E. Hanford discussed Reading First
Is there something beneficial to learn from her interview with M. Goldberg & R. Lyon?
Emily Hanford published a special edition of her podcast about reading, Sold a Story, on 9 December 2025 in which she interviewed Margaret Goldberg and G. Reid Lyon about their experiences of Reading First. Reading First, as readers of Special Education Today know, was the initiative from the early 2000s to promote evidence-based early reading instruction throughout the US schools. It was part of a broader effort—often called “No Child Left Behind”—by US President George W. Bush, to change American education, to put it on a data-based foundation.1
The show is available from most podcast streamers. But you can see a video of the session; it is a part of a series of events from Planet Word Museum, where it is called “Eyes on Reading: A Neuroscientist, a Teacher, and the Science of Reading.” It is on the Sold a Story site and from American Public Media as “Emily Hanford LIVE from Planet Word with Reid Lyon and Margaret Goldberg.” Here’s a link to a YouTube version:
Margaret Goldberg was an early career teacher during the Reading First era. After initially distrusting the No Child Left Behind law, she later found that the principles that were promoted by Reading First addressed a gap in her teacher preparation. Since the time of her teaching career, she has worked as an interventionist and a literacy coach. She has been a leading advocate for effective reading instruction via the Right to Read Project (“r2R.p”).
Reid Lyon, who is well known to many readers of SET, was one of the leading architects of Reading First. Along with Robert Pasternack (then US Assistant Secretary of Education and responsible for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services), Doug Carnine (then a professor at the University of Oregon), and others, Reid helped conceptualize, write, shepherd the legislation through Congress, and implement the Reading First initiative.2
Ms. Hanford’s interview with Ms. Goldberg and Reid covers a lot of time and ground. There are the usual features (e.g., “tell me how you got interested in reading” and audience questions), but the responses these experts provide are informative—or at least will prompt memories of important ideas. For example, Ms. Goldberg recounted the perception among some educators that No Child Left Behind was a means of restricting teachers’ professional judgment and autonomy. Reid explained that Reading First wasn’t solely about promoting phonics.
They also explained how, to move forward at that time and now, it will be important to address the preparation of leaders, teachers, teacher educators, and others who are the actual practitioners. There needs to be a coherent, evidence-based, order for teaching that all the practitioners share. I hope those who listen to the podcast come away agreeing about the importantance of this conclusion.
Footnotes
No Child Left Behind, which was the name for a law passed by the US Congress, was a re-authorization of federal legislation for funding of Elementary and Secondary Education Act. It emphasized adoption of standards for students’ progress, qualifications of educators, accountability for state and local educational agencies meeting those standards, and more. It put previously unheard of funding behind the early literacy initiative, Reading First.
I was honored that these people and others nominated me to be a member of the 12-member Advisory Committee for Reading First.