Audiobooks | Feature At One School, iPods Help Improve Reading
Scores After noticing an uptick in ELL and other students with
below average reading scores at his school, Skip Johnson,
principal at El Crystal Elementary in San Bruno, CA, created a
forward-thinking reading program pairing iPods and print books
that has helped to successfully boost reading comprehension
scores among non proficient readers. The idea for letting
struggling readers follow print and iPod audiobooks
simultaneously was first sparked when Johnson was browsing the
iTunes store trying to spend a $50 iTunes giftcard--a generous
gift from a teacher. "I happened to notice audiobooks for sale
and I went, 'Hmm, there are a lot of books here that kids want
to read," he said. Johnson then piloted the initiative with a
single iPod and just a handful of audiobooks that he introduced
to just three students. Now in its fourth year, the program
maintains a library brimming with more than 400 audiobooks on 50
devices, and has caught on school wide. "