“The [first grade] students, taking the standard Stanford reading tests using the traditional alphabet, scored at well beyond the third grade level. Some had read as many as 20 books. John R. Malone supplied the alphabet; Dr. Margaret Ratz provided the pedagogy and training; Mrs. Elizabeth Jones did the teaching.” —See the complete article by John Culkin.

“Dr. Ratz was the person that turned my life around. My mother was told that I was ‘retarded’ and that I would never learn to read. My mom found Dr. Ratz. We were living in Venice, FL at the time and would drive to Sarasota every Saturday. I would have to check with my mom to see how long I was tutored by Dr. Ratz. I do know that because of the program I returned to school after the summer reading at a 5th grade level at the beginning of 2nd grade.

“I am now a teacher. I am teaching a reading program....”

“Traditional written English is an unreliable representation of the spoken English. Instead of one symbol per sound, it has an average of over 14 different ways to write a single sound. This makes English writing system ambiguous and difficult to master. A dictionary key is over ten times less complex and can probably be learned ten times as quick. Instead of 3 years to achieve literacy, highly phonemic notations take only 3 months.”