The Science Behind Early Reading Acquisition with Dr. D. Ray Reutzel

D. Ray Reutzel is a Distinguished Senior Research Fellow in the Center for the School of the Future at Utah State University and an emeritus faculty member and former Dean of the College of Education at the University of Wyoming. He held the Emma Eccles Jones Distinguished Professor and Endowed Chair of Early Childhood Education at Utah State University for 14 years. He is the author of more than 235 published research reports, articles, books, book chapters, and monographs and has received more than 17 million dollars in external funding. He is the past Editor of - Literacy Research and Instruction, The Reading Teacher, and is the current Executive Editor of the Journal of Educational Research. He received the 1999 A.B. Herr Award, the 2013 ALER Laureate Award and served as President of the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers –ALER from 2006- 2007. Ray was presented the John C. Manning Public School Service Award by the International Reading Association in 2007and served as a member of its Board of Directors. He also served on the Literacy Researchers Association Board of Directors from 2012-2015. Dr. Reutzel is a member of the Reading Hall of Fame and served as its President from 2017-2019. He received the William S. Gray Citation of Merit from the International Literacy Association in 2019.

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!