Read Naturally, Inc. was born out of research. In 1989, a reading teacher named Candyce Ihnot conducted a study in her classroom for her master’s thesis. Candyce applied three research-based methods (teacher modeling, repeated reading, and progress monitoring) in a simple set of steps in an attempt to improve her students’ reading fluency. Her approach proved to be highly effective (see the results of her original study) and became the basis for the Read Naturally Strategy.

Over the years, Read Naturally hasn’t wavered in its commitment to research. We continue to base each of our programs on the best research available and then field-test these programs to ensure they get great results in the classroom.

Knowing more about the research basis of each program can help you understand why the program is effective and why each of its steps is included. Take a look at this chart, which provides links to the research behind each of our intervention programs.

Additionally, our programs continue to be studied in academic settings to gauge their ongoing effectiveness. Overwhelmingly, these studies demonstrate the positive effects of our strategy and programs. Details on several of these studies can be found here, and reviews of select studies by reputable evaluators of reading programs are provided here.

Finally, many additional research documents, including White Papers, are available as free downloads from our Knowledgebase.

As you discern whether a Read Naturally intervention program is the right fit for your classroom or school, we strongly encourage you to look at the research provided on our website. This data will assure you that our programs are rooted in solid research and get remarkable results. And when you’re done looking at the data, check out our customer reviews to see what other educators have to say. These reviews can help you sense how our programs work for educators like you and students like yours. As always, contact us with any additional questions—we’re happy to help!