Madison, Wis. — A nationally prominent education journal has spotlighted a Wisconsin school serving students with dyslexia, drawing national attention to growing debates over literacy instruction, special education policy, and school choice.
Education Next, a leading national education journal published through the Harvard Kennedy School, recently published an excerpt from Your Brain Loves Patterns: A Parent’s Guide to Dyslexia and the Science of Reading by Wisconsin educator Kim Feller, founder of Feller School in Madison.
The article details Feller’s journey from public-school reading interventionist to founder of a specialized independent school achieving positive results for students with dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, and related learning differences.
Read the Education Next excerpt here: https://www.educationnext.org/the-brain-that-sees-patterns-teaching-reading-dyslexia/
The national feature comes as states across the country, including Wisconsin, continue grappling with declining reading proficiency rates and renewed scrutiny over how schools teach children to read.
“For too long, teachers have been asking struggling readers to guess at words instead of helping them learn the code,” Feller writes in her book.
Feller argues many struggling readers are being failed not because of intelligence or motivation, but because they are not receiving explicit, systematic, science-based literacy instruction aligned with how dyslexic students process language.
“Children with dyslexia are not broken,” said Feller. “They need instruction that matches how their brains learn. When we stop asking them to guess and start teaching them the code, everything changes.”
Founded as an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Feller School provides structured literacy instruction, individualized support, small class sizes, and therapy partnerships designed specifically for students with language-based learning differences. The school will expand to sixth grade during the 2026-27 academic year.
The attention from Education Next also raises broader public-policy questions surrounding Wisconsin’s Special Needs Scholarship Program and whether current regulatory structures adequately support highly specialized schools serving students with disabilities.
Wisconsin’s Special Needs Scholarship Program allows eligible students with disabilities to attend participating private schools using state-funded scholarships. Yet participation depends on schools being able to operate within the program’s requirements.
It is imperative that success stories like Feller School preserve the instructional autonomy and flexibility that specialized schools often view as essential to their success.
Recent student outcomes at Feller School have intensified that discussion. According to school data from the most recent academic year:
- Every Feller student entering below the 20th percentile nationally improved oral reading fluency.
- Forty-seven percent of those students doubled their reading speed.
- Thirty-two percent tripled their reading speed.
- Total words read correctly per minute increased from 49 to 96, representing a 95 percent gain in one school year.
Supporters say those results reinforce growing national momentum behind structured literacy and science-of-reading approaches now being adopted in states across the country.
Feller has also led structured literacy training sessions for more than 100 teachers seeking science-based reading instruction methods not included in many traditional teacher preparation programs.
George Mitchell, a longtime Wisconsin school-choice advocate, said the Education Next feature should prompt policymakers to take a closer look at both literacy instruction and the design of special-needs education programs.
“Kim Feller’s work deserves attention because it combines a compelling story with measurable results,” Mitchell said. “If a school like Feller is producing gains for students with dyslexia but has not joined the Wisconsin Special Needs Scholarship Program, that should be a flashing red light for policymakers. Wisconsin should want programs that make it easier, not harder, for families to find schools that work.”
Feller said the larger issue extends beyond a single school or a single program.
“This is about whether students with dyslexia receive instruction that actually works,” Feller said. “When schools understand how these students learn, outcomes change dramatically.”
About Kim Feller
Kim Feller is the founder of Feller School in Madison, Wisconsin, and author of Your Brain Loves Patterns: A Parent’s Guide to Dyslexia and the Science of Reading. She has more than 35 years of experience working with struggling readers as a classroom teacher, reading interventionist, and literacy specialist.
About Feller School
Feller School is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit elementary school in Madison, Wisconsin, serving students with dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, and related learning differences. The school provides structured literacy instruction, individualized academic support, speech and occupational therapy partnerships, summer programming, and teacher training focused on science-based reading instruction.
