About

Phil Capin is an Assistant Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His research focuses on understanding individual differences in reading development and designing and evaluating effective instructional practices, particularly for students who have or are at risk for reading difficulties. Supported by grants from the Institute of Education Sciences, the National Institutes of Health, and the Office of Special Education Programs, Dr. Capin has conducted randomized control trials examining instructional approaches to improve reading opportunities and outcomes for children in K-12 settings. He directs the BRIDGES Lab (Building Reading Instruction to Drive Growth in Every Student), which is dedicated to rigorous, collaborative research with educators to bridge the gap between research and classroom practice.

Research topics

• Developmental psychology
• Psychology
• Linguistics
• Pedagogy
• Mathematics education
• Medicine
• Mathematics
• Cognitive psychology
• Statistics

Selected publications

• The Direct and Indirect Effects of an Oral Narrative Intervention for Children with or At Risk for Language and Reading Disorders

  Mind Brain and Education · 2025-10-07

  article

  ABSTRACT This study assessed the direct and ‐ indirect effects of Supporting Knowledge in Language and Literacy (SKILL), a narrative intervention designed to improve oral and written narrative abilities in school‐age children with or at risk for language and reading disorders. We conducted a multisite randomized controlled trial with 357 students in Grades 1–4 (S. Gillam, 2023). Multilevel models showed significant posttest and follow‐up gains in oral narrative production (Hedges' g = 0.61 and 0.63) and generalization to written narrative skills ( g = 0.34–0.35). To move beyond our main effects, we conducted moderated mediation analyses, which revealed that decoding skill significantly moderated both the direct and indirect effects of the SKILL intervention on reading comprehension. Students with low to average decoding abilities experienced the strongest indirect benefits of treatment on reading comprehension through gains in narrative ability. These findings provide empirical support for the Reading Is Language (RIL) model (Snowling & Hulme, 2025), which conceptualizes reading comprehension as a product of reciprocal interactions between decoding and language skills. Clinically, results suggest that oral language interventions like SKILL can support literacy development, particularly when combined with decoding instruction for children with weaker word recognition skills. The study highlights the potential of narrative‐focused interventions to contribute meaningfully to literacy growth, offering both theoretical and practical guidance for educators and clinicians.

  PublisherDOI

• Centering students with learning disabilities in intervention research: Implications for educational theory

  Educational Psychologist · 2025-06-12 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  The amount of time students with learning disabilities (LD) spend in general education classes has steadily increased over the past half century. This article addresses the need to investigate the impact of class-wide instructional approaches for students with and without LD in general education settings. We describe the process of developing and testing two class-wide, inclusive instructional programs that have yielded meaningful impacts on reading outcomes for students with and without disabilities and influenced educational theories. To advance educational psychology research, theory, and practice, we also present recommendations for conducting rigorous intervention research that can improve understanding of the best ways to support the reading development of students with LD in inclusive settings.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A meta-analysis of the effects of academic interventions on academic and academic anxiety outcomes in secondary students

  Journal of School Psychology · 2025-03-30 · 1 citations

  review
  PublisherDOI

• Uniting for literacy progress: Ohio’s systems approach to preparing and supporting P20 educators to teach all children to read well

  Annals of Dyslexia · 2025-10-01 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Exploring the feasibility of implementing the SPELL-Links to Reading and Writing intervention

  Annals of Dyslexia · 2024-08-30 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  This study examined six reading intervention teachers' implementation of the SPELL-Links to Reading and Writing intervention with students in Grades 2 and 3. The purpose was to explore the extent to which teachers who received a one-day training session without ongoing coaching support were able to implement the intervention with fidelity. It also aimed to better understand the determinants (i.e., barriers and facilitators) of teachers' implementation and their perceptions related to the importance, feasibility, and effectiveness of the intervention. Data from four sources (implementation logs, implementation observations, interviews, and surveys) were collected and analyzed. Participating teachers did not implement the intervention at the intended dosage of 4 days per week, but they did demonstrate high adherence and quality on average. Several barriers to implementation were identified, including intervention training, intervention content and structure, compatibility with existing practices, and alignment with goals. Notable facilitators of implementation were teacher capability and peer support. Teachers had varying perceptions of the intervention, with neutral satisfaction on average. These findings indicate a need for further research on determinants of intervention implementation as they may be crucial in supporting teachers' implementation fidelity.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Supporting Knowledge and Language Acquisition of Secondary Emergent Bilinguals through Social Studies Instruction

  Reading Research Quarterly · 2024-05-19 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract This study examined the initial efficacy of World Generation (WorldGen), a Tier I social studies instructional approach for emergent bilingual (EB) students and their native English‐speaking (non‐EB) peers in Grades 6 and 7. WorldGen builds on prior research on instructional practices that have been associated with improved content knowledge and literacy outcomes for EBs in classes of students with varying English proficiency. Using a within‐teacher design, middle grades world history teachers' classes were randomly assigned to WorldGen treatment (17) or comparison conditions (16) for three to four approximately two‐week units. The student sample included 42% EBs. Students in the treatment condition ( n = 373) scored higher, on average, on world history content (Hedges' g = 0.47) and vocabulary knowledge (Hedges' g = 0.41) than students in the comparison condition ( n = 343) but no statistically significant findings were yielded regarding disciplinary literacy skills at the end of WorldGen instruction. Of primary interest, the statistically significant main effects indicated that world history content knowledge and vocabulary learning was similar for both current EB and non‐EB students in the treatment condition. The findings provide initial support for the use of the WorldGen instructional practices for improving content acquisition and vocabulary in general education social studies classes with students with a range of English proficiency. Furthermore, teachers perceived the WorldGen instructional practices and materials as providing the information and learning experiences necessary to support students in meeting grade‐level expectations.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Efficacy of a Cognitive-Behavioral Anxiety Management Program Integrated Within a Reading Intervention

  International Journal of Cognitive Therapy · 2024-06-12 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Understanding the relation between reading and anxiety among upper elementary students with reading difficulties

  Annals of Dyslexia · 2024-01-16 · 12 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Contextualized, Multicomponent Language Instruction: From Theory to Randomized Controlled Trial

  Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools · 2024-04-19 · 11 citations

  articleOpen access

  PURPOSE: Clinicians address a wide range of oral language skills when working with school-age students with language and literacy difficulties (LLDs). Therefore, there is a critical need for carefully designed, rigorously tested, multicomponent contextualized language interventions (CLIs) that have a high likelihood of successful implementation and measurable academic impacts. This clinical focus article summarizes the development and testing of a CLI entitled Supporting Knowledge in Language and Literacy (SKILL), which is a supplementary narrative intervention program for elementary school-age children. Our aims are to (a) to review the foundational theoretical models that are the foundation of SKILL; (b) describe the iterative process used to develop the phases, lessons, procedures, materials, and progress monitoring tool; (c) summarize recent findings of the randomized controlled trial that was conducted to test its efficacy; and (d) discuss factors that may contribute to successful implementation of multicomponent language interventions. METHOD: A total of 357 students in Grades 1-4 with LLDs were randomized to a treatment group or to a business-as-usual control group. The treatment group received the SKILL curriculum in small groups during 30-min lessons by trained speech-language pathologists, teachers, and special educators. RESULTS: Students who received SKILL significantly outperformed those who did not on oral and written measures of storytelling and comprehension immediately after treatment and after 5-months at follow-up. Gains were similar among students with different levels of language ability (at-risk, language impaired) and language status (monolingual, bilingual) at pretest. CONCLUSIONS: There is growing support for the use of multicomponent CLIs to bring about educationally relevant outcomes for students with LLDs. The authors present this review of how SKILL was designed, manualized, and rigorously tested by a team of researchers and practitioners with the hope that this approach will serve as a springboard for the development of future multicomponent CLIs that may meaningfully improve communicative and educational outcomes for students with LLDs.

  PublisherDOI

• Does the effectiveness of a reading intervention differ dependent on students' Spanish or English proficiencies?

  Learning and Individual Differences · 2024-09-07 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Sharon Vaughn

  The University of Texas at Austin

  39 shared

• Eunsoo Cho

  Vanderbilt University

  27 shared

• Colby Hall

  University of Virginia

  26 shared

• Katlynn Dahl‐Leonard

  The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

  19 shared

• Greg Roberts

  The University of Texas at Austin

  17 shared

• Emily J. Solari

  University of Virginia

  17 shared

• Karen F. Kehoe

  Middle Tennessee State University

  17 shared

• Anna‐Mária Fall

  The University of Texas at Austin

  12 shared

Labs

• Bridges LabPI