Karen L. Mapp, EdD, is the William and Miriam Meehan Professor in Adult Learning and Professional Development at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). She is the former Faculty Director of the Education Policy and Management Master's Program. Over the past twenty-five years, Dr. Mapp's research and practice focus has been on the cultivation of partnerships among families, community members, and educators that support student achievement and school improvement. Dr. Mapp holds a Doctorate and Master's of Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, a Master's in Education from Southern Connecticut State University, and a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Trinity College, CT. She serves on the boards of the National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement and the Hyams Foundation. 
 
Dr. Mapp is the author and co-author of several articles and books about the role of families and community members in the work of student achievement and school improvement, her most recent being ""Everyone Wins!: The Evidence for Family-School Partnerships and the Implications for Practice (2022). 

Douglas Fisher, Ph.D., is Professor and Chair of Educational Leadership at San Diego State University and a leader at Health Sciences High & Middle College having been an early intervention teacher and elementary school educator. He was inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame in 2022. Doug has published numerous articles on leadership, reading and literacy, differentiated instruction, and curriculum design as well as books, such as The Teaching Reading Playbook, PLC+: Better Decisions and Greater Impact by Design, Rigor Unveiled, and Better Learning Through Structured Teaching.

Nancy Frey, Ph.D., is a Professor in Educational Leadership at San Diego State University and a member of the International Literacy Association’s Literacy Research Panel. Nancy has published in The Reading Teacher, Theory Into Practice, Reading Psychology, Early Childhood Education Journal, and Educational Leadership on research related to literacy, school leadership, and effective instruction, with her co-author and colleague, Doug Fisher.  Current books include Teaching Foundational Skills for Adolescent Readers, The Teaching Reading Playbook, The Mathematics Playbook, Welcome to Teaching, Multilingual Learners, and the Teacher Clarity suite of books. In 2008 she was given the Early Career Achievement Award by the Literacy Research Association and is a member of the California Reading Hall of Fame. She is a credentialed special educator, reading specialist, and administrator in California, and is a co-founder and administrator at Health Sciences High and Middle College.

Michael Bonner is a renowned leader, innovator, and performance booster, who is a trailblazer in leadership development and organizational culture. He is a dynamic keynote speaker as seen on The Ellen Show, NBC Nightly News, and Time for Kids and a recent recipient of Atlanta's 40 under 40 awards. He is the CEO of Bonnerville, a business that promotes the value of self-care and a highly respected team member at the famed Ron Clark Academy. 

He empowers leaders to build genuine relationships and establish a positive organizational culture, vision and team development. His seminars challenge listeners to reflect, strategize, and execute in order to increase their efficiency in the workplace and personal areas. He empowers listeners to build genuine relationships with their teams and colleagues because ""You cannot demand a withdrawal from someone you have never invested in."" 

Michael Bonner's transformative approach leaves C-suite and nonprofit leaders, educators, and administrators confident and prepared to become world-changing citizens who garner significant impact. 

To learn more about Michael Bonner, visit michael-bonner.com and follow him on all social media platforms at @michaelbonner_. 

Dr. Kristin Anderson is an educator, researcher, founder, and CEO of The Brilliance Project. Through her research and consultancy over her 25-plus-year career, Kristin has helped thousands of educators, leaders, and aspiring world-changers transform their potential and unleash their personal power through the lens of education.

Kristin’s early career was spent working with students from marginalized backgrounds. This formative experience exposed the duality of education in both its capacity to fortify and lift the human spirit, as well as isolating the oppositional factors that actively disable it. These insights invoke the redemptive themes of her current-day work, such as building trust, hope, and efficacy, and a specialized focus on adult learning that embraces the lifecycle of the whole educator, along with their well-being.

Kristin has worked within instructional and leadership roles across a diverse range of K-12 settings. She has developed professional learning programs for Edison Schools, The Leadership and Learning Center, and Corwin, and is known as the person who brought Visible Learning to North America. In parallel, she has completed advanced degrees from Sterling College, the University of Denver, the University of Colorado, and Vanderbilt University.

It is estimated that the average school leader spends approximately 6% of their time implementing instructional leadership practices (e.g. ensuring a coordinated curriculum, resourcing strategically, classroom walkthrus, coaching, providing feedback, attending PLC meetings, etc.). In fact, many agree that getting more instructional minutes is the greatest leadership challenge of our time. Not only does this focus improve academic outcomes, new research suggests that improving instructional leadership directly correlates to increased leader, teacher, and student emotional wellbeing

In this session, participants will 1) identify the behaviors and characteristics of instructional leaders; 2) understand practical ways to increase their instructional leadership capacity; 3) determine what gets in the way of spending time in instructional leadership activities and what can be done to minimize those obstacles (both mental and physical); and 4) make the connection between instructional leadership practices and increased emotional wellbeing.

Pam Austin has over 35 years of experience as an educator. She has worked as a professional learning facilitator manager with over 17 years of experience in training and supporting districts in various literacy and numeracy interventions for Voyager Sopris Learning, in addition to delivering LETRS professional development sessions. She has also shared her love of proven VSL solutions as a product marketing manager when she began her role as an EDView 360 podcast host in 2019 and continues to this day. Her goal is to aid teachers in changing the lives of students so that they not only become proficient and successful learners, but also individuals confident in pursuing personal and professional life goals. She previously held the role of literacy specialist at The Center for Development and Learning (CDL), now The Center for Literacy and Learning. As an educator in the New Orleans Public Schools for 14 years, she served as an elementary teacher, a reading interventionist, a school-based reading coach, and a central office field literacy facilitator. These varying roles allowed her to gain a myriad of experiences that have enhanced her ability to work in collaboration with other educators, schools, and districts for impactful professional learning. Pam’s first steps into a lifelong career as an educator began as a fourth-grade teacher in a small school in the Archdiocese of New Orleans. And the journey continues…

The intense focus on reading and all topics connected to the science of teaching and learning in the world of literacy has opened the floodgates of research for the best way for the majority of students to achieve reading success. An understanding of essential literacy components, the Big 5, the essential language, and word recognition skills necessary is the ammunition to ignite the “what” of literacy instruction. The practical “how” is the focus of this interactive session. Strategies for winning the battle of comprehension by incorporating daily fluency practice of repeated readings and the application of writing to improve reading comprehension are the focus of this session.

Courtney Babin, M.Ed., is a senior literacy content and training specialist at The Center for Literacy & Learning. Courtney started her career in education in a small elementary school in central Louisiana. As a third-grade teacher, Courtney saw the gap in literacy and the need for foundational reading skills in the early elementary years. This led Courtney to teach Kindergarten to ensure foundational literacy skills were being taught, practiced, and mastered in lower elementary. During this journey, she quickly realized that teachers’ skills, training, and implementation are essential to ensure student academic success. After many years as a classroom teacher, Courtney climbed the leadership ladder, serving as a cooperative learning coach, data team leader, Title 1 chairperson, mentor teacher, master teacher, and instructional coach. During these leadership roles, she provided support, modeling, and coaching to educators. During her teaching career, Courtney received her master’s degree in curriculum and instruction. She is now pursuing her Doctorate of Education in Teaching and Learning. After a decade in education, her desire to ensure educators are well-informed and trained in evidence-based practices led her to The Center for Literacy & Learning. Courtney’s efforts to increase teacher efficacy are evident, as she trains educators in Growing Reading Brains, one of The Center’s professional development courses. She also developed Growing Reading Brains for Early Learning Centers and Pre-Kindergarten, which takes educators on a journey to building the foundational skills necessary for literacy development. Courtney advocates for educators to learn about and implement evidence-based practices, as teachers have a profound influence on student achievement.

Sustaining schoolwide literacy improvement requires more than strong instructional materials—it depends on shared beliefs, coherent systems, and aligned leadership. This session explores how collective efficacy serves as a foundation for lasting reading reform and how a high-quality, Science of Reading–aligned literacy curriculum creates coherence across classrooms. Participants will examine the key components of effective job-embedded professional development and how purposeful alignment among teachers, leaders, and support staff strengthens implementation and impact. The session also highlights critical leadership actions that promote system-wide coherence, support instructional consistency, and drive sustainable literacy improvement across schools. Join us to learn how an exemplar district fueled extraordinary literacy gains through collective efficacy and a coherent literacy infrastructure.

Heather is a founding partner and the CAO of Root Compass, and is the founder & CEO of Root Literacy Design. In both organizations, Heather works tirelessly to empower educators with evidence-based knowledge and tools so all students learn to read and write. A literacy pioneer with deep roots in the classroom, Heather also serves part-time as a literacy coach at The Compass School. Her experience spans roles as a classroom teacher, reading specialist, adjunct professor, and educational consultant. Heather holds a graduate degree from Roger Williams University’s Literacy Education program and is a certified reading specialist and OGA certified at the Associate Level. Based in Rhode Island with her husband and pets, Heather is also an “Endo Warrior” and a fierce advocate for endometriosis awareness.

Transform vocabulary instruction into a journey of discovery by unlocking the power of morphology! This session covers 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 learn a high-impact weekly routine for grades 3+ that focuses on a "morpheme of the week" while utilizing differentiated word lists to build students' academic vocabulary. Leave with a comprehensive toolkit, including assessment tools, graphic organizers, and engaging games, designed to transform literacy instruction across all disciplines immediately.

Dr. Barbee holds a doctoral degree in educational leadership and literacy from the University of Houston. She brings ~20 years of education-related experience in PreK-12 settings. Dr. Barbee currently serves as a full-time consultant with Corwin. She most recently served as a project manager of assessment for learning in a large urban district, which involved creating system-wide professional learning programming for central staff and campuses that promoted the spread of research-based practices. Through an emphasis on relationship-building and human-centered design principles, Dr. Barbee has coached PreK-12 principals, teachers, and district leaders on pedagogical practices that promote equity and student agency. She served as a literacy teacher in Thomazeau, Haiti, and worked with Haitian teachers to implement sustainable teaching practices. She currently serves on the board of Roam Wild Adventures, a nonprofit that works to connect youth from diverse backgrounds through carefully designed outdoor adventure trips. Her co-authored books include The Teacher Clarity Playbook, Grades K-12: A Hands-On Guide to Creating Learning Intentions and Success Criteria for Organized, Effective Instruction, Teaching Foundational Skills to Adolescent Readers, and Clarity of Learning: Organization, Explanations, Examples, and Assessment in Teacher Clarity.

This session explores how lesson design impacts student achievement (d = 0.70). Together, we’ll examine how the Gradual Release of Responsibility framework (focused instruction, guided instruction, collaborative learning, and independent learning) can be supported by evidence-based strategies in each phase. Participants will leave with practical tools and planning ideas to design lessons that maximize clarity, engagement, and student ownership of learning.

High-dosage tutoring (HDT) is a powerful instructional lever when designed and implemented with intention. This session will explore what research says about high-dosage tutoring, including the conditions that lead to meaningful literacy gains. Participants will examine common misconceptions that position tutoring as “extra help” and instead reframe HDT as a structured, aligned extension of strong Tier 1 instruction within Louisiana’s Tiered Pathways of Literacy Support (TPLS). Attendees will leave with practical guidance for designing, implementing, and monitoring high-dosage tutoring to ensure coherence, quality, and measurable impact.

John Bennetts is a national literacy consultant specializing in evidence-based reading practices. He supports schools and districts nationwide in strengthening instruction and building coherent literacy systems aligned with current research. John works closely with system and school leaders to evaluate existing practices, lead instructional shifts, and implement sustainable changes that improve literacy outcomes for students.

John brings experience as a classroom teacher and school administrator at both the elementary and secondary levels, along with system-level work supporting curriculum, instruction, and assessment. He has advised national curriculum organizations and early-stage AI education companies, helping bridge research, classroom practice, and emerging technology to better support educators and learners. He has also led the development of an online, adaptive reading program for secondary students.

In addition to his professional work, John serves as chair of the Board for Reach Out and Read Rhode Island, a nonprofit that partners with pediatric practices statewide to provide books to children from birth to age five and equips families with strategies to support early literacy at home.

John lives in Providence, Rhode Island, with his wife, Steph, and their two sons, Gabe and Graham.

The HQIM fidelity conversation currently focuses on adherence to scripts, pacing guides, use of all curricular components, and other easily tracked instructional features. This is an important starting point for improving instruction, but this alone will not create a coherent instructional experience for students. One of the greatest challenges is that instruction varies across programs: core curricula differ from evidence-based supplemental ones, interventions include different instructional strategies than core programs, and the approach to learning varies across grades in ways that might be unpredictable for students. All of this calls for extending the fidelity conversation. The next step is to examine the entire instructional ecosystem to identify problematic variation across programs, grades, and classrooms. Participants will reflect on their instructional ecosystem to identify how core skills are currently taught, where instructional routines differ across classrooms or grades, and how professional learning, coaching, and evaluation systems either support or undermine effective instruction. Participants will leave prepared to examine the different ways skills vary across settings and to use that insight to make instructional alignment the focal point of ongoing instructional improvement. This more coherent experience for students will increase their achievement.

High-quality instructional materials are everywhere, and many promise strong results. Yet across grade levels, educators are increasingly experiencing a frustrating disconnect. Curriculum implementation often appears strong, but end-of-year outcomes do not always reflect that effort. Too often, the default coaching response is to focus on executing the curriculum more precisely by tightening pacing or increasing adherence to scripts. While these moves are understandable, they do not always address what students actually understand or where learning remains fragile. This coaching-focused session examines how coaches, instructional leaders, and teachers can move beyond fidelity (e.g., scripts, pacing) as the primary indicator of success and instead prioritize student learning while still honoring the intent of HQIM. While many of the concrete examples and data explored come from upper elementary classrooms, participants will see clear applications across the K–12 continuum. The session includes a deep dive into the mismatch between some curriculum-embedded assessment suites and end-of-year expectations, and why assessment systems may need refinement to better reflect what students are actually learning. Participants will leave with concrete guidance for building coaching and assessment systems that help educators spend less time guessing and more time responding effectively to student needs.
 

Dr. Heidi Beverine-Curry is a thought and implementation leader for evidence-aligned literacy transformation, with a special interest in RTI/MTSS. Heidi owns HBC Literacy Consulting and is also employed by a public school district in Central New York. This allows her the unique opportunity to be immersed in the practice of a diverse, real-world school context while also using her expertise to support national and global educators. Heidi is frequently invited to speak about the science of reading and has presented widely at conferences and events across the US and internationally.

Prior to returning to independent consultancy and public school employment, she was a founding executive board member of The Reading League (TRL-National), then went on to become the Chief Academic Officer at TRL-National, where she built and oversaw the Professional Development department. There, she designed, supervised, and delivered educator learning opportunities for over 80 partnering school districts.

Previously, she spent 21 years working in public schools, where she made use of her certifications in Elementary Education, K-12 Special Education, and K-12 Reading Education. When Heidi began her doctoral coursework in reading education in 2006, she became a champion for evidence-aligned literacy instruction and has led numerous successful reform efforts. Heidi was an adjunct professor at Syracuse University and SUNY Oswego, where she specialized in teaching clinical reading intervention coursework.

What is the relationship between RTI/MTSS, oral reading fluency, and reading comprehension? How does an understanding of the intersection help us build knowledge, structures, and practices that are most likely to yield student reading success in our schools? This session is for all education professionals who work with grades K-8, especially leaders.

Julie Burtscher Brown, Ed.D., is the founding teacher of Woodstock Middle and High School’s Structured Literacy Program—the first public secondary program of its kind in Vermont. She has taught in multiple instructional and leadership roles, including Structured Literacy teacher, secondary special educator, MLL coordinator, and literacy facilitator, giving her a deep understanding of adolescent readers and the systems that shape their learning. A licensed special educator, reading specialist, and MLL teacher, Julie is also a founding member of the Project for Adolescent Literacy (PAL), a national educator-led initiative working to confront the adolescent literacy crisis and elevate proven solutions. Her students and their educational experiences remain the source of her ongoing inspiration.

Join this session to explore how middle and high schools can integrate evidence-based practices across an MTSS framework with a focus on Tier 1 and content-area instruction. Participants will engage with key adolescent literacy research, schoolwide strategies that strengthen educators’ collective efficacy, and ready-to-use classroom practices. Using real-world examples and practical applications, attendees will be equipped with actionable tools, insights, and confidence to implement literacy instruction that empowers young adults to build reading skills, access complex texts, and achieve greater academic success.

Phil Capin, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His research seeks to understand differences in reading development and to develop and evaluate the efficacy of instructional practices, primarily for those with difficulties. He is currently an investigator on several federally-funded projects, including Principal Investigator of an Institutes of Education Sciences Grant focused on improving language and reading comprehension for elementary emergent bilinguals. In addition to advancing our understanding of reading development, instruction, and assessment, a primary goal of his work is to translate research findings in ways that can meaningfully address current challenges that affect educators and their students. Prior to joining academia, Dr. Capin was a special education teacher in El Centro, CA.

Emergent bilingual students will excel in rigorous, grade-level learning when provided high-quality instruction. In this session, Dr. Capin will share research highlighting the reciprocal relationships among language, literacy, and content learning, describing how integrating language and literacy supports deeper content understanding and how meaningful knowledge building is critical to language and literacy. He will share sample instructional materials found to be effective in improving social studies learning and will describe practical ways to integrate language, literacy, and content learning in linguistically diverse classrooms. This session is especially relevant to teachers, administrators, and all those committed to developing rigorous and equitable learning environments for emergent bilingual students.

Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan, Ed.D., is a bilingual speech-language pathologist and a certified academic language therapist. She is the director of Valley Speech Language and Learning Center in Brownsville, Texas, which was established in 1993. She also works with the Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics at the University of Houston. Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan is the author of Esperanza (HOPE), a Spanish-language program designed to assist students who struggle with learning to read. Her research interests include the development of early reading assessments for Spanish-speaking students and the development of reading interventions for bilingual students. She was the co-principal investigator of a longitudinal study funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Institute for Education Sciences that examined the oracy and literacy development in English and Spanish of Spanish-speaking children. She serves as the vice president for the International Dyslexia Association and has authored curricular programs, book chapters, and journal articles related to oracy and literacy development for English language learners.

Written language is one of the most advanced forms of language acquisition. Therefore, it is essential for educators to develop a strong understanding of writing development, common error patterns among multilingual learners, and research-based strategies that strengthen both foundational writing skills and overall composition.
In this session, participants will learn to analyze student writing samples, identify common linguistic and structural errors, and apply a diagnostic, prescriptive approach to design targeted instruction. All strategies presented will align with evidence-based practices to support intentional, effective instruction that meets the diverse needs of multilingual students.

This session explores how language variation shapes students’ literacy development and classroom learning experiences. Grounded in sociolinguistic and literacy research, the presentation examines the systematic nature of dialects, the distinction between language difference and language disorder, and the role of language ideologies in educational settings.

Participants will consider how phonology, syntax, and discourse patterns influence reading, writing, and academic language development, particularly for students who speak non-dominant dialects or multiple languages.

The session highlights asset-based and culturally sustaining approaches, including contrastive analysis, translanguaging, and meta-linguistic skill building to enhance academic language and literacy without devaluing students’ home varieties. Through examples and practical applications, attendees will leave with research-informed tools to support linguistically diverse learners and foster equitable literacy instruction.
 

Dr. Catts is a faculty member of the School of Communication Science and Disorders at Florida State University. His research interests include the early identification and prevention of reading disabilities. He is a past board member of the International Dyslexia Association and a past board member and president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading. He has received the Samuel T. Orton Award from the International Dyslexia Association and the Honors of the Association from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association for his career contributions in each of these disciplines. His current research concerns the early identification of reading and language disabilities and the nature and assessment of reading comprehension problems.

In many classrooms, comprehension is treated as a component of reading that involves a set of generalizable skills that can be directly assessed and instructed.  This approach, largely an artifact of educational practice, is inconsistent with what science tells us about comprehension. It is a multidimensional cognitive process that involves the integration of background knowledge, language processing, thinking, and metacognitive control. Though complex, we can teach students to better comprehend texts, and more importantly, enjoy and/or learn from them. This presentation highlights a model that will assist in this process. 

Jake is an Ohio native who began his teaching career in Milwaukee, WI, in 2015. Having specialized in literacy instruction, Jake built a following on social media for his engaging and rhythmic phonics lessons and evidence-based structured literacy practices, even landing him on The Kelly Clarkson Show in January 2024. Throughout his career, Jake has taught PreK, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades and now serves as a Literacy Director for a school in Milwaukee, WI. In his role, Jake supports a team of kindergarten through fifth-grade teachers in their implementation and assessment of structured literacy. In his spare time, Jake presents nationally for conferences such as Illinois ASCD and Elevate Your Classroom and visits school districts all over the country. He is thrilled to be returning for a second year at Plain Talk!

Are we still doing spelling tests? How does dictation work, and how often should I be doing it? How do I increase response frequency? What do I look for in student spelling data? What is the research behind it? Join Jake as he answers all these questions and more about the shift from memory-based spelling tests to daily dictation practice. Explore the importance of a speech-to-print approach and get hands-on practice with key sound-to-spelling strategies for K-3 students.

How do we develop phonological awareness in a playful, engaging way? How do we learn to make noise in literacy and match sound to symbol? What is most important about 4- and 5-year-old brains? What does research say about letter/sound introduction? All these questions and more are explored in this focused, targeted session for teachers working with PreK and Kindergarten learners. Come join in the fun! 

Judi is a consultant for learning and development for the 95 Percent Group. In addition, she is a former national LETRS trainer, a national literacy consultant, teaches classes and speaks on topics related to the role of oral language in learning to read, instructional choices that can change and develop the reading brain, the role of language to reinforce foundational skill development, in addition to the impact of trauma on learning and the role of literacy to help heal. Before beginning her literacy consulting work, she worked for 20 years as a special educator in Colorado. Judi is the author of 50 Nifty Activities for Reading Instruction and 50 Nifty Activities for Speaking and Listening: for Oral Language and Comprehension. Judi’s second area of passion is global education for young women. She is the president of Peruvian Hearts, a non-profit organization dedicated to the education, mentorship, and development of leadership for young women in Peru. Judi believes that literacy is a social justice issue, and this adds passion to her work with teachers and students.

Language is the primary tool we use to understand and interpret the world. In their Reading is Language Model (Hulme & Snowling, 2025), literacy development is viewed as a reciprocal process in which language and reading strengthen one another. It reinforces the concept that essential oral language skills must be cultivated for reading to truly take root. The slow change in reading achievement may be signaling an urgent need for more intentional language instruction woven throughout daily teaching.
This session will deepen your understanding of why purposeful oral language development is vital for literacy success. We will explore practical shifts and strategies that integrate language into literacy lessons. You’ll gain insights that will give both you and your students a linguistic advantage as they learn to read, write, and think more effectively. You’ll leave with easy-to-implement instructional strategies designed to embed language seamlessly throughout the school day. Additionally, intentional language instruction also builds connection, confidence, and a sense of belonging that fuels learning. When we recognize language as the foundation of literacy and give it the time and emphasis it deserves, we equip students with the tools they need to thrive as readers, writers, and thinkers.

Lillian Durán has a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Minnesota and is a professor in the Department of Special Education and Clinical Sciences at the University of Oregon. She holds a B.A. in elementary education from Antioch College and an M.A. in education and human development from the George Washington University. Her research focus is on large-scale equitable language and literacy measurement development in English and Spanish from preschool to 6th grade. She is also the project director on several Office of Special Education Programs training grants focused on preparing master’s and doctoral students to serve marginalized populations with disabilities, with a focus on equity and improving educational outcomes. Dr. Durán frequently delivers presentations nationally on the topic of recommended practices in language and literacy practices with multilingual learners, and she has served on multiple equity and diversity councils, including the National Association for Young Children and the Division for Early Childhood. Prior to Dr. Durán’s work in higher education, she worked for nine years as an early childhood special education teacher, both in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and in rural southwestern Minnesota.

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 students in multiple languages 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. 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.

As the author of Uncovering the Logic of English and CEO and founder of Logic of English, Denise is passionate about translating the science of reading into practice. When her sons struggled to learn to read, she discovered that there are answers to the “whys” of English spelling. Upon seeing her sons go from non-readers to reading chapter books within months, she realized that this information could help everyone! Armed with that knowledge, she continues her life's work of sharing the power of knowing how English works by speaking, writing, and publishing.

Vocabulary is an important key to reading comprehension. Since English spelling is a balance between sound and meaning, morphology can be leveraged to quickly expand your students’ vocabularies, provide students with clues to the meanings of unknown words, and facilitate orthographic mapping. Join Denise Eide, author of Uncovering the Logic of English, to experience how knowledge of morphemes transforms vocabulary instruction from rote memorization into a powerful tool of discovery! In this session, you will learn how to introduce new vocabulary across the curriculum, how phonics and morphology are intertwined, and how to add a suffix to any word!
 

As an assistant professor at Marietta College, Michelle Elia prepares pre-service teachers to teach reading using evidence-based language and literacy practices. Michelle previously served as Ohio Literacy Lead and has taught students in preschool through high school. Michelle is a nationally recognized literacy professional development provider, training educators in literacy instruction and assessment within an MTSS framework grounded in reading science. Michelle serves as the president of The Reading League-Ohio and is proud to support the literacy efforts in her state. A lifelong learner, Elia will graduate with her doctorate in reading science from Mount St. Joseph University in May. Michelle is passionate about teaching and applying the science of reading to the classroom, especially with older struggling readers.

This session aims to equip educators with the knowledge and tools to plan for effective literacy interventions for older, struggling readers. It is never too late to teach children to read and comprehend complex texts. Research suggests a range of learning needs among older readers, so educators need to use assessment data to identify these needs and group students appropriately. This session will simplify MTSS for literacy at the adolescent level, providing straightforward guidance on planning interventions and a reminder of the importance of tier 1 instruction. MTSS = Core Plus More!

William van Cleave reminded us that syntax instruction matters, especially in the upper grades. There is ample research that syntactic knowledge improves reading comprehension. But the question remains, how can we teach it? Syntax can and should be explicitly taught across content areas, using rich texts and connected writing activities. After all, the syntax of text is different from oral language, and it requires teacher directed instruction to unpack it. In this session, participants will learn how to systematically teach syntax to improve reading comprehension and written expression, using texts from their content areas. When teachers use this scaffolded instruction, students can build syntactic knowledge and also unlock the meaning of complex, grade-level texts. It’s time to add this multi-tool to your instructional toolbox.

Volunteering to teach adult struggling readers was a natural for Linda, who is a former English teacher, school counselor, and lifelong bookworm. Linda met her mentor, Dr. Louisa Moats, while she was volunteering to teach adults to read. She has since coauthored the Teaching Reading Essentials Program Guide and Coaches Guide with Dr. Moats. Linda is also coauthor, with Michael Hunter, of Phonics Blitz™ (1st Edition), Phonics Boost™, and the Diagnostic Decoding Surveys. Linda was a National LETRS Trainer with Dr. Moats for seven years. She has been presenting workshops, giving speeches, authoring publications, and developing reading assessment and instructional materials for more than 10 years. To keep her skills fresh and innovative, Linda works with struggling readers of all ages whenever she gets the chance to do so.

A current topic of discussion in the reading world is whether to teach phonemic awareness with letters or without. Researchers have different opinions about this. Our session will provide a brief review of research spurring the controversy. Case studies of students Linda has worked with who needed and benefited from phonological awareness instruction will follow. Whether to teach phonemic awareness with letters or without, based on this practitioner’s experience, is not as black and white as some researchers and practitioners would have us believe.

Participants learn that there is reason to our spelling system by understanding the four major layers of the English language: Anglo-Saxon, Norman French, Latin, and Greek. Understanding these layers will help teachers answer the question, “Why is it spelled that way?” There is a reason why so many of our most frequently used words (was, of, from, who) have wacky spellings. There’s also a logical reason why in some words 'ch 'spells /ch/ (chin, chapter, chest), in other words it spells /sh/ (chef, parachute, chauffeur), and yet in other words it spells /k/ (chorus, character, Christ). Teachers will also understand how a word’s language of origin influences its meaning. Both spelling and vocabulary instruction will be enhanced with the information learned in this workshop. — This workshop may sound dry, but Linda makes it entertaining and fun.

Antonio A. Fierro is the Literacy Expert in Residence with 95 Percent Group, co-author of Kid Lips, a phonetics curriculum for young children, and author of its Spanish counterpart, El Muro de Sonidos y Deletreo. For nearly 20 years, he has been a member of the national LETRS cohort of literacy consultants led by Dr. Louisa Moats. He has led numerous initiatives across the country to strengthen instruction for English learners. Dr. Fierro currently serves on the national board of The Reading League and the advisory board for the third edition of LETRS.

Spanish is often described as a syllable-timed language, which has led to the misconception that phonemic awareness is less important for Spanish literacy development. This session explores why that belief does not align with research on how reading develops in alphabetic languages. Participants will examine the role of phonemic awareness in Spanish and learn how attention to articulation can make individual speech sounds more visible and teachable. We will discuss how sounds are produced within the speech system, how articulatory awareness supports phoneme recognition and manipulation, and how these skills connect to sound–symbol relationships in Spanish. The session will also address key differences between Spanish and English sound systems and how those differences influence instruction for English learners. Participants will build a knowledge base to help them make informed instructional decisions and support students in developing strong foundations in Spanish reading and spelling. While the focus is on Spanish, the principles discussed apply broadly to literacy development in other alphabetic languages.

Douglas Fisher, Ph.D., is professor and chair of educational leadership at San Diego State University and a leader at Health Sciences High & Middle College, having been an early intervention teacher and elementary school educator. He was inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame in 2022. Doug has published numerous articles on leadership, reading and literacy, differentiated instruction, and curriculum design, as well as books, such as The Teaching Reading Playbook, PLC+: Better Decisions and Greater Impact by Design, Rigor Unveiled, and Better Learning Through Structured Teaching.

What does the evidence suggest that adolescents need to develop strong reading skills? The role of efficacy, background knowledge, word recognition, word learning, sentence analysis, and language comprehension, integrated into learning for students in grades 4 - 12, is explained and explored.

Nancy Frey, Ph.D., is a professor in educational leadership at San Diego State University and a member of the International Literacy Association’s Literacy Research Panel. Nancy has published in The Reading Teacher, Theory Into Practice, Reading Psychology, Early Childhood Education Journal, and Educational Leadership on research related to literacy, school leadership, and effective instruction with her co-author and colleague, Doug Fisher. Current books include Teaching Foundational Skills for Adolescent Readers, The Teaching Reading Playbook, The Mathematics Playbook, Welcome to Teaching, Multilingual Learners, and the Teacher Clarity suite of books. In 2008, she was given the Early Career Achievement Award by the Literacy Research Association and is a member of the California Reading Hall of Fame. She is a credentialed special educator, reading specialist, and administrator in California, and is a co-founder and administrator at Health Sciences High and Middle College.

Research shows that young readers and writers draw from overlapping, flexible strategies when reading and spelling, developing these skills together rather than sequentially. This session translates that evidence into elementary classroom practice. Participants will explore how morphological awareness connects vocabulary, spelling, and sentence fluency, helping students move beyond memorization to meaningful word use. We’ll look at how spelling instruction strengthens word recognition and supports students in analyzing, expanding, and crafting sentences. Through clear examples and practical routines, elementary educators will see how to design instruction that aligns word learning, spelling patterns, and sentence work into a cohesive literacy block. The result is stronger vocabulary knowledge, more fluent sentences, and improved comprehension for all learners.

Dr. Megan Gierka is a nationally recognized leader in literacy education and implementation science, dedicated to ensuring every child has access to evidence-based reading instruction. Currently serving as head of implementation at AIM Institute for Learning & Research, she specializes in bridging the gap between research and practice – helping schools, districts, and state agencies design and sustain effective, scalable literacy initiatives that drive long-term student success.

With extensive experience in both the classroom and policy arenas, Megan brings a unique blend of practitioner insight and systems-level expertise. She has co-authored professional learning courses with leading reading researchers and co-developed the Animated Alphabet with Dr. Linnea Ehri, a supplemental phonics resource designed to strengthen early literacy instruction.

Megan has partnered with state education departments in Maryland, Mississippi, and North Dakota to support large-scale structured literacy implementation and has advised policymakers on literacy legislation in Pennsylvania and beyond. In 2023, she was appointed to the U.S. Department of Education’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Advisory Committee, where she provided strategic guidance on educational priorities and literacy initiatives.

A former teacher, Title I reading specialist, and instructional coach, Megan is passionate about empowering educators with the tools and systems needed to create lasting, equitable literacy outcomes for all students.

Disciplinary literacy is the ability to think, read, write, and communicate in ways that align with the unique practices of a discipline (NMPED, 2025). In this interactive session designed for middle and secondary teachers, we will move beyond generic comprehension strategies and focus on the discipline-specific ways of thinking that help students truly make sense of complex texts. Drawing on insights from Shanahan & Shanahan (2008), participants will examine how mathematicians, historians, scientists, and literary scholars engage with texts and how these expert moves can be translated into secondary classroom instruction. Together, we will unpack why disciplinary literacy is distinct from generic reading strategy instruction and identify practical approaches teachers can incorporate tomorrow.

In an era when technology can generate answers faster than students can think, educators face a new challenge: helping learners build knowledge that actually sticks. This session explores how the science of learning and the science of reading converge to create instruction that endures beyond the moment of performance. Participants will unpack the Expanded Instructional Hierarchy (Odegard & Gierka, 2025) to examine how acquisition, fluency, and generalization/adaptation unfold in both traditional and tech-enhanced classrooms. Together, we’ll look at how artificial intelligence can amplify or erode learning and how to design practice that promotes retrieval, transfer, and deep understanding. Grounded in cognitive and instructional science, this session blends research and real-world application to help teachers make informed choices about when, how, and why to use technology. Educators will leave with concrete strategies for designing lessons that use digital tools efficiently while keeping the human brain at the center of learning.

Dr. Eugene Greenfield is a senior literacy product specialist at Amplify, where he partners with district leaders and instructional teams to guide thoughtful evaluation and implementation of evidence-based literacy solutions grounded in the science of reading. He brings 20 years of experience as an elementary teacher, principal, and national literacy curriculum specialist, supporting educators across the country through high-impact professional learning, conference presentations, and instructional coaching. His work focuses on strengthening core reading instruction and advancing equitable literacy outcomes for all students.

Dr. Greenfield earned a B.A. in history and Black world studies from Miami University, an M.Ed. in special education from Antioch University, and an MBA from Ohio Dominican University. In 2025, he completed his Doctor of Education in reading science at Mount St. Joseph University, becoming the first male graduate of the program. His dissertation, Enhancing Educator Feedback: The Impact of Professional Learning on Dialect-Sensitive Spelling Instruction for African American English Speakers, examined whether targeted professional learning can improve educators’ ability to recognize dialect-influenced spelling, deliver culturally responsive feedback, and shift deficit-based perceptions of African American English. His research contributes to a growing body of scholarship highlighting the importance of linguistic diversity, instructional precision, and teacher knowledge in narrowing persistent literacy gaps.

Dr. Greenfield is committed to supporting educators and districts in adopting literacy practices that are both scientifically grounded and culturally responsive, ensuring students receive the high-quality instruction they deserve.

This session examines how targeted professional learning can strengthen spelling instruction by deepening educators’ understanding of African American English (AAE) and its systematic linguistic features. Participants explore how dialect variation influences spelling patterns, including AAE phonological features such as consonant cluster reduction and “th” substitution, and analyze authentic student spelling examples through a linguistic lens.

Drawing on research, the session demonstrates how brief, focused professional learning can improve educators’ ability to recognize dialect-related spelling features and respond with precise, supportive feedback. The session models instructional routines that shift feedback from simple correction to affirmation while maintaining high expectations for conventional English spelling. Participants leave with practical, classroom-ready strategies for honoring students’ language, supporting orthographic development, and advancing more equitable literacy outcomes.

Miranda Gremillion is a literacy engagement specialist with The Center for Literacy & Learning, where she partners with school districts and community organizations across Louisiana to strengthen the connection between classroom instruction and at-home learning. With over 16 years of early childhood education experience, she supports educators and families in building research-based partnerships that strengthen literacy outcomes for young learners. Following nine years of service in the United States Army, Miranda earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and a Master of Business Administration before returning to her passion for early childhood literacy. She holds a Level 3 Louisiana Teaching Certificate for Grades PreK–3 and has served as a classroom teacher, reading interventionist, mentor teacher, and curriculum specialist. These roles have strengthened her ability to coach educators, support instructional planning, and tailor guidance to meet the diverse needs of students and families. Family literacy engagement is central to Miranda’s work. She focuses on building the capacity of both educators and families to support literacy beyond the classroom. Miranda develops and delivers professional learning for The Center’s Growing Reading Brains (GRB) Early Childhood Course and facilitates Growing Reading Brains: Parent Edition workshops. Through training, coaching, and resource development, she equips educators with effective family engagement strategies and provides families with practical, accessible tools to support reading at home, ensuring families are recognized as essential partners in their children’s literacy success.

Family engagement is more than participation. It’s a shared partnership among families, schools, and communities to support every child’s learning and development. This session highlights the power of authentic family engagement to strengthen literacy outcomes and connected learning communities rooted in the Dual Capacity Framework. Participants will explore the Family Literacy Engagement Framework (FLEP) created by our Family and Community Initiatives Team at The Center for Literacy & Learning. The Framework is a tool that bridges home and school literacy practices by building capacity, ensuring access to resources, promoting responsive communication, and integrating community partnerships. Through interactive discussion and practical examples, attendees will gain strategies that focus on school culture and environments, engage families in effective and meaningful literacy activities, and learn how to implement the framework within their schools. The session also emphasizes alignment with evidence-based literacy practices and the importance of shared responsibility across stakeholders. Participants will examine how intentional family engagement can reinforce classroom instruction and support literacy development beyond the school day. Participants will leave equipped with actionable approaches to advance literacy through meaningful, sustainable family engagement.

Dr. Lorraine Hammond AM, is a professor of early years literacy at The University of Notre Dame who has worked and researched in the areas of early literacy and high-impact instructional strategies, including explicit teaching and learning difficulties since 1990. Awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2002, Lorraine has been recognised by an Australian Government National Teaching Award (2016) for outstanding tertiary teaching, and in 2017, the Australian Council for Educational Leadership recognised her work in schools promoting high-impact instruction. In 2019, Lorraine received an Order of Australia (AM) for her significant contribution to tertiary education and the community. Lorraine has designed units of work on structured literacy and explicit instruction, including the first post-graduate unit on the Science of Reading Instruction in Australia. Since 2017, Lorraine has developed and presented professional learning on evidence-based literacy strategies for the Kimberley Schools Project in the north of Western Australia in regional and remote community schools as well as the Catholic Archdioceses of Adelaide, Broken Bay, Canberra-Goulburn, Melbourne, and Tasmania. In 2024, Lorraine was inducted into the Western Australian Women’s Hall of Fame for her work teaching evidence-based reading instruction in schools and universities.

Children with reading difficulties can be found in every school, but the number of struggling readers can be dramatically reduced with the right instruction. This session showcases case studies and videos from remote, disadvantaged, and affluent schools where teachers are using Daily Review and explicit teaching to accelerate reading progress. Many of these students, some with irregular attendance, additional needs, or English as an additional language, learn to read because of the quality and consistency of instruction. The first fifteen minutes matter. Effective Daily Review maximizes time on task, maintains a brisk pace, and provides frequent opportunities to respond (OTR), keeping students actively engaged while strengthening retrieval and fluency. High-density OTRs—choral responses, turn-and-talk, and written answers —help move essential reading knowledge into long-term memory.  These features reflect the explicit teaching principles described by Archer and Hughes (2011), Rosenshine (2012), and Ybarra and Hollingsworth (2018), whose research shows that structured lessons, systematic review, and active participation produce the strongest outcomes for all readers, especially those who need school the most.

This interactive session, delivered by two colleagues supporting teachers in the U.S. and Australia, explores the essential but often misunderstood component of skilled reading: fluency.  Drawing on the research of Dr. Jan Hasbrouck and colleagues, participants will examine how reading fluency develops across the grades and why accuracy, rate, and prosody together provide a powerful window into a student’s reading proficiency. We will unpack practical methods for determining fluency levels, including the effective use of curriculum-based measures and grade-level expectations informed by Hasbrouck & Tindal’s widely used norms (2017). Particular attention will be given to multilingual learners and students with dyslexia, highlighting how fluency data can reveal specific instructional needs without lowering expectations. Participants will learn what data to collect for targeted intervention, how to interpret it, and how fluency fits within a broader Structured Literacy approach. The session features authentic video and audio clips of students reading, offering opportunities to practice analysis, discuss instructional next steps, and reflect on how to use fluency information to support diverse learners. Join us to deepen your understanding of fluency and leave with practical tools you can use immediately in classrooms.

Krystal Hardy Allen, a native of historic Selma, Alabama, is the Founder & CEO of K. Allen Consulting™, a globally recognized management consulting firm serving clients across industries and sectors. A respected thought leader in organizational leadership and management, Krystal is also an award-winning former teacher and principal. Her journey in education began as a teacher, later advancing into leadership as a principal, where her passion for facilitation took root. In 2017, Krystal transitioned into social entrepreneurship, establishing K. Allen Consulting™, which has become a highly sought-after partner for major corporate brands like Amazon, Apple, and Google, as well as school systems, nonprofits, small businesses, and government agencies. Her insights have been featured in Time magazine, Essence magazine, The Los Angeles Tribune, EBONY magazine, MSNBC, Black Enterprise, and more. Her accolades include, but are not limited to, being named a 2019 Aspen Institute Scholar, a 2019 Gambit 40 Under 40 honoree, and one of the Most Influential Women in Business in Louisiana multiple years in a row. A first-generation college graduate, Krystal holds a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame, an M.Ed. from NLU-Chicago, and complete doctoral coursework at Teachers College, Columbia University (NYC). Beyond her professional endeavors, she serves on several national nonprofit boards, as well as the Board of Directors for Louisiana's #1 High School, Ben Franklin High School (New Orleans, LA).

Schools and school systems sit at the crossroads of some of the most pressing challenges of our time. You are serving students and families whose diverse identities intersect across race, culture, language, gender, faith, socioeconomic background, and ability, but also staff teams that represent varying identities and needs too. All of this is happening while we are all navigating heightened political tensions around how equity is addressed in education. This session takes participants from theory to practice by offering both a framework for understanding intersectionality and a toolkit of actionable strategies to create affirming, inclusive, equitable, and resilient school and district environments. Together, we will explore what it means to support leaders, support the whole student, engage families authentically, and foster collaborative staff cultures that thrive amid complexity. Participants will leave with concrete approaches to strengthen policies, classroom practices, community partnerships, and more in ways that honor identity, build belonging, and remain sustainable even in today’s charged climate.

Andrea Harrell is a literacy & learning specialist with The Center for Literacy & Learning, where she partners with districts, school leaders, and educators across Louisiana to strengthen reading instruction and improve student outcomes.

Her work centers on building coherent literacy systems by aligning curriculum, professional learning, coaching, and leadership practices. Andrea supports schools through instructional modeling, data analysis, PLC facilitation, and Science of Reading–aligned implementation in grades K–12. She collaborates closely with principals, literacy coaches, and district leadership teams to strengthen Tier 1 instruction and intervention systems.

Known for her thoughtful, collaborative approach, Andrea is committed to building collective efficacy among educators. Grounded in evidence-based frameworks such as Scarborough’s Reading Rope and the Simple View of Reading, she designs professional learning experiences that translate research into classroom practice.

With more than 37 years of experience in education, Andrea brings both depth of knowledge and practical insight to her work and remains dedicated to ensuring every child has access to high-quality literacy instruction.

Sustaining schoolwide literacy improvement requires more than strong instructional materials—it depends on shared beliefs, coherent systems, and aligned leadership. This session explores how collective efficacy serves as a foundation for lasting reading reform and how a high-quality, Science of Reading–aligned literacy curriculum creates coherence across classrooms. Participants will examine the key components of effective job-embedded professional development and how purposeful alignment among teachers, leaders, and support staff strengthens implementation and impact. The session also highlights critical leadership actions that promote system-wide coherence, support instructional consistency, and drive sustainable literacy improvement across schools. Join us to learn how an exemplar district fueled extraordinary literacy gains through collective efficacy and a coherent literacy infrastructure.

Jan Hasbrouck, Ph.D., is an award-winning researcher, educational consultant, and author who works with schools and agencies in the U.S. and internationally. Dr. Hasbrouck worked as a reading specialist and literacy coach for 15 years and later became a professor. Her research in reading fluency, academic assessment and interventions, and instructional coaching has been widely published. She is the author, coauthor, and co-editor of several books, along with some assessment tools. She continues to collaborate with researchers and school colleagues on projects related to reading interventions, assessment, and instructional coaching. She enjoys volunteering at her grandson’s K-8 school in Seattle.

Helping students read fluently is a focus of the efforts of many teachers and specialists. And that's a good thing because research has clearly identified fluency as “a critical component of skilled reading” (NRP, 2000), and fluency standards have also been included as essential foundation skills in state reading standards as well as the International Dyslexia Association’s Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading. But, how do we help students become fluent readers? The key is twofold: (a) understanding the essential components of fluency and (b) emphasizing fluency at the earliest stages of reading development. Learn how this works in this session! Appropriate for K-12+ (prevention and intervention).

Most elementary schools in the U.S. (and many other English-speaking countries) are using the 60 second assessment Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) in different formats (Acadience, Amplify, easyCBM, AIMSweb, and others). Each of these have created their own norms and recommended benchmarks, and these often differ from each other, and they are changed from time to time. This session will discuss the difference between “norms” and “benchmarks”, how they are created, and how to use them to support your instructional decisions for your students.

Nancy Hennessy is an experienced teacher and administrator who currently works as a literacy consultant. While in public schools, she provided leadership for innovative programming for special needs students and professional learning for all educators.
Nancy has designed multiple virtual and live professional learning events, including keynotes, workshops, podcasts, and training courses on the science of reading, dyslexia, and structured literacy. Most recently, reading comprehension has been her focus.
She is the author of the book The Reading Comprehension Blueprint: Helping Students Make Meaning of Text and co-author of a companion text, The Reading Comprehension Activity Book: A Practice & Planning Guide for Teachers with Julia Salamone. Nancy has also written the chapter, "Working with Word Meaning: Vocabulary Instruction," in Multisensory Teaching of Basic Skills (4th edition). While serving as a national trainer for Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling, she co-authored LETRS, Digging for Meaning: Teaching Text Comprehension (2nd edition) with Louisa Moats.
She is a past president of the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) and has served as the vice-president of the North Carolina Branch of IDA. In 2011, Nancy received the International Dyslexia Association’s Margaret Byrd Rawson Lifetime Achievement Award. She has also been honored with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s 2023 Impact Award.
Nancy believes we are the sum of all our teachers and that learning is our work.

Comprehension is complex and continually developing, dependent on the demands of the texts across grades and disciplines. Acquiring and applying a broad range of skills and knowledge for comprehending the texts encountered in the early grades requires an instructional blueprint that addresses these critical contributors to comprehension. This framework provides the foundation for building necessary competencies and then a bridge to the specialized features of disciplinary texts found in the upper grades. This session focuses on a continuum approach to comprehension. Let’s consider the what and how of foundational contributors, including word and sentence meaning, text structure and background knowledge, levels of understanding, and the specific differences, demands, and features typical of varied disciplinary texts. We will surface the specialized features of these texts (e.g., science, history, math), text-based examples, and instructional activities necessary for the development of a continuum of skills.

Creating a coherent representation of the text is critical to comprehension. At a fundamental level, the reader needs to identify connections and integrate ideas within and between sentences, and then throughout the text. The reader’s ability to infer these connections requires an understanding of how authors use cohesive ties and connectives to convey meaning at the sentence level. Let’s surface the science related to cohesion and comprehension, identify these types of cohesive devices, and explore how they contribute to sentence comprehension. Then, experience explicit text-based instructional activities that support the reader’s ability to acquire and apply the knowledge and skills necessary to construct comprehension and express understanding at the sentence and ultimately, the text level.

Dr. Elfrieda “Freddy” Hiebert (Ph.D., U. of Wisconsin-Madison) is the president and CEO of TextProject, a non-profit that provides open-access resources for instruction of beginning and struggling readers. Freddy has had a long career as a literacy educator, first as a teacher of primary-level students in California and, subsequently, as a teacher educator and researcher at the Universities of Kentucky, Colorado-Boulder, Michigan, and California-Berkeley. Her research, which addresses how fluency, vocabulary, and knowledge can be fostered through appropriate texts, has been published in numerous scholarly journals and books. Through documents such as Becoming a Nation of Readers (Center for the Study of Reading, 1985) and Every Child a Reader (Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement, 1999), she has contributed to making research accessible to educators. Freddy’s contributions to research and practice have been recognized through awards such as the Oscar Causey Award for Outstanding Contributions to Reading Research (Literacy Research Association, 2015), Research to Practice award (American Educational Research Association, 2013), William S. Gray Citation of Merit Award for Outstanding Contributions to Reading Research (International Reading Association, 2008), and membership in the Reading Hall of Fame (2008).

When we say a student is "below basic," what does that really tell us about what they can do—and what they need? This session examines how we interpret NAEP proficiency levels for struggling adolescent readers and whether those interpretations guide us toward interventions that work. Using the decoding threshold framework as a case study, we'll explore how proficiency labels shape the interventions we choose, the benchmarks we set, and ultimately, student outcomes. We'll also review what the research really says about intervention effectiveness for this population. The central question: when our proficiency interpretations miss the mark, how does that ripple through instruction? And what does alignment between assessment interpretation and intervention selection look like in practice?

Michael Hunter, M.Ed., is a founding partner of Readsters, a small company dedicated to supporting and developing excellent reading instruction, so all students learn to read. Michael found his passion for teaching struggling readers as a volunteer teaching adult non-readers. He is now dedicated to helping teachers teach every student to read. Michael has co-authored instructional materials with his business partner, Linda Farrell, including Phonics Plug-In ONE & TWO, Practice Packets for Fixing Common Confusions, and Teaching Vowel Sounds. Michael delivers professional development and advises schools nationally. Some of his favorite work with schools includes coaching and modeling in the classroom. This work with students and teachers keeps Michael’s skills fresh. This work also continues to inform the creation of additional instructional materials for beginning and struggling readers of all ages. Michael’s work at Readsters has even taken him to Africa to consult on early reading instruction in tribal languages.

Teachers are often puzzled by their students who can orally segment and blend phonemes, know letter
names and sounds, yet continue to read many words by first sounding out each letter, then blending the
sounds into a word. Most of these students are in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd grades, with a few in 4th grade or
higher. The core problem with most of these students is that they have not mastered complete
phonemic awareness, which David Kilpatrick explains so well in his book, Essentials of Assessing,
Preventing, and Overcoming Reading Difficulties. Participants will (1) learn why these students don’t
progress to whole word reading, (2) learn steps to help these students move to whole word reading, (3)
practice activities to help students progress, and (4) receive some materials they can use with these
students.

Many teachers use both leveled and decodable readers for beginning reading instruction. This session
includes a quick review of the differences between decodable books and leveled readers. It explains how
the two types of readers are based on different instructional philosophies, sometimes at cross-purposes.
Learn the specific differences between the two types of readers and how to use each effectively with
beginning readers. Examples of leveled readers and decodable readers are examined and compared.
Finally, learn how to use each type of reader so beginning readers develop accurate, fluent decoding
while building vocabulary and background knowledge necessary for reading comprehension.

Dr. Bell Jiménez brings over 20 years of experience in education, having served in diverse leadership roles including deputy chief academic officer, academic superintendent for literacy, and director of curriculum & instruction. Her career spans roles as a researcher, bilingual program developer, coach, interventionist, and classroom teacher. She is a staunch advocate for literacy development as a fundamental human right for socially, culturally, and economically diverse students. Her current research focuses on the science of reading within multilingual instructional settings for adolescent learners.

To move beyond a superficial application of the science of reading for English Language Learners, we must move from general theory to granular instructional design. This session focuses on the "how" of implementing structured literacy by examining the intricate phonological and orthographic interplay between Spanish and English. We will move past basic "bridge" activities to explore the specific instructional moves required to navigate language specific contrastive analysis. This session provides a blueprint for high-leverage biliteracy development.

Monique Jolla is the director of family and community initiatives at The Center for Literacy & Learning, where she provides strategic leadership to advance family engagement, community partnerships, and literacy-focused initiatives across Louisiana. She leads a team responsible for designing and implementing programs that strengthen connections between schools, families, and communities, including oversight of Louisiana Reads!, an initiative that expands access to books, tools, and evidence-based literacy resources beyond the classroom.

A native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Monique brings more than 25 years of experience across school-based and community education systems. Her career includes leadership and practitioner roles as a PreK teacher, family advocate, youth counselor, enrollment and marketing director for multiple charter schools across Louisiana and Georgia, and program director for multiple afterschool and summer literacy initiatives. These experiences have shaped her systems-level approach to addressing educational equity and strengthening family-school partnerships.

Monique is a passionate advocate for literacy and believes that meaningful progress in education requires shared leadership among educators, families, and communities. She champions the shift from traditional parental involvement to authentic family engagement, recognizing its impact on student achievement and well-being. Through her leadership, Monique continues to equip families with resources, build sustainable partnerships, and drive innovative strategies that empower communities and create equitable pathways to success for every child.

Family engagement is more than participation. It’s a shared partnership among families, schools, and communities to support every child’s learning and development. This session highlights the power of authentic family engagement to strengthen literacy outcomes and connected learning communities rooted in the Dual Capacity Framework. Participants will explore the Family Literacy Engagement Framework (FLEP) created by our Family and Community Initiatives Team at The Center for Literacy & Learning. The Framework is a tool that bridges home and school literacy practices by building capacity, ensuring access to resources, promoting responsive communication, and integrating community partnerships. Through interactive discussion and practical examples, attendees will gain strategies that focus on school culture and environments, engage families in effective and meaningful literacy activities, and learn how to implement the framework within their schools. The session also emphasizes alignment with evidence-based literacy practices and the importance of shared responsibility across stakeholders. Participants will examine how intentional family engagement can reinforce classroom instruction and support literacy development beyond the school day. Participants will leave equipped with actionable approaches to advance literacy through meaningful, sustainable family engagement.

Pam Kastner, Ed.D., is an educational consultant and the former state lead for literacy in Pennsylvania at the Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PaTTAN), Harrisburg. Currently, Dr. Kastner is honored to serve as a contributing faculty member at Mount Saint Joseph University in the Reading Science Program, where she teaches in the Master’s and Doctoral programs and was honored as the Adjunct Professor of the Year in 2023. Dr. Kastner has presented widely across the United States and internationally. She partners with State Departments of Education and school districts throughout the nation to provide on-site technical assistance, consultation, and coaching. Dr. Kastner serves on the Pennsylvania Literacy Coalition and has the honor of serving as the president of The Reading League-Pennsylvania, The Reading League Journal’s Practitioner Editorial Board, and is a member of The Science of Reading: A Defining Movement coalition.

Integrating word-meaning instruction within word-reading instruction offers an effective approach for students who have mastered foundational phonics skills but need additional instruction to read multi-syllabic words with accuracy, fluency, and understanding.
This dual approach eliminates the isolation of two critical aspects of literacy instruction. This presentation delves into the research supporting this approach and highlights how it can impact academic success in content-area classes.
Through a combination of engaging strategies and practical techniques, participants will gain valuable insights and leave with instructional tools to apply comprehensive literacy practice, where word reading and word meaning unite to unlock the full potential of every reader.
 

Despite increased attention to evidence-aligned literacy instruction, many classrooms rely on undifferentiated practice, repetition without regard for how learning develops over time. This session uses Haring & Eaton’s (1978) instructional hierarchy as a research-based framework for aligning instructional practice to stages of learning: acquisition, building fluency, generalization, and adaptation.
Participants will examine empirical findings from cognitive psychology and reading research to understand why certain types of practice accelerate learning while others inadvertently entrench errors. Across foundational skills, vocabulary, morphology, and comprehension, the session models classroom-ready routines that align practice and purpose to learner needs. Attendees will leave with a clear decision-making framework and immediately applicable instructional routines that can be implemented the next day.
 

Devin M. Kearns, Ph.D., is Goodnight Distinguished Professor in Early Literacy at North Carolina State University at Raleigh. He is also a research scientist for the Haskins Global Literacy Hub, affiliated with Yale University and the University of Connecticut. Devin studies how students in the elementary grades learn to read and designs instructional programs to better meet the needs of these students. He conducts research to understand the cognitive and neurobiological basis of reading and to help schools better implement multi-tiered systems of support to increase the literacy success of all students. He also works with teachers, school administrators, and district leaders to improve implementation of multi-tiered systems of support for readers in the early and later grades. Devin has seven years of classroom experience as a teacher, literacy coach, and reading specialist. He continues to help schools and districts implement high-quality reading instruction—including demonstrating how to implement evidence-based reading instruction. Devin publishes articles for researchers and educators on reading difficulty and helps schools and districts implement high-quality reading instruction.

The HQIM fidelity conversation currently focuses on adherence to scripts, pacing guides, use of all curricular components, and other easily tracked instructional features. This is an important starting point for improving instruction, but this alone will not create a coherent instructional experience for students. One of the greatest challenges is that instruction varies across programs: core curricula differ from evidence-based supplemental ones, interventions include different instructional strategies than core programs, and the approach to learning varies across grades in ways that might be unpredictable for students. All of this calls for extending the fidelity conversation. The next step is to examine the entire instructional ecosystem to identify problematic variation across programs, grades, and classrooms. Participants will reflect on their instructional ecosystem to identify how core skills are currently taught, where instructional routines differ across classrooms or grades, and how professional learning, coaching, and evaluation systems either support or undermine effective instruction. Participants will leave prepared to examine the different ways skills vary across settings and to use that insight to make instructional alignment the focal point of ongoing instructional improvement. This more coherent experience for students will increase their achievement.

Some students still have reading difficulty even after they receive high-quality Tier 1 and Tier 2, and even Tier 3, support. What happens next? The answer is not (only) a special education referral. We need to make instructional changes—but very carefully and deliberately. What does this look like? In this session, I describe a research-based system for improving the reading success of students whose difficulties persist despite our very best support. It involves instruction led by an expert teacher using an evidence-based program, frequent data tracking to see if the student is improving, and examining data to make instructional changes—because even the best program won’t work for every student. This strategy has resulted in dramatic improvement for many children. I will explain the parts of an effective system, show data demonstrating student success, and provide practical tips to make this happen at your school.

Lindsay Kemeny is an elementary school teacher, speaker, and author with a passion for literacy and applying research to practice. After her son was diagnosed with dyslexia and depression, she began her deep dive into effective literacy instruction for all children. She enjoys presenting locally and nationally, and co-hosting the Literacy Talks podcast. She is the author of the books 7 Mighty Moves, 7 Mighty Moves Reading Resources, and Rock Your Literacy Block. She loves being in the classroom every day, teaching kids to read and write.

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!

High-dosage tutoring (HDT) is a powerful instructional lever when designed and implemented with intention. This session will explore what research says about high-dosage tutoring, including the conditions that lead to meaningful literacy gains. Participants will examine common misconceptions that position tutoring as “extra help” and instead reframe HDT as a structured, aligned extension of strong Tier 1 instruction within Louisiana’s Tiered Pathways of Literacy Support (TPLS). Attendees will leave with practical guidance for designing, implementing, and monitoring high-dosage tutoring to ensure coherence, quality, and measurable impact.

Susan Lambert serves as the chief academic officer for literacy at Amplify and hosts Science of Reading: The Podcast, an award-winning podcast that explores insights into literacy research. With a career spanning various educational contexts—from elementary classroom teacher to district administrator—Susan has worked both nationally and internationally, shaping educational practices and policies. She holds advanced degrees in curriculum and educational policy, as well as a doctoral degree in reading science.

Reading comprehension is far more intricate than the ability to decode words on a page. This session explores the critical yet often underestimated relationship between foundational language development and students' capacity to engage with sophisticated texts. Drawing from current science of reading research, we'll examine how vocabulary depth, syntactic awareness, and discourse knowledge create the essential scaffolding that supports complex comprehension processes. Participants will discover how reading comprehension involves the dynamic integration of background knowledge with key language skills, and learn why oral language development serves as a powerful predictor of reading success. The session will highlight practical, evidence-based strategies that simultaneously strengthen both language skills and comprehension abilities, offering educators actionable approaches for their classrooms.
Designed as a comprehensive foundation, this overview connects language development principles to reading comprehension outcomes, providing context for more specialized topics explored in other conference sessions. Whether you're supporting emerging readers or students tackling advanced texts, you'll leave with a deeper understanding of the linguistic foundations that make meaningful reading possible.
 

Dr. Holly Lane is an associate professor of special education at the University of Florida and director of the University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI). Her research focuses on the prevention of reading difficulties through effective early literacy instruction, the remediation of literacy skills for students with dyslexia, and methods for helping preservice and practicing teachers develop the knowledge and skills they need to be effective reading teachers and interventionists. Dr. Lane has directed many grants to support reading research and the development of teachers and researchers. She is also the author of numerous publications related to literacy, including UFLI Foundations: An Explicit and Systematic Phonics Program.

This session will draw on the science of learning to identify and provide concrete examples of key features of evidence-based instructional practices for teaching foundational reading skills. These include powerful strategies for explicit and systematic instruction, effective and efficient practice opportunities, and high-quality feedback during lessons focused on key elements of early literacy instruction: alphabet knowledge, phonemic awareness, grapheme-phoneme correspondences, decoding, encoding, and application in connected text.

With over 20 years of experience and a master’s degree in education, Leigh Lansdale has served in a variety of roles, including classroom and RTI teacher, principal, and curriculum supervisor for Vernon Parish. Her work is rooted in student-centered coaching and grounded in Science of Reading practices, with a strong focus on refining classroom instruction to better support struggling readers. As a dedicated instructional leader, Leigh Lansdale leads district-wide professional learning sessions, facilitates effective PLCs, and equips teachers with practical, research-based literacy tools that make a meaningful difference for students.

Sustaining schoolwide literacy improvement requires more than strong instructional materials—it depends on shared beliefs, coherent systems, and aligned leadership. This session explores how collective efficacy serves as a foundation for lasting reading reform and how a high-quality, Science of Reading–aligned literacy curriculum creates coherence across classrooms. Participants will examine the key components of effective job-embedded professional development and how purposeful alignment among teachers, leaders, and support staff strengthens implementation and impact. The session also highlights critical leadership actions that promote system-wide coherence, support instructional consistency, and drive sustainable literacy improvement across schools. Join us to learn how an exemplar district fueled extraordinary literacy gains through collective efficacy and a coherent literacy infrastructure.

In early elementary school, children’s hands are still growing stronger and more coordinated. Just as a balanced diet fuels the body, a steady “diet” of fine motor experiences builds the small muscles, coordination, and control for writing. When fine motor development is intentionally woven into early code instruction, the reading brain and the spelling hand begin to connect. Join Alana Mangham as she discusses the four food groups for fine motor skills. As we check out the menu of fine motor comfort dishes, we will spice them up with purposeful activities that strengthen hands while engaging minds in beginning to understand the code.

Dr. Tanji Reed Marshall, CEO and principal consultant of Liaison Educational Partners (LEP), has nearly three decades of expertise in educational equity, leader and educator development. She collaborates with departments of education, school systems, and schools to enhance leadership, teacher development, and curriculum equity. Partnering with curriculum publishers, Dr. Marshall ensures students have access to balanced instructional materials. A nationally recognized consultant, her work spans the US and abroad, focusing on systemic equity, curriculum redesign, instructional practice, and student outcomes. Formerly with The Education Trust, she led educational equity audits and curriculum analysis. Dr. Marshall holds a PhD from Virginia Tech, an MA from UNC Charlotte, and a BA from Boston College.

This session explores how representational balance in ELA materials strengthens students' ability to analyze texts with depth and rigor. Participants will learn how inclusive, culturally responsive texts—those reflecting a diverse range of voices, identities, and experiences—can enhance student engagement, critical thinking, and comprehension. Through practical strategies and a research-informed framework, we’ll examine how to curate balanced text sets that maintain academic rigor while fostering classroom belonging and identity development. Attendees will leave equipped to assess current materials, elevate their instructional practices, and support all learners in mastering complex text analysis aligned with equity-centered literacy goals.

George McCloskey, Ph.D., is a professor and director of school psychology research in the School of Professional and Applied Psychology of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and holds Diplomate status with the American Academy of Pediatric Neuropsychology. Dr. McCloskey has accumulated 45 years of experience in test development, teaching, research, and assessment and intervention work with children, adolescents, and adults. He has authored two books on executive functions, and the McCloskey Executive Functions Scales, and with his wife, Laurie McCloskey, is co-author of the SILAS/McCloskey Executive Functions Tool Kit and the children’s book The Day Frankie Left His Frontal Lobes at Home.

This presentation will discuss a comprehensive neuropsychologically based model that can guide assessment and intervention for reading difficulties. The model addresses the processes, abilities, skills, knowledge bases, memory capacities, and executive functions involved in reading. Techniques for assessing all components of the model will be presented. Linking assessment findings with interventions will also be discussed. Case studies, including assessment data, will be included.
 

This presentation will describe executive functions and discuss their involvement in reading skill acquisition and the productive application of reading skills. The role of motivation in skill development will also be addressed. Reading difficulties related to executive function deficits will be discussed in detail. Interventions for helping students improve their use of executive functions when reading will be discussed. Particular emphasis will be placed on intervention techniques to help struggling students overcome executive function difficulties and improve academic proficiency.
 

Patty McGee is a nationally recognized literacy consultant, speaker, and educator with a passion for transforming classrooms into spaces where language and learning come alive. With decades of experience as a teacher, coach, and advocate for delightful literacy practices, Patty has worked alongside educators across the country, partnering to unlock the full potential of their students through innovative and practical teaching strategies. Not Your Granny’s Grammar is her third book. Connect with Patty at www.pattymcgee.org.

Mid-century modern may work for furniture, but not for grammar learning -- there's a better way. Together, let's explore the use of grammar manipulatives to boost grammar know-how so that grammar takes its rightful place in literacy instruction.

Melanie’s professional life is based on her passionate belief that every child can write. Melanie recently retired from her position as an elementary curriculum coordinator, and she opened The Writing Clinic, an in-person and online center for inspiring and nurturing competent, confident, and joyful young writers.

Melanie’s published works include Every Child Can Write (2019), The Responsive Writing Teacher (2021), and Answers to Your Biggest Questions About Teaching Elementary Writing (2022), all published by Corwin Press. Her most recent book, co-authored with Maggie Beattie Roberts, Foundational Skills of Written Expression, will be published in February 2026.

Melanie is also a co-author of Two Writing Teachers, a blog dedicated to the teaching of writing, and she co-founded and co-hosts its companion podcast. Melanie is always happy to talk about anything writing-related, and you can connect with her on her website, MelanieMeehan.com.

Writing is more than putting words down on paper—it’s a tool for thinking and learning, a vehicle for expression and connection. In fact, writing is one of the most complex tasks the brain coordinates, drawing simultaneously on language skills, executive functions, and motor processes. This session tackles that complexity, offering evidence-based methods, purposeful strategies, and playful approaches teachers can use to nurture essential writing skills - tomorrow! Educators will gain the knowledge and tools to nurture young writers’ growth, support them through challenges, and build their confidence and competence.
In this session, participants will 1) Identify foundational writing skills, including executive functions, oral language, motor skills, handwriting, spelling, and sentence construction; 2) Review neurological research on the writing brain, how writing skills develop, and the reciprocity of reading and writing; 3) Develop instructional activities to introduce, reinforce, and review foundational writing skills across primary, elementary, and middle school classrooms— skills that support growth in every area of literacy.

Daryl Michel, PhD, consults with organizations nationally and internationally in areas such as instructional coaching, teacher education, disciplinary literacy, learning and lesson study, and curriculum design. He is the founder of Be A Change, LLC, and coauthor of Student-Focused Coaching: The Instructional Coach’s Guide to Supporting Student Success Through Teacher Collaboration (Brookes Publishing, 2022). In addition to his educational consulting, he serves as a project manager for The University of Texas at Austin’s Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk consulting with districts to develop systemwide Multi-tiered System of Supports. Daryl began his career in the education profession nearly three decades ago and, today, continues to follow his passion of learning with and from others and advocating for voices and perspectives to be heard.

The University of Texas at Austin’s Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk (MCPER) provides guidance for schools and districts nationally and internationally in developing research-based MTSS plans for literacy, mathematics, and behavior. MTSS plans include developing and using an MTSS problem-solving team, creating the instructional program, creating an assessment plan, developing and delivering sustained professional learning, relating MTSS to other programs, and evaluating your plan. During this session, you’ll be introduced to each component, learn about tools and resources for creating or enhancing your system’s MTSS plan, and have time to reflect on how learning from this presentation relates to your context. You’ll also understand the importance of engaging various stakeholder groups (e.g., school or district administrator, instructional coach, educators) in the development of a MTSS plan. If the plan is going to be successfully implemented, it’ll require knowledge and input from all levels of the organizational chart. 

At the heart of any Lesson Study (LS) cycle is a focus on student learning. Although LS cycles may vary, key components include study, plan, teach, and reflect. During the study phase, educators and/or administrators identify a goal based on student data and work together to study curriculum standards, core and/or program resources, and research- and evidence-based instructional methods and strategies. Collectively, the team plans a research lesson that is then taught by one volunteer. While observing the research lesson being taught, other team members write down descriptive notes for one student they are assigned to see how the student responds to the lesson. Team members complete a cycle by reflecting on how assigned students responded and decide on changes they’d make when planning future lessons. During this presentation, participants will learn about the cycle, be shown an example that’s focused on informational text, and have time to reflect on how a cycle could be implemented in their school or district with the support of peer colleagues, an instructional coach, and/or an administrator. 

Katie Pace Miles, Ph.D., is an associate professor and the director of the Advanced Certificates in Reading Science at Brooklyn College, City University of New York (CUNY). Dr. Miles is the author of Reading Ready, academic advisor for Reading Go, and the co-author of Reading Ready for Whole Phonics and Making Words Stick. Dr. Miles is the co-founder and principal investigator of CUNY Reading Fellows, which improves preservice teacher training and provides free high-dosage tutoring to over 2,700 historically underserved NYC students per year. Dr. Miles is also the founder and president of The Reading Institute, which brings free evidence-based tutoring programs to striving readers across the country and provides reading science-aligned professional development to teachers.

Dr. Miles will present the first session of a two-part talk in partnership with Dr. Molly Ness. In Part 1, Dr. Miles will present on the theory and research behind orthographic mapping. She will review some of the key articles that substantiate the theory, and then she will translate the research to practice to support instruction. Dr. Miles will explain the developmental differences in reading and spelling and how to use the theory of orthographic mapping as a north star to support development from early childhood through upper elementary. She will emphasize how best to support students in need of intervention across the developmental continuum.

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.

Molly Ness is a former classroom teacher, a reading researcher, and a teacher educator. She earned a doctorate in reading education at the University of Virginia and spent 16 years as an associate professor at Fordham University in New York City. The author of five books, Molly served on the Board of Directors for the International Literacy Association and is a New York state chapter founder of the Reading League. Dr. Ness has extensive experience in reading clinics, consulting with school districts, leading professional development, and advising school systems on research-based reading instruction. She has provided literacy leadership for nationally recognized literacy non-profits, as well as major educational publishers.

Dr. Ness will present the second session of a two-part talk in partnership with Dr. Katie Pace Miles. In Part 2, Dr. Ness will explain the research that guides the four-step instructional routine that she developed with Dr. Katie Pace Miles. Dr. Ness will present on a series of activities that span K-5th grade that facilitate the cognitive process of orthographic mapping. These activities will support the storage of words in long-term memory for automatic retrieval.

For 28 years, Dr. Terrie Noland, CALP, has put her energy into leadership and literacy, first as a teacher and administrator and as a national non-profit literacy leader. Terrie coaches and mentors leaders about the urgent need to align all practices and resources to an evidence-based approach to literacy. Recognized as a national thought leader and an award-winning podcaster with a focus on building a community of literacy champions, Terrie speaks to crowds about her captivating stories, leadership principles, research, and best practices in literacy, which she always delivers with humor and inspiration. She has extensive experience working with state departments, regional education service providers, and local LEAs to build the framework for evidence-based instruction that needs to be delivered with clear leadership principles.

Terrie is a certified academic language practitioner and has a Ph.D. in literacy and educational leadership.

Most literacy initiatives fail, not because the research is wrong, but because implementation is weak. Knowing what works is not the same as living the work. The bridge between the two is implementation science. This session positions implementation science as the backbone of leadership, connecting organizational psychology, change management, and daily practice into one coherent approach that leaders can remember and use. Participants will explore why human behavior, not strategy, determines whether change sticks. Leaders will examine how habits, routines, feedback loops, and system design shape what actually happens after the launch.
This is not a theoretical overview. Participants will be given clear mental models and practical mnemonics that anchor each stage of implementation in memory. These tools are designed to support recall long after the session ends, helping leaders recognize what to do, when to do it, and why it matters. In one hour, participants will experience focused brain training that makes implementation usable, not forgettable. Rather than treating implementation as a rollout phase, this session reframes it as an ongoing leadership discipline that lives in daily decisions. Change does not fail at the level of belief. It fails at the level of behavior.
 

Leaders are the architects of the cognitive conditions in which students learn. Before students can comprehend complex text, write with clarity, or reason deeply, their brains must be developed through spoken language. Literacy does not begin with print alone. It begins with the speaking brain.
This session explores the neuroscience behind oral language and its foundational role in vocabulary development, comprehension, and fluent decoding. Participants will examine how leadership decisions about time, instruction, coaching, and priorities either ignite or suppress the neural systems that support literacy. Too often, oral language is treated as incidental rather than intentional, leaving student capacity underdeveloped and opportunity gaps intact. Attendees will gain clarity on why strong literacy outcomes require both explicit instruction in the code and purposeful opportunities for structured talk. Leaders will learn how to create cognitive conditions where language fuels thinking and thinking fuels reading. This session reframes literacy leadership as brain-aware leadership and positions oral language as a non-negotiable lever for learning at scale. You do not improve literacy by managing programs. You improve it by engineering the conditions in which brains learn.

Tim Odegard is a professor of psychology and holds the Katherine Davis Murfree Chair of Excellence in Dyslexic Studies at Middle Tennessee State University, where he leads the Tennessee Center for the Study and Treatment of Dyslexia. Dr. Odegard plays a pivotal role in advancing the Science of Reading and currently serves as editor-in-chief of Annals of Dyslexia and consulting editor for the Journal of Learning Disabilities. He is also a former editor at large for Perspectives on Language and Literacy. As a contributing author to the IDA’s Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading, he has helped shape educational standards in literacy. Additionally, he has served as vice president of the Texas Dyslexia Licensure Advisory Committee and contributed to the IDA’s Educational Training Initiative.

Dr. Odegard’s commitment to enhancing educational opportunities extends beyond dyslexia to broader literacy efforts across North America. His service includes technical consulting for multiple state literacy initiatives, developing online training for state departments of education, and supporting large U.S. school districts. He is a California Reading Difficulties Risk Selection Panel member and serves on the intervention selection committee for Ontario, Canada. He also serves on advisory boards for nonprofit organizations that impact communities nationwide.

His numerous accolades include the AIM Institute Founder's Award, the Innovator Award from IMSLEC, ALTA’s Luke Waits Service Award, the Massey-Sexton Dyslexia Advocacy Award from the Tennessee IDA, the Roland H. Waters Teaching Award from the University of Arkansas, and the Research Excellence Award from the University of Texas, Arlington.

In an era when technology can generate answers faster than students can think, educators face a new challenge: helping learners build knowledge that actually sticks. This session explores how the science of learning and the science of reading converge to create instruction that endures beyond the moment of performance. Participants will unpack the Expanded Instructional Hierarchy (Odegard & Gierka, 2025) to examine how acquisition, fluency, and generalization/adaptation unfold in both traditional and tech-enhanced classrooms. Together, we’ll look at how artificial intelligence can amplify or erode learning and how to design practice that promotes retrieval, transfer, and deep understanding. Grounded in cognitive and instructional science, this session blends research and real-world application to help teachers make informed choices about when, how, and why to use technology. Educators will leave with concrete strategies for designing lessons that use digital tools efficiently while keeping the human brain at the center of learning.

Nicole Ormandy, M.S. Ed., is the head of research and product development at AIM Institute for Learning and Research, where she is responsible for designing professional learning solutions centered around reading, writing, and inclusive practices for culturally and linguistically diverse populations. In consultation with researchers and literacy experts across the nation, Nicole synthesizes and disseminates research, practical classroom practices, and evidence-based strategies through presentations and online course content. Nicole was previously an elementary and special education teacher. She received a Master’s of Science in special education and a CERI Structured Literacy Classroom Teacher certificate.

Planning and revising are often treated as isolated steps in writing, leaving students without a clear connection between generating ideas and producing high-quality writing that meets standards. The TIDE strategy, embedded within the Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) model, offers a concrete structure that helps students not only generate and organize content but also evaluate their writing with purpose and precision. Through direct instruction and student-friendly checklists that mirror teacher rubrics, the evaluation criteria become transparent, empowering students to take ownership of their revisions with greater precision. For teachers, the data gathered from these checklists and rubrics provides actionable insights to tailor instruction and target areas of need. Overall, this approach fosters self-regulation, improves writing outcomes, and helps students become thoughtful, strategic communicators, particularly in elementary and middle grades, where informational paragraph writing is a key academic demand. This session will provide curriculum-agnostic checklists, rubrics, and instructional strategies for immediate classroom implementation. Whether you're new to the SRSD approach or looking to strengthen your approach to informational writing, this session equips you to support students in becoming more strategic, independent, and reflective writers.

Dr. Lucy Hart Paulson, Ed.D., CCC-SLP, is an author and literacy specialist with a mission of bringing research to practice. She is also a speech-language pathologist with many years of experience working with educators and with young children and their families in a wide range of educational settings. In addition, Lucy was an associate professor teaching and conducting research in the areas of language and literacy development and disorders. She provides professional development using a broad-based perspective blending areas of language and literacy together, resulting in effective, appropriate, and engaging language-based literacy instruction and intervention for all children. Finally, Lucy is the co-author of the Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) for Early Childhood Educators, 2nd Edition, and also for Good Talking Words, 2nd Edition, a social communication skills program for young children.

The PHoundations for phonics include becoming consciously aware of phonemes and learning the symbols of the alphabet, resulting in the development and understanding of the alphabetic principle. How do these important foundations develop and come together to facilitate early reading and writing? Then, how does learning to read and spell words impact phoneme awareness? Importantly, what happens to literacy learning when these skills do not develop at expected levels? This session will describe the decades of research that underlie developmental trends, the interconnection of literacy learning skills, and the challenges faced when skills do not develop as expected.

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.

Jamey Peavler is a co-director and assistant professor in the Reading Science Graduate Program at Mount St. Joseph University. Before joining The Mount, Jamey served as the director of training for the M.A. Rooney Foundation, providing Orton-Gillingham training for teachers across Indiana. She was an instructional coach and classroom teacher for Indianapolis Public Schools for 20 years. Jamey reviews higher-education textbooks and teacher licensure exams for the National Council for Teacher Quality. She is a Certified Fellow-in-Training with the Orton-Gillingham Academy and an International Dyslexia Association Structured Literacy Dyslexia Specialist. Jamey serves on the Editorial Board for the International Dyslexia Association’s Perspectives in Language and Literacy journal and has over 18 combined years of service on the board of the Reading League’s Indiana and IDA Indiana Chapters.

Working memory is not a passive observer in the learning process — it is the gatekeeper, the active participant, that determines the extent and quality of our learning. It is a critical element that impacts why the learning process can be more labor-intensive for some students than others. By understanding the limitations of working memory, we can make sense of students' challenges as they transition from acquisition to fluency, from fluency to generalization, and from generalization to adaptation. This is a critical consideration for educators and instructional designers in guiding the development of instructional strategies and materials that foster learning.

With her infectious energy and deep expertise, Dr. Kim Richardson is a powerhouse in educational leadership and coaching. Dr. Kim holds a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) designation from the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and serves as president-elect for the Virginia Learning Forward Board of Directors. She’s also part of the VASCD Annual Conference Planning Committee. Dr. Kim’s talents don’t stop there—she created the Radical Learners course, Coaching for Connection, Certainty, and Autonomy, for Jim Knight’s Instructional Coach Group, and she and her district’s coaching program were even spotlighted in Knight’s book, Focus on Teachers.

In her current role, Dr. Kim leads professional learning for school and district teams, digging deep into instruction, coaching, and leadership development. Her work is inspired by her dissertation, where she found that great leaders, especially coaches, are enlisted and developed!

Among her many roles, Dr. Kim’s all-time favorite was serving as an instructional coaching coordinator, where she built and led the district’s coaching program from the ground up. This initiative has become a cornerstone of the district’s success, providing ongoing training and leadership for coaches and specialists. Her background also includes experience as an elementary school principal, technology specialist, coach, and classroom teacher.

Outside the office, Dr. Kim is all about family time with her husband, three sons, daughter-in-law, and her one-year-old granddaughter. She also gets her groove on every Saturday as a Zumba® fitness instructor, dancing her way to joy and energy!

Coaching is most effective when teachers feel safe, supported, and ready to grow. The words a coach chooses reveal emotional intelligence and set the tone for every conversation. Intentional, empathetic language builds trust, reduces defensiveness, and helps feedback land as support rather than judgment.
In this session, coaches will explore how their words influence reflection, engagement, and action. Through practical examples and reflection, participants will learn to adjust their language to strengthen relationships, guide growth, and create meaningful impact. Designed for literacy and instructional coaches, this session equips educators to use their words wisely.

Coaching works best when it reflects how adults actually learn. This session focuses on key truths about adult learning that shape engagement, understanding, and action. Participants will explore why some coaching conversations lead to growth while others stall, and how small shifts in approach can make learning clearer and more meaningful. Designed for coaches and educators who support teacher learning, this session helps align coaching practices with how people learn — leading to stronger relationships and greater impact in classrooms.

Ricky Robertson is an educator, author, and consultant who assists schools and districts across the country in developing trauma-informed systems of support that foster resilience and success for staff, students, and families. Ricky’s latest book, The Other Teachers: A Guide to Psychological Safety Among Educators (Corwin Press), explores the harmful effects of fear-based leadership, workplace bullying, and collective burnout and provides guidance on how to transform schools to support educators’ well-being and collective efficacy. If you are interested in learning more about trauma-informed teaching, you can visit? https://www.adlit.org/trauma-and-teaching?for free resources for educators?made available through a partnership between Ricky, WETA, AdLit, and the National Education Association. If you would like to contact Ricky, you can reach him through?www.teachfortrust.com.

This session will explore case studies from elementary schools currently participating in a 3-year study, conducted in partnership with Duke Clinical Research Institute, focused on the development, implementation, and impact of trauma-informed systems of support. Through these examples, participants will learn practical, school-tested strategies for improving student behavioral outcomes while strengthening well-being for staff, students, and families. The session will explore actionable ways to build collective care among educators, implement an efficient and effective trauma-informed MTSS process, and use meaningful data to assess impact over time. This session is ideal for educators and leaders seeking concrete tools to better support students impacted by ACEs and trauma, while creating healthier, more sustainable school communities.

Psychological safety is the shared belief that you won’t be punished, humiliated, or dismissed for speaking up with a question, a concern, or a new idea; and it’s one of the strongest predictors of effective collaboration and sustained school improvement. When psychological safety breaks down, teams stop taking risks, meetings turn into venting sessions, feedback becomes personal (or disappears), and cliques, gossip, and workplace bullying can take root. In this session, we’ll explore the four stages of psychological safety and what they look like in real school settings, from grade-level teams and PLCs to leadership meetings. You’ll identify common signs of psychologically unsafe schools, such as fear-based leadership and unstructured collaboration, learn practical ways to address harmful dynamics without escalating conflict, and move collaboration toward honesty and shared accountability. Participants will leave with clear, actionable strategies to strengthen trust, improve communication, and build healthier collaborative partnerships where educators, and their students, can thrive.

Dr. Jasmine Rogers is a leading national voice in literacy instruction, specializing in culturally competent approaches to teaching. With nine years of classroom experience in charter and DC Public Schools, she saw firsthand how traditional reading instruction often left Black language-speaking students behind. Her research at American University’s School of Education challenges long-held misconceptions, showing that when teachers receive even minimal training on Black English, their instruction becomes significantly more effective. A sought-after structured literacy coach, adjunct professor, speaker, and consultant, Dr. Rogers blends data-driven research with practical classroom insights. She has been featured as a guest on podcasts, led workshops at teacher conferences, and moderated academic panels. Her work not only helps educators recognize unconscious biases but also equips them to better serve linguistically diverse students. Dr. Rogers' mission is clear- to revolutionize literacy instruction by affirming every student's linguistic heritage.

Every classroom is linguistically diverse, even when that diversity is overlooked. Black Language is a rule-governed, culturally rich system that often goes unrecognized in structured literacy instruction. This session equips educators with strategies to honor students’ home languages while maintaining the rigor of evidence-based literacy practices. Participants will explore the linguistic features and cultural significance of Black Language and learn how integrating students’ full linguistic repertoires strengthen literacy development. Practical examples from current classrooms will illustrate how structured literacy can be adapted to support linguistic justice. Educators will leave with actionable tools to foster metalinguistic awareness, affirm identity, and create inclusive learning environments where all students feel valued and empowered.

Ms. Salamone is a lifelong learner with over twenty years of experience as an educator in both independent and public schools. Her background is in special education and literacy, with credentials that include a Master’s Degree in special education from Arcadia University. She currently works as an instructional specialist at the Haverford School for Boys, where she supports Upper School students in navigating the complexities of reading and writing in the disciplines. Additionally, she consults and collaborates with the teaching faculty to improve student outcomes. Julia has also designed and delivered numerous presentations for virtual and live events, including the development of teacher training courses on dyslexia, the science of reading and writing, and structured literacy. Recently, Ms. Salamone, working alongside literacy expert Nancy Hennessy, has co-authored The Reading Comprehension Blueprint Activity Book: A Practice & Planning Guide for Teachers. Julia’s educational interests include reading comprehension, differentiation, student writing, and teacher empowerment. She resides with her husband, Scott, and daughters, Lena and Mila, in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania.

Comprehension is complex and continually developing, dependent on the demands of the texts across grades and disciplines. Acquiring and applying a broad range of skills and knowledge for comprehending the texts encountered in the early grades requires an instructional blueprint that addresses these critical contributors to comprehension. This framework provides the foundation for building necessary competencies and then a bridge to the specialized features of disciplinary texts found in the upper grades. This session focuses on a continuum approach to comprehension. Let’s consider the what and how of foundational contributors, including word and sentence meaning, text structure and background knowledge, levels of understanding, and the specific differences, demands, and features typical of varied disciplinary texts. We will surface the specialized features of these texts (e.g., science, history, math), text-based examples, and instructional activities necessary for the development of a continuum of skills.

Creating a coherent representation of the text is critical to comprehension. At a fundamental level, the reader needs to identify connections and integrate ideas within and between sentences, and then throughout the text. The reader’s ability to infer these connections requires an understanding of how authors use cohesive ties and connectives to convey meaning at the sentence level. Let’s surface the science related to cohesion and comprehension, identify these types of cohesive devices, and explore how they contribute to sentence comprehension. Then, experience explicit text-based instructional activities that support the reader’s ability to acquire and apply the knowledge and skills necessary to construct comprehension and express understanding at the sentence and ultimately, the text level.

Joan Sedita is the founder of Keys to Literacy, a professional development organization dedicated to literacy instruction. With over 45 years of experience in the literacy field, she has served as a teacher, administrator, and teacher trainer. Joan is the creator of The Writing Rope framework and book, the author of Essentials of Adolescent Literacy, and the developer of multiple literacy professional development programs, including The Key Comprehension Routine, The Key Vocabulary Routine, Keys to Beginning Reading, Keys to Content Writing, Keys to Early Writing, and Keys to Adolescent Literacy. From 1975 to 1998, she worked at the Landmark School, a pioneer in the development of literacy intervention programs. Since 1998, Joan has provided literacy training and consultation to hundreds of school districts and departments of education. Joan holds an M.Ed. in reading from Harvard University and a B.A. from Boston College.

The science of reading is not just for younger learners­—all adolescents in grades five to twelve, especially those who struggle with foundational skills, benefit from explicit literacy instruction. Drawing on current research, the first part of this session provides an overview to help secondary educators understand the unique aspects of adolescent literacy. Topics include the three levels of instruction (content literacy, disciplinary literacy, and intervention for basic skills), ways to integrate literacy into all subjects, the importance of connecting reading and writing, and the reasons some adolescents struggle with literacy. The second part of the session offers practical instructional suggestions for key components of literacy: vocabulary, comprehension, text structure, writing, discussion, advanced word study, and fluency.
This session is designed for classroom teachers, intervention specialists, and administrators who want to learn effective strategies for helping students in grades five to twelve strengthen their reading and writing skills.

Timothy Shanahan, Ph.D., is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chi­cago. Previously, Tim was director of reading for the Chicago Public Schools. He is the author or editor of more than 300 publications, including his new book, Leveled Reading, Leveled Lives (Harvard Education Press, 2025). Tim is the past president of the International Literacy Association. He received a presidential appointment to serve on the Advisory Board of the National Institute for Literacy. He took a leadership role on the National Reading Panel and chaired two other federal research review panels: the National Literacy Panel for Language Minority Children and Youth, and the National Early Literacy Panel. He helped author the Common Core State Standards. Tim received the William S. Gray Citation for Lifetime Achievement and the Albert J. Harris Award for outstanding research on reading disability from the International Reading Association (IRA), and the P. David Pearson Scholarly Literacy Award from the Literacy Research Association. He was inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame in 2007 and is a former first-grade teacher. For more information, visit his blog: www.shanahanonliteracy.com.

For generations, teachers have been told that it was essential that students be taught at their reading levels. This has led to a plethora of assessments, text leveling systems, and small group instructional routines. However, research now shows that this approach is not maximally effective. This presentation explores that research and proposes alternative practical approaches to teaching reading comprehension with grade-level texts instead of with those at students' supposed instructional levels.

Everyone these days seems to know some of the major reading frameworks (e.g., Simple View, Reading Rope, Active View). However, these frameworks are about what readers do cognitively during reading. What about instruction? This talk presents a practical teaching framework that teachers and principals can use to guide their daily instructional efforts. If you want to know what it takes to raise reading achievement in your classroom, school, or district, you will want to know this framework.

Jeremiah Short is an elementary literacy educator, curriculum designer, and consultant dedicated to making rigorous literacy instruction accessible and meaningful for all students. With over a decade of classroom experience, Jeremiah currently teaches ELAR, where his students consistently achieve strong growth in reading, writing, and language skills. He is known for developing practitioner-built frameworks such as Explicit ELA, R.I.P.E. for constructed responses, and Phenomenal Word Power, which support vocabulary and academic language development. His instructional approach emphasizes clarity, modeling, strategic practice, and targeted feedback, especially for multilingual learners and those needing accelerated support. Data-driven in his practice, Jeremiah closely monitors student progress using MAP Growth, STAAR-aligned rubrics, and TEKS mastery. Beyond teaching, he hosts The Phenomenal Student Podcast, engaging with literacy experts and educators to bridge research and practice. He collaborates widely, presents at conferences, and shares strategies to help teachers implement effective, research-based systems. Jeremiah’s mission is to empower educators and ensure all students can excel through explicit, purposeful, and human-centered instruction.

This session explores how educators can elevate word study instruction by intentionally integrating phonological awareness, phonics, and vocabulary within a structured, research-aligned routine. Participants will examine the instructional foundations behind effective word study, including strategies with strong effect sizes such as activating prior knowledge, structured discussion, and explicit vocabulary instruction. Using the Phenomenal Word Power framework, the session outlines a clear five-day instructional cycle that moves students from knowledge and comprehension to application, analysis, evaluation, and synthesis. Classroom examples demonstrate how students engage in sound manipulation, word analysis, connected text reading, guided spelling, and writing in context. Attendees will also review student growth data illustrating gains in foundational literacy skills. Designed for classroom teachers, interventionists, and instructional leaders, this session offers a practical, efficient, and Science of Reading–aligned approach that increases rigor without increasing instructional time, while supporting differentiation and meaningful transfer into reading and writing.

Amy Siracusano, M.S. Ed., worked in public education for over 20 years before becoming an international literacy consultant. Her career has included working as a classroom teacher, administrator, IEP chairperson, and system-wide literacy specialist. Amy is an adjunct professor for the Advanced Certificate in Reading Science post-master's program at Brooklyn College in New York City and a trainer for Acadience Learning. She is determined to support national efforts in making sure teachers are equipped with deep knowledge of language systems and teaching approaches to ensure all students leave second grade with proficient reading and writing skills. Amy lives in Southern Maryland with her husband Joe and their two daughters, Lucia (18) and Isabella (16).

Sentences are the building blocks of composition.  Sentences must be crafted well to accurately convey the intended meaning, and sentence structure must vary to keep writing interesting.  Too often, instruction at the sentence level is hurried, and more emphasis is placed on paragraph composition or extended writing tasks.  Without learning about crafting sentences, paragraphs are stiff, boring, and lack the specificity of meaning.  Instruction in sentence construction should begin with oral language, carry on throughout elementary school, and continue well beyond. Participants in this session will leave with instructional approaches for teaching students how to compose various types of sentences that will lead to incredible paragraphs.

Many schools across the nation now require screeners to be given.  Most screeners being used include a measure of oral reading fluency (ORF). The question is, do we know what to do when a student scores below the benchmark on an ORF passage assessment?  This session will peel back the layers of literacy instruction based on data and informal diagnostic tools to plan instruction for students who are not fluent readers. 

Pamela Snow is a professor of cognitive psychology in the School of Education at La Trobe University, Australia, and co-director of the Science of Language and Reading (SOLAR) Lab. She is both a speech-language pathologist and a registered psychologist. Her research concerns language and literacy skills as academic and mental health protective factors in childhood and adolescence and has a particular focus on the language-to-literacy transition in the early years of school. Pamela and Professor Tanya Serry have created a Language and Literacy stream in the La Trobe Master of Education and a Graduate Certificate in Education (Language and Literacy). Pamela has over 200 publications and was a member of the 2017 National Year 1 Literacy and Numeracy Panel, convened by the Hon. Simon Birmingham, Federal Education Minister. She is a Life Member of Speech Pathology Australia. In addition to her wide-ranging academic outputs, Pamela writes a popular blog for teachers, parents, and clinicians, The Snow Report, and is a founding Associate Editor of The Reading League Journal. In September 2024, Pamela was named by the Australian Financial Review magazine as one of the five most powerful people in education in Australia.

Human brains have fragile attention, concentration, and information-processing abilities, and this fragility is nowhere more evident than in the developmental period from birth to early adulthood. Children attend school in order to acquire biologically secondary knowledge and skills such as literacy and numeracy and proficiency across a range of subject areas. Doing so is enormously challenging for most children, for reasons that are well-understood if cognitive psychology principles are applied. In this presentation, neurodevelopmental principles will be reviewed, with a focus on the later maturation of the prefrontal regions of the brain and their pivotal role in attention, concentration, impulse control, planning and organization, and consequential thinking. Working memory will be explained, and its limitations for transfer to long-term memory will be emphasized. Cognitive load theory will be outlined as a robust theoretical model for understanding human learning and optimizing this in the classroom context, by managing both intrinsic and extrinsic load via careful task analysis and design, appropriate seating plans, and use of explicit and interactive teaching principles, most notably: teaching first, providing frequent opportunities for student responses, spaced retrieval practice, careful use of formative assessment, worked examples, and the gradual release of responsibility via desirable difficulties. 

“Childhood maltreatment” is an umbrella term encompassing wide-ranging adverse life experiences, spanning abuse and/or neglect of various forms. Sometimes “childhood trauma” is used to describe the experiences of infants, children, and adolescents who experience child-rearing practices that are any combination of harsh, coercive, erratic, abusive and/or neglectful. Some children experience chronic patterns of dysfunctional parenting from early infancy, while others experience major traumatic life events such as the unexpected loss of a primary attachment figure, or displacement associated with fleeing a theater of war. Still others experience trauma vicariously, for example, witnessing a parent being physically and/or verbally abused by another adult figure in their lives.  All forms of trauma can disrupt the evolving neural architecture in the human brain, hence creating barriers to both academic and social learning at school. In this presentation, typical brain development will be reviewed, and the ways in which different forms of maltreatment/trauma can manifest in infants, pre-school, and school-age children will be described. Trauma-informed practice will be considered in relation to information-processing and cognitive load theory, so teachers can maximize the learning outcomes of all children in their class, regardless of whether they are known to be impacted by trauma outside of school. 

Dr. St. Martin is the director of Michigan’s MTSS Technical Assistance Center. Her expertise is in integrating social, emotional behavior, and literacy support within an MTSS framework for elementary and secondary learners. Dr. St. Martin’s research has focused on evaluating integrated academic and behavioral interventions within an MTSS framework and adolescent literacy. She was a panel member for the IES Practice Guide, Providing Reading Interventions for Students in Grades 4–9. Dr. St. Martin provides policy guidance on state-level literacy and dyslexia legislation.

A Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) framework provides a continuum of evidence-based practices to effectively meet the literacy, social-emotional, and behavioral needs of all learners. MTSS is integrated into the literacy/dyslexia laws of many states. This session will discuss four key implementation do’s and don’ts, as well as the critical role of MTSS in dyslexia prevention and intervention efforts.

Laura Stewart is an educator and organizational leader. She has served as a classroom teacher, building and district administrator, adjunct professor, and director of numerous professional development initiatives around the country. Before joining 95 Percent Group, Laura was the chief innovation officer with The Reading League and the chief academic officer for Professional Development at Highlights for Children.

Laura presents widely and is a published author. She wrote The Science of Reading 3.0: Widening the Lens on Literacy, The Courage to Lead Literacy, and co-authored The Everything Guide to Informational Text K-2; Best Texts, Best Practices. She is a contributing author to Climbing the Ladder of Reading and Writing: Meeting the Needs of ALL Learners. Laura hosted the podcast Teaching, Reading, and Learning: The TRL Podcast.

Laura’s position as the chief academic officer at 95 Percent Group suits her perfectly, as her passion is empowering educators to positively impact ALL students and ultimately change the course of literacy achievement in this country.

In the world of education, bold leaders can be found at all levels, from district and building administrators to instructional coaches to classroom teachers and paraprofessionals. They are educators who understand what children need to thrive in our complex, interconnected world; they also understand that bridging the research from the science of reading to classroom practice requires courageous leadership grounded in implementation science. This session will explore what it means to be a transformational literacy leader by cultivating a vision and setting a culture for collective problem-solving, what implementation science teaches us about key factors in moving an effective implementation through phases from exploration through sustainability, and the courageous conversations and bold moves that we must have in order to lead through a literacy transformation.

Stephanie Stollar is passionate about using MTSS as the framework for helping all students become skilled readers. She’s the founder of the Reading Science Academy, an online community where over a thousand educators support each other to improve results in their schools. Dr. Stollar also advises the next generation of education policy leaders in her role as an assistant professor at Mount St. Joseph University. She served as a vice president at Acadience Learning, provided training and consultation to hundreds of school districts, and worked as an assistant professor of school psychology and as a school psychologist. Dr. Stollar believes that by supporting all educators, high achievement is possible for every student.

MTSS is an evidence-based framework for school improvement, but the flexibility in the model leaves room for misunderstanding. This session will identify common MTSS misunderstandings and how to prevent or correct them. Participants will recognize where their school may be off course and leave with practical actions to get back on the road to reading success.

Do you have questions about reading assessment? You’re not alone—many educators wonder how to navigate the complex world of screening, diagnostics, progress monitoring, and outcome measures, and most importantly, how to connect assessment results to meaningful changes in instruction. With practical guidance and classroom-ready strategies, this session will help you make sense of assessment within the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) framework so you can make better instructional decisions and improve outcomes for all learners. Participants will walk away with eight essential tips to rethink and refine their approach to reading assessment. Each tip is designed to cut through the clutter and bring clarity to the assessment process. Whether you’re new to the science of reading or looking to fine-tune your existing practices, this session will give you the knowledge and confidence to use data more effectively. By applying these tips, you’ll be better equipped to support every student in becoming a successful reader.

Lyn is an educational linguist, author, and founder of Lifelong Literacy, an education coaching and training organization. Her goal is to help educators awaken linguistic curiosity in their students using creative, engaging tools and strategies that are based upon scientific consensus as to what constitutes best practice.

Lyn creates research-informed professional development seminars, both online and face-to-face, for teachers and other education professionals. She directs a team of specialist practitioners to deliver high-quality literacy intervention at Tiers 2 and 3 and a team of school coaches to deliver the best possible Tier 1 literacy instruction.

Her occasional podcast about the lives of prominent education professionals, Loves, Hates and Passions, can be found on Spotify.

Her three books, Spelling for Life, Language for Life, and Reading for Life, continue to attract worldwide acclaim and enjoy places on various bestseller lists.

This session is built around two guiding questions: how words are built and how they are remembered. It explores how children benefit when teachers illuminate the internal logic of English orthography from the earliest stages of instruction. While letter sound correspondences remain essential, the next wave of research to practice highlights how the writing system represents meaning, kinship, and sound in combination, a view strengthened by David Share’s Combinatorial Model. Early attention to morphemes, spelling conventions, and word origins gives students a coherent map of their language, supporting vocabulary, reading, and writing without displacing phonics. Through clear examples and a strong developmental rationale, the session offers a unified approach that helps teachers interpret errors, plan intervention, and extend capable readers. Participants leave with renewed clarity about how English works and practical ways to help children understand how words are built and remembered.

This presentation examines how grammar supports the two essential components of writing: transcription, the accurate and fluent act of getting words onto the page, and text generation, the creation of coherent and purposeful meaning. Weakness in either area affects overall writing development, and well-taught grammar provides a stable framework that strengthens both. The session offers a close look at the parts of speech, not as lists to memorize but as functional elements that perform specific jobs within sentences. Participants see how these elements interact, why they are classified as they are, and how they operate inside real writing. The focus is on clarity in the classroom, with precise terminology, simple routines, and accurate definitions that make grammar instruction more dependable and easier for students to apply. Through practical examples, participants practice identifying parts of speech, consider how grammatical understanding can guide planning and revision, and explore ways to weave short, effective grammar moments into existing lessons. The session concludes with a clear pathway for developing stronger writers through informed grammatical knowledge, along with immediately usable strategies that enhance sentence construction and support growing skill in writing.

Dr. Carolyn Strom is a clinical professor, reading specialist, and former first-grade teacher. She collaborates widely with school districts, teachers, pediatric practices, and tech companies to bridge the disconnect between neuroscientific research and educational practice. Dr. Strom is a recent recipient of NYU Steinhardt's Teaching Excellence Award and has published her work in The Reading Teacher, The Reading League Journal, and The Handbook of Learning Disabilities. She maintains a clinical practice in New York working with children who have dyslexia.

This session will explore the research behind “word families” in reading instruction, broadening the traditional understanding to include linguistic neighbors—words that are related in phonology, meaning, and orthography, as well as those that share cultural or linguistic ties. Really “knowing” a word is not a single act but a layered process, involving sound, spelling, and meaning networks. The brain’s ability to process words quickly and efficiently relies on forming strong connections across these language regions. By integrating linguistic neighbors into early reading instruction, we can strengthen neural pathways involved in phonological processing, semantic encoding, and orthographic mapping. We will discuss how engaging multiple aspects of language simultaneously, through both code-breaking and meaning-making, helps support lexical quality and the neural circuitry required for fluency. Through a combination of research findings and practical classroom routines, the session will demonstrate how expanding word families to include linguistic neighbors can enhance students' engagement, vocabulary, and depth of word knowledge, particularly in multilingual contexts. 

Marisa Ramirez Stukey, Ph.D., is the chief academic officer at The Reading League, where she leads academic strategy, professional learning initiatives, and content development to advance evidence-based literacy instruction nationwide.
Marisa brings more than 20 years of experience as a classroom teacher, instructional coach, higher education instructor, and national consultant. A nationally recognized expert in literacy, professional learning, and systems change, her work centers on designing professional learning systems that integrate the science of learning with effective reading instruction. She is the co-author of Professional Learning Redesigned: An Evidence-Based Guide, published by Corwin Press.
Marisa holds a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis on teacher education and professional learning, as well as a master’s degree in reading education from the University of Florida.

Many states and districts adopt high-quality curricula and offer initial training, yet see limited improvements in student outcomes. The gap—“the missing middle”—is a policy issue as much as an instructional one. This session explores policy strategies that strengthen the implementation chain, including guidance on coaching models, curriculum-aligned assessments, protected time for collaborative planning, and systems for monitoring instructional quality. Participants will learn how policy can ensure that curriculum adoption leads to real shifts in classroom practice.

Dr. Eric Tridas is a developmental and behavioral pediatrician with over 37 years of experience. He served as director of the Tridas Center for Child Development in Tampa, Florida, and as a clinical associate professor of pediatrics at the University of South Florida (USF). He currently holds an honorary academic appointment at USF’s Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. Dr. Tridas represents the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) on the National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities (NJCLD) and serves on the Professional Advisory Board of the Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA) and ResearchILD. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Lectores para el futuro in Puerto Rico. He co-authored publications on learning disabilities, including the SLD chapter in the Textbook of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, the book Dyslexia Assessment: A Guide for Teachers to Understand and Evaluate the Needs of Their Students, and the book From ABC to ADHD: What Every Parent Should Know About Dyslexia and Attention Problems. His clinical research includes the development of the Screening Pediatric Patients for Reading Difficulties Test (SPRouT-D) and its Spanish adaptation, PEDAL-B. Dr. Tridas is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Margaret Rawson Lifetime Achievement Award (IDA), the Learning Disabilities Association of America Award, and the Innovator Award from the International Multisensory Structured Language Education Council (IMSLEC).

In this session, Dr. Tridas delves into the intricate relationship between dyslexia, ADHD, anxiety and executive functions in students with learning disorders. Participants will gain insights into the diagnostic criteria for these conditions and their complex interactions. The discussion will illuminate how factors such as attention, inhibition, flexibility, planning, and working memory significantly influence student performance. Moreover, effective strategies to mitigate these challenges will be explored, offering valuable insights for educators and professionals in the field.

Jorge Valenzuela, PhD, is a respected education and performance coach, author, and speaker at Lifelong Learning Defined. He began his career in both information technology and education and is known for his rare ability to blend science with soul—drawing from his backgrounds in computer science, classroom teaching, family life, and instructional leadership.

At Richmond City Public Schools in Virginia, Dr. Valenzuela worked in the Career and Technical Education (CTE) department, supervising the STEM career pathways program. He also helped advance districtwide instructional innovation that led all 50 schools to achieve full state accreditation by 2010—a systems-level success that continues to shape his approach today. A PhD graduate of Old Dominion University, his research focused on integrating aspects of computer science into K–12 instruction.

These experiences directly inform the frameworks he’s best known for: the Instructional Innovation+ model for district and school leaders, PBL+ with AI Literacy for teachers, and the Blueprint for Emotionally Intelligent Leadership for educators and executives.
As a faculty member with Old Dominion University, Corwin, Solution Tree, and ASCD, he supports students and schools in implementing high-impact teaching strategies that strengthen instruction and build leadership capacity.

He is also a published researcher and host of the Lifelong Learning Defined podcast, where he and his guests share actionable insights to help educators teach effectively and lead with purpose.

This session equips educators with practical strategies to transform student passions and interests into meaningful purpose through project-based learning with AI literacy. Participants will learn to design engaging projects that integrate literacy across subjects, preparing students to understand, evaluate, and use artificial intelligence responsibly. The session highlights ways to foster student enthusiasm, build strong teacher–student partnerships, and implement a clear framework for purposeful learning. Educators will leave with tools that support both academic achievement and the development of essential life skills for today’s world.

This session inspires educators to lead with both heart and skill—showing how love and literacy together create stronger classrooms and schools. Attendees will learn practical ways to connect with students, build trust, and design literacy-rich lessons across all subjects. With a focus on confident teaching, effective core instruction, and collective leadership, participants will leave with clear strategies for walk-throughs, differentiation, and daily practices that make learning personal, powerful, and lasting.

An English teacher with over two decades of experience in a middle and high school in a public school district, Brett Vogelsinger lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, with his family and can often be found in his garden when he isn’t teaching, reading, or writing. He approaches teaching as a craft that evolves over time, continually seeking new ways to foster student learning in a changing world. His current work focuses on embedding poetry into instruction, integrating AI in thoughtful and transparent ways, strengthening students’ essential ELA skills, nurturing independent reading lives, and using writer’s notebooks to support practice and growth. He also serves as a keynote speaker and workshop presenter, sharing his expertise with educators beyond his own classroom.

Artificial intelligence challenges our definition of what it means to write, and many teachers have found it difficult to adapt their instruction and assessment to a world where students have this technology at their fingertips. Join a current high school English teacher to explore specific lessons that help teachers curate experiences that push thinking and help students to make wise decisions on their own. Real-time explorations during this session will help participants investigate how we can use AI to push thinking, and when we can best foster skill development by going analog. Curiosity, transparency, and balance: all are key in helping student writers make wise decisions. This session shows how to bring these principles to life in a classroom.

Kareem Weaver is the co-founder and executive director of FULCRUM. He is an award-winning educator and community advocate with extensive experience leading schools and systems in district, juvenile justice, and managed-care settings. His advocacy is featured in the 2023 documentary The Right to Read.

Kareem is the former 2nd vice president and education committee chair of the Oakland NAACP. He has engaged with the Council of the Great City Schools, the College Board, and the Ontario Human Rights Commission on literacy as a civil right. He has offered diagnostic support to districts, states, and educator preparation programs; presented at over 150 conferences, departments of education, universities, and community organizations; and led field visits for system leaders, all in service of bringing clarity to the literacy crisis and illuminating the most productive path forward so that all children have access to Full and Complete Reading, which is a Universal Mandate (FULCRUM).

Internalization is the unspoken element of success, moving educators from "Robots to Rembrandt". This session clarifies the difference between preparation and planning, examines how to approach language development, data analysis, and curriculum to elevate literacy outcomes in both K-5 and secondary schools. The session is designed to help system, site, and classroom leaders win for kids.

Natasha Whitton is a seasoned educator with over 30 years in the classroom. As an interdisciplinary scholar, she began her career as a biology major before earning degrees in literature and history. Since 2000, she has taught in Louisiana, first at Southeastern Louisiana University, and since 2020 at Baton Rouge Community College, where she enjoys teaching dual enrollment courses with students beginning in the 9th grade.
In 2023, she was chosen as a National Endowment for the Humanities scholar for a summer institute on the work of Willa Cather. She has current fellowships with the Great Questions Foundation and the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education. She recently completed the Open Pedagogy Learning Circle with the Open Education Network,and serves as a facilitator for the Rebus Foundation on open education resource creation. In the local community, she was a member of the Leadership Baton Rouge class of 2025 and a Changemaker with Baton Rouge Alliance for Students in 2023. She is currently participating in the FBI Citizens Academy and the Coastal Leadership Institute with the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana. As a longtime member of the National Writing Project, she has experience in classrooms from birth through college.
As an active volunteer, she serves on the board of directors for Volunteers in Public Schools and the Changemakers Alumni, as well as being a member of the Ready Start Network for Early Childhood Education in East Baton Rouge Parish. She is president-elect for the Louisiana Academic Advising Association. Her publications include multiple textbooks, along with articles in Louisiana Literature, the Journal of College Writing, Kairos, and Eureka Studies in Teaching Short Fiction. She is a moderator for Braver Angels, and recently presented at the Louisiana Arts Summit.

With the increased distractions and AI-generated shortcuts available, helping students become purposeful readers, thinkers, and writers has never been more important. While the classroom is an ideal space for students to practice the skills necessary for college and career, increasingly, learners want to see direct connections between what they are doing and how it will translate into a degree or a high-paying position. While learning styles have been disproved, they continue to distract from the important general skills they were meant to reinforce.
This interactive session will break down audience, tone, and purpose with practical activities backed by the latest research on learning. Sustained reading requires patience and more scaffolding than choice. Comprehension means more than finding answers. Reading is an invitation to the fundamental questions that all humans ask. At its best, close reading makes thinking visible and is supported by student-centered discussion. While the skill of memorization may seem unnecessary in a culture that values externalized memory, experts consider familiarity with their field to be of primary importance.
Finally, by asking students to write from their own experience with examples taken from place-based writing marathons, the machines can return to what they do best, aiding human imagination and creativity. Participants will leave with practical routines and prompts to strengthen reading, critical thinking, and writing.

Daniel Willingham is a professor at the University of Virginia. He trained at the intersection of cognitive psychology and neuroscience and did basic research in human memory for the first 15 years of his career. Since 2007, all of his work has focused on thinking about how findings about the mind and brain might apply to classrooms. He is the author of several books, including the best-selling Why Don't Students Like School? and most recently, Outsmart Your Brain. His writing on education has appeared in twenty-three languages. In 2017, he was appointed by President Obama to serve as a Member of the National Board for Education Sciences.

Understanding something new is both the most commonplace and the most mysterious of classroom events. We take for granted that a primary purpose of schooling is for students to understand new ideas, yet we readily admit that no teacher can directly cause understanding in a student’s mind—teachers must somehow coax students’ thought processes along a productive path so that they build the understanding themselves. In this session, I will summarize research from the last twenty years bearing on this process, focusing on practical applications that (1) maximize the chances that students understand, (2) help teachers assess whether or not they understand, and (3) help teachers teach students to self-assess their understanding.

In the last few years, we have seen what looks like a dramatic drop in student motivation. A common sign of this change is a failure for students to complete reading assigned as homework. When even competent readers don’t complete their assignments, it’s natural to assume that motivation is the problem, but independent reading brings special challenges that students may not be ready to meet. In this session, I’ll discuss research relevant to students planning their time, avoiding distraction, reading difficult content, and taking notes on reading, all with the aim of suggesting ways to teach students these skills. 

Kate Winn is an Ontario educator, literacy advocate, and co-author of Reading Assessment Done Right: Tools and Techniques for Data-Driven Instruction from Scholastic, 2026. She has 25 years of classroom experience, including literacy instruction in K-8. Kate hosts and coproduces the popular Reading Road Trip podcast from IDA Ontario and presents widely across North America on evidence-based reading instruction and assessment. She serves as content lead for ONlit and is an Acadience Reading Mentor dedicated to advancing structured literacy through teaching, training, and advocacy.

Do you have questions about reading assessment? You’re not alone—many educators wonder how to navigate the complex world of screening, diagnostics, progress monitoring, and outcome measures, and most importantly, how to connect assessment results to meaningful changes in instruction. With practical guidance and classroom-ready strategies, this session will help you make sense of assessment within the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) framework so you can make better instructional decisions and improve outcomes for all learners. Participants will walk away with eight essential tips to rethink and refine their approach to reading assessment. Each tip is designed to cut through the clutter and bring clarity to the assessment process. Whether you’re new to the science of reading or looking to fine-tune your existing practices, this session will give you the knowledge and confidence to use data more effectively. By applying these tips, you’ll be better equipped to support every student in becoming a successful reader.