About the Presenters

As a Senior Research Associate at Vanderbilt University, Dr. Susan M. Smartt engaged in research, writing, and teaching focused on improving teacher preparation in reading. Previously, she was a national literacy consultant with state departments, teacher preparation programs, and local school districts. Her work focused on facilitating school reform, implementing reading intervention for low-performing schools, using data to inform practice, developing Response to Intervention initiatives, and implementing scientifically based literacy programs.

Dr. Smartt owned and directed a reading clinic for more than 20 years in which she provided comprehensive psychoeducational assessments, dyslexia evaluations, and tutoring services. She has been a classroom teacher, a reading coach, a reading specialist, and a principal. She was an early contributor to the development of LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) (Moats and Tolman, 2017) and past president of the Tennessee branch of the International Dyslexia Association.

Dr. Deborah R. Glaser is a consultant, author, and teacher educator beloved for enriching teachers’ knowledge of reading and for her proven instructional methods. Following her teaching career, she directed the educational arm of a non-profit dyslexia learning center where she developed programs to teach teachers and students.

She was an original National LETRS Trainer, is a policy advisor to the National Council on Teacher Quality, and regularly contributes to the evaluation of university programs that prepare our teachers to teach reading. Dr. Glaser is author and co-author of five books. Her most recent contributions to the field are Next STEPS, Second Edition; Morpheme Magic: Lessons to Teach Morphological Awareness; Morphemes for Little Ones: Bringing the Magic of Language to K-3 Classrooms; and the online reading course The Reading Teacher’s Top Ten Tools: Instruction that Makes a Difference, now hosted by 95% Group.