and former first-grade teachers Dr. Claire Gunner and Dr. Francesca Smith share innovative strategies for teaching literacy skills to multilingual learners that they have applied in their own classrooms and research. As communities across the country become increasingly multilingual, it is essential to honor the linguistic and cultural assets of children by designing inclusive reading instruction that leads to biliteracy and beyond. We will explore how to leverage students’ home language assets and cultural funds of knowledge across each of the key literacy components—phonological awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing. We will provide practical, classroom-tested examples of instruction that center both student identities and best practices for explicit reading instruction in elementary classrooms. We will also discuss methods of adapting curricular materials such as phonics lessons in order to make them more linguistically and culturally responsive to our students. Attendees will gain actionable tools for enhancing literacy instruction in their classrooms. In this interactive session, participants will learn practical strategies for using translanguaging techniques, preparing culturally relevant materials, and fostering a classroom culture where multilingualism is affirmed as an invaluable asset.

Improving children’s reading outcomes demands strong language and knowledge skills, but schools alone don’t have time to do all that skill building. So how can schools support children’s extra dosage of playful skill-building beyond the school day? In this session, a return visit after an SRO session at TRL last year, Joan and MaryKate will present their school-based work focused on a solution to that nagging question. They’ll highlight the research-based rationale for realistic and productive partnerships around reading development and describe what they’ve learned about creating a feasible, sustainable and inexpensive solution for schools. You will stand up from the session realizing how much sense this makes. As a school leader, you’ll have specific options for setting up productive family partnerships that don’t overtax busy teachers. As a teacher, you’ll leave with a way to engage families that feels substantive and doesn’t demand much of your time. As a literacy specialist, you’ll know how to get all the adults in a child’s life to easily & playfully build up academic vocabulary and other lagging skills.

Multisyllabic words are essential for proficient word reading, yet their role in structured literacy classrooms can feel unclear. This session clarifies how syllable awareness and syllable types function within a systematic phonics framework. Participants will examine how children develop syllable awareness through phonological awareness activities before transitioning to print-based instruction. We will explore how explicit syllable instruction supports decoding and encoding through flexible patterns, addressing vowel sounds, stress, schwa and common exception, while considering perspectives on syllable division.

Literacy instruction is deeply connected to language, yet many educators receive limited preparation in how linguistic variation impacts reading and writing. This session introduces Respect the Dialect® as a lens for linguistically equitable literacy instruction, with a focus on African American English (AAE). Participants will engage with key terminology related to language variation and examine assimilationist, segregationist, and antiracist approaches to language and literacy. The session then explores features of AAE across the five domains of language (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics), highlighting how these features are often misinterpreted in instruction and assessment. For each domain, participants will examine authentic examples, common instructional pitfalls, and practical recommendations that support literacy development while honoring students’ linguistic repertoires. Opportunities for reflection and Q&A are embedded throughout. This session equips educators with the knowledge and tools to avoid linguistic policing, strengthen literacy assessment and instruction, and elevate student outcomes through linguistically affirming practice.

Within the current literature, it is evident that more studies are necessary to strengthen the empirical base of knowledge on how initial word reading skills may impact outcomes within the framework of interventions being provided, especially for diverse samples of adolescents with and at-risk for dyslexia (Foorman et al., 2018). This presentation will review the findings from two studies that investigated how preintervention word-level reading skills contributed to response to intervention for reading comprehension outcomes for adolescents (Solis et al., 2023; Solis et al., 2022). In both studies, when word-reading was modeled as a continuous variable, regardless of assignment to a condition, higher word-level fluency scores predicted higher posttest reading comprehension outcomes. For adolescents with different levels of word reading skills, practitioners should consider whether providing word reading interventions are appropriate and approach instructional decision-making based on initial word reading profiles and from a position of flexibility dependent on the instructional response. Participants will learn about open source resources and instructional routines to support improvements with word-reading and comprehension based on findings from high-quality research studies (Vaughn et al., 2022).

Explicit instruction is an evidence-based, systematic methodology for teaching academic skills to students across grade levels. While the Science of Reading informs us on what to teach, 50 years of research on Explicit Instruction guides us on how to teach. In this session, Dr. Archer will present high leverage practices and procedures for the delivery of instruction that increases engagement, participation, and learning: 1) requesting frequent responses, 2) monitoring the student performance carefully, 3) providing affirmative and corrective feedback, and 4) maintaining an appropriate pace throughout the lesson. Note: Dr. Archer is presenting two sessions on Explicit Instruction. This session focuses on the Delivery of Explicit Instruction, and the other on the Design of Explicit Instruction. Participants may attend either session or both.

Have you ever watched someone’s eyes as they read? You may have noticed that the eyes don’t move smoothly, but jump from word to word, advancing forward – and sometimes backward – throughout the text. For the last 50 years, cognitive scientists have been measuring readers; eye movements in the laboratory to understand the details of how we recognize words and how we
comprehend connected text. In this session, we briefly review some of the most important findings from this large body of research, including from our own lab, related to questions such as: How much information is taken in at one glance? What determines how long the eyes stay on one word? What makes a reader look back in the text? How are the eye movements of more skilled readers different from the eye movements of less skilled readers? We emphasize some findings that contradict what may seem like ‘common sense’ about how reading works. Finally, we will connect these insights to their pedagogical implications, particularly in the area of assessment. Attendees will leave this session with a better understanding of “basic
research”—the kind that happens via experiments in laboratory settings—and how it can inform real-world practice.

How does a state move from legislative mandate to classroom transformation? It requires more than just policy; it requires a unified ecosystem. In this session, leaders from The Reading League Michigan, MiMTSS Center, and MAISA share the collaborative framework used to align state literacy legislation with robust implementation networks. Participants will explore how Michigan has leveraged the integration of a grassroots professional movement (The Reading League), state-level leadership (MDE), a multi-tiered system of supports (MiMTSS), Center and intermediate school district literacy networks (MAISA) to create a cohesive statewide infrastructure. We will discuss the specific roles each organization plays in bridging the gap between evidence-based policy and sustainable practice. Attendees will leave with a blueprint for building multi-organizational partnerships that ensure literacy legislation translates into equitable outcomes for all students.
Learning Objectives:
– Analyze the interdependence between state-level legislation and the implementation power of localized literacy networks.
– Define the specific roles of The Reading League, MDE, MiMTSS Center, and MAISA in creating a unified statewide literacy infrastructure.
– Identify actionable strategies for establishing multi-agency alignment that bridges the gap between evidence-based policy and classroom practice.

Sentences are the building blocks of text, so readers must derive meaning from individual sentences to understand what they listen to or read. This session shows how syntactic knowledge contributes to students’ development of reading comprehension. Using instructional activities, participants will learn what syntax has to do with it.

Teacher language is a key mechanism through which evidence-aligned reading instruction is enacted in classrooms. This session examines how teachers’ instructional talk—including prompts, questions, explanations, and feedback—supports the development of foundational reading skills such as oral language, print knowledge, phonological awareness, and comprehension. The session will synthesize research on teacher language and reading development and share applied examples illustrating how instructional talk can be observed, analyzed, and used as a focus for meaningful feedback. The session emphasizes practical implications for classroom instruction, coaching, and professional learning, positioning teacher language as a high-leverage and actionable component of effective reading instruction.

As more states adopt science of reading legislation, a clear pattern has emerged: passing a policy is only the starting point. This session moves beyond the “policy checklist” to examine what it truly takes to translate legislation into sustained improvements in teaching and learning. Drawing on lessons from states like Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, and others, the session explores how systems move from compliance to coherence—closing the gap between policy intent and classroom practice. Dr. Burk will also engage participants in a focused discussion on the conditions required to build and sustain momentum, deepen impact, and ensure that every child benefits from evidence-based reading instruction.

This session is designed to complement the previous session, From the Eyes to the Brain, led by Dr. Adrian Staub and Ryan Buggy. Here, we will focus on potential classroom implications of this work within one specific area: reading assessment. Together, we will collaborate to develop our understanding of the evidence base and how we might use it to make better decisions about assessments. This will include developing talking points that we can bring back “home” to schools or districts in order to support the de-implementation of tools that lack evidentiary support (such as running records), and ideas for how to replace them with more effective and efficient assessments, such as curriculum based measures.

Within a Multi-Tiered System of Supports, alignment across tiers is associated with stronger reading outcomes, particularly for students with significant reading difficulties. However, as instruction intensifies, it can drift from the broader reading system in scope, materials, or method. For students requiring intensive support, coherence across tiers is foundational. Data-Based Individualization (DBI) provides a practical framework for intensifying instruction without sacrificing coherence. By using diagnostic data and ongoing progress monitoring to guide systematic adaptation, DBI enables teams to increase instructional intensity while maintaining alignment with a schoolwide approach to reading instruction. Using a case study, this session will illustrate how data-informed instructional adjustments can increase intensity while ensuring that intensive services function as an aligned extension of the multi-tiered framework. Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how to use data to guide instructional adaptation, strengthen coherence across tiers, and improve outcomes for students with intensive reading needs.

Early literacy foundations in the preschool years pave the road to learning to read and write when formal instruction begins. These important foundations include oral language, which facilitates phonological awareness and print knowledge. This session will describe the developmental sequences and age expectations for early literacy skills needed for successful transitions in learning to read and write in the early grades. Deepen your understanding of these important foundations, and take away everyday routines to promote early literacy learning.

Are you ready to see a dramatic shift in your students’ writing? Join teacher and author, Lindsay Kemeny, for a practical session focused on evidence-based writing strategies that deliver results. Learn how to implement Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) to empower students with the skills to plan, organize, write (think POW!), and self-regulate their writing process. Through real-world examples from a first-grade classroom, you’ll see daily and weekly lesson structures in action. Walk away with concrete, actionable steps to help your students use POW to create WOW-worthy writing!

This session highlights the work of the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities (NJCLD) in advancing policies and promoting evidence-based practices to improve outcomes for individuals with learning disabilities. Presenters will provide an overview of NJCLD’s role in shaping national dialogue through policy papers, symposia, and legislative advocacy. Featured initiatives include the Committee’s position paper addressing the school-to-prison pipeline and its disproportionate impact on students with learning disabilities, as well as guidance documents that promote equitable identification, effective instruction, and access to resources across the lifespan. Participants will learn how NJCLD collaborates with partner organizations, informs federal and state policy, and disseminates research-aligned recommendations grounded in best practices. The session will conclude with practical resources, policy briefs, and advocacy information designed to support educators, administrators, policymakers, and families in advancing equitable systems and improving outcomes for individuals with learning disabilities.

Since the publication in 2000 of the US National Reading Panel Report, it has been common in reading instruction circles to refer to “The Big Five”: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. In more recent times, some have added oral language as an essential element and now refer to the “Big Six”. This represents a pleasing focus on the linguistic nature of learning to read but overlooks the fact that all of the so-called Big Five are in fact language elements. In this session, the notion of human language will be considered with respect to its different modalities (in particular spoken and written language) and the challenges of learning to read and write will be considered through the lens of moving from one language modality to another. Importantly, it will be argued that oral language is not an “plus-one”; it is the foundation of reading and writing instruction as well as being important to develop in its own right.

As students move into the upper elementary grades, they are expected to read increasingly complex texts that include longer, multisyllabic words. Yet many students lack a systematic approach for decoding and spelling these words. These challenges often persist—and intensify—as students transition to middle and high school, even as formal literacy instruction largely disappears. Students with reading disabilities, including those who have developed foundational decoding skills, frequently experience ongoing difficulty with multisyllabic word reading and related spelling demands, which can limit fluency, vocabulary growth, and comprehension. In this session, Dr. Toste and Dr. Chandler will provide an overview of the cognitive and linguistic processes that support multisyllabic word reading and spelling, including the roles of orthographic, phonological, and morphological knowledge. The session will examine current research on instructional practices used to support multisyllabic word learning and will address common assumptions about the role of spelling practice within reading intervention. Drawing on experimental research, they will discuss what is known—and still unknown—about how spelling and reading practice contribute to students’ word-level reading development. Participants will learn practical, research-aligned instructional routines for supporting student outcomes and implications for efficient use of instructional time in intervention settings.

The science of reading has clarified what works, but many change efforts stall because outdated or conflicting practices remain in place. Deimplementation, defined as the intentional removal of ineffective or misaligned practices, is a critical and often overlooked component of systems change. In this session, we will examine why adding more rarely leads to improvement, how competing initiatives dilute impact, and what it takes to lead the removal of long-standing practices. Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of how to identify, prioritize, and lead deimplementation efforts to create more coherent, evidence-aligned literacy systems.

In today’s diverse educational landscape, multilingual learners make up 10% of the student population—a number that continues to grow. With more than five million multilingual learners enrolled in public schools, these conversations are of the greatest importance. Join members of the PAF Reading Program and a master first-grade teacher from New York City as they explore the latest research, highlight the many strengths multilingual learners bring to classrooms, and share practical ways to build on those assets while supporting reading development. Participants will hear real classroom success stories, learn strategies for enhancing comprehension and vocabulary, and watch classroom videos that illustrate effective instruction in action. The session will also offer models for implementation and key next steps to support multilingual learners in your school or district.

The revised 2025 IDA definition of dyslexia reflects decades of scientific progress. This session unpacks this expanded definition. Tim Odegard will bridge the gap between scientific language and classroom realities, and real-life experiences that persist across lifespans. He will clarify how this updated definition fosters a deeper understanding of dyslexia’s causes and defining characteristics. Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of how a continued focus on instructional persistence informs our approach to identification and intervention. This session offers the reassurance that as our scientific understanding of dyslexia evolves, our shared commitment to helping every student thrive remains the heart of our work.

Reading connected text requires the development and orchestration of many sub-skills. This session will address how several key components of fluent reading can be developed, including decoding accuracy, word-level automaticity, and text-level automaticity. How mastery develops over time, supported by ample, interleaved opportunities to respond, will be a focus. The session will also include multiple strategies for promoting fluency among beginning readers.

Engaging, content-rich conversations in the early grades are essential for developing students’ language skills and background knowledge—critical foundations for later reading success. In this session, we’ll explore how teachers can facilitate meaningful conversations that are both responsive to students and cognitively demanding. Grounded in current research, this keynote presentation will highlight why integrating language and knowledge can enhance learning. Using the Strive-for-Five framework, the presenter will model how to promote sustained, high-quality back-and-forth exchanges through open-ended questioning, intentional modeling of academic language, and differentiated scaffolding strategies. Participants will leave with practical tools and a clear understanding of how to create rigorous conversation opportunities that support comprehension and build lasting literacy foundations.