Raising Reading Achievement with Strong Phonemic Awareness With Lucy Hart Paulson

Dr. Lucy Hart Paulson, Ed.D., CCC-SLP, is an author and literacy specialist with a mission of bringing research to practice. She is also a speech-language pathologist with many years of experience working with educators and with young children and their families in a wide range of educational settings. In addition, Lucy was an associate professor teaching and conducting research in the areas of language and literacy development and disorders. She provides professional development using a broad-based perspective blending areas of language and literacy together resulting in effective, appropriate, and engaging language-based literacy instruction and intervention for all children. Finally, Lucy is the co-author of the Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) for Early Childhood Educators, 2nd Edition, Building Early Literacy and Language Skills, a resource and activity guide for young children, and also for Good Talking Words, 2nd Edition, a social communication skills program for young children.

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 the 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 celebrated 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, 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!