Institute of Reading DevelopmentReviews of readingprograms.org

We enjoyed several of the reading classes/groups for 5th graders, but we were very disappointed by the Speed Reading, Writing & Study Skills Program for Entering 6th Graders. The teacher was great. I'd give her and her lessons 5 stars. But one of the two novels the group read was a repeat of a novel from a 5th grade group. There are so many amazing mid grade books. It was sheer laziness for the program to repeat a book in 2 different, but consecutive classes. When a class ends, the program sends emails encouraging families to sign up for the next class. They know kids will do a 5th grade class, then an entering 6th grade class. So they know a lot of families will pay twice for lessons on the same book. Pro Tip - Before you register for anything, ask what books are in the class.

I was very excited to attend this program with my son and daughter as they entered first grade.This program is not what I expected it’s really just showing parents how to teach their own kids. The class is a hour and thirty min long once a week and the rest of the week the parent has to work with the child which is not a problem unless you have kids like mine. They didn’t want to read the book because they said it was to long they gave us a website to go on for more learning but it’s not helpful because instead of reading words it’s more reading pictures. My son who got to attend the program twice still has low reading and was held back a grade, as a parent it’s my fault as well but I am not the one to force a kid to read it should be a fun happy experience. I spent 600$ for both my kids and all it showed was for me to teach them not The reading program.

The classes was to big. Didn’t really focus on my child.

So far I’m not impressed. The class is to long for a 6 year. The parents basically has to do all the work because it’s online. But the teachers are nice

When I first called to find out more info on the program I spoke at length of my child’s extreme shyness and social stress. I was assured and actually guaranteed that she would gain confidence and be a reader by the end. Neither happened. I felt like you got her enrolled and collected your fee and that is where your involvement and dedication ended.

Best support ever!

The classes were resceduled form Thursday to Satuday 9:00 without our agreement. Because of my work scheduled, my child was able to attend classes only two times. However, the teacher was wanderful and very knowledgeable.

My daughter went to an Indianapolis based class. The gist of her (2nd grade) level class was as follows: * Drop her off at class, where they did what appeared to be a single written exercise a week, as well as recap * Pick her up, and 4 times a week help her read through a book, and do some associated lessons the program website While she did make some incremental progress in the class through the week, the teacher participation and value seemed low. I think that most of the value we got from the class came from direct participation on our parts, rather than participation in the Institute's program. Aside from the technical aspects of the program, I largely found the interaction with the company to be poor. The first and last classes we experienced in the month long program started about 15-20 minutes late as we awaited the arrival of the teacher. On the last class we only discovered at the 20 minute mark that the teacher that had been attending was replaced by a sub ( who had travelled from out of state ). While I'm not upset about the use of a sub ( things happen! ), I am upset that the company failed us parents in communicating changes, and failed the sub in providing adequate directions for reaching the class and communicating the situation with the parents. When I was researching the class, I saw some middling reviews from former teachers in the program, but high reviews from other parents. After experiencing this program, I feel that I likely would have achieved better results via simply allocating an hour a day throughout the summer to reading with my daughter, and supplementing with materials I've bought myself.