Cashing In on Literacy Lag

Children don’t read as well today as they did two decades ago, according to Paul Copperman, and that “creates a market opportunity.”

Copperman is president of the Institute of Reading Development, a San Francisco company that operates 60 reading centers in the Bay Area. The institute plans a franchise network to eventually operate 120 reading centers in Los Angeles County. He expects to open 30 franchises by next April, he said.

Copperman received national recognition for his 1978 book, “The Literary Hoax--The Decline of Reading, Writing and Learning in the Public Schools,” and served on the National Council of Educational Research, a federal board that oversees federally funded educational research. But since 1970, much of his attention has been directed at the institute’s reading centers, which now gross $1 million a year.

Copperman said his reading centers aren’t intended for remedial students, but for average readers who want to improve. He said that from 50% to 60% of the 5,000 children enrolled in his reading programs read at grade level. Most attend public schools and are members of upper-middle-class families.

Copperman, who said he considers himself more of a businessman than an educator, predicted that the market for his reading centers in Los Angeles County is vast. “Parents in Los Angeles County spend $500 million a year on private education. . . . They are not satisfied with the public schools and are willing to spend money” on education, he said.