Teaching Literacy Podcast

Come join Project CLIMB (Comprehension through Layers of Integrated Meaning Building) and earn your PhD at Utah State! Applications due December 1st! Jake has funding for two Graduate Research Assistants. How to Apply: 1. Complete the Five Step Application Process: https://cehhs.usu.edu/teal/doctoral/phd-admissions 2. Complete the Graduate Research Assistantship Form: https://cehhs.usu.edu/teal/do...

In this episode, host Jake Downs sits down with literacy researchers Dr. Ye Shen (Johns Hopkins University) and Dr. Elizabeth Hadley (University of South Florida) to unpack a massive longitudinal study tracking over 6,000 students from kindergarten entry through the spring of first grade. Moving beyond raw averages, Dr. Shen and Dr. Hadley reveal four distinct developmental trajectories and explai...

In Episode 78 of the Teaching Literacy Podcast, host Jake Downs sits down with Dr. Willa Van Dyke from Utah State University to unpack a recent study published in Reading & Writing Quarterly exploring how schoolwide systems impact teachers' confidence in data-based decision-making. Drawing on survey data from over 1,000 elementary school teachers across 63 schools and 12 states, they discuss t...

In Episode 77 of the Teaching Literacy Podcast, guest host Dr. Laura Tortorelli sits down with Dr. Jake Downs to unpack a recent grade 3 intervention study published in Reading Research Quarterly with co-authors Freddy Hiebert, Kristin Conradi Smith, and Katie Martz. Together, they explore the demands of reading long, complex words and a straightforward blending routine for supporting multisyllabi...

It’s a special roundtable on the Teaching Literacy Podcast! Host Dr. Jake Downs, Lori Southington, and Blythe Anderson record live from the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR) conference in Rotterdam to bridge the gap between emerging research and classroom practice. The trio unpacks key studies on interactive read-alouds and morphology instruction, highlighting how teachers c...

In this episode of the Teaching Literacy Podcast, host Jake Downs sits down with Dr. Laura Tortorelli and Dr. John Strong to unpack how vocabulary and advanced decoding interact to help upper elementary students navigate complex academic texts. Discussing their recent study on multisyllabic decoding achievement, the researchers explain why treating vocabulary and word recognition as isolated instr...

In this episode, Jake sits down with Dr. Amanda Shimizu to discuss her research paper, A Multimodal Content Analysis of Popular Early Childhood Stories and Read-Alouds on YouTube , co-authored with Dr. Margaret Quinn. Together they analyzed the 50 most popular preschool read-aloud videos on YouTube over a one-year period, examining both video design and instructional quality. Reference: Shimizu, A...

In this episode I sit down with the SRI Education research team—Dr. Dan Reynolds, Dr. Anna Jennerjohn, and Dr. Sara Rutherford-Quach—to unpack their learning brief, Beyond the Surface . This episode explores the gap between using high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) and achieving deep, robust reading comprehension. Read the Brief Here: https://www.sri.com/publication/education-learning-pubs...

This is a rebroadcast of Episode 245 from the Melissa and Lori Love Literacy Podcast – you can check out that episode here: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/read-like-us-building-fluency-through-repeated-reading/id1463219123?i=1000748503901 Make sure to check out the Literacy.io training on the Kat Framework for Comprehension this June! -June 24-25 in East Lansing Michigan -Individual r...

In this episode we welcome Dr. Sharon Walpole, a professor at the University of Delaware. We explore the challenges teachers face in addressing varying student needs, Dr. Walpole’s pragmatic approach to differentiation, and the developmental roadmap for reading proficiency. Dr. Walpole shares insights on the importance of grade-level instruction, the flaws of certain assessment systems, and...

In this episode of the Teaching Literacy Podcast, host Jake Downs discusses with Dr. Michael Coyne from the University of Connecticut the concept of advanced phonemic awareness and its implications for early reading proficiency. Dr. Coyne shares findings from his recent study that examines the impact of using oral-only advanced phonemic awareness instruction on first graders. They explore the theo...

How can we best apply the Science of Reading to support multilingual learners? This episode tackles that critical question with Dr. Steven Amendum from the University of Delaware. We explore how evidence-based literacy instruction must leverage a student’s first language as a key asset, not a barrier. Dr. Amendum breaks down practical teaching strategies to boost decoding and reading compreh...

In episode 69 of the Teaching Literacy Podcast, host Jake Downs speaks with Dr. Kay Wijekumar, Houston Endowed Chair in the Department of Teaching and Learning and Culture at Texas A&M University. They discuss the importance of teaching students to generate rather than find the main idea in texts, detailing Dr. Wijekumar’s evidence-based KAT framework (Knowledge Acquisition and Transform...

Dr. Adrea Truckenmiller and Dr. Eunsoo Cho discuss building a strategic assessment system in literacy education. They cover how to use data to inform reading instruction, the difference between screeners, diagnostics, curriculum based measures, and computer adaptive tests, and the importance of reliability in assessments. Common pitfalls like over-testing and teaching to the test are addressed, al...

Guest host Dr. Kristin Conradi Smith interviews Dr. Jake Downs about the ‘secret soup’ of highly effective K-2 teacher teams. Link to Jake’s Study: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/15/2/259 Downs, J., Martz, K., & Mohr, K. (2025). Exploring the Instructional Effectiveness of High-Growth K-2 Teacher Teams in Foundational Reading. Education Sciences , 15 (2), https://doi.org/10.3...

Melissa and Lori invited Jake to discuss Synchronous Paired Oral Reading Techniques (SPORT) — Listen to the episode here! Please write a short impact statement for Jake’s USU review packet (and thank you!):  https://forms.gle/QcUs8ciMcAy2yG6L6

Please write a short impact statement for Jake’s USU review packet (and thank you!):  https://forms.gle/QcUs8ciMcAy2yG6L6 In this episode, host Jake Downs welcomes guest Dr. Freddy Hebert, a renowned literacy researcher, CEO/Founder of TextProject. The conversation covers topics such as the importance of automaticity, the core vocabulary, reading volume, and shifts in text complexity over the...

Jake interviews Dr. Steve Graham of the Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation at Arizona State University Please write a short impact statement for Jake’s USU review packet (and thank you!): https://forms.gle/QcUs8ciMcAy2yG6L6

Dr. Phil Capin joins the show to discuss 40 years of reading comprehension instruction. References: Capin, P., Dahl-Leonard, K., Hall, C., Yoon, N. Y., Cho, E., Chatzoglou, E., Reiley, S., Walker, M., Shanahan, E., Andress, T., & Vaughn, S. (2024). Reading Comprehension Instruction: Evaluating Our Progress Since Durkin’s Seminal Study. Scientific Studies of Reading , 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1...

Jake Downs talks with Dr. Blythe Anderson and Dr. John Strong about effective summer tutoring programs to prevent the summer slide in elementary reading. They discuss strategies such as small-group tutoring, differentiated instruction, and interactive read-alouds, based on multi-year research that shows significant gains in vocabulary, reading fluency, and foundational skills. The episode emphasiz...

Host Dr. Jake Downs is joined by Dr. Katherine O’Donnell, an Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Utah, to discuss her research on student outcomes in states following the implementation of science of reading legislation. 03:02 Historical Context: Reading First Era 09:37 Mississippi’s Science of Reading Legislation 17:02 Comparative Analysis of State Outco...

Dr. Danielle Colenbrander joins the show to discuss the benefits of morphology instruction with students. Reference: Colenbrander, D., Von Hagen, A., Kohnen, S., Wegener, S., Ko, K., Beyersmann, E., Behzadnia, A., Parrila, R., & Castles, A. (2024). The Effects of Morphological Instruction on Literacy Outcomes for Children in English-Speaking Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Ed...

Dr. Cherish Sarmiento joins the show to talk about how fifth and eighth grade students use academic language in their writing. Importantly, we learn that words with seven or more letters may be one way to quickly identify academic words. Reference: Sarmiento, C. M., Truckenmiller, A. J., Cho, E., & Wang, H. (2024). Academic language use in middle school informational writing. British Journal o...

In this episode, Jake is joined by Dr. Blythe Anderson to discuss her research with vocabulary instruction strategies. References: Anderson, B. E. (2024). Vocabulary Talk Moves: Using Language to Promote Word Learning. The Reading Teacher, 77(4), 439–452. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.2263 Anderson, B. E., Wright, T. S., & Gotwals, A. W. (2023). Teachers’ Vocabulary Talk in Early-Elementary Sci...

In this episode, Dr. Marianne Rice joins Jake to discuss the different types of inferences and how teachers can support their students in generating inferences to enhance comprehension. For more information, be sure to check out literacy.io References: Rice, M., Wijekumar, K., Lambright, K., & Bristow, A. (2023). Inferencing in Reading Comprehension: Examining Variations in Definition, Instruc...