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Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin, (2018)
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Phil Capin is an Assistant Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His research focuses on understanding individual differences in reading development and on designing and evaluating effective instructional practices, particularly for students who have, or are at risk for, reading difficulties. Supported by grants from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), Dr. Capin has conducted randomized control trials examining instructional approaches for improving reading opportunities and outcomes for children in K-12 settings. He directs the BRIDGES Lab (Building Reading Instruction to Drive Growth in Every Student), which is dedicated to rigorous, collaborative research with educators to bridge the gap between research and classroom practice. Currently, Dr. Capin’s research includes: (a) developing interventions that support both foundational reading skills and text comprehension, (b) integrating social-emotional supports within reading interventions for students with co-occurring reading difficulties, (c) improving educational opportunities and outcomes for English learners, and (d) creating strategies to foster narrative text comprehension in both school and home settings. His findings have been published in leading academic journals, including Scientific Studies of Reading, Reading Research Quarterly, and the Journal of Educational Psychology. A core aim of Dr. Capin’s work is translating research insights into practical solutions that address the everyday challenges faced by educators and students. Before joining academia, Dr. Capin was a teacher in El Centro, California.
Dr. Phil Capin and the BRIDGES Lab are working in partnership with researchers at Utah State University (Drs. Sandi and Ron Gillam) and University of Texas at Austin (Drs. Sharon Vaughn and Greg Roberts) to develop and evaluate the usability, feasibility, social validity, fidelity, and promise of a narrative language and reading comprehension intervention called STORIES for students with or at-risk for language and literacy disabilities in grades 2-3. Prior narrative language interventions have been shown to be effective in improving narrative language outcomes for this student population. STORIES will include the key elements of successful narrative language interventions while also incorporating reading comprehension instruction as well as supports for Spanish-English emerging bilingual students.
A substantial proportion of students with reading difficulties (25-40%) experience elevated levels of inattention. Despite substantial evidence linking attention difficulties with reading problems, researchers have largely overlooked attention as a target in reading interventions. In this study, the BRIDGES Lab is working with Dr. Garrett Roberts at the University of Denver and Drs. Sharon Vaughn and Greg Roberts at the University of Texas at Austin to evaluate the efficacy of an intervention called Supporting Attention and Reading for Kids (SPARK) among students in grades 2-4 with co-occurring reading and attention difficulties. SPARK is innovative in that it integrates evidence-based practices for both attention and reading within a single, unified program. This study seeks to evaluate the program using a three-arm, large-scale randomized control trial with follow-up testing to explore the longevity of program effects.
A new paper finds “substantial gap persists” between reading comprehension research and practice, calls for greater efforts to prioritize effective instruction methods
Experts in literacy development for children and teens explore what the latest scientific research tells us about how children successfully learn to read and comprehend.
Appointees bring expertise in areas including artificial intelligence, special education, and education policy