About History

How Read Right Was Developed

A Mother’s Quest to Help Her Son

More than 30 years ago, faced with her 7-year-old son’s struggle with reading, Dr. Dee spent three years analyzing and synthesizing scientific findings from reading theory, learning theory, information theory, language acquisition theory, cognitive psychology (particularly Jean Piaget’s interactive constructivist model of learning), neuro-psychology, neuro-biology, and more, all with the hope of explaining why reading intervention programs were so frequently ineffective with struggling readers. This included an examination of what was a relatively new concept at the time: brain plasticity. From this work, Dr. Dee concluded that conventional views of reading were overly focused on the explicit aspects of reading (specifically, sequential letter sounds and individual words on the page), rather than the implicit processing that the brain must do to construct meaning from text (the complex “symphony” of subconscious neural activity that must occur for excellent reading to be produced each and every time a reader reads).[/thirdimageleft]

Her three-year investigation worked. Equipped with new ideas on how to help struggling readers, she eliminated her son’s reading problem in just three months and began to implement the methods with students of all ages. In 1991, after 10 years of classroom trials, Dr. Dee formed Read Right Systems to serve a growing number of clients interested in her ground-breaking work. Today, the Read Right Reading Intervention Program is used by hundreds of classroom teachers and aides, college instructors, corrections educators, workforce development instructors, and others. Read Right tutoring is now available virtually everywhere via live, interactive Online Tutoring. Learn more about it at www.tutoringforreading.com

A Historical Summary of Dr. Dee’s Work:

• 1963: Bachelor of Arts Degree in History
• 1963: Inducted into Phi Beta Kappa
• 1964-1966: Peace Corps Volunteer in India
• 1967: Bachelor of Arts Degree in Education
• 1969: Master of Arts Degree
• 1978: Doctor of Philosophy in Education with a major in Reading and a minor in Curriculum Development
• 1978: Son develops a significant reading problem
• 1978-1981: Conducts intensive work synthesizing information from scientific studies on brain plasticity, reading theory, learning theory, language acquisition theory, and more
• 1981: As a result of the intensive work, Dee develops a new, comprehensive system of tutoring to address reading problems. The methods eliminate her son’s reading problem in three months
• 1981: Begins work to field test the new methodology in the classroom with a variety of age and demographic groups (Elementary, secondary, community college, and adult basic education. K-12 field testing includes special education and Title I students. K-12, college, and adult basic education students include English Language Learners)
• 1986: Theoretical constructs underlying her methodology are published in a peer-reviewed journal (Tadlock D, 1986: A Practical Application of Psycholinguistics and Piaget’s Theory to Reading Instruction, Reading Psychology, Volume 7, Number 3, 1986, 183-195.)
• 1990: Contracted by Simpson Timber Company to create workforce literacy program using the Read Right Intervention Program
• 1991: In September, Dr. Dee and Lee Gilles found Read Right Systems, Inc. in order to create a corporate framework that will facilitate expansion to other companies, schools, colleges, and organizations. Initial focus is on industry. Corporate clients include Boeing, Weyerhaeuser, Georgia Pacific, Ford Motor Company, Motorola, Hewlett Packard, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Merck, International Paper, and more.
• 1994-2000: Contracted by Motorola and Procter & Gamble to use Read Right methodology to establish English as a Foreign Language programs in China for plant managers, secretaries, and some front-line workers so that native Chinese speakers learn to both read and speak in English in order that communication among Asian facilities can occur in a common language
• 1995: Named “Best Program Available” for workforce reading improvement by a task force composed of Hewlett Packard representatives from facility sites throughout the United States
• 1995-present: Recruited by a school district to return to K-12 education; school and district clients grow from one to hundreds of schools
• 1998: Began development of comprehensive manuals for the Read Right Intervention Program for tutors, trainers, and consultants, laying a foundation for consistent replication and widespread implementation
• 1999: Receives Saskatchewan Labour Force Development Board’s Training in Excellence Award
• 2000: Receives the Sales Association of the Paper Industry Literacy Achievement Award
• 2001: Litzenberger studies establish that Read Right methodology, as replicated by teachers and aides in classroom settings, produces rapid gains for elementary, middle, and high school students (Litzenberger J, 2001a: Reading Research Results: Using Read Right as an Intervention Program for At-Risk 10th Graders; Litzenberger J, 2001b: Reading Research Results: Using Read Right as an Intervention Program for Elementary and Middle School Students.)
• 2004: Academic monograph presenting the science underlying Read Right methodology is completed: Interactive Constructivism and Reading: The Nature of Neural Networks Challenges the Phonological Processing Hypothesis. The paper is submitted to academic journals for peer review and is rejected for publication. Feedback from journal editors indicates that the paper can not be published (in parts or as a whole) because Read Right Systems, Inc. is a private company.
• 2005: After a thorough review, the United States Patent Office grants Dee and Kyle Tadlock a patent for their unique and innovative tutoring system
• 2005: McGraw-Hill publishes trade book for parents: Read Right! Coaching Your Child to Excellence in Reading by Dee Tadlock, Ph.D.
• 2005 to present: Recruited to begin work with Community Colleges
• 2005-2009: Development of Primary Core Curriculum for Grades K-3
• 2006: Nominee, Brock International Prize in Education; places third out of nine nominees
• 2006-2007: Beta testing for Read Right Primary Core Curriculum
• 2010: A highly-regarded education research firm (Education Northwest, formerly known as the Northwest Education Research Laboratory) receives a contract from a non-profit foundation not associated with Dr. Dee or Read Right Systems to conduct an independent, controlled study of the Read Right Reading Intervention Program, as replicated by classroom teachers and aides in middle and high schools. Results document “significant positive effect” (effect size: .23 with a probability that results were achieved by chance of p=.000) after just one semester of implementation, with an average of only 18 hours of tutoring.
• 2010: Read Right’s new Online Tutoring Service is developed and launched; 2010 is the program’s trial year.
• 2010: Read Right Systems applies and is accepted to be included on the national Response to Intervention (RTI) list (December 2010)
• 2011: Education Northwest’s research of Read Right methodology is reviewed and rated highly by the National Center on Response to Intervention for RTI. Read Right methodology is included on the national RTI list.
• 2011: Read Right Systems celebrates its 20th Anniversary. Congratulations Read Right!
• 2011: The year-long trial of the Read Right Online Tutoring System proves highly effective. Read Right tutoring becomes available to anyone, virtually anywhere, via Online e-conferencing technology.
• 2011 – 2020: Read Right grows across the U.S.