Our Mission

For too many children the American dream has been extinguished. Two-thirds of our fourth graders cannot read proficiently according to the Nation’s Report Card. Their struggle continues every day. By eighth grade 69% still cannot read proficiently. Is it any wonder that more than a quarter of our high school students drop out? How long would you stay in school if you couldn’t read? Further, 40% of the inmates in our prisons and jails and 30% of probationers have not completed high school or its equivalent. How long can America afford to pay this price?

Tragically, these dismal numbers have remained virtually unchanged for the past decade. Yet 10 years ago, in the most exhaustive study of reading research ever undertaken, the National Reading Panel defined what good reading instruction should be. They directed their recommendations to the primary grades because those are the years in which the fundamental reading skills must be mastered. Why? Because children who are not reading by the end of second grade will continue to struggle with reading ever after. And if they struggle with reading they struggle in school, and they struggle in life.

In that same decade, billions of dollars were spent on intervention and remediation in the intermediate grades trying to compensate for what wasn’t learned or perhaps wasn’t even taught in prior years. It’s clear that intervention and remediation haven’t worked or the eighth-grade statistics would be better and American children would not be ranked 18th in a study of international reading literacy.

For the prior 30 years, five basal reading programs have been used by the vast majority of elementary schools. In order to maintain their market share and remain profitable, the publishers of these programs have tried to respond to the ever-shifting demands placed on them by state and district textbook adoption procedures. In meeting these market demands, they have been forced to layer into their reading programs additional content and components that have obscured any identifiable pedagogical point of view or instructional focus. In an attempt to please many masters, they have included a little of everything for everyone. The result? Programs that are virtually indistinguishable from each other and so unwieldy that teachers can’t manage the materials or deliver them in a linear and thoughtful instructional process. In frustration, seeing the confusion that results for their students, teachers have tried to cobble together their own materials or supplement the basal textbooks with stand-alone phonics programs, separate spelling and writing workbooks, leveled readers, and unrelated software components that only compound their management challenges and further obscure a clear instructional focus for their students.

Administrators, frustrated with their inability to significantly improve reading scores during the past decade, seek broader solutions. In an effort to clarify the curriculum, they add overarching organizational principles and become a “Balanced Literacy district” or a “Guided Reading district.” They commit to the “4 Blocks” or “Daily Five” or “Readers Workshop” methodologies trying to help teachers serve the needs of an increasingly diverse and transient student population. All of these efforts are well-intended, yet none of them are resulting in significant improvement. When two-thirds of our students can’t read, we must acknowledge that this is no longer just the “low group.” It is most of our children.

But there is hope. Throughout America, courageous administrators have questioned the very structure of the reading and language arts curriculum that has been built over the years and acknowledged that it isn’t working. They know that,

If all you ever do is what you’ve already done,
then all you’ll ever get is what you’ve already got.
–Old Texas adage

Obviously, what they’ve got is not good enough and they know it is time to stop and start over again, to peel back this patchwork of piecemeal solutions, to strip away the layers that burden their teachers, confuse their students, and simply don’t work. It is time to look beyond the basals for a fresh, manageable solution that is based on solid scientific research and truly works for teachers and students. If we don’t, nothing is going to change, and we will continue to watch the American dream evaporate for millions of students.

With all the challenges our nation faces today, the Rowland Reading Foundation deeply believes that none is more critical than the need to solve the reading crisis. Fully cognizant of the vast complexities of the problem, the Foundation is raising public awareness of the crisis as well as offering a solution. The Foundation is dedicated solely to improving reading instruction in the primary grades, where research consistently proves the problem must be solved. The Foundation is a nonprofit organization, beholden to no stockholders or any other constituency except teachers and administrators who are seeking a fresh start.

The solution we offer is called the Superkids Reading Program, a new core curriculum created just for pre-K through second grade, when the critical skills of learning how to read must be mastered. Based on the strongest research available, Superkids is both highly motivating and rigorous. It blends the science of reading with the art of teaching to create a program that teachers and children love. Of greatest importance—it works, as our efficacy research validates. Further, the Foundation recognizes the need to deepen teachers’ knowledge of the science of reading and to strengthen their instructional techniques. To that end, we provide expert coaching for classroom teachers at no cost to the schools. And we provide training for community volunteers who choose to become Super Tutors and make a meaningful, informed contribution in the classroom as they support students in reading, writing, and spelling.

The Rowland Reading Foundation offers our program as a bright new spark of hope to inspire teachers, administrators, and volunteers. Please join us in our crusade to make the American dream a reality for millions of children.

A small body of determined spirits
fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission
can alter the course of history.
-Mahatma Gandhi