Thanks to a grant from Target Foundation, Team Read is studying how to use technology to enhance the 1:1 tutoring partnership at the heart of Team Read’s program model. Linda Braun, a consultant with deep and wide expertise in digital media and learning, is leading the project, which will culminate in Team Read’s first-ever Strategic Technology Plan.

During interviews with Braun, students and coaches were enthusiastic about using technology and shared suggestions for building reading skills, including: audio recording capability to allow readers and their families to hear progress during sessions and at home, internet access to look up vocabulary words or learn more about story content, and reading games in digital format to reinforce fluency and comprehension.

A recent article documents what scientists already know about technology and the role of shared reading with adults. According to “Tap, Click, Read: Growing Readers in an Age of Screens” by Lisa Guernsey and Michael H. Levine, “the provision of iPads is simply not enough. Wherever they are, whoever they are, children who are learning to read will still need reading partners.”

Team Read plans to pilot several of the researched strategies during the 2018-19 school year at its two Highline sites, Hazel Valley Elementary and Midway Elementary. Thanks to two generous grants from The Norman RAAB Foundation, both sites already have computer access for reading pairs.