History

Reading Reform Foundation of New York became a legally recognized not-for-profit organization in 1981.  We have a suite of offices in New York City, a full-time staff of 5, and a part-time staff of 35 training consultants who work in public-school classrooms twice a week, or 60 times, all the academic year.  

Mission

Reading Reform Foundation of New York has adhered to its original mission:  to improve reading instruction.

Reading Reform Foundation's excellent courses and training give teachers the knowledge that most of the English language is predictable and logical if one understands the phonetic basis of the language and its approximately two dozen spelling rules.  Teachers learn that this information can be taught to children in step-by-step ways, simultaneously using all the senses to reinforce learning.  Our experience over 29 years and in hundreds of schools, teaching thousands of children, has proven this logical, multisensory, phonetic approach is effective.

Underlying Research

The highly respected Harvard professor Dr. Jeanne Chall wrote in her book, The Reading Crisis: Why Poor Children Fall Behind, (Harvard University Press, 1990). "The needs of low-income children are not essentially different from those children of middle-class homes.  Indeed, our findings suggest that low-income children benefit most from programs that work best for most children... a combination of structure, challenging and direct teaching, and practice in the reading of many books on a wide variety of topics..."