After five years of getting feedback from parents of children preK-grade 3, two things are abundantly clear to me: families aren’t aware of the skills children need to become strong readers & school messaging about…
It's hard to align busy teachers, specialists, and families when reading instructional plans are too complicated. Instead, put a strong basic plan in place that all stakeholders understand – and…
In a NY Times Op-ed last fall, the prize-winning education reporter, Emily Hanford, described the sad state of reading instruction in the U.S. She cited the dismal data, highlighted the amount of…
Dear Joan- My kindergarten and third-grade sons are doing remote learning, and after Zoom-school ends, all they want to do is play video games or watch television. How can I…
Dear Joan- I’m confused about what to do for my first grader. She doesn’t really like to read but I know she is supposed to practice reading every night for…
The big gap between parent understanding, and reality I read a statistic this week that I have to share: 9 out of 10 parents and caregivers think that their children read at…
A 2nd grader on my street summed it up perfectly: “School is going to stink this year.” Not sure how he knew it, but his words speak for the masses…
My college roommate, Lizzie, would interrupt days of studying monotony with, “OK –what are you looking forward to, short term and long term?” Lizzie was right, we all need things…
Amidst the Covid-19 chaos, parents and teachers are struggling to figure out remote learning. But what if we rethought the current approach, and instead used this opportunity to give parents…
Dear Parents & Guardians: I know you’re ready for summer and done with the role you’ve had to play during quarantine’s now-famous remote learning adventure, but before you completely devote…
Our mission is to empower parents to raise successful readers and critical thinkers, who can thrive in our ever-changing world.