John Corcoran ( ; born in 1939) is an American author and the founder of the John Corcoran foundation. He is severely

dyslexic Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...

and read at a second-grade level until the age of 48. Despite this, he graduated from high school and college, and worked as a high school teacher and real estate developer without being discovered.

Early life

Corcoran was raised in

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , Spanish for 'Holy Faith'; tew, Oghá P'o'oge, Tewa for 'white shell water place'; tiw, Hulp'ó'ona, label=Tiwa language, Northern Tiwa; nv, Yootó, Navajo for 'bead + water place') is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. ...

where his literacy stalled after second grade. He was one of six siblings, and his parents were too overwhelmed to notice the deficit. His teachers at school assigned him to the "dumb row" but were distracted by his disciplinary problems and soon forgot about his reading difficulties. After graduating high school by cheating, he attended two junior colleges and then

University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stud ...

(then called Texas Western). Thanks to an athletic scholarship and aggressive, continual cheating, he was able to graduate in 1961 with a bachelor's degree in

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

and

business administration Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...

. He became a high school social studies teacher. On his personal website, Corcoran describes some of the tricks he used to manage this. He switched schools but continued as a teacher for 17 years before becoming a real estate developer in 1977. He was successful for ten years, until his business faltered. After seeing

Barbara Bush Barbara Pierce Bush (June 8, 1925 – April 17, 2018) was First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993, as the wife of President George H. W. Bush, and the founder of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. She previously was ...

talk about literacy on television, he resolved to finally learn how to read. After receiving tutoring from a volunteer tutor in a literacy program, he became literate at a 6th grade level.

Life after literacy

Since learning to read, he has written two books. He has since become a spokesman for literacy programs, as well as running his own foundation to help people learn to read. He created the John Corcoran Foundation, which trains tutors and helps students learn to read. He has appeared in the international media, but mostly his coverage is from American media. His appearances include an appearance on ''

The Oprah Winfrey Show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', often referred to as ''The Oprah Show'' or simply ''Oprah'', is an American daytime broadcast syndication, syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in Chicag ...

'',

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

's ''Eye on Books'', and interviews in ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' and other publications.

Books

*''The Bridge to Literacy: No Child—or Adult—Left Behind'' *''The Teacher Who Couldn't Read: One Man's Triumph Over Illiteracy''

References

External links

The John Corcoran Foundation
*Sarah McDermott
''‘I was a teacher for 17 years, but I couldn’t read or write’''
BBC News, 15 April 2018 {{DEFAULTSORT:Corcoran, John American educators Living people American education writers University of Texas at El Paso alumni 1937 births