1970
1970 – 1979
1970
Paul Copperman founds the Institute of Reading Development and serves as its first teacher.
1978
Concerned about the state of reading education, Paul publishes his first book, The Literacy Hoax.
1980
1980 – 1989
1982
Paul hires Dave Soloway, who goes on to establish the Institute’s first partnerships with colleges and universities.
1982 - 1984
President Ronald Reagan appoints Paul to the National Council on Educational Research.
1986
Paul publishes Taking Books to Heart, a how-to for parents looking for ways to help their kids.
1990
1990 – 1999
1995
The Institute expands outside of California for the first time when John Boyd opens a teaching center in Chicago. Doug Evans also joins the Institute and together with John leads a major teacher hiring and training push across the country.
1996
Paul launches the Jim Bridger homeschool program, with a focus on reading and discussing books. Jim Bridger lesson plans have continued to inform the Institute’s approach to reading instruction today.
1996
The Institute introduces the Pole and Vole Phonics series, ushering in over a decade of decoding instruction through richly illustrated workbooks with engaging audio stories.
2000
2000 – 2009
2000
Josh Kizner begins teaching for the Institute. He will go on to become the Institute’s COO, Vice President-Partnerships, and co-owner.
2007
Paul writes his influential essay “Absorption” about the formative importance of kids getting lost in great books. It remains a key part of the Institute’s teacher training program.
2010
2010 – 2019
2012
For the first time, the Institute proudly offers its Reading Skills Programs to students in all 50 states.
2012
The Institute launches its online learning portal, allowing students to complete fun, effective reading skills lessons from anywhere.
2014
The Institute teaches its first live, online reading classes, establishing itself as a pioneer in this educational space.
2017
The Institute’s curriculum team begins writing and publishing an engaging and imaginative series of books written at the right level of difficulty for young readers.
2019
The Institute reaches a huge milestone with over 3 million total students taught.
2020
2020 – Today
2020
The Institute’s wealth of prior experience with online reading instruction is a big support to families during the pandemic. All Institute programs move online to help children at risk of falling behind.
Today
Today we are proud to offer 5 sessions of our reading programs for every grade, throughout the year. Children who start in our kindergarten program can now take 55 unique, consecutive sessions, each with its own set of outstanding books, before they graduate high school. That’s a lot of learning – and lot of great books! We continue to offer these exceptional programs with college and university partners nationwide.
