In this webinar, Marnie Ginsberg (Reading Simplified) and Natalie Wexler (author of The Knowledge Gap) dive into the next essential step after phonics instruction—building knowledge for deep comprehension. While the Science of Reading has made great strides in helping children crack the code, many students are still stalling in their reading development. Why? Because they’re not being given enough rich content to build the knowledge and vocabulary they need to truly understand what they read.

They explore how many current reading curricula, even those aligned with the Science of Reading, unintentionally slow down student progress with overly complex or rule-heavy phonics approaches. Wexler and Ginsberg discuss how to streamline decoding instruction so kids can move into engaging, knowledge-building texts faster—resulting in deeper comprehension and greater reading motivation.