Irene C. Fountas (born 14 August 1948) is an American educator. She teaches at

Lesley University Lesley University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded in 1909 to educate teachers. Originally founded as a women's college, male students were admitted beginning in 2005. History 1909–1998 Th ...

as the Marie M. Clay Endowed Chair for Early Literacy and Reading Recovery. Fountas was a prominent figure featured in Sold a Story, a podcast by APM Reports, that investigates the way reading is taught in schools, specifically focusing on the influential authors and a publishing company that promote a disproven approach to reading instruction. The reporting highlights the experiences of teachers who felt misled by what they were told was the correct way to teach reading. It also investigates the company, Heinemann, and the authors, including Fountas and Pinnell, who have been instrumental in promoting this approach. These authors and their materials have been widely adopted in schools, leading to significant financial gains for the publishing company Heinemann. The report also explores the concept of "balanced literacy" and how it has been criticized by those advocating for "The Science of Reading". The report notes that 65% of fourth graders in the US are not proficient readers, and discusses how the methods promoted by Fountas and Pinnell can be detrimental to some children's reading development. In 2024, a group of parents filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts, which alleged that a group of professors and their publishers, including Fountas, used “deceptive and fraudulent marketing” to sell their popular reading materials.https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/court-dismisses-reading-lawsuit-against-lucy-calkins-other-balanced-literacy-proponents/2025/05

References

Living people American educational theorists Lesley University faculty 1948 births Place of birth missing (living people) {{US-edu-bio-stub

See also

References