Educator Who Once Struggled to Read Writes the Book He Wishes His Parents Had Owned

Houston, TX - Oct 27, 2026- A new parent guide from Josue Rodriguez, M.A. Education, gives families a practical roadmap from reading frustration to reading confidence

Every day, children across the country pronounce words perfectly and understand almost nothing they read. They finish a page and forget it. They avoid books. They act out during homework. They quietly decide they are simply not good at school. Josue Rodriguez knows that child well, because he was that child.

Rodriguez announces the upcoming release of From Struggling to Thriving: A Parent's Guide to Raising a Confident Reader, a practical and deeply personal guide for parents who watch their child struggle and do not know what to do next. The book releases soon and will be available at Amazon, at all online stores, and at major retailers.

Rodriguez began his life in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, on October 20, 1980. When he was four years old, his family moved to New York. He spoke very little English. Instead of placing him in an English as a Second Language program, the school placed him in special education. Caring teachers surrounded him, yet he missed opportunities because no one quite knew how to support a student learning English while keeping up academically. He became a late bloomer, and he remembers exactly how it felt to sit in a classroom and wonder why everything seemed easier for everyone else.

He does not blame anyone for those years. His parents, Jose and Maritza Rodriguez, loved him deeply and sacrificed constantly for their family. They simply did not know the American education system well enough to advocate for him, and he understands that reality because he now meets parents in the same position every week.

That experience shaped his conviction that support should never become an excuse to lower expectations. Students deserve the help they need, and they also deserve to be challenged. When adults assume a child cannot achieve, opportunities disappear.

Sports carried him through those early years. He played varsity baseball, basketball, and cross country, and he earned Player of the Week recognition in all three. Athletics taught him discipline, perseverance, and the value of a coach who refuses to let an athlete give up. His mother later pushed him toward substitute teaching. He resisted at first. Then he stepped into a classroom, watched students grow, and discovered his purpose. Doors kept closing elsewhere. The door to education kept opening, and he walked through it.

Rodriguez earned his bachelor's degree in Organizational Management from Palm Beach Atlantic University and his master's degree in Education from Grand Canyon University. He has worked in education for more than fifteen years across the United States and China. He taught English Language Arts, reading, writing, social studies, and English language instruction, and he worked with both the American curriculum and the International Baccalaureate framework.

He later served as an Academic Principal, Dean, Extracurricular Activities Director, and Head of English. He spent approximately ten years as a university professor in China, an experience that broadened his understanding of how students everywhere want to feel successful. He returned to Texas, where he deepened his knowledge of the Science of Teaching Reading and evidence-based literacy instruction.

The core message of From Struggling to Thriving is simple and steady. A struggling reader is not a child without potential. A struggling reader is often a child who has not yet received the right support, the right strategies, and the right encouragement. A reading level is not an identity, and a test score is not a prediction of a child's future. The book speaks primarily to parents of children in the upper elementary grades, especially fourth through sixth grade, who struggle with comprehension, vocabulary, fluency, writing, confidence, or grade-level text. Teachers, tutors, and homeschool families will find the same tools immediately useful.

Inside the book, parents learn why some children decode words but cannot build meaning, how vocabulary and background knowledge shape comprehension, why confidence collapses after repeated failure, and how to create a calm fifteen-minute reading routine at home. Rodriguez also explains how to prepare a child for benchmark and standardized assessments without turning the kitchen table into a pressure chamber.

At the center of the book sits the RISETM Reading Method, a four-step framework Rodriguez created. Readers reveal the gaps, individualize the plan, strengthen through strategy, and empower for success. The framework gives parents a clear sequence instead of a pile of worksheets.

Rodriguez writes the way a trusted mentor speaks. He explains complex reading research in plain language, illustrates each idea with moments from real classrooms, and shares his own story without dressing it up. He corrects gently. He never lectures. Parents who open this book will feel like someone finally sat beside them and said, here is what is actually happening with your child.

From Struggling to Thriving: A Parent's Guide to Raising a Confident Reader will be available at Amazon, at all online stores, and at major retailers. Parents who want to move from nightly battles to steady progress can preorder soon and start reading the moment it arrives.

For more information, review copies, or to schedule an interview with Josue Rodriguez, please contact:

Josue Rodriguez

About Josue Rodriguez

Josue Rodriguez, M.A. Education, is an educator, author, and founder of Read & Thrive Learning. He has worked in education for more than fifteen years across the United States and China, teaching English Language Arts, reading, writing, and social studies. He has served as an Academic Principal, Dean, Extracurricular Activities Director, and Head of English, and he spent approximately ten years as a university professor in China. He earned his master's degree in Education from Grand Canyon University and his bachelor's degree in Organizational Management from Palm Beach Atlantic University.

He believes one thing above all: we don't label struggling readers; we help develop them.

He created the RISETM Reading Method and wrote From Struggling to Thriving for parents who want real answers.

This release was published on openPR.