Unlocking Literacy: Why Educators Need Access to Research and Expert Support

“We are partners,” Dr. Elsa Cárdenas-Hagan says about the crucial bidirectional relationship between educators and researchers when it comes to implementing the science of reading. “We all want the same things. We all want our students to succeed.” 

For this mutually beneficial, bidirectional relationship to succeed—to ultimately support students on their literacy journeys—educators need access to new research as well as resources and experts to consult for guidance as they implement new material and best practices.

This is where literacy specialists like Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan and Margaret Goldberg come in. President of the Valley Speech Language and Learning Center in Brownsville, Texas, and a research associate at the University of Houston’s TIMES Center, Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan has spent her career ensuring educators have the tools they need to support all students. And Goldberg, a literacy coach at Nystrom Elementary School in California and co-founder of The Right to Read Project, works directly with teachers to bridge the gap between research and practice.

Both Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan and Goldberg emphasize a crucial truth: Research alone isn’t enough to properly implement the science of reading. As Goldberg explains, “Teachers won’t embrace research, until the research embraces them.” The research must be accessible, actionable, and supported by experts and additional resources to be effective. Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan and Goldberg engage in a critical discussion during the All For Literacy podcast detailing how providing educators with access to new research, alongside expert support during implementation, can be transformative when it comes to driving student success. 

Access to Research

For educators to effectively implement the science of reading, they must first be able to access and understand the current research. With research often being published in research journals, much of it remains out of reach for teachers. “The truth is, teachers don’t have access to peer-reviewed journals,” Goldberg says. “We don't have the email addresses that will get us beyond the paywall. That's not a way to reach us.”

Similarly, even when educators can access peer-reviewed studies, the information is often daunting to wade through. Educators may not have time to sift through complex jargon to extract meaning they can apply in real-world situations. And, even when research is available, not all studies are created equal. “There's a lot of research out there that I frankly think: How did they even make it to be published because it's not on solid ground?” Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan asks. 

So, the question remains—how to disseminate research to educators in a way that is clear, actionable, and reliable? 

To start, educators need trusted sources where they can easily access reliable, well-tested, classroom-ready research. When Goldberg wants to access information she can confidently implement, she relies on the Institute of Educational Sciences (IES) practice guides via the Regional Educational Laboratories (REL) websites, which break down research into clear recommendations for educators. “When I want something where the consensus has been reached and the information is ready for practitioners to go with confidence, those are the sources that I go to,” Goldberg says.

Beyond web resources, conferences serve as an effective avenue for bringing research directly to educators while also connecting them with experts who can assist in implementation. Large gatherings of educators have proven to be powerful spaces for strengthening the bidirectional relationship between educators and researchers. During her time working for the REL under the U.S. Department of Education, Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan found conferences an effective place to disseminate the latest research. “What we’re doing [at conferences] really makes a difference,” she says. “The buzz and the learning, and then going back to your districts and sharing that information—so important.”

When educators have direct access to high-quality research, disseminated in a way that is immediately applicable to the classroom or district, they can make informed instructional decisions—ultimately transforming student learning for the better. 

Leveraging Experts

Understanding research is just the first step—putting it into practice is where the real gains are made. At this stage, collaboration with experts is invaluable for both minimizing educator overwhelm and ensuring effective implementation. Partnering with researchers and specialists grants educators the guidance, training, and validation they need to apply the science of reading with confidence. 

Goldberg used mutual support and shared goals to build a partnership with researcher Tiffany Hogan. After hearing Hogan discuss one of her blog posts on an episode of All For Literacy, Goldberg reached out via email. “We ended up hopping on a Zoom pretty shortly after that,” she says. “I asked all sorts of questions that I had just wanted to know the answer to.” The simple outreach became the start of a mutually beneficial collaboration.

Through the partnership, Hogan provided Goldberg’s school with numerous evidence-based resources, such as curriculum, professional development, data analysis, and even doctoral students to train the teachers. In return, Hogan received access to real-time data and a response to her lab’s research and practices.

Upon visiting Hogan’s lab and working with her team, Goldberg found that the validation from experts was reassuring and transformative. “I remember … showing our DIBELS® data and I was like, ‘I know we’re making progress, but I don’t know, is it good enough?’” Goldberg says. “One of her teammates said, ‘We don’t usually see data like this. This is really good.’ And I almost started crying just to get that affirmation from people who care about hard facts and objective data.” This kind of expert insight reassures educators that their hard work is making a tangible impact.

Beyond individual partnerships, there are local and national organizations dedicated to helping schools implement the science of reading effectively. With the previously mentioned IES guides as one of their many offerings, the RELs work in partnership with school district leaders and educators, officials at state departments of education, and other education stakeholders. “[The RELs are] making sure that we're using data like what you're talking about to improve those academic outcomes [in] a very scientific manner,” Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan says. Other implementation resources that RELs provide include professional training, coaching and technical support, and research dissemination. 

By working hand in hand with experts and researchers, educators are not only able to implement the science of reading more effectively, they can also contribute to the continuous cycle of learning and improvement. “Until we know more, we keep moving forward. We cannot stay static. That’s why this [work] is so important,” Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan says about the perpetual nature of scientific exploration, and the need to continually refine the data. When research is applied thoughtfully with the help of experts and then refined through classroom practice, students reap the rewards. 

Empowered to scale

When educators have access to high-quality research and expert support, the impact extends far beyond individual classrooms. Teachers who were once searching for answers become leaders, mentoring their peers and driving meaningful, lasting change. As Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan says, “They are now the experts. They are now mentoring other schools. They are now leaders, and that’s really building capacity, sustainability, scalability.” This cycle of learning, sharing, and growing is what ensures every student has the support to succeed.

When educators feel supported as they implement the science of reading, it drives the positive cycle of learning and can ultimately lead to better outcomes for students. Goldberg hopes the cycle creates enough teacher demand for ongoing research, high-quality professional development, and research-to-practice partnerships that implementing the science of reading can be done effectively more often, ultimately scaling the cycle to support more students. 

The future of literacy is bright when educators, researchers, experts, and communities work together, and the conversation between Dr. Cárdenas-Hagan and Goldberg provides in-depth insight into these partnerships. Breaking down barriers to research, equipping teachers with expert guidance, and encouraging a culture of continuous learning increases the likelihood of real and lasting change when it comes to increasing literacy success.