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The International Dyslexia Association Georgia and The Reading League Georgia have partnered to bring you the 2023 Spotlight on Structured Literacy Webinar Series, which includes four live webinars: Jan. 18, Feb. 8, Mar. 1, Mar. 29. The webinars are FREE and OPEN to all. 

Purpose of Webinar Series: Keeping in mind structured literacy refers to both the content and methods or principles of instruction, in this 4-part series, our speakers will discuss both how to most effectively instruct reading based on the science of instruction AND what content to instruct to ensure students become competent readers and writers.

DESCRIPTION – Wednesday, February 8, 2023 (#2 in the Series)
The Science of Reading Comprehension

The Science of Reading (SOR) has had a significant influence on the public’s knowledge about current reading practices and the changes required to institutionalize change in implementing the SOR in our schools. Much of the SOR has focused on the foundation skills such as phonemic awareness, phonics, and other word reading practices. This is necessary because the challenges of learning to read are largely remedied through improving these foundation skills and using SOR to do so. However, there are other critical instructional practices that are necessary to enhance reading outcomes for students with dyslexia including text based reading strategies that support building background knowledge and comprehension, vocabulary enhancement, and fluency.  This presentation will provide a knowledge base from the research on several elements of improving reading outcomes for students with dyslexia.

Dr. Sharon Vaughn (Professor, The University of Texas) is the Manuel J. Justiz Endowed Chair in Education and the Executive Director of The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk, an organized research unit that she founded with a “make a wish” gift from the Meadows Foundation family. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the first woman in the history of The University of Texas to receive the Distinguished Faculty and Research Award, the CEC research award, the AERA SIG distinguished researcher award, and the Jeannette E. Fleischner Award for Outstanding Contributions in the Field of LD from CEC. She is the author of more than 40 books and 350 research articles. Several of these research articles have won awards: one, the A.J. Harris International Literacy Association award for best article published and, another, the School Psychology award for best article. She is currently Principal Investigator on several Institute for Education Sciences, National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, and U.S. Department of Education research grants. She works as a senior adviser to the National Center on Intensive Interventions and has more than six articles that have met the What Works Clearing House Criteria for their intervention reports. She has conducted technical assistance in literacy to more than 10 countries and 30 State Departments of Education and has worked as a literacy consultant to more than 50 technical assistance projects.