The Importance of Knowledge in Reading Comprehension

Today’s episode is a special bonus—an audio recording of our recent webinar, Knowledge: Why It Matters. We found the conversation so valuable that we wanted to make it accessible in as many ways as possible.

In this episode, StandardsWork’s Chief Program Officer Kristen McQuillan and Baltimore City Public Schools teacher Kyair Butts join Dr. Susan Neuman (New York University) and Dr. Margaret “Moddy” McKeown (University of Pittsburgh) to explore how content knowledge plays a critical role in reading comprehension. They also discuss the limitations of approaches that emphasize reading strategies without a strong foundation in knowledge.

You can watch this webinar as a video recording as well as the rest of our webinars on our website. 

Resources mentioned in this webinar:

• Knowledge Matters Review Tool: A Guide for Evaluating K-8 Curriculum
• Books by Dr. McKeown
• The Handbook of Early Literacy Research (Neuman, 2003)
• All About Words (Neuman, 2013)
• Educating the Other America (Neuman, 2008)
• Giving Our Children a Fighting Chance (Neuman, 2012)
• Growing Knowledge Matters. A Lot. (Student Achievement Partners, 2021)
• The Usefulness of Brief Instruction in Reading Comprehension Strategies (Daniel Willingham, 2014)
• Developing Curriculum for Deep Thinking (The Knowledge Revival, 2025)
• 10 Ways Educators Can Bring Knowledge-Building Into Their Classrooms (ASCD, Knowledge Matters Campaign)

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Original music and sound engineering by Aidan Shea.