Twin Cities Reading Project

Note: This project is still in the planning stage.

Purpose
The purpose of this proposal is to make computers available to inner-city young people in order to improve their reading skills.

Target Population
One hundred young people would be involved. Fifty would be from Minneapolis. Fifty would be from St. Paul.
The students would be of different ages and reading levels. Some might be completely nonliterate.

Selection Procedure
Students would be recommended for the project in various ways. Schools - public and private - along with community education centers, churches, and other interested organizations would make the recommendations.
Project candidates must be able to understand spoken English. This is not a program to teach English as a second language. It is designed for persons who speak English but who cannot read it at an appropriate level, if at all.
An essential requirement for each project candidate would be a commitment to spend time on task. This is the key to achievement.

Placement of Computers
The computers would be placed at centers accessible to the project participants and under conditions providing security for the computers.

Instructional Strategy
A phonics approach would be used.
The software would be donated by MicroEd, Incorporated. It would be highly interactive, and designed to promote success on the part of every student.
[During the 1994-95 school year, this software was field tested as a reading project with 82 students in the Duluth Public Schools. The results went from a pre-test median score at the 57th percentile to a post-test median score at the 89th percentile.]

Computer Requirements
Each computer would be used by at least five students per day. This figure is based on the requirement that each participant spend a minimum of one hour per day - Monday through Friday - on his or her assigned reading lessons. This means that twenty computers should be obtained for the project.
Specifically, the software requires the following hardware:
Macintosh computers with color monitors (but NOT the small screen of the Color Classic), running V7.0 or better, and recommended 8MB physical or virtual memory.

Personnel
Thorwald (Tory) Esbensen, the professional educator who designed the Duluth project and developed its software, would donate his services as coordinator for the Twin Cities Reading Project.
In addition to his services, ten adult volunteers would work as supervisors within the project. Each supervisor would monitor the progress of ten students. The Minnesota Council on Black Aging has pledged its support for this part of the project.

Student Achievement Awards
An entrepreneurial approach to learning would be employed.
For each reading lesson that is mastered, the learner would receive an Achievement Point.
Merchants and other commercial organizations within the Twin Cities would be asked to furnish various kinds of awards that could be earned by the project students with their Achievement Points. Ideally, this award list would contain a variety of things: tickets to athletic events (including professional sports), rides at Camp Snoopy, dance lessons, tennis and golf time, theater tickets, excursions, and so on - a multitude of items. Depending on its market value, each item would have a specified purchase price in terms of achievement points. The students would save their points in an Achievement Awards Bank and then purchase the items they wanted.

Click here to see a list of endorsements for this project.

You can send us an e-mail message at

[email protected]

Return to Main Menu