Reading proficiency remains stable nationwide despite a decade (and still counting) of the educational philosophies and standardized testing environment of No Child Left Behind. An influx of strategies and methods floods the academic literature in an attempt to remedy stagnant levels of reading comprehension (Duffy, 2003; Harvey & Goudvis, 2007; Pressley, Johnson, Symons, McGoldrick, & Kurita, 1989; Rosenshine & Meisier, 1992) and word reading ability (Perfetti, 2007; Rasinski & Padak, 2008; Walpole & McKenna, 2004) based on a variety of conceptual and theoretical constructs. Yet, students often enter postsecondary schools ill-prepared for even the basic literacy demands of higher education.

One university seeking solutions to this predicament explored whether collegiate students enrolled in a developmental reading course could increase reading speed while maintaining or increasing comprehension levels through the utilization of an eye training software program. Eye training programs are currently receiving renewed attention in the field of literacy education (Samuels, Rasinski, & Hiebert, 2011). Students struggling to read benefit from instruction in word reading and comprehension,both of which begin with eye recognition of words and cognitive processing of textual meaning.