The Little Rock School District held a press conference Tuesday at Baseline Elementary School to promote a summer literacy challenge that provides eBooks to kids. The LRSD fully implemented the MyOn program this year after a pilot with four elementary schools in 2013.
District superintendent Baker Kurrus said the program's aim is to improve literacy before the 4th grade.
“The major component that this fills for us is an off-site component where kids can read at home. It makes things simple, [and] provides books for kids when they may not have them at home,” he said.
The program assesses student literacy levels at regular intervals, roughly every two weeks. According to Haygood Poundstone, the company’s regional vice president, 14,000 LRSD students have read 250,000 MyOn books this year.
MyOn recommends personalized reading for kids which Poundstone said encourages independent reading.
“We are engaging children based upon genres they like. So, at the beginning of the program, they’ve actually identified, hey, 'I like books about animals,' or 'I like books about science.' We’re giving them books we know will engage them," he said.
LRSD Instructional Technology Director Barbara Williams helped develop MyOn pilot programs in several LRSD elementary schools in 2013. She said it has been popular with teachers and media specialists.
"For the struggling readers, the ability to have books to read, unfamiliar words sounded out to them, and used in different contexts as well as definitions displayed or read to them. For the 'love of reading' readers, [this offers] the ability to read on their achievement level, anytime, anywhere,” said Williams.
Kurrus acknowledge that while the program’s goal is to encourage summer reading, not all LRSD students have access to computers or devices to use the program at home.
“Well, we’re still struggling with that a little bit. But of course, we’re partnered up with the public libraries and they’re filling the void there. And these Kindles, these kids have, I want to make sure they are making that available all summer long. We’ve got a little more work to do there and I understand that," he said.
According to Kurrus, 900 kids from LRSD elementary schools are enrolled in a summer school reading program. He said despite pushing for digital reading for kids, he maintains his own nostalgia for print.
“I love books, I love the feel of a good book. I grew up reading books," he said. But, he added, "[students] are moving into areas of new technologies, these kids that are six years old now, in eighty years will be doing things I could never dream of."
