Literacy is a human right. Every learner, regardless of the language spoken at home, deserves access to high-quality, evidence-based instruction that is both culturally and linguistically responsive. This is especially critical for the more than 5 million students in the United States whose heritage language is not English.

Join us for this insightful and inspiring discussion with a true literacy hero Margaret Goldberg, co-founder of The Right to Read Project. During this podcast, we’ll talk with Goldberg about the next step in the science of reading movement: Educators moving from research consumers to active research participants. While there’s been progress bringing research awareness to classrooms, we now face a moment where the future of reading science depends on practitioner involvement.

This episode examines how educators have moved from implementing prescribed practices to actively seeking evidence-based approaches, and why this momentum can’t stagnate. With uncertain federal support for education research, we must bridge the “last mile” between research and practice—the phase that matters most to students and teachers.

Drawing from personal experiences, this episode reveals what it means to move from research consumer to research contributor, including the moments that change how educators view and engage with scientific evidence. We’ll discuss research-to-practice partnerships and how thinking like a scientist can change classroom implementation.

Listeners will learn:

• Where the science of reading movement stands today
• Why this isn’t another pendulum swing in education
• The importance of bridging the “last mile” between research and practice
• What it feels like to move from research consumer to active participant
• Practical steps for joining research-to-practice partnerships
• How to approach classroom implementation with a scientific mindset
• Why practitioner involvement is essential for sustaining progress
• Strategies for participating in science

Essential listening for educators, administrators, and literacy advocates ready to help shape the future of reading instruction and ensure research continues to benefit students in classrooms.

The “science of reading” often gets reduced to “phonics,” but there’s a lot of science that relates to reading comprehension as well.

If we look at typical comprehension instruction through the lens of cognitive science, it becomes clear that we’ve unintentionally made reading and writing much harder than they need to be by separating them from each other and from content-area instruction.

But cognitive science also tells us that a content-rich curriculum combined with explicit, manageable writing instruction can provide all the benefits of science-informed instruction and more. If we break down the artificial walls separating reading, writing, and learning, we can enable all students to reach their full potential.

Listeners will learn:

• Why we need to do more than “fix phonics” if we want all students to become fully literate
• How we’ve been making reading and writing harder than they need to be
• Why it’s not possible to apply principles grounded in cognitive science to typical comprehension instruction
• How a content-rich curriculum combined with explicit writing instruction can provide all the benefits of science-informed instruction—and more