John Shefelbine (1944–2016) was a professor in the Department of Teacher Education, California State University, Sacramento for 25 years. His degrees included a Master’s of Arts in Teaching in Reading and Language Arts, K–12, from Harvard University and a PhD/EdS in Educational Psychology from Stanford University. He also held professorships at the University of Texas at Austin and Teachers College, Columbia University, in New York City.

Dyslexic himself, Shefelbine struggled to learn how to read as a child. Throughout his academic career, he was a proponent of rigorous and systematic early reading instruction. He worked to provide materials and professional development that would support teachers as they taught a