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/doctoral-1/files/graduate-assistantship-application-renewal-form-may2025.pdf General Information: Li

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 explain why “business as usual” MTSS practices often maintain the status quo instead of closing achievemen

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 the surprising finding that a principal's ability to articulate their school's RTI model has no significa

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 multisyllabic word reading. They also discuss the need for supporting accuracy and automaticity in complex text

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 can move past superficial vocabulary “mentioning” to foster deep, active meaning-making. Additionally, Jake

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 instructional buckets is a critical mistake. They dive into the mechanics of the fourth-grade slump and L