About us
Sixty years in classrooms. One belief about readers.
Ellen O'Connor spent 15 years teaching elementary students in Roanoke City Public Schools, from 2nd grade at Fallon Park Elementary to reading, writing, and science with 4th graders at Round Hill Elementary. She holds a degree in Elementary Education from Purdue University Calumet. In 2026 she retired from the classroom, and instead of slowing down she opened this center.
She did not do it alone. Building Your Foundation is a group of dedicated licensed teachers carrying over 60 years of combined classroom experience, held together by one belief: there is no such thing as a kid who cannot learn to read. There are only kids who have not been taught the way they need yet. The doors on Electric Road open for Fall 2026, and enrollment is happening now.
this is what confident looks like
Written on our board
Start where the child is
Not where the grade level says they should be. Instruction that starts in the wrong place teaches kids one thing: that reading is not for them.
Fun is a teaching tool
Magnetic letters, movement, games, a ball flying across the room. Kids practice harder when practice does not feel like punishment.
Parents get the plan
You will never leave a meeting here wondering what we think. The assessment, the plan, and the progress numbers are yours.
Honesty over enrollment
If your child does not need us, we say so. A tutoring center you cannot trust is not worth the drive.
Who walks through our door
Struggling is not one thing, so neither are we
Kids with IEPs who need more repetitions than a school week can hold. English language learners building English sounds on top of a whole first language. Kids who decode beautifully and remember nothing. Kids whose stomachs hurt every night before reading homework.
And adults. Some of the bravest people we know are grown ups who decided this was the year they learned to read well. Those sessions are private, patient, and judgment free, and we are honored every time.
A real place, five minutes from Tanglewood
We teach in person at 2129 Electric Rd, Suite 205 in Cave Spring, on the Route 419 corridor. No apps pretending to be teachers, no call centers. A room with books, letters, and people who know what to do with them.
Come see it before you decide. We like visitors.
Meet us in person
Book the assessment, or just call and talk to a teacher first.