The Pillars of Effective Reading Instruction: Innovative Applications of Science of Reading Research in Elementary Classrooms
Drs. Ray Reutzel and Robert Cooter, co-authors of Teaching Children to Read: The Teacher Makes the Difference share the Five Pillars of Effective Reading Instruction.
Dr. Ray Reutzel, University of Southern Utah
Dr. Robert Cooter, Bellarmine University
Effective instruction in P-8 classrooms is receiving renewed attention in the 2020s. Precipitated by the worst reading scores recorded in 30 years following the COVID-19 pandemic, calls from parents and politicians alike for better prepared reading teachers is at a fever pitch. In this webinar, Drs. Ray Reutzel and Robert Cooter, co-authors of Teaching Children to Read: The Teacher Makes the Difference (9th edition, 2024) share their powerful Five Pillars of Effective Reading Instruction framework that ensures your students both understand and can implement the latest science of reading (SOR) research to guarantee success for all children.
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About the speakers

Ray Reutzel, University of Southern Utah
Dr. Ray Reutzel is a Senior Research Fellow in the Center for the School of the Future at Utah State University and Professor and Dean Emeritus at the University of Wyoming. He taught in grades K, 1, 3, 5, and 6. He is the author of more than 235 published research reports, articles, books, book chapters, and monographs. He is the past editor of Literacy Research and Instruction and The Reading Teacher and is the current Executive Editor of the Journal of Educational Research. He received the 1999 A.B. Herr Award and the 2013 ALER Laureate Award from the Association of Literacy Researchers and Educators and the 2007 John C. Manning Public School Service Award from the International Reading Association. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the International Reading Association, Literacy Researchers Association, and the Association Literacy Educators and Researchers. Dr. Reutzel was elected a member of the Reading Hall of Fame in 2011 and served as its President from 2017 to 2019. In 2019, he received the William S. Gray Citation of Merit from the International Literacy Association.
Ray and his sweetheart of 47 years—a former kindergarten teacher, Pamela— enjoy hanging out with their 18 grandkids and hiking daily with a weighted back- ground (rucking) on mountain trails behind their home with their goldendoodle pup, Cooper. They also love riding their mountain-ebikes on trails in the Wasatch and Wasatch-back mountain range, fishing, singing, playing pickleball, and attending rodeos and their grandkids’ football and baseball games.

Robert Cooter, Bellarmine University
Robert B. Cooter, Jr. has taught grades 1, 3, 4, 7, and as a Title I Reading specialist in the public schools. He later served as the “Reading Czar” (associate superintendent) for the Dallas Independent School District (TX), and was named a Texas State Cham- pion for Reading by the governor. Along with colleagues Kathleen Spencer Cooter and J. Helen Perkins, he received the Urban Impact Award from the Council of Great City Schools for designing and implementing effective reading programs serving children in inner-city schools. Dr. Cooter previously served as editor of The Reading Teacher (International Liter- acy Association) and is a recipient of the A.B. Herr Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Literacy (Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers). He is currently Professor Emeritus at Bellarmine University. His primary work focuses on translating science of reading (SOR) research into real-world classroom approaches for improving the literacy learning of children living at the poverty level. Robert and his bride of 25-plus years, Kathleen, enjoy spoiling grandkids and spending time on their houseboat, Our Last Child. He practices and teaches Wado Ryu Karate and holds a first-degree black belt.