Martha,
My district looked at this program last year but
didn't get it because it's pretty expensive.
Scholastic reps should be able to come out and give
you a very thorough presentation of it. You should
make sure that you go to it if they do, it's very
interesting. Also get the names of people in nearby
districts or schools that are using it so you can make
visits and get "unbiased" opinions. That said,
everything I've heard about it has been positive. Our
reading specialists visited a nearby district that was
using it and they loved it.
You'd need an extra group of computers dedicated to
running the program probably located in the reading
specialist's room. I believe they need to be networked
but Scholastic could give you the specifics on that.
Our reading specialist wanted to use our new lab but
we convinced her that it would tie up too many
computers for too long of a time plus require an adult
to be there for just those students.
Hope some of that helps,
-----------
Martha,
Our high school uses READ 180. I asked our wonderful freshmen READ 180
teacher to look at your question and help with an answer. It is below.
Regards,
============================================================
The Read 180 program is an excellent tool for targeting and helping
struggling readers. It builds fluency, and it boosts students'
comprehension and vocabulary skills. However, for the program to work,
it has certain requirements. Class sizes need to be small. The largest
Read 180 class should be about 21 students; teachers can work best with
a class size of about fifteen students, though. This small class size is
critical to student growth; it allows teachers to work with a group of
no more than five students. Even five students can become a handful when
one is differentiating instruction between them, which is what the
purpose of the program is.
In addition, one must be armed with the right tools with the program.
Old, out-of-date computers simply will not work. New computers should be
purchased with the program for it to run efficiently. Microphones and
headphones are also a necessity. These little pieces may frequently
break; or they may disappear. The CDs should also be protected at all
costs. One should make copies of them to prevent having to purchase new
ones when they get scratched.
The Read 180 program includes and arrives with about sixty books, but
many of my students are not interested in about half of the titles.
Thus, a teacher either needs to make frequent trips to the library to
get high interest books in the students' hands, or he/she needs to
have a personal, classroom library full of engaging texts.
----------
We just implemented the program at the start of this year. My
explanation is too lengthy for email. Please feel free to give me a
call!
We are out until Monday.
------------
I absolutely love the program for the seventh grade resource room
language ages classroom. The series is great, it allows me to monitor
the student progress quickly, and the student monitor their own
progress.
Martha Oldham, Librarian
Lawrence High School, Lawrence, Kansas 66046
Library Page: http://library.lhs.usd497.org
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