Your child joins a small group of about four students for one live weekly class with an IRD Expert Teacher, plus structured reading practice between classes.
$199 a month
Cancel anytime before your next billing date.
See the program →Your child can start this week.
Small-Group Reading Program
$199 a month
Choose your class time after you enroll.
See the program →Child in grade 5 or younger? See the Pre-K–5 program →
If reading isn’t solid, every subject gets harder. Practices, projects, screens, and a school day that already asks for more reading than many students can do fluently. Another vague “reading program” sounds like one more thing that won’t get done. This is not that.
By sixth grade a child who has decided they are not a reader has usually held that opinion for years. It is an opinion, and it moves when the reading gets easier.
You want your child to feel successful as much as you want them to be successful. Both are built the same way: a live teacher, reading pitched where they actually are, and a few minutes a day.
Looking for a completely personalized learning experience? Explore 1:1 private tutoring for middle school or high school →
The week starts with a live 50-minute class with an IRD Expert Teacher and a group of about four students, never more than six. It is small enough that your child is actually heard rather than sitting quietly at the back.
Your child reads, speaks up, and gets coached every session.
Weekly reading material is part of the lesson. Between classes, your child does short, structured reading of it, under twenty minutes a day. Not an app, and not worksheets piled on.
In a group of about four, the teacher is paying attention to your child’s reading, week after week. Then the same rhythm next week. That’s why it sticks when other plans don’t.
Cancel anytime before your next billing date to stop your next payment.
Enroll your student →The first two sessions decide it. If it doesn’t fit, we refund your payment in full. See the guarantee and time limits.
The school year is not the summer. Our programs are built for both, sized to be doable and sustainable beside school, not an extra burden. Working on reading belongs all year. You still can’t know until you’ve lived a couple of weeks of it whether this time, this teacher, and this workload fit your week. So the first two sessions exist for you to find out, and if it doesn’t fit, we refund your payment in full.
Try the first two sessions. If the program isn’t the right fit, tell us within 48 hours of your child’s second session or within 21 days of purchase, whichever comes first. We’ll refund your payment in full. Email help@readingprograms.org to request your refund.
The Triple Guarantee applies for as long as your child is enrolled. Its remedies provide additional instruction. The separate two-session fit guarantee above provides a full payment refund within its stated time limits.
The 937,000+ hours were completed by participants across our summer and school-year programs. They show sustained reading engagement across those programs; they are not a measure of reading growth or a result specific to this small-group program.
“I have used the Institute of Reading Program for my daughter for the last six years, and I feel it has benefited her throughout her elementary and junior high years. It’s a great way to build reading skills and comprehension before entering the next grade.”
“One thing I really liked about this reading program is that I got to interact and talk with people about the books. The teacher was really nice and fun—she helped us a lot. I noticed that my reading speed had increased over time.”
By middle school, school has stopped teaching reading. It assumes the skill and builds every subject on top of it. Reading to learn replaces learning to read, and the ceiling keeps rising whether the skill came along or not. School will not give your child a separate hour with a live teacher who meets them where they actually read.
Families wait for “things to settle.” The school year is when they don’t. Our programs are built for school year and summer: sized to sit beside school, doable and sustainable. Working on reading belongs all year.
Because reading develops in stages, not on a birthday. A student can move up a grade every year without the reading stage moving with them. It works as a cycle: skill makes reading easier, easier reading builds confidence, confidence makes a student willing to read more, and reading more is what builds the next skill. At this age the cycle turns in whichever direction it is already going, and waiting doesn’t turn it around. The relief: every part of that cycle is teachable.
There’s no start date to wait for. Every class is already on a week of one continuous curriculum, and your child starts with the week they join.
Every small group caps at six, so families who enroll sooner get the widest choice of days and times.
What if none of the available class times works?
Choose your class time after you enroll. If none of the available times works for your family, we’ll help find or create another option—or refund your payment in full.
What does it cost?
$199 a month. You pay when you enroll, and your subscription renews monthly on your enrollment date. Cancel anytime before your next billing date to stop your next payment.
When does it start?
After you enroll, you can pick your day and time. The first class can be in the next few days or a couple of weeks out. We encourage you to schedule the 20-minute reading assessment as soon as you can, but your child doesn’t need to wait for it to start class. Spots are held through enrollment, not by inquiry.
What if we need to stop?
Cancel anytime before your next billing date to stop your next payment. Email help@readingprograms.org. Classes continue through the period you’ve already paid for.
What is “two sessions to decide”?
Try the first two sessions. If the program isn’t the right fit, tell us within 48 hours of your child’s second session or within 21 days of purchase, whichever comes first. We’ll refund your payment in full. Email help@readingprograms.org.
What does the week look like?
One live 50-minute class a week with an expert reading teacher, in a group of about four. Weekly reading material is part of the lesson, and your child reads it between classes, under twenty minutes a day.
How do you place my child?
We place your child where they actually read, which at this age is often not where their grade says. The 20-minute reading assessment helps confirm the right program and the right grade. If a placement isn’t right, we re-place your child within 7 days at no charge.
What is the 20-minute reading assessment?
It gives you and your child’s teacher a clear idea of where your child is with reading right now. It helps confirm that this is the right program and the right grade, and it lets the teacher start personalizing instruction from the very beginning. It takes 20 minutes, low pressure, with a warm and encouraging teacher. We encourage you to schedule it as soon as you can after you enroll, but your child doesn’t need to wait for it to start class.
What if my child misses a class?
Tell us at least 24 hours ahead and we schedule a makeup lesson so your child doesn’t lose instruction time. With less notice, tell us anyway and we’ll do what we reasonably can. That week’s reading material is still there either way.
Can we pause later?
Yes. You may pause once per calendar year, for up to 90 days, by email to help@readingprograms.org. You name your return date. Billing and classes stop together and start again together. We do our best to hold your place, but we can’t promise the same day, time, or teacher when you return.
Do you offer one-on-one tutoring?
Yes. 1:1 Private Tutoring gives your child one teacher to themselves, for $349 a month. High school tutoring is one-on-one only. See 1:1 Private Tutoring →
I’d rather talk to someone first.
Write to help@readingprograms.org. You do not have to speak to anyone to enroll. The buttons on this page complete on their own.
Give reading its own hour, the one that actually gets done.
Enroll your student →$199 a month · The first two sessions decide it.
Preview only — you'll choose your session after you enroll.
Free Reading Guide
Report cards say “on track” — but not what that means. This free, grade-specific guide shows the reading skills your child is building this year, what classroom instruction looks like, and the milestones teachers expect.
