Emily Solari

  • Edmund H. Henderson Professor of Education

Office Location

Bavaro Hall 234G
PO Box 400273
417 Emmet Street S
Charlottesville, VA 22903

Biography

Emily Solari is the coordinator and professor in the reading education program in the Department of Curriculum Instruction and Special Education. Her work has included intervention development and trials with students who have early profiles of reading difficulties, individuals diagnosed with autism, and English language learners. She is particularly focused on translating the science of reading by engaging with practitioners and policy makers to leverage scientific evidence to improve practice in school settings. The goal of her scholarship is to develop and test the efficacy of targeted interventions to prevent and ameliorate reading difficulties.

Solari serves as the PI of a postdoctoral training grant, funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, aimed at training fellows who are interested in developing as scholars who investigate academic development, such as reading and writing, in children with ASD. She is also the PI of the predoctoral training grant, funded by the Office of Special Education program, that trains future scholars and teacher educators in the science of reading and evidence-based reading assessment and instruction for students with disabilities. 

Solari directs Virginia Literacy Partnerships (VLP), which is dedicated to ensuring that all children across the Commonwealth have access to evidence-based literacy screening, instruction, and intervention. She currently serves as the editor-in-chief of The Reading League Journal, a new journal dedicated to translating specific reading research findings for a practitioner audience; she is also an associate editor for the Journal of Learning Disabilities and Remedial and Special Education. She serves on various state and national level executive boards including the Council for Exceptional Children’s Division of Learning Disabilities and The Reading League’s Virginia Chapter.

Education

Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara, 2007
M.A., University of California, Santa Barbara, 2004

Featured Research

Validation of an instrument for assessing elementary-grade educators’ knowledge to teach reading

This article describes the development and validation of the Teacher Understanding of Literacy Constructs and Evidence-Based Instructional Practices (TULIP) survey, which assesses teacher knowledge in the domains of (a) phonological awareness, (b) phonics, decoding, and encoding, (c) reading fluency, (d) oral language, and (e) reading comprehension.

Forty Years of Reading Intervention Research for Elementary Students with or at Risk for Dyslexia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

This study meta-analyzed experimental or quasi-experimental intervention studies conducted between 1980 and 2020 that aimed to improve reading outcomes for Grade K-5 students with or at risk for dyslexia (i.e., students with or at risk for word reading difficulties, defined as scoring at or below a set norm-referenced screening or mean baseline performance threshold).

Effectiveness of Interventions for English Learners with Word Reading Difficulties: A Research Synthesis

This study meta-analyzed the last four decades (1980–2020) of reading intervention research focused on improving reading outcomes for English language (EL) students in Grades K–5 with or at risk for word reading difficulties.

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