SOUTHPORT, Conn., Sept. 03, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Southport CoLAB, a professional learning organization that translates research into classroom practice to improve outcomes for all learners, today announced the publication of a new commentary by Dr. Benjamin Powers, its founder and executive director, in the research journal Mind, Brain, and Education. The article examines the gap between what research shows and what schools are able to put into practice, one of education’s most persistent challenges.
In “Closing the Gap From Both Sides: Why Empowering Educators and Researchers Is More Promising Than Engineering a New Field,” Powers responds to a companion commentary in the same special issue, “We Need an ‘Engineering of Reading’: Why the ‘Science of Reading’ May Not Be Enough,” which proposes a new “engineering of reading” field to strengthen the connection between research and implementation. Powers agrees with much of that diagnosis but argues that building capacity among educators and researchers offers a more scalable remedy.
The commentary comes as states and school systems increasingly embrace evidence-based approaches to reading instruction. More than 40 states have enacted legislation referencing evidence-based reading practices, and all 50 states have passed dyslexia-related legislation. Yet national reading outcomes have not improved commensurately. In 2024, the national average fourth-grade NAEP reading score was five points below 2019 and not significantly different from 1992. Powers argues that closing that gap requires greater attention to the people responsible for turning research into practice.
Mississippi offers one example: the state rose from 49th to the top 10 nationally in fourth-grade reading on the NAEP between 2013 and 2024. Powers argues that its gains reflect not curriculum alone but sustained investment in teacher capacity—and that ongoing debate over how to interpret those gains illustrates why decision-makers need research literacy.
“The field needs educators who can read, evaluate, and apply research themselves, and who can therefore engage with researchers as genuine intellectual partners rather than passive recipients of expert guidance,” wrote Powers, who also serves as president of The Dyslexia Foundation and is affiliated with Haskins Laboratories, the Yale Child Study Center, and the University of Connecticut. “The path forward is to equip the people who are already in the work, educators and researchers alike, to close the gap together.”
Powers calls for greater research literacy among educators, including the ability to assess the strength of evidence, understand research limitations, and determine how findings apply in specific contexts. He argues that this preparation should extend beyond classroom teachers to the school and district leaders responsible for selecting curricula, allocating resources, and making other decisions based on claims about what is “evidence-based.”
Powers also highlights the need for greater “systems literacy” among researchers, including a deeper understanding of how schools and districts operate and the factors that influence whether an evidence-based practice succeeds outside a controlled research environment. He argues that doctoral students preparing to study school-based interventions should spend meaningful time in schools and districts, learning to better understand how decisions are made and how implementation is shaped by real-world constraints.
“Building this kind of capacity takes time and intention,” said Dawn Brookhart, chief operating officer of The Southport CoLAB. “Schools often adopt programs without a clear understanding of what evidence‑based actually means. Educators and leaders need to understand the evidence base behind an approach so they can make informed decisions about what to select and how to implement it. Those decisions are stronger when educators and leaders have the tools to understand evidence and apply it thoughtfully across an organization.”
While the commentary focuses on reading, Powers argues that the implications extend across education. As evidence-based reform expands into areas including mathematics, educators and researchers will confront many of the same challenges connecting scientific evidence with the realities of teaching and learning. Building research literacy among educators and systems literacy among researchers, he writes, creates capacity that can transfer across disciplines.
The commentary is available at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epub/10.1111/mbe.70061?domain=author&token=C4GGGHBJ3DAP5BYWJUSX.
To learn more about The Southport CoLAB, visit www.southportcolab.org.
About The Southport CoLAB
Rooted in the daily work of The Southport School, The Southport CoLAB takes what works in real classrooms and helps educators, schools, and systems apply it in meaningful, sustainable ways. Through evidence-based professional learning, instructional frameworks, and implementation support, The Southport CoLAB translates learning science into practical approaches that strengthen teaching and improve outcomes across diverse learning environments. To learn more, visit www.southportcolab.org.
Media Contact: Jennifer Leckstrom RoseComm for The Southport CoLAB jleckstrom@rosecomm.com 215-681-0770
