In 1974 master teacher Jeanie Eller was sent to the lower 48 states by the Anchorage, Alaska School System to check out every available reading program. She found the Action Reading program and it was so successful it is still in use all over Alaska.

Jeanie formed an alliance with the originator of the program, Dr. George Cureton, and she has further developed his original program to include versions for school and home use.

The History of Action Reading

The development of the ACTION READING teaching method was a milestone breakthrough in the education community. Formulated by George O. Cureton, this system is the first to demonstrate that reading is a skill which can be taught in one year or less. ACTION READING is the forerunner program that reintroduced systematic phonics teaching to reading instruction.

Dr. Cureton was a high school science teacher in New York. He was frustrated because his students were not able to read their science textbooks. In effort to find out why children were not learning to read, George Cureton began teaching a lower grade each school year . He moved down grade by grade until he ended up teaching first grade and each year the illiteracy was blamed on the year before.

An early reader, Dr. Cureton talked with his grandmother about the way she had taught him to read. He took her simple, logical method of phonics and added songs, games, activities and exercises to make learning and reading enjoyable. He developed the ACTION READING program and was elated to watch every child in his class learn to read and be able to read anything (not just first grade books).