W Oscar Neuhaus Memorial Foundation dba Neuhaus Education Center

Programs and Resources for Educators and Education Leaders Based on research and what our expert staff have learned through decades of experience, we believe that knowledgeable and skilled teachers are the #1 way to prevent and address reading problems in children. Accordingly, Neuhaus has devoted the past three decades to researching and developing comprehensive literacy solutions to promote reading success. We help educators and education leaders acquire the knowledge and skills they need to teach all students to read. Examples of our major programs for educators include the following: Professional Learning, Coaching, District Engagements, and Professional Learning Communities. Programs and Resources for Parents and Guardians Since the very beginning, parents whose children were struggling to learn to read have turned to Neuhaus for information and guidance, and our Family Support Office has expanded over time to meet their needs. We provide a variety of resources on our website for parents, including an FAQ document on dyslexia and learning differences, suggested readings, and links to supplemental information. We also offer parent seminars, panel discussions, and information sessions on an ongoing basis, where our experts provide in-depth information and strategies that parents can use to help their children become successful readers. Last but not least, our Family Support Coordinators respond to calls and emails for information from parents and caregivers. Programs and Resources for Adult Learners Adult learners who are struggling with reading and literacy also turn to Neuhaus for help. In fact, we are the only program in Houston that uses certified academic language therapists to teach adult literacy classes. Learners – who include non-readers as well as college graduates, and who range in age from 18 to 80 – attend classes two nights per week throughout the school year. In addition, our Neuhaus Academy offers web-based reading lessons for adolescent and adult learners, teaching enrollees clues for reading unfamiliar words and understanding word meanings.

Neuhaus is led by President and CEO Tracy Weeden, who joined the organization in July 2015. Previously, she served as Executive Director of Academic Planning for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Intervention Services Group and, before that, as Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment for Houston ISD. Dr. Weeden leads a highly skilled and dedicated staff of 80 full-time and part-time employees, including reading and dyslexia specialists with master's and doctoral degrees. Neuhaus is a accredited by The International Dyslexia Association. It is an affiliate of the Academic Language Therapy Association. Also, it is a Choice Partner of the Harris County Department of Education. The Neuhaus Board of Trustees is deeply dedicated to the organization's mission and success. The organization also benefits from the experience, talents, and commitment of our Advisory Board and Alumni Council.

Neuhaus is committed to evaluating the efficacy of our programs so that we can validate what is working and make continuous improvements over time. In 2015, for example, we released the findings from an independent external evaluation of Teachers Make the Difference: Pre-Kindergarten, a literacy program implemented in 185 classrooms in 52 Houston ISD schools. The evaluation confirmed the program's effectiveness, showing that teachers who received professional development and coaching from Neuhaus showed significantly better understanding of key concepts compared to teachers in the comparison group. Furthermore, their students made significant gains in all areas of literacy (e.g., knowledge of letters, rhyming, and receptive vocabulary). These results affirmed that Neuhaus's Teachers Make the Difference: Pre-Kindergarten is a replicable model that other schools can adopt to provide pre-kindergarten teachers with effective professional development, on-site coaching, and formative assessment.

For 39 years, Neuhaus Education Center has provided hope and expertise to children and adults who struggle to read . We are based in Houston, but serve teachers, private schools and public-school districts across the nation and abroad. We have: • taught over 77,000 educators how to teach reading using the Orton-Gillingham approach specifically designed to help struggling readers by explicitly teaching the connections between letters and sounds; • provide information and support to thousands of parents and guardians who have a child struggling to read; and • we have taught more than 1,000 adults how to read using Certified Academic Language Therapists – the only institution in Houston which does so. By 2023, we plan to: • teach 27,000 educators how to teach explicit structured literacy; • partner with colleges and universities to teach explicit structured literacy to pre-service teachers; and • increase awareness and understanding of learning differences, such as dyslexia, that affect reading. •