Meredith Liben and David Liben

The Libens have taught, written and collaborated together for the past 38 years. Their teaching and work has spanned every grade and most school types, though it has been predominately in urban centers (mostly in Harlem). Both David and Meredith Liben have worked in rural schools and in community college and teacher prep programs as well. They coordinated the project designed to provide the best information and tools to educators around questions of defining the text complexity and range of reading called for by the Common Core State Standards during the first decade they were in widespread use.

During the past several years, the Libens have been working to support teachers, students and instructional materials makers by teaching about the practical implications of reading research. Most recently, their collaboration has resulted in two books: Know Better Do Better: Teaching the Foundations so Every Child Can Read and Know Better Do Better: Comprehension, Fueling the Reading Brain with Knowledge, Vocabulary and Rich Language.