{VIRTUAL} The Science of Reading and Decodable Texts with Heidi Anne Mesmer

Heidi Anne E. Mesmer, Ph.D., is a Professor in Literacy in the School of Education at Virginia Tech. She has studied beginning reading materials, text difficulty, and struggling readers since 1999. Her research has appeared in Reading Research Quarterly, The Educational Researcher, Elementary School Journal, and Early Childhood Research Quarterly. She has written and directed eight grants aimed at improving reading instruction in K-5 classrooms. Dr. Mesmer is the author of several books including Letter Lessons and First Words: Phonics Foundations that Work (Heinemann, 2019), Alphabetics for Emerging Learners: Building Strong Reading Foundations in PreK (2021). Teaching skills for complex text: Deepening reading in the classroom (Teachers College Press, 2016) Her research has been supported by a National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation, and an American Educational Research Association/Institute of Education Sciences grant. She is the recipient of the Outreach Award, from the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech, and the Promising Scholar Award, from the School of Education, Virginia Tech. In 2014, she delivered The George Graham Lecture in Reading at the Curry School of Education, University of Virginia. She is regularly called upon by states and professional organizations to deliver lectures in her area of expertise (e.g., International Literacy Association, State of Maryland)

Just Right Reader was founded by Sara Rich, a principal, who is passionate about kids, books, teaching and, most of all, making reading fun and accessible for all.

Sara was a principal for more than 20 years, and she specializes in reading and literacy development. She traveled to more than 35 states training teachers and principals in reading and writing skill development. Because of her success in supporting schools to raise reading achievement levels, she was recognized as San Francisco Mayor's Principal of the Year.

And yet, a few years ago, her own daughter, Izzie, was struggling to read. This was a tough realization. So she jumped in and did what she knew and started working with Izzie to support her as a reader. Sara brought home decodable books from school and celelebrated Izzie's growth. When Izzie conquered a reading skill, Sara would determine her new reading needs and start again.

Sara and Izzie felt that the decodables that they read together could be more engaging and just plain old more fun. So Sara recruited a team of reading experts and phonics leaders and started the hard work of making decodables better for students, families, and teachers. Thus was born the idea for Just Right Reader.

Our mission is to make reading fun and for students to learn to read with engaging decodables that are representative of students in America's schools. When students want to read and feel successful, their achievement rises!