Read 180 Summer Institute - Day 2 Opening Session

Keynote – Scholastic VP asked audience to think of a student whose life they had helped changed through R180.

I choose AQ, an 8^th grader. Her initial SRI showed a Lexile in the low 200’s. She was failing other academic subjects and particularly pre-Algebra. AQ ended the year on the Principal’s honor roll with a Lexile in the high 600’s. She discovered S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders through Read180 Audiobooks. She went home and talked about what she was reading only to discover that S.E. Hinton had been one of her mother’s favorite authors as a teenager. AQ went on to read two more of Hinton’s novels before the year was out.

“Brain research tells us that practice makes permanent.” Patrick Daley

Audiobooks contain a Reading Coach voice that provides metacognitive think-alouds at various points in the reading.

Brian Chernow – California Director for Scholastic Education gave a sneak preview of a new Scholastic product called System 44 which is designed to address the needs of students who need help with decoding and phonics. The program is targeted at grades 4-12. It uses an adaptive technology similar to that in Read180 (adapts to each reader’s needs). It features the Decoding Proficiency Assessment or DPA which provides data to determine the appropriate intervention for each student.

“I don’t mind reading now because the computer doesn’t embarrass me.”

Idea! Use the on-line fluency recording as a student portfolio item to demonstrate progress over time to parents and others.

Idea! The reading area can be formed using inexpensive lawn furniture.