Dr. Erica Lembke is professor in special education and the associate dean of research in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Missouri. She will be a featured speaker at the 2025 Iowa Science of Reading Summit.
Iowa Reading Research Center (IRRC): Tell Me a Bit More About Who You Are and What You Do.
Erica Lembke: I’m a professor in special education and the associate dean of research in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Missouri. I study teacher data-based decision-making and its impact on students in academic areas.
IRRC: Can You Tell Us About Your Current Research?
Erica Lembke: My current research focuses on evidence-based mathematics strategies and interventions, including two federally funded studies examining the use of the intervention Fraction Face Off to support students with math challenges. In another federally funded project, we are examining the use of Data-Based Individualization (DBI) in math with middle school teachers. In essence, DBI refers to the use of ongoing progress data collected on a frequent basis and graphed so that teachers can make more timely and appropriate decisions about student growth or lack thereof in intervention.
IRRC: What Are Some Key Findings of Your Research?
Erica Lembke: In our Early Writing Project work, we found that teachers who implement a DBI model in early writing (including ongoing assessment and intervention) experience positive outcomes in terms of their knowledge and skills and their students’ writing performance. In our primary paper for the study, implementing teachers outperformed those who were not implementing on measures of DBI knowledge and skills (d = 1.57) and self-efficacy for writing instruction (d = .94). In other words, this means that teachers who implemented a DBI model demonstrated greater knowledge and skills, and they reported higher self-efficacy for writing instruction, meaning that teachers had greater confidence in teaching writing after implementing our DBI program. Additionally, students in the implementation group outperformed those in the group not receiving DBI on writing outcome measures delivered just after the intervention and also measures given later (ds = .14–.29). These results are impressive for a teacher-delivered intervention.
IRRC: How Can We Use These Findings to Inform Teaching Practices?
Erica Lembke: Teachers can consider how they might implement elements of DBI to improve their own instruction.
IRRC: What Does the "Science of Reading” Mean to You?
Erica Lembke: This means utilizing practices that are supported by evidence so that you have confidence in what you are teaching.
IRRC: What Are Your Hopes for the Future of the Science of Reading Movement?
Erica Lembke: I hope that more states will continue to support SOR at the state-department-of-education level so that institutions of higher education and school districts will be supported in learning more about SOR and dedicating resources to this effort so that we can do a better job teaching our students how to read.
Supplemental Resource
Lembke Research Group: This webpage provides an overview of the current research projects Dr. Lembke is involved in.
