Institute of Reading DevelopmentReviews of readingprograms.org

My boys although they did not want to take the course, at the end were able to find enjoyment in the book Animal Farm. The class experience was not something they wanted to participate in at first, but found it to be helpful. I was hoping that the comprehension level would be something better explained and identified with one of my boys, but overall they feel they took some of this experience as a positive influence for their upcoming start into high school. Perhaps more one on one time in areas, but then again I was not in the classroom setting and can't really voice an opinion on how much attention was provided on an individual level. The teacher was very nice and really seemed to love what she does which is a positive.

This program had very great staff. Teacher seem well informed of what children needed in order to effectively practice reading. This program does cause for a lot of independent work. My daughter enjoyed feeling like a collage student and she successfully completed her expectation. She did state that she felt it didn't help with her comprehension skills, but it did increase her reading.

Good course. If your child isn’t reading going in, they won’t be reading coming out, as is advertised. Your child WILL show progress towards some skills which will eventually LEAD to reading.

In the middle of the course, a special needs student (much older than the other kids) joined and sat in a front seat. I am all for including special needs students into "regular" classes, although this student was very disruptive and out of control, at times. It was hard for the rest of the students behind him to hear what the teacher was saying or to contribute because he would blurt out the answer. I just think this took from the rest of the kids and this may not have been the best place for him. Also, I did not appreciate that one way the teacher got students involved was to yell an answer "as loud as possible". The room was very small which made it even louder. I don't understand what this would teach the children except disrespect and to yell in class, which is usually not what they are taught in school. I do appreciate that the teacher was enthusiastic and tried to learn the students' names in a short time. And the make-up sessions were not concurrent with that week's assignments.