Can the Evidence Revolution and Multi‐Tiered Systems of Support Improve Education Equity and Reading Achievement?

We situate education, and the science of reading (SOR) specifically, in the midst of a broad, evidence‐based revolution involving an array of disciplines focused on improving the health and well‐being of individuals and populations. Low and stagnant levels of reading proficiency, massive reading disparities, and a robust SOR knowledge base suggest that the withholding of evidence‐based practices in schools differentially harms students of Color, students from poor families, English learners, and students with disabilities. We acknowledge that simply expecting greater use of evidence‐based reading practices in schools will not suffice. We present a framework where practitioners and policymakers would continue to gain better and easier access to the SOR knowledge base and evidence‐based reading practices and where much greater emphasis would be placed on fueling the demand for evidence‐based practices in schools. How schools are organized to provide reading instruction for students is also a key consideration in efforts to expand the use of evidence‐based practices. We make the case that schools engaged in comprehensive use of multi‐tiered systems of support approaches in reading are well positioned to increase their use of evidence‐based reading practices. Because much is not known about how to scale the use of effective practices, scaling efforts themselves represent opportunities to generate new SOR knowledge on both the supply and demand sides. This work would be consistent with the SOR knowledge base as a dynamic and constantly emerging phenomenon, rather than a static repository waiting to be accessed and used.