About Dr. Marion and Comprendi™
Dr. Marion Blank
Dr. Marion Blank is a Cambridge-educated, internationally recognized literacy authority who has received many awards for her work including a distinguished Career Development Award from the National Institute of Health and the Upton Sinclair Award. Dr. Blank has been an advisor and consultant to organizations and governments in the US, Canada, Great Britain, and the Netherlands along with serving as a consultant on the creation of Sesame Street™. Her language tests have been translated into over a dozen languages and are used throughout the world. Dr. Blank created and was the Director of Columbia University’s Light on Literacy program.
Career Highlights
- Director of the Light on Literacy program at Columbia University
- Ph.D. awarded by the University of Cambridge (UK)
- Recipient of U.S. Public Health Service Career Development Award
- Consultant on the creation of Sesame Street™
- Upton Sinclair Award Winner
- Certificate of Achievement, Johns Hopkins University Research Award
- Served on boards for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
- Creator of a broad set of unique language programs, like Directing Discourse and Spectacular Bond, that have been used internationally to train thousands of educators over the past several decades
- Author of The Reading Remedy (available free when you
sign up for our newsletter) - Also authored The Language of Learning (ISBN 0808910582), Steps to Stories (ISBN 1484060172), Memory Master (ISBN 150332639X), Spectacular Bond (ISBN 0989546209), Directing Discourse (ISBN 0884502171) and dozens of other books and articles focused on reading and learning
Over 10% Reading Comprehension Improvement!
Based on over six decades of research by an award-winning Cambridge-educated psychologist, Comprendi™ revolutionizes reading instruction and gives students the critical skills they need to succeed in school. The latest data from over 2000 users shows that students taking a benchmark test at the completion of the program score on average 10.6% better than students taking that same benchmark test at the beginning of the program.
Comprendi achieves the long-sought goal of improved reading comprehension through use of true stories, compelling AI-generated graphics that the students love, and engaging activities. It is a reading curriculum that is not only effective but fun as well.
Using a unique narrative-expository hybrid, Comprendi blends the essential but challenging and dry information of expository text with the universally appealing pull of narratives to tell true stories. Comprendi also uses carefully selected AI-generated graphics to provide students with the background knowledge needed for effective comprehension. The exercises are highly interactive, so there is no need to “gamify” the curriculum – it is already engaging!
Comprendi is designed for both in-classroom and homeschool use – students can go at their own pace but cannot skip any material. Reading interventionists and reading specialists rave about Comprendi’s effectiveness and how their students love using it. Comprendi is also ideal for English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL)
students. Comprendi’s novel narrative-expository format and carefully selected graphics provide cues and guidance for students who are not native English speakers.
Comprendi is the latest in a long line of successful reading curricula designed by Dr. Marion Blank. Many of her earlier programs are available at the website of Dr. Marion’s Learning Lab (dmlearninglab.com). The team is already hard at work on Dr. Marion’s next program, 200 Magic Words™. This program will revolutionize K-3 reading instruction just as Comprendi has revolutionized 4th-6th grade reading instruction. You can follow Dr. Marion’s Learning Lab on social media for updates on the launch date for 200 Magic Words™.
What the Experts and Users Have to Say
