Institute of Reading DevelopmentReviews of readingprograms.org

This has been the worst experience of my life. We registered on 18th May, paid the shipping of $12 and we haven't gotten our material till 15th June. All I hear from them is material is on its way from USPS even though USPS still hasn't received the material from UPS. Total waste of time.

Terrible customer service. They waited until the day before my son’s first online session to disclose, via email, that it would be recorded. If I knew the sessions were recorded, I would not have registered for the course. I contacted customer service to voice my concerns. I was assured that I would be contacted by a supervisor the following Monday to discuss my concerns. I had to call customer service repeatedly for four days (Monday through Thursday) and speak to several different representatives before a supervisor finally called me back with a solution. What they offered did not address my long term concerns so I ultimately requested a refund. The program is promising however, beware if you have an issue to discuss with customer service. Based on their customer service alone, I will not sign my son up for this course again even if it is in-person.

Do not get scammed into thinking this program is in any way educational or will improve your child's ability to read. I was suckered in because I thought it was run by Temple University. Nope, hundreds of universities and colleges offer their programs, but have nothing to do with it. My grandson's class was at a church. The instructor could not have possibly had any time of degree in education. She was late and dismissed the class early because she did not know what to do with the class. I was extremely disappointed. A total waste of money. Basically, you receive a few books and access to their website. It's up to you to teach your child throughout the week until the next waste of time class. Look them up on BBB to read the awful reviews.

My grandchild participated in the live summer camp. Not really sure how much she gained from this program but decided to continue with the on-line10 week program held during the school year. Phoned to ask a question regarding enrollment and changing classes. The woman who answered was rather condescending. After explaining my situation and asking if we could switch classes prior to the course beginning, she finally said -"I don't know what you're asking" or something to that effect. Her attitude and tone left much to be desired. I had to point out to her that the schedule was for different days and times and we needed to take into consideration our work schedule, our child's progress in school, etc. If the classes were all held on the same day at the same time it would be a no brainer.

Complete waste of $371! Parents don't waste your money on this program! My son did not gain any help at all from the summer reading program. My son was struggling with reading comprehension and writing and the person on the phone from the program assured me that this program would help improve his reading comprehension and help him read more fluently and rapidly, and become a stronger and more confident writer. None of this resulted from this program unfortunately! I should have read the reviews online before signing up because, they describe completely the same situation and class style that my son later on described to me. First of all , there are too many kids in the class for your child to get the one on one attention that you supposedly pay for. The majority of the time in class they are reading silently which they can do at home obviously! No real interactive and engaging discussions on the books. Most of the questions in the workbook that are for in class activities were not even discussed or filled out! I tried to reach out to supervisor for a refund and only offered $65 back which is unacceptable! I will definitely not be recommending this program to any one else. In response to their reply: I am rejecting this response because: I did not choose to have different instructors for my child, I was forced to switch his classes to the USF campus classes because the teacher in his original class called out sick the day of class. To make up for this missed class his class was going to be extended another week which we would not be able to do since we had travel plans already set before the summer for that weekend, and I didn't want him to miss a class. I switched him to the USF class for his last 2 classes not knowing that there were going to be 2 different teachers those 2 weeks, because one of the teachers was moving away so they had a substitute for the last class. You would think that for the amount paid for this class they would have some backup plans in place to avoid these issues. I was told that I could either take $65 back for the class that his original teacher missed OR credit for him to take the class again or for my other son to take a class which I felt was completely useless since we had such a bad experience with this class, so I chose the $65 refund but would have preferred to get a full refund for the class. I would be open to getting the credit for my younger son to try the summer program next year, to see if our experience is any different. This program may be good in other areas in the U.S., that it is offered, but our experience with the classes offered in Brandon, FL was very disappointing.

Real we pay because we think this program was serious, But when we arrve was like more 20 kids on te class. And the policies is the parents can see the class. The kids spent almost all class pn silent reading a book and they never have time to wirte or work about this book. No spent money on this course. We call make complain, They said by phone they will CALL TO RETURN MONEY AND WE NEVER RECIVE A CALL..Use better your money

Certainly not worth the money spent. Most of the work is completed online AT HOME. They only taught one type of reading strategy-the long smooth underline method-for $379? My son told me that during the class, they mostly read to themselves-which was something I was having him do at home anyways. They missed the mark on so many things-they didn't discuss literary elements and apply it to the book they were reading. The classroom element should have been more engaging. I understand that the purpose of this program was to lay the ground work and set habits in which the student will need to continue on his or her own. However, what was advertised, is certainly NOT ALL that was taught, if anything was taught at all. The teacher didn't really build up his writing skills at all or provide correction. The upside, was that my son did dive into reading more, increased his speed, and gained some confidence. Hindsight, I expected more for what I paid for. It's too expensive and not worth what you spend. PARENTS BEWARE.

Did not like I felt like it was a waste of time and money.