“If you don’t make it in school, you do not make it in life, and that is a fact,” Lyon declared at the groundbreaking of the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development in December. “Here’s what we’ve learned through research conducted at SMU and elsewhere: We actually know a great deal about how kids learn. We know a lot about why kids do not learn, and we know a lot about what to do about it.

“Unfortunately, a huge gap exists between what we know and what we do in schools.”

G. Reid Lyon shares a joke with second-grade students at Williams Preparatory School in Dallas. A former elementary school teacher, Lyon says most reading difficulties can be prevented through early identification of problems and effective instruction.

Three decades of research show that most reading difficulties actually can be prevented if children are identified early, in kindergarten and first grade, and provided with effective instruction, says Lyon, one of the authors of the federal Reading First legislation – a component of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Even the mathematics skills that need to be learned and applied require proficient reading and comprehension capabilities. Too often, help is withheld until third grade or later, when the struggling learner is so far behind it takes hours of daily intervention to catch up, he says.

“What’s needed now, in addition to expert teachers, is outstanding education leaders to create a school environment that fosters success,” he says.

Lyon joined the faculty of the Annette Caldwell Simmons School in September as Distinguished Professor of Education Policy and Leadership. A neuropsychologist and former third-grade teacher, he helped create the school’s new Master of Education degree in educational leadership, which will be launched this fall.

He describes the new Master’s degree as a rigorous, evidence-based graduate program that stresses the immediate application of theory and leadership concepts in the school setting. Students in the program will intern at schools in the Dallas area and will be assessed on their ability to apply what they learn.

SMU plans to partner in the assessments with the Dallas Independent School District’s research department, an office that has led the nation in developing computer-based systems to track student achievement. The district recently received a $3.77 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to strengthen efforts to track student performance and improve college readiness.

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