Read 21 was started by a top-level teacher by the name of Patricia Lee. Her vision has always been to help children succeed in life. She didn’t set out to be a literacy developer. Life shaped her paths to this destiny. In Fall of 2013, she left her comfortable suburban teaching job to teach at a K-8 school, ranked #4 from the bottom of its state. She was tasked with teaching over sixty World History and World Geography standards to 6th grade students that were reading on the second-grade level. Reading on the second-grade level created a disadvantage for Mrs. Lee and the students. Being the champion she is for kids, she had to find a way to help them.

Over the course of the year, Mrs. Lee taught her 6th grade students how to read, along with how to think critically and understand the state standards. Once her students took their state performance test for her subject-area that year, she was amazed at how confident the students felt. Once the results came back, she understood why. Mrs. Lee’s students had the highest growth of any middle school for her entire state in any subject. She had performed a miracle! Her students went from the bottom to the top.

The next year, her school absorbed a non-performing school that had shut down. Mrs. Lee was asked to teach the incoming 4th and 5th grade students how to read. These 4th and 5th grade students were unfamiliar with the sounds of single letters, meaning they did not know the sounds of the 26 letters in the alphabet. She was given the full schoolyear to teach the students how to read. It only took one quarter of the school year. By the end of the second quarter, over 75% of the students were reading and comprehending on grade level. This is when her literacy manual began to be constructed.

After much prayer and action, she created a full written reading program called, Literacy to Success. Literacy to Success was created to give older youth (like the students she taught) that have fallen through the cracks the missing piece that prevents them from graduating—literacy. Literacy to Success birthed her newest vision, Read 21. With her Read 21 program, students in grades 3 and up learn to read in 21 hours or less. Yes, 21 hours or less! It has worked 100% of the time for every student that completed the program. The existence of Covid-19 led Mrs. Lee to create an autonomous A.I. program that requires only a computer and microphone (no teacher required). This way, teachers can teach their state standards to literate students that are confident and eager to learn.

Mrs. Lee’s vision has always been to help students succeed. With Read 21, the vision continues.