Dr. Nancy Carlsson-Paige, educated educator to the extreme, Pencil Buster extraordinarie, and also Matt Damon's mom, joins us. We begin by checking in with Dr. Nancy. Since we last spoke, President Trump began his second term in office with a barrage of anti-education executive actions. Hold strong, educated educators. Then, we turn to a favorite discussion on BustED Pencils: literacy pedagogy. Nancy, with Julie Hackett, published this piece last week on "the fallacy of settled science in literacy." As in all aspects of education, literacy presents complex needs for a diverse learning population. While one teaching style works for many, no style works for all. And teachers must have a robust tool box to adapt to each learner's needs. Nancy argues that the so-called Science of Reading is actually a pedagogical fad, promoting a simple solution to a complex problem. And that's no solution at all. To start learning more, check out Robert Tierney and P David Pearson's open-access book Fact-Checking the Science of Reading.

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