Better Teaching: Only Stuff That Works

Special Education, Explicit Instruction, and the Power of Literacy — with Dr. Lalita Karpen

About This Episode

In this episode of Better Teaching: Only Stuff That Works, Gene Tavernetti talks with Dr. Lalita Karpen about special education, specially designed instruction, literacy, and the responsibility schools have to provide effective instruction for every student.

Dr. Karpen shares her path from leaving high school to earning a doctorate, and explains why she sees literacy as a human right. The conversation then examines how specially designed instruction differs from accommodations, how it should build on strong Tier 1 instruction, and what teachers and school leaders can do to support students with disabilities.

What You’ll Learn

Why literacy and education can change the trajectory of families and generations.
What specially designed instruction means under special education law.
How SDI should connect content, methodology, and delivery to individual student needs.
Why teacher preparation and instructional leadership must better support special education.
How mentoring, lesson planning, immediate feedback, and progress monitoring help teachers serve students well.
What co-teaching, school choice, and student-loan forgiveness mean for students with disabilities.

Chapters

00:00 — Welcome to Better Teaching
01:28 — Dr. Karpen’s journey and the power of literacy
08:10 — Education as a human right
15:45 — What specially designed instruction means
26:20 — Preparing and mentoring special education teachers
37:35 — Applying SDI to individual student needs
48:10 — Instructional leadership, co-teaching, and school support
57:20 — Teacher preparation, school choice, and student debt
63:10 — Closing thoughts

Resources

Dr. Lalita Karpen on LinkedIn — Connect with Dr. Karpen and follow her education work.
Dr. Lalita Karpen on X — Follow Dr. Karpen’s updates and resources.
Council for Exceptional Children — The professional organization referenced in the conversation.

This podcast sponsored by:
The Bell Ringer, a weekly newsletter providing news, tools, and resources on the science of learning, written by education reporter Holly Korbey. Subscribe here.

From Six Teachers to a Movement: Building Professional Development That Lasts
About This Episode

Most professional development begins with enthusiasm and ends before it changes classroom practice. In this episode of Better Teaching: Only Stuff That Works, Gene Tavernetti talks with Suzannah Evans and Dr. Shane Saeed about the Science of Learning Collaborative in Colorado’s St. Vrain Valley School District.

What began in 2019 as a small book study nearly disappeared during COVID-19, shrinking to six committed educators. Instead of giving up, Suzannah and Shane built a voluntary, sustained model of professional learning that now connects more than 100 teachers across a large district. They explain how the collaborative creates practical learning, peer accountability, teacher leadership, and a network where educators can test ideas in classrooms and return to learn from one another.

The conversation is a useful reminder that lasting professional learning does not require a massive initiative. It can begin with a few people, a worthwhile question, a small pilot, and enough patience to let the work spread through trust and word of mouth.

What You’ll Learn

Why one-and-done professional development rarely produces lasting change.

How a six-person learning group grew into a district-wide collaborative.

Why voluntary participation can create stronger motivation and accountability.

How hybrid meetings, reflection, and classroom application support busy teachers.

Ways to build teacher leadership and a cross-school community of practice.

How to start small, choose an effective pilot group, and let results spread organically.

Chapters

00:00 — Welcome and introducing Suzannah Evans and Shane Saeed

02:37 — The Science of Learning Collaborative begins

06:24 — From a 2019 book study to six teachers during COVID

12:01 — Designing a flexible, sustained professional-learning model

15:47 — Peer learning, accountability, and teacher leadership

24:00 — Building momentum across a large district

36:00 — Voluntary participation and meaningful buy-in

46:17 — Scaling a grassroots writing initiative

50:12 — Start with a small pilot and let the work speak

54:15 — The origins and classroom logic of the FAST framework

Resources

St. Vrain Valley Schools

Vrain Waves: Necessary Condition — Learning Together

Suzannah Evans on LinkedIn

Suzannah Evans on X

Dr. Shane Saeed on X

Teach FAST / TESS Consulting Group

About the Guests

Suzannah Evans is an instructional coordinator at St. Vrain Valley School District and a facilitator of the district’s Science of Learning Collaborative. Dr. Shane Saeed is an elementary ELA curriculum coordinator, author, speaker, and co-host of the Vrain Waves podcast. Together, they support educators in turning evidence-informed ideas into practical classroom improvement.

This podcast sponsored by:
The Bell Ringer, a weekly newsletter providing news, tools, and resources on the science of learning, written by education reporter Holly Korbey. Subscribe here.

Summary

What are executive functions, and how can teachers support them without adding another program to the school day? Mitch Weathers returns to Better Teaching to discuss the cognitive skills behind organization, task initiation, self-regulation, planning, and follow-through.

Mitch explains why clarity, modeling, predictable routines, and a well-designed classroom environment protect students' cognitive capacity. He also makes the case for analog tools in a digital world and shares how the Organized Binder approach helps students—and teachers—build practical organizational habits.

Chapters

0:00 — Welcome and meeting Mitch Weathers
2:15 — What executive functions are and why they matter in classrooms
8:30 — Core executive functions: working memory, inhibition, and flexibility
15:30 — Higher-order executive functions and age-appropriate expectations
24:00 — Clarity, modeling, and predictable classroom routines
33:00 — The Organized Binder approach and building student independence
42:00 — Analog tools, technology, and protecting students' cognitive work
50:00 — Connecting executive-function supports with effective lesson structure
53:20 — Closing thoughts and practical next steps

Show Notes

Mitch Weathers is the author of Executive Functions for Every Classroom and co-author of Executive Functions for Every K–3 Classroom.
Connect with Mitch on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Mitch and Gene discuss the Organized Binder approach, which supports organization, task initiation, self-regulation, and follow-through.
The conversation explores how teachers can make expectations clear, model routines, reduce unnecessary cognitive load, and create predictable environments that help students develop executive-function skills.
Mitch explains why analog tools can complement technology by giving students opportunities to practice the skills they will need in other settings.

Better Teaching: Only Stuff That Works is hosted by Gene Tavernetti. Find more about Gene's work at tesscg.com.

This podcast sponsored by:
The Bell Ringer, a weekly newsletter providing news, tools, and resources on the science of learning, written by education reporter Holly Korbey. Subscribe here.

Summary

What happens when some of the best teachers in a district are invited to present at conferences across the country, but are never asked to share what they know in their own schools? In this solo episode, Gene Tavernetti reflects on the way classroom teachers with deep expertise in evidence-informed instruction can be sought out by educators elsewhere while their knowledge is overlooked or discouraged at home.

Gene explores Tall Poppy Syndrome, the social cost of standing out, and why sending teachers to conferences with instructions to bring learning back is unlikely to produce meaningful schoolwide change without leadership and a culture that values internal expertise. He revisits the Starfish Story with a less comforting conclusion: if conference learning changes only one classroom, perhaps all we can say is, “It made a difference to that teacher.”

Chapters

0:00 — The expertise schools overlook
2:00 — Tall Poppy Syndrome and the cost of standing out
5:00 — Why conference learning does not automatically spread
8:00 — The Starfish Story and a challenge for leaders

Show Notes

Gene Tavernetti reflects on teachers whose expertise is valued everywhere except at home.
The episode asks school and district leaders whether they know where the expertise is in their own organization.
A strong internal culture gives teachers meaningful opportunities to share and use what they know.

This podcast sponsored by:
The Bell Ringer, a weekly newsletter providing news, tools, and resources on the science of learning, written by education reporter Holly Korbey. Subscribe here.

Summary

In this from-the-archives episode, Bart Hoffman interviews Dr. Frank Rodriguez and Gene Tavernetti about their book Digital Captives: Helping Schools Strike a Balance Between Humans and Hardware. They trace how technology moved from a tool intended to augment instruction into something that can displace attention, relationships, reading, and meaningful learning.

Frank and Gene discuss what they have observed in schools and after-school programs, why the pandemic accelerated existing problems, and how educators can respond without swinging from unquestioned technology adoption to an equally unhelpful rejection of digital tools. Their central message is practical: schools need intentional systems that put humans, learning, and healthy technology habits back at the center.

Chapters

0:00 — Introduction: from digital natives to digital captives

2:17 — What changed for students and schools

6:00 — When technology stopped augmenting instruction

10:27 — The problem of too much digital material

14:09 — Finding balance between humans and hardware

18:00 — Adult modeling, attention, and schoolwide systems

23:18 — Practical ways schools can reset technology habits

26:00 — Screen inferiority and reading comprehension

31:30 — Rebuilding conversation, focus, and human connection

38:00 — Leading change without creating another pendulum swing

47:56 — The book, the authors, and where to learn more

60:30 — Closing thoughts

Show Notes

Dr. Frank Rodriguez — Educator and leader of after-school and community learning programs whose work with students and staff helped prompt the research behind Digital Captives.

Gene Tavernetti — Host of Better Teaching and co-author of Digital Captives.

Bart Hoffman — Education leader and friend of the podcast who conducts the interview.

Digital Captives: Helping Schools Strike a Balance Between Humans and Hardware is written by Frank Rodriguez, Donna Smith, and Gene Tavernetti.

Learn more about the authors and the book through Schools Next.

This is a refreshed from-the-archives presentation of Better Teaching episode 90.

This podcast sponsored by:
The Bell Ringer, a weekly newsletter providing news, tools, and resources on the science of learning, written by education reporter Holly Korbey. Subscribe here.