Dr. Kelly Cartwright: Executive Skills and Reading Comprehension

April 3, 2026 · 42 min

About this episode

Dr. Kelly Cartwright discusses the importance of executive functions in reading comprehension and their impact on struggling readers.

The science of reading has made real progress in how schools think about decoding and language comprehension. But for a significant number of struggling readers, those two buckets don’t explain what’s getting in the way. Dr. Kelly Cartwright, Spangler Distinguished Professor of Early Child Literacy at UNC Charlotte , has spent her career mapping the territory other reading models leave out — specifically, the role executive functions play in coordinating what skilled readers do. In this conversation, Dr. Cartwright explains what executive functions (EF) actually are, why they matter for every reader and not just students with ADHD, and what her research reveals about the kind of EF interventions that actually move the needle on reading outcomes. She also makes the case that the field’s tendency toward dichotomous thinking — decoding over here, comprehension over there — may be leaving a large group of students without the support they need. Check out the video recording of this conversation below, available to full subscribers. Join the community today! Show Notes Research and Articles (links embedded in title) * Duke, N. K., & Cartwright, K. B. (2021). The Science of Reading…

People in this episode

Host: Matt Renwick

Guest: Dr. Kelly Cartwright

Topics covered

executive functions
reading comprehension
struggling readers
science of reading
educational interventions

Keywords

executive functions
reading comprehension
struggling readers
science of reading
educational interventions
ADHD
decoding
language comprehension

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: UNC Charlotte

Books & works: The Science of Reading Progresses: Communicating Advances Beyond the Simple View of Reading, Considering Roles of Executive Functions in the Science of Reading: A Meta-Analysis Highlighting Promises and Challenges of Reading-Specific Ex