MindPlay program helping students with their reading skills, local educators say

Presentation given at May 8 school board meeting

BATTLE MOUNTAIN - Eleanor Lemaire Elementary School Principal Amy Nelson and Alan Hooper, of Western Educational Consultants, Inc., gave a presentation to school board members at the May 8 Lander County School Board meeting on the MindPlay reading intervention program.

Western Educational Consultants specializes in interventions, assessments, fluency and serving English language learners. The presentation lasted about 45 minutes.

According to Nelson, MindPlay is a research-based intervention utilizing cutting edge technology that enables every learner to receive individualized reading instruction. MindPlay products address all of the core reading components.

On its website, according to MindPlay Founder and Chair Judith Bliss, "MindPlay virtual reading coach leverages technology to deliver a full curriculum that helps students learn to read well. With content developed by experts in language, literacy and assessment, it is like having a one-on-one session with a reading specialist for every student, every time they log into the program."

MindPlay is a program where students can either work online at school or from home, Nelson told board members. All of the district's principals were given a free three-month trial period.

Nelson said she has already noticed a difference in her students' reading abilities.

"The growth we experienced in the three months in closing achievement gaps for several of our students is astonishing," Nelson said. "It addresses phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, grammar and meaning, comprehension and fluency."

She continued, "What we find in our struggling readers is it is often hard to assess what area or areas of reading are weak and this program has impressive diagnostic assessments then targets those specific skills based on each student's individual needs. In a class of 25 students, the gaps in reading fall into all six of the essential reading components described in the above paragraph. This creates a significant challenge for the classroom teacher. The lessons in MindPlay are interactive, explicit, scaffolded and we have found they directly address the gaps of the students."

Nelson said that Battle Mountain High School Principal Susan Baldwin discovered the program after she was concerned with several senior students who were struggling with passing the high school reading proficiency test.

Each school can utilize it for the summer school programs, added Nelson. Lemaire Elementary School starts its summer school classes June 10 and runs them for 8 weeks, through Aug. 1.

"It would be fantastic for English credit recovery at the junior high level, will reinforce phonemic awareness at the kindergarten level and can bolster a student's reading speed in preparation for the ACT at the high school level," Nelson said.

At Lemaire, computer teacher Russ Olsen and Nelson enrolled the students on the first day of the trial period and they have logged hundreds of hours in the program.

"We have seen significant growth in their skills, especially their reading speed," Nelson said. "Some of the students work from home and during Friday school and have made tremendous growth. The MindPlay educational software identifies individual student needs and differentiates instruction. When used with fidelity, I believe this program can improve the reading skills of students from kindergarten to 12th graders practicing for the ACT test."

Nelson added that many parents are happy with the program.

"During our spring report card conferences, Russ Olsen met with parents and showed their child's progress on MindPlay," she said. "There are incredible parent reports, and parents were appreciative of the specific student performance reports. They were most impressed with the data on where their child was struggling and the actual mistakes they were making. They also were impressed with the fluency testing that is designed to increase reading speed."

The school board has budgeted $176,000 for the program in the FY 2013-14 budget and the item will come before the school board at tonight's school board meeting for a vote to officially approve the program.

For more information, please visit www.mindplay.com. Any parent or community member interested in taking the assessment and lessons is welcome to contact Nelson at Lemaire Elementary School at (775) 635-8114.





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