Dr. Rebecca D. Silverman to Give Keynote Literacy Research Symposium
MILE is excited to announce the keynote speaker for the 2025 literacy research symposium, Rebecca D. Silverman.
Dr. Silverman is a Judy Koch Professor of Education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education (GSE). She began her career in education as an elementary school teacher. Passionate about supporting children’s literacy development, she earned her master’s and doctoral degrees in language and literacy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She taught in the Department of Special Education at the University of Maryland before starting at the Stanford GSE in 2018.
Dr. Silverman’s research focuses on language and literacy development in early childhood and elementary school. Her work has contributed to the research base on supporting vocabulary and other aspects of language that are critical to reading and writing and using multimedia and educational technology to facilitate literacy. She is involved in projects related to language-based instruction for multilingual learners, computer-adaptive assessment of language and literacy skills, and the effectiveness of a supplemental digital literacy program. Dr. Silverman leads the Language to Literacy Research Lab and is engaged in research-practice partnerships in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Dr. Silverman’s teaching focuses on bridging research and practice. She has taught pre-service general and special education teachers at the undergraduate and graduate levels; she has led professional development on research-based practices for supporting language and literacy for in-service early childhood and elementary school educators; and she has mentored numerous doctoral students who will serve as the next generation of researchers and teacher educators. She has also taught internationally, having been a Fulbright Scholar in Myanmar.
