My journey in the field of teaching phonics began over thirty years ago when as as an inner-city high school English and reading teacher, I was confronted with obviously bright and motivated students who somehow had failed to learn to read successfully in their previous years in school. In 1977 I began operating a reading clinic in a church basement during after-school hours with the conviction that these students were capable of becoming good readers if they could have access to the proper instruction in phonics.

Most phonics programs are written for young children in preschool through the second grade. These programs are not appropriate for students beyond the second grade. The few programs I was able to find back then that had been developed for older students were either inadequate for various educational reasons and/or too expensive for my students to be able to purchase. I discovered that there is an entire education industry designed to serve the needs of affluent students who are struggling academically due to poor reading skills. These students were being helped through exposure to systematic, multisensory phonics instruction; however, for many other students as well as most adults with low reading skills, parents, and volunteer tutors, these materials and tutoring services available were often beyond their economic reach. I wondered why so often it seemed that only the affluent were able to access reading programs that worked. I knew that there must be a way to offer research-based, multisensory phonics instruction published in a format that virtually anyone could afford to purchase and that could be implemented without expensive and prolonged training for teachers, parents, and tutors. And so I began to develop the We All Can Read Phonics Program.

When I began to develop the We All Can Read Program, I had several specific goals I wanted to accomplish:

1. I wanted to create a comprehensive, nonconsumable, and stand-alone phonics program complete in one book so that any teacher, parent, or tutor would have access to the complete program with the purchase of a single volume. Many published programs require that multiple core textbooks, consumable workbooks, teacher guides, and other costly consumable materials be purchased separately in order to be able to implement the program.
2. I wanted to publish a research-based phonics program suitable not only for young children but most especially for older students and adults as well, a group too-often overlooked and underserved in terms of having access to suitable, age-appropriate, and effective multisensory phonics material.
3. I wanted to publish a program that any basic reading skills instructor could use: teachers, parents, and volunteer reading tutors. Many multisensory phonics programs require not only a significant financial investment in order to purchase the program itself, but also require a significant financial and time commitment in order for prospective instructors to access the prescribed training. A significant financial cost to purchase training coupled with a steep learning curve to achieve program mastery often prove to be prohibitive factors for organizations with limited budgets as well as part-time teachers, parents, and volunteer tutors. My goal has always been not only to publish a cost-effective and powerful phonics program, but also to create a program that can be used by an instructor without requiring an inordinate investment of time and money on that person's part in order to be able to teach the program. One does not have to be a reading specialist in order to offer effective and research-based instruction in basic reading skills to struggling readers.
4. I wanted to use technology to make it possible for older students and adults to be able to proceed independently through the program. Not all older students and adults have access to classroom instruction where systematic, intensive phonics instruction is available to them. We publish our complete program in two alternate formats in addition to our print-based program: 1) a video DVD series edition and 2) an online program edition accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. These various formats enable students to work at school or at home either with the help of an instructor or independently.
5. Finally and most importantly I wanted to publish a program that works.

Now over thirty years later and after working with thousands of individuals, I know with sure certainty that with the proper phonics instruction, we all can read!

We All Can Read Has Grown Over Time

Over these past thirty-plus years the list of We All Can Read materials published has grown organically. It began with the first edition of the core book We All Can Read written for older students from third grade through adults; that book is now in its fifth edition. Next followed a companion, supplemental reader to the core book and then a K-2 edition of the core book for students in kindergarten through the second grade along with its own accompanying supplemental reader. Flash cards and wall charts and a phonics board game to augment the instructional process for each separate edition also followed. The third grade through adult program is also available in a DVD video edition (VHS format available). And we also publish an online edition of the third grade through adult program where video, audio, and text are combined in 664 individual lessons.

We All Can Read Is a Tool for Changing Lives

The reading material presented in this website is for those who desire to up level their own reading skills or for anyone who would like to help another improve his reading and spelling skills. These materials are tools for teachers, parents, mentors, and volunteer reading tutors to use to help change not only the lives of their students but their own lives as well. In the end it is our own self we reach towards in reaching out to another.

Welcome!

Jim Williams