One live 50-minute session a week with an IRD Expert Teacher, one‑on‑one.
$349 a month
Cancel anytime before your next billing date.
See the program →Your child can start this week.
1:1 Private Tutoring
$349 a month
Start this week.
See the program →Child in grade 5 or younger? See Pre-K–5 tutoring →
If reading is still hard, science, history, and word problems all get harder with it. You want your student to feel successful as much as you want them to be successful. At this age both matter, and we work on both.
By sixth grade a student 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.
High school students are tutored one‑on‑one, never in a small group.
In middle school, and your student would rather read with a few other students? See the Small-Group Reading Program →
Reading skill grows on volume, on minutes spent reading something they can actually read. The live session is where a teacher finds the gap, teaches the skill, and sets what comes next.
Between sessions, the reading is pitched where your student actually reads instead of where their grade says, so the work gets done instead of abandoned. Then the next session starts from what that reading showed.
One‑on‑one means the session is your student and their teacher. Nobody else hears the hard part. The teacher can slow down on the thing that is actually blocking them without a group waiting, and speed up where they are already strong.
Every session follows our curriculum and its instructional spine, and the teacher is trained to adapt that spine vigorously to where this student is. Our teachers teach all grades, so they understand the stages of reading development, where your student is in them, and what your student needs to move forward.
Then the same rhythm the next week. That is why it holds when other plans don’t.
Cancel anytime before your next billing date to stop your next payment.
Enroll your student →Try the first two sessions. If the program isn’t the right fit, tell us, and we’ll refund your payment in full. See the guarantee and time limits.
The school year is not the summer. Our tutoring is 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 student’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 assessment is part of the first tutoring session, so there is no separate assessment appointment.
The Triple Guarantee applies for as long as your student is enrolled. Its remedies provide additional instruction. The separate two-session fit guarantee above provides a full payment refund within its stated time limits.
Enroll your student →In our 56 years, we’ve partnered with more than 200 colleges, universities, and school districts to offer our reading programs in their communities.
1,320+ Google reviews4.5 stars on Trustpilot from 655 reviews
That is who we are. Here is what the students do.
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 1:1 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 student 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 tutoring is built for school year and summer, sized to sit beside school, doable and sustainable. Working on reading belongs all year.
Because the reading load goes up every term, and every other subject is learned through reading. Waiting does not restart the 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. Every part of that is teachable. None of it starts on its own.
There’s no start date to wait for. Your student begins with the week they join, and the first session can be in the next few days or a couple of weeks out.
One student and one trained teacher: a place exists only when that teacher has an open hour. Families who enroll sooner get the widest choice of days and times.
What if none of the available session times works?
Choose your session 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?
$349 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.
Is this one‑on‑one tutoring?
Yes. One teacher and one student for the whole session, $349 a month. High school tutoring is one‑on‑one only.
How soon can we start?
After you enroll, you can pick your day and time. The first session can be in the next few days or a couple of weeks out. A place exists when a teacher has an open hour, so the sooner you enroll, the wider the choice of days and times.
Do you test my student before we start?
No appointment and no gate. Your student’s teacher assesses their reading during the first session, so there is nothing to schedule. It gives you and the teacher a clear idea of where your student is with reading right now, and it lets the teacher start personalizing instruction from the very beginning. If the level is wrong, we re-place within 7 days at no charge.
Who teaches my student?
An IRD Expert Teacher, live, every week. They teach all grades, so they understand the stages of reading development, where your student is in them, and what your student needs to move forward. If the match is wrong we rematch within 7 days at no charge and add one session with the new teacher at no charge.
My student will not want to do this. What then?
The reading is pitched where they actually read rather than where their grade says, so it is doable rather than humiliating, and one‑on‑one means nobody else is in the room. A teacher expecting them next week is what keeps the work from quietly stopping.
What does the week look like?
One live session a week with an IRD Expert Teacher, one‑on‑one, and short guided reading between sessions, pitched where your student actually reads.
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 student’s second session or within 21 days of purchase, whichever comes first. We’ll refund your payment in full. Email help@readingprograms.org.
What if my student misses a session?
Tell us at least 24 hours ahead and we schedule a makeup session so your student 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.
What if we need to stop?
Cancel anytime before your next billing date to stop your next payment. Email help@readingprograms.org. Sessions continue through the period you’ve already paid for.
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 sessions 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 small-group tutoring?
Yes, for middle school. The Small-Group Reading Program is about four students, never more than six, for $199 a month. High school tutoring is one‑on‑one only. See the Small-Group Reading Program →
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.
Preview only. After you enroll, you can pick your day and time.
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.
