Mary Ellis Dahlgren, Ed.D.


Mary Ellis Dahlgren, Ed.D., is president of Tools 4 Reading. She is an experienced educator with over 25 years in the field of education having served as a dyslexia therapist, elementary classroom teacher, international literacy consultant and author. She is the author of a highly successful phonics tool kit which includes Kid Lips and Phoneme-Grapheme Instructional Cards for elementary, special education, and English language learner teachers. She is also a national trainer for the distinguished teacher curriculum Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS). She is the former executive director of Payne Education Center, a nonprofit teacher training center in Oklahoma. The Center was established to provide teacher training for teachers of dyslexic students and to support parents of dyslexic children. Mary is a founding board member of a school for adjudicated youth, SeeWorth Academy, organized by the late Chief Justice Alma Wilson. Justice Wilson named the school SeeWorth in hopes the children would “see the worth” in education and the future. Mary’s passion is to help everyone involved in reading instruction to feel equipped and confident in providing the highest quality instruction possible. Mary is also the president of The Reading League Oklahoma Chapter.