For the past 3 years, it has been my pleasure to work for public middle schools in New York City (downtown Brooklyn) and the greater Tacoma, WA area. I have a master’s degree, but not a teaching certificate, so I’ve proudly worked as a para-educator conducting reading small group instruction (NYC) and/or tutoring (Tacoma area).
Sadly, from coast to coast, at least half of all the 11- to 15-year-old students where I worked needed help to improve their reading ability. In NYC, every student received small group instruction in both reading and writing. However, in the Tacoma area, only about 25 percent of our students received assistance. And even then, the focus for students was either figuring out for themselves what they were doing wrong with reading (the Read 180 online program) or intensive phonics and decoding knowledge (REWARDS workbooks).
Read Right methods WORK because they are different. Read Right tutors (and at some schools, staff members) are intensively trained to deliver small group instruction with Read Right methodology. It is not a canned or packaged program. The focus for every Read Right tutor is the use of real non-fiction and fiction stories and books while coaching students to authentic excellence. “Excellence” means the reader sounds as smooth and natural as they do in a conversation when reading out loud and they fully comprehend each and every time they read.
It’s the good stuff parents and schools are looking for, and I’m delighted to return to work for Read Right Systems after three years learning about the other ways schools are trying to improve literacy skills.
— Rhonda Stone, MPA, returning to Read Right, August 2020
