Voyager Sails Into Market for Reading

But Questions Abound Over Secrets of Success

The timing couldn’t have been better when Randy Best decided to get into the education publishing business. The Voyager Universal Literacy core reading program he unveiled in 2000 aligned closely with the research findings that were beginning to guide state and federal reading policy. The privately held company appeared poised to gain a foothold in the reading market just as public funding for research-based instructional materials was skyrocketing.

“We were absolutely at the right place at the right time,” Mr. Best said.

Use of the program has since spread to 1,000 districts throughout the country, and several studies, financed by Voyager, show evidence that it is helping to raise reading achievement in...