Schools adopt digital library program

COCOA – While home sick, Christopher Jamian-Fleck logged onto the tablet computer he earned last school year, after becoming one of Emma Jewel Charter Academy's top readers.

His grandmother had suggested he read, knowing Christopher was feeling antsy about staying home. So the 8-year-old visited his school's "virtual library" and opened a book about Mount Rushmore, diverging from his favorite subjects of sports and UFOs.

Thanks to a digital library program being rolled out in local schools, similar electronic books will soon be a click away for tens of thousands of students. Within the next few weeks, the program will be available at about 30 low-income elementary schools and four specialty programs in Brevard.

And Christopher, who initially struggled with reading, is hooked. Since logging on almost a year ago, he's read about dinosaurs and Nessie, the Lock Ness Monster. Last year he was reading below grade level. But now, as a second grader, he's advanced well above.

What's helped is a feature of the myON program that reads the story, highlighting the words as a digital voice says them out loud.

"He wasn't a reader before this, and now he's enjoying it so much," said his grandmother Marcy Fleck. "He finds out things he never knew he was interested in. And he can go at his own pace."

Digital libraries

For Emma Jewel, which opened last school year in Cocoa's historically black Diamond Square neighborhood, myON has taken on a significance role: As its school library.

A traditional "bricks and mortar" library was not financially feasible for the charter school, which is publicly funded but operates independent of the school district, said Principal Thomas Cole, who founded the school with his wife, Kimberly Harrell-Cole.

"It was a financial decision," he said. "One of the blessings is the fact that the United Way came along and brought the myON program. It gives students access to over 20,000 books, right at their fingertips."

The program also serves a second purpose: To give students access to and experience with digital devices. It's an increasingly important skill for academic and employment success.

About 98 percent of students at Emma Jewel receive free or reduced-price lunch, an indicator of poverty. For some families, the Internet may be another bill they can't afford. "They may not even have a computer," Cole said.

The school has taken steps to fill the technology gap — with laptops that rotate between classes, and with Kindles, which are e-reading devices.

Last year, middle school students were allowed to bring the Kindles home, but they now stay at school due to an increase in enrollment — there's not enough to go around. Emma Jewel now serves about 300 students in grades K-8.

Home access is a critical challenge to the digital library and reading movement in education, said Kara Dawson, a professor of educational technology at the University of Florida.

"You want students to be able to take literacy home with them," she said, explaining that families may not have a device they can use, or know how to use it well. "If they don't have access at home, that's problematic."

Dawson said there's "pros and cons" to the digital innovation: From the the barriers of technology, to the benefits of a program that can read out loud to students, or allow them to increase the font size, which some research has shown can help students with dyslexia.

Cole said that the myON program — along with volunteers who use it to read one-on-one with students — is a key effort at the school, which received an "F" school grade last year because of low tests scores.

In addition, teachers are focusing on instruction, and ensuring students learn the material the first time they see it, instead of through remediation or tutoring, which was a heavier focus last year.

"Anytime they get them more time reading, it's added to the instructional time," Cole said. "The more time that is spent reading or focused on academics is a benefit for us, and myON is that benefit for us."

Expanding program

Since the myON program was introduced in January, more than 4,200 students at seven pilot schools have used it — and read nearly 80,000 books.

The United Way of Brevard is championing the digital reading program, paying the $7,000 annual per-school cost for the pilot schools, an expense they hope to eventually hand off to Brevard Public Schools. The nonprofit expects to continue funding Emma Jewel's program for the foreseeable future.

The pilot program has been so well received that Brevard Public Schools decided to expand it this winter. Unlike Emma Jewel, the program is intended to supplement, but not replace, traditional libraries at district schools.

And in at least one case, it appears to be sparking interest in school libraries: One principal noticed an uptick in books being checked out after myOn was rolled out.

Brevard is paying for an annual subscription for 26 additional low-income schools and four specialty education programs, a total cost of $172,800. Federal money earmarked for low-income schools is paying the expense, which will be reviewed annually, said Teresa Wright, director of Brevard's Early Childhood and Title I programs.

"We're hoping that students will have access before the holidays," she said, so students can use myON during winter break. "Reading is like a sport, the more you practice the better you get."

United Way President Robert Rains said that myON was initially met with some resistance. The nonprofit initially introduced it to school district and Emma Jewel leaders, along with the possibility of paying for pilot programs.

"If you have a limited amount of funds, you can buy books or you can buy a subscription like myOn," Rains said. "The first thought is: 'I want those books in my library.'"

But he said that the metrics have proven helpful, It monitors the complexity of reading, and short quizzes after each book measures comprehension.

Plus, it gives students access to thousands of books — expanding options for individuals who want to read story after story on, say, dinosaurs. And at some schools, teachers are assigning students different books on the same subject, to better match different reading levels.

"It's better," said Emma Jewel third grader Vahreion Kirkman, comparing the program to traditional books. "I get to slide it. Sometimes it reads you to you."

Saturn Elementary is among the pilot schools using myON as an extra reading program – student use it when they have free time, or after classes have finished for the day.

"Kids are getting to choose the books that they get to read," said Principal Michael Miller, explaining that it's helped emphasize the fun of reading.

So far, Saturn students have read more than 23,000 books, twice the number of other pilot schools. In part, Miller credits the school's reading challenges, and its celebrations of reading success.

"There's been no requirements on the kids," he said. "They love the program and they've really done well with it."

Ryan is at 321-261-4070 or mryan@floridatoday.com. Follow her on Twitter @Mackenzie_Ryan or at Facebook.com/FloridaTodayEducation.