TTE teacher brings silent web-based reading program to students with results
Timber Trail Elementary’s building resource teacher, Kristie Krier, works on a web-based reading program with a student. Krier was instrumental in securing grant money to bring the program, called Reading Plus, to area schools.
Article and photo by Lisa Crockett
One of the challenges in teaching young students to read is tailoring activities to each students’ individual abilities. Kristie Krier, the building resource teacher at Timber Trail Elementary, has spearheaded an effort to bring a high-tech, tailored teaching method to area schools.
“Reading Plus s a computer-based reading program that provides individualized silent reading practice,” said Krier. “We have been using the program for several months. In that short amount of time, we have seen fluency and comprehension scores increasing.”
This program is a web-based reading and intervention system that provides individualized silent reading practice for students in second grade and above.
The Reading Plus system’s web-based placement tests determine each student’s independent silent reading ability level along with the appropriate instructional programs and effective starting levels for each student. Instructional paths are then individualized to meet each student’s needs, and adjust dynamically to match student progress.
Krier and her fellow building resource teachers in the Rock Canyon feeder area (Buffalo Ridge Elementary, Redstone Elementary and Wildcat Elementary) secured a grant that will provide licenses for all four elementary schools at a greatly reduced price.
Krier was able to secure the pilot program for Timber Trail for the second half of the 2009 – 2010 school year. The program license per school costs $15,000 per year. Since receiving the grant, the elementary schools will now have access to the program for three years at the greatly reduced fee of only $2912.50 Timber Trail was also awarded a second grant to cover the cost of the entire program. “Students are truly enthusiastic about this program,” said Krier. “They are demonstrating ownership of their learning by documenting their scores each time they use the program.”
