The purpose of this community of practice is to support the implementation of the science of reading research with the use of the CORE Teaching Reading Sourcebook (Diamond, Gutlohn & Honig, 2018) in courses for pre-service teachers. The intent is to pair learning with application to coursework and fieldwork. Throughout the experience, participants will be applying their learning to their course syllabus.
Participants will independently engage with content from the TRS and other supporting materials to deepen their knowledge of how to connect assessment to instruction and intervention in the essential early literacy skills for all students in the MTSS framework. A course assessment will be available to direct and focus the learning across five modules. The content from each module will be applied to courses and fieldwork during optional monthly synchronous online meetings.
Participants will receive:
- links to curated content on the science of reading
- journal articles and supporting resources
- sample course outlines
- sample objectives tied to IDA's Knowledge and Practice Standards
- sample practice opportunities for applying concepts in courses
- extensive resource lists
- shells for lectures
- sample quizzes
- guided notes
- networking through monthly virtual meetings and private Facebook group
A current participant said this about the course:
The cost of the course is $400.
Diamond, L., Gutlohn, L., & Honig, B. (2018). The teaching reading sourcebook (3rd ed.). Consortium on Reading Excellence in Education (CORE). ISBN: 978-1-63402-235-4
The book can be purchased from CORE Learning
ABOUT THE FACILITATORS
Dr. Stephanie Stollar
Dr. Stephanie Stollar believes that by supporting all educators, high achievement is possible for every student.
In 2020, Dr. Stollar founded Reading Science Academy, an online community where thousands of educators support each other to improve results in their classrooms. She also advises the next generation of education policy leaders in her role as an assistant professor at Mount St. Joseph University.
In addition, Dr. Stollar serves as a Board Member of the Innovations in Education Consortium, sits on the Executive Team at the Evidence Advocacy Center, and is a co-founder of a national alliance for supporting reading science in higher education.
Through her ongoing educational workshops and extensive publications, Dr. Stollar continues to build the capacity of educators and education systems worldwide so every student can be lifted through literacy.
Mary Beth Anderson
Mary Beth Anderson is an assistant professor through North Dakota University Systems, instructing at Valley City State University, Valley City, ND, and North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND.
Mary earned a Master of Science in Reading at Minnesota State University, Moorhead. She has spent 36 years educating students in primary, intermediate, and secondary education. She has also served as a literacy coach, Language Arts instructor, AVID professional developer, Career Technical Resource Educator, and most recently, a professor of reading for higher education.
She is passionate about empowering pre-service teachers with the philosophy, methodology, and principles of effective instruction to grow a future where all children are readers. She utilizes higher levels of thinking to advance understanding of major concepts and is intentional about producing pre-service teachers empowered with effective and useful strategies for reading instruction.
Mary is LETRS trained, has completed the Shifting the Balance course, and is a CORE Online Language & Literacy Academy certified educator with 50+ hours of approved professional learning in the science of reading instruction for language-diverse classrooms.
TOPIC OUTLINE
Course materials will be available on September 1, 2025 for the Fall Session.
Module 1-The Big Picture
- Definition of Science of Reading (SoR) for all students
- 5 Essential Literacy Skills
- Elements of explicit instruction
- The brain processors
- MTSS as the framework for implementing the SoR
- Assessment
Module 2 – Effective Language and Early Literacy
- Oral Language: Language Acquisition processes
- Word Structure
- Early Literacy
- Letter knowledge
- Phonological Awareness
Module 3 - Decoding and Word Recognition
- Road to Reading Words
- Ehri’s Phases of Word Recognition
- Alphabetic Principle/Phonics
- Orthography/Spelling
- Word Study
- Morphology
Module 4 -Vocabulary and Fluency
- Vocabulary:
- Specific word instruction,
- Word-learning strategies,
- Word Consciousness
- Fluency
- The result of oral language acquisition and automaticity
Module 5 - Reading Comprehension and Course Wrap up
- Comprehension
- Background Knowledge
- Process vs. Product
- Text Structures
- Syntax
- Semantics
- Writing
- Updated course syllabus
Optional virtual meetings will be held on the following dates:
Fall 2025
September 22
October 27
November 17
December 15
January 26
The intended outcome of this course is for participants to revise or create their course that aligns to the reading research.
The sessions will be facilitated by Mary Beth Anderson. Contact us at [email protected].
