Virtual Lecture Series

Build a deeper understanding of the science of reading’s evolution with our free professional learning webinars.

Watch a conversation between Dr. Joseph Torgesen and his former Director of Research at the Florida Center for Reading Research, Dr. Yaacov Petscher, as they highlight some of the reasons that findings from scientific research on reading should be taken seriously by educators to help them make their practice more effective. Together, their scientific research related to reading spans 40 years.

The conversation between Dr. Barbara Foorman and her former postdoctoral fellow Dr. Adrea Truckenmiller tells the story of the Reading Wars and the interdisciplinary research underlying the Science of Reading. The conversation spans the 1980s to the present day as Dr. Foorman moved from universities in Texas to Florida with a year in Washington, DC as the first Commissioner of the National Center for Education Research at the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). Dr. Truckenmiller, now Associate Professor at Michigan State University, joined Dr. Foorman’s research when she directed the Florida Center for Reading Research at Florida State University. Together they expanded reading research by investigating its relation to academic language.

This conversation between Dr. Sharon Vaughn and her former student, Dr. Jeanne Wanzek, who is now a Professor at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, tells the story of how their research ideas were influenced by their classroom teaching. They also discuss the growing need for intervention research that addresses the specific needs of students with the most intractable reading difficulties.

Together, their work spans more than 3 decades. Dr. Vaughn’s early research was on better understanding literacy practices in special education resource room settings and continued with examining the malleable factors associated with improved intervention effects for a range of learners, including students with reading disabilities and students who are emerging bilingual. From there, Dr. Wanzek examined preventative and remedial instruction for students with reading difficulties, including the factors for implementing the most intensive interventions for students with reading disabilities.

Executive Director of The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk