Institute of Reading DevelopmentReviews of readingprograms.org

My son participated twice in the Institute of Reading Development's summer programming. First as a 6 year old and then again as an 8 year old. I highlight recommend the in-person format if your schedule will allow you to attend. The institute hires energetic teachers that truly engage your children and the peer learning is very helpful. Online tools are fun for my son, although you may find that some of the phonic work is below your child's current level. If you need to miss a class, the online make-up sessions are a nice substitute and give you flexibility. The way the reading practice is structured helps to boost confidence and fluency. Highly recommend this for you child, we've seen improvement both times our son has taken the course!

Excellent program. My child enjoyed the classroom sessions as well as the online homework sessions. The only disappointing aspect was that the last in-person class was only half the session as we stopped early to hear the hard sell for purchase of the online continuation class. :/

I thought the program was good. The teachers came prepared and had good lessons. I thought the “homework” was relevant and helped my child. I was not a fan of their policy that siblings could not be present. That required us to hire a baby sitter for our infant to allow our child to attend the class on multiple occasions. Also, parents must be in class and engaged the entire class (which is probably why there is a no sibling rule) and I would have preferred a pre-k type setting where kids are learning without their parents. Overall, I would recommend the program and will likely enroll our child next summer.

I took away a lot of great information on how to work with my child when it comes to reading and helping foster that love of reading. It was misleading that parents are only present for the first half. This was not true. The parents are present the whole time and most of the instructions are targeted at the parents not the kids. The pace of moving from activity to activity is quick which doesn't allow kids a lot of time to get in a groove. Right as they get the hang of the activity we were moving on. This was not only frustrating for my daughter, but me too.I think a more targeted activity approach (2-3 per class) would be more conducive to the child retaining and grasping what they are doing. It moved quick for a 6 year old. The online activities were great and she really excelled through those classes. All in all I did see some progress and feel like I now have the skills to continue this, but I think if the instructions were targeted more to my kid she would have made more progress.

You need more group interactivity for four years olds. I was VERY disappointed with the lack of diversity found in the reading materials. Let me suggest "I Saw it Coming " or "The Dress Down King" by Amai. "The Color of Us" by Karen Katz. Two of your books used the term "supper" very few students knew what that was. Those books were too ancient. The Hairy Scary book and the Train book were too long. If it were not for the fabulous instructor Ms Kayla, you would have gotten only 3 stars from me. She was everything a teacher of young children should be!

The main difference between the third and fourth grade summer courses is the writing component. I didn't like the fact that about half of the third grade program overlapped the fourth grade program...meaning contained the same material. Had I known that both programs were going to be very similar, I would have enrolled my children in the programs one grade level up. Secondly, I would like to see the program increase from 5 to maybe 8 or 9 weeks so that it covers the entire summer.

My son’s reading speed improved greatly according to the measurements that were taken. We’ll see about the study skills. The only reason I took a star away was because the summer program was described to me over the phone as a fun dynamic setting that would not be like a typical classroom situation... They sat in desks the entire time. My son was a bit disappointed, but admitted that he benefited from the program.

The class did help my son become a faster reader. That is the main reason for registering. I think it would have been better to receive the material for the class in the mail prior to the first session as there was a sizable amount of preparation for the parent in making sure my 10 year old got the most out of the class. The instructor was terrific. He even called to talk about my son's progress.