About Kelly
Kelly B. Cartwright, PhD is Professor of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Teacher Preparation at Christopher Newport University, where she directs the Reading, Executive function, And Development Lab (READLab), and is a Research Scholar for the Center for Education Research and Policy. She is the recipient of numerous educational awards, including the 2023 State Council of Higher Education in Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award. Her research, supported by grants from the US Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences, explores neurocognitive and affective factors that underlie reading processes and difficulties across the lifespan. Widely-published in national and international scholarly outlets, her groundbreaking book, Executive Skills and Reading Comprehension: A Guide for Educators, now in second edition, is the first comprehensive text at this intersection. Kelly has served on the Board of Directors of the Literacy Research Association and as Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. She regularly works with K-12 teachers throughout the US to understand and improve reading for struggling students, and these experiences inform her research.
Blog Posts
Selected Recent Publications
Cartwright, K. B., Taboada Barber, A., Zumbrunn, S. K., & Duke, N. K. (2023, in press). Self-regulation and executive function in language arts learning. In D. Fisher & D. Lapp (Eds.), Handbook of research on teaching the English language arts. NY: Routledge.
Burns, M. K., Duke, N. K., & Cartwright, K. B. (2023). Evaluating components of the active view of reading as intervention targets: Implications for social justice. School Psychology, 38(1), 30–41. https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000519
Cartwright, K. B. (2023). Executive skills and reading comprehension: A guide for educators. (s2nd edition) NY: Guilford Press.
Cartwright, K. B., Taboada Barber, A., & *Archer, C. J. (2022). What's the difference? Contributions of lexical ambiguity, reading comprehension, and executive functions to math word problem solving in linguistically diverse 3rd to 5th graders. Scientific Studies of Reading, 26(6), 565-584. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2022.2084399
Vadasy, P., Sanders, E., & Cartwright, K. B. (2022). Cognitive flexibility in beginning decoding. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk. 10.1080/10824669.2022.2098132
Barnes, Z. T., Boedeker, P., Cartwright, K. B., & Zhang, B. (2022). Socioeconomic status and early reading achievement: How working memory and cognitive flexibility mediate the relation in low-achieving and typically developing K to first grade students. Journal of Research in Reading, 45(2), 204-222. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9817.12398
Taboada Barber, A., Klauda, S. L., Wang, W., Cartwright, K. B., & Cutting, L. E. (2022). Emergent bilinguals with specific reading comprehension deficits: A comparative and longitudinal analysis. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 55, 43-57. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022219420983247
Duke, N. K., & Cartwright, K. B. (2021). The science of reading progresses: Communicating advances beyond the simple view of reading. Reading Research Quarterly, 56,S25-S44. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.411
Taboada Barber, A., Cartwright, K. B., Hancock, G. R., Klauda, S. L. (2021). Beyond the simple view of reading: The role of executive functions in emergent bilinguals’ and English monolinguals’ reading comprehension. Reading Research Quarterly, 56, S45-S64. https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.385
Weimer, A. A., Warnell, K. R., Ettekal, I., Cartwright, K. B., Guajardo, N. R., & Liew, J. (2021). Correlates and antecedents of theory of mind development during middle childhood and adolescence: An integrated model. Developmental Review, 59, 100945. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2020.100945
Cartwright, K. B., Bock, A. M., Clause, J. H., Coppage August, E. A., Saunders, H. G., & Schmidt, K. J. (2020). Near- and far-transfer effects of an executive function intervention for 2nd to 5th grade struggling readers. Cognitive Development, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2020.100932
Taboada Barber, A., Cartwright, K. B., Stapleton, L. M., Klauda, S. L., Archer, C. J., & Smith, P. (2020). Direct and indirect effects of executive functions, reading engagement, and higher order strategic processes in the reading comprehension of dual language learners and English monolinguals. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 61, 101848 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101848
Cartwright, K. B., Marshall, T. R., & *Hatfield, N. A. (2020). Concurrent and longitudinal contributions of a brief assessment of reading-specific executive function to reading comprehension in 1stand 2nd grade students. Mind, Brain, and Education,14, 114-123. https://doi.org/10.1111/mbe.12236
Cartwright, K. B., Lee, S. A., Taboada Barber, A., DeWyngaert, L. U., Lane, A. B., & Singleton, T. (2019). Contribution of executive function and intrinsic motivation to university students’ reading comprehension. Reading Research Quarterly., doi:10.1002/rrq.273
Cartwright, K. B., & Duke, N. K. (2019). The DRIVE model of reading: Making the complexity of reading accessible. The Reading Teacher, 73(1), 7-15. doi:10.1002/trtr.1818 (available here: https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/trtr.1818)
Duke, N. K., & Cartwright, K. B. (2019). Implications of the DRIVE model of reading: Making the complexity of reading actionable. The Reading Teacher, 73(1), 123-128. doi:10.1002/trtr.1819 (available here: https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/trtr.1819)
Cartwright, K. B., Marshall, T. R., Huemer, C. M., & Payne, J. B. (2019). Executive function in the classroom: Cognitive flexibility supports reading fluency for typical readers and teacher-identified low-achieving readers. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 88, 42-52.
Cartwright, K. B. (2017). Executive-level thinking: Teaching 21st century skills for effective reading comprehension. Literacy Today, 34 (6), 38-39.
Cartwright, K. B., Bock, A. M., Coppage, E. A., Hodgkiss, M. D., & Nelson, M. I. (2017). A comparison of cognitive flexibility and metalinguistic awareness in adult good and poor comprehenders. Journal of Research in Reading, DOI: 10.1111/1467-9817.12101
Cartwright, K. B., Coppage, E. A., Lane, A. B., Singleton, T., Marshall, T. R., & Bentivegna, C. (2016). Cognitive flexibility deficits in children with specific reading comprehension difficulties. Contemporary Educational Psychology, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2016.01.003
Guajardo, N. R., & Cartwright, K. B. (2016). The contribution of theory of mind, counterfactual reasoning, and executive function to pre-readers’ language comprehension and later reading awareness and comprehension in elementary school. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 144, 27-45
Cartwright, K. B., Marshall, T. R., & Wray, E. (2016). A longitudinal study of the role of reading motivation in primary students' reading comprehension. Reading Psychology, 37, 55-91.
Bock, A., Cartwright, K. B., Gonzalez, C., O'Brien, S., Robinson, M. F., Schmerold, K., Shriver, A., & Pasnak, R. (2015). The role of cognitive flexibility in pattern understanding. Journal of Education and Human Development, 4, 19-25.
Cartwright, K. B. (2015). Executive skills and reading comprehension: A guide for educators. NY: Guilford Press.
Cartwright, K. B. (2015). Executive function and reading comprehension: The critical role of cognitive flexibility. In S. R. Parris & K. Headley (Eds.), Comprehension instruction: Research-based best practices (3rd ed., pp. 56-71). NY: Guilford Press.
Cartwright, K. B. & Guajardo, N. R. (2015). The role of hot and cool executive functions in pre-resider comprehension. In A. DeBruin-Parecki, A. van Kleeck, & S. Gear (Eds.), Developing early comprehension: Laying the foundation for reading success. Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing.
Duke, N. K., Cartwright, K. B., & Hilden, K. (2014). Difficulties with reading comprehension. In C. A. Stone, E. R. Silliman, B. J. Ehren, & G. P. Wallach (Eds.), Handbook of language and literacy: Development and disorders. NY: Guilford Press.
Cartwright, K. B. (2012). Insights from cognitive neuroscience: The importance of executive function for early reading development and education. Early Education and Development, 23, 24-36.
Cartwright, K. B. (2010). Word callers: Small group and one-to-one interventions for children who "read" but don't comprehend. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.