Dr. Phil Capin

Dr. Phil Capin is the Director of the BRIDGES Lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His research focuses on understanding differences in reading development and developing and evaluating the efficacy of instructional practices, primarily for those with difficulties. He is currently the Principal Investigator of an Institutes of Education Sciences (IES) grant focused on improving narrative language and reading comprehension for elementary emergent bilinguals. He has served as a key investigator for multiple funded projects: (1) an National Institutes of Health-funded Learning Disabilities Research Center project examining issues related to learning disabilities identification and remediation, (2) an IES-funded Education Development Research Center focused on improving opportunities and outcomes for English learners, (3) an IES-funded grant focused on integrating motivation supports within a reading intervention for students with or at risk for disabilities, and (4) an Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) project focused advancing reading outcomes for English learners with or at risk for reading disabilities. Findings from this research have published in academic outlets, including Scientific Studies of Reading, Reading Research Quarterly, and Journal of Educational Psychology. In addition to advancing understanding of reading development and instruction, a primary goal of his work is to translate research findings in ways that can meaningfully address current challenges that affect educators and their students. Prior to joining academia, Capin was a special education teacher in El Centro, California.