Irene Fountas

Irene C. Fountas (born 14 August 1948) is an American educator. She teaches at Lesley University as the Marie M. Clay Endowed Chair for Early Literacy and Reading Recovery.^[1]

Fountas is one of the authors who wrote for educational publisher Heinemann, producing material for teaching students how to read. In 2024, a group of parents filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts, which alleged that a group of professors and their publishers, including Fountas, used “deceptive and fraudulent marketing” to sell their popular reading materials. In May 2025, a district court judge "ruled that the lawsuit against educational publisher Heinemann and three of its top authors was invalidated by a legal doctrine that bars claims of 'educational malpractice'."^[2] The lawsuit was struck down in 2025 ^[3]