Rural Family Learning: Paired Reading in Ardmore City Schools

NCFL has been working with Ardmore City Schools (ACS) in Oklahoma to improve student literacy rates and intergenerational engagement through the use of on- and offline educational tools. The goal of this partnership is to establish and build school and community support for improving literacy and family learning.

We’re excited to report that, since January, this program has resulted in over 2,000 hours of reading time (with 60 percent of this reading happening outside of the school day). That’s roughly 12,000 books read together by families attending three elementary schools.

NCFL coupled digital reading with researched-based reading strategies to fuel reading among elementary students and their families. We brought paired-reading strategies to share with teachers and parents, access to an interactive digital library (myON) for all elementary students, and combined these approaches with the power of digital engagement via tablets – all thanks to generous funding from Dollar General Literacy Foundation.

Paired reading has been shown to have a positive impact on student literacy for those in grades K-3, and research has shown that only 1-2 hours of parent education is necessary to make a positive impact at home.

One parent shared, “You know, that paired reading really works! I can’t believe how smoothly my daughter is reading since we started doing it!”

At family learning events, parents were shown how the students were using myON subscriptions in class with tablets and learned how the same resource could be accessed at home to unleash the power of paired reading. For those students without high speed Internet connections and a myON compatible device, they were reminded that the same great interactive literacy strategies can be used with paper books. The teachers stressed that together parents, grandparents, and teachers can help all Ardmore children and families reach their full potential.

The early results have already proved this was a strategy worthy of expansion, and ACS has decided to match the original funding to reach more students.

“NCFL’s approach and partnership with Ardmore City Schools has energized our commitment to literacy. Our students and their families are avid fans of reading digitally and we expect to find student gains follow this excitement,” said ACS Superintendent Sonny Bates.