Helping struggling readers in San Francisco gain confidence, fluency, and grade-level skills — one session at a time.
San Francisco families choose LearnUp because it works:
On average, LearnUp students:
- Double their reading fluency
- Jump 2-3 grade levels in reading
- All in under 3 months of tutoring (about 60 hours)
In Person in San Francisco
Come learn in person!
We’re at 1426 Fillmore Street, Suite 221, San Francisco, CA 94115. Sessions run Monday through Friday, 50 minutes each.
Virtual–Same Results, Anywhere
Can’t make it to Fillmore Street? Our virtual program delivers the same curriculum, the same certified tutors, and the same proven results from anywhere with reliable internet. Our data shows virtual students achieve equal or greater gains than in-person students.
Do you serve all San Francisco neighborhoods?
Yes — families from across San Francisco come to our Fillmore Street clinic. We also serve the broader Bay Area virtually, with the same curriculum and same certified tutors.
How do I get started with reading tutoring in San Francisco?
Start with a free 20-minute reading assessment. We’ll identify exactly where your child is and match them with the right tutor and program level.
Is financial aid available for San Francisco families?
Yes. LearnUp offers sliding scale financial aid so income is never a barrier to learning to read. Apply after your free reading assessment.
Our curriculum
It’s a blend of nationally-recognized reading methods.
LearnUp integrates the best practices of Orton-Gillingham based programs, speech therapy, structured phonics, and recommendations from the National Reading Panel. We are not beholden to any one of these methodologies or approaches. Instead, we carefully select the best of the best to create a systematic program that accelerates reading acquisition.
It incorporates the latest brain research.
LearnUp also overlays the latest brain research into our curriculum. Research shows that stimulating the word form area of the reading brain is critical to creating fluency. While this is helpful to all emerging readers, it’s especially critical for dyslexics. Our program incorporates systematic phonics, directed reading, spelling, and repeated readings which lead to brain stimulation and reading fluency.
20+ year track record of success.
Created by Steve Tattum, LearnUp’s reading director, the curriculum and chapter books have been used for over 20 years by teachers, tutors, and entire school districts with remarkable outcomes.
Our Approach
Meet students where they are.
We offer multiple entry points called ‘reading starts’ to accommodate a student’s knowledge and background. We work with them from what they already know and understand. This approach quickly puts them into the right level and on a pathway to reading success.
Lead with reading.
Many other reading programs don’t actually read. We dedicate ½ of each session to reading proprietary age- and skill-level appropriate books written by Steve Tattum our reading director.
By reading chapter books students also work on the fundamentals of comprehension (summary, inference, prediction, etc.) Daily reading allows the student’s vocabulary, syntax, and meaning to enhance student’s word attack, and reduce reversals and inverses. Daily written responses ensure that spelling and writing are applied through their reading. This approach leads to significant reading gains in less time.
Engage with accessible aligned decodable books.
From day one, our students are reading from a chapter book written at a skill level they can actually read—building confidence and excitement for reading. Our proprietary, phonetically-aligned reading series for elementary, middle and high-school are deliberately written to reinforce the program concepts taught during the student’s tutoring session.
Make it fun, fast, and experiential.
Hands-on learning is key to engaging reluctant and unsuccessful learners. We use a tactile, multi-sensory magnetic board to actively teach phonics. Our lessons are short (55 minutes) and fast-paced. We live by the motto “go as fast as we can, as slow as we must” to urge students to push their reading abilities further. See a daily lesson.
If your child is struggling to read — whether in first grade or high school, with or without a diagnosis — LearnUp’s structured literacy program can help. We serve students ages 6 through adult, in person at our San Francisco clinic and virtually, nationwide.
