Due to learning loss from pandemic-related school closures, the next beginning-of-year universal screening assessments will likely identify a higher-than-usual number of students as at risk.

Universal screening offers a valuable opportunity for the early identification of student needs—and its power lies not in data collection, but in data use.

Truth be told, I am not a big science fiction fan, although I can appreciate those who enjoy the genre. Give me an autobiography or a research article and I’ll curl up, contented, in my airplane seat as I fly to my next Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS®) presentation—except, of course, that wasn’t possible this past year.

Although much is now known about the reading brain and what can (and should) be done to help all students reach their potential as readers and writers, the chasm between research and practice remains wide.

Complete transparency: I do not have an administration certification in an official capacity. However, I do possess a unique perspective on the power and influence of those in educational leadership.

What was supposed to have been a routine Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS®) training session ended up being anything but typical when a terrible ice storm hit the south, leaving me stranded at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport for an entire day.