Vision of ReadEngage
Donation protected
Hello Friends-
When I decided to be a teacher I knew that I wanted to help students realize their potential by giving them what I consider to be the most precious gift. That gift is the ability to read. Education is shifting away from a child-centered approach to a performance-centered approach. This shift hurts students, especially our most marginalized students. I can teach my students the best strategies for reading, I can arm them with the tools of annotation and close reading, and I can help them choose the perfect book for their interests and abilities. That is as far as I can go. Imagine being able to see a student engage with a text as they read. Imagine being able to see the exact moment that comprehension begins to break down and being able to help when it matters most. Imagine you or your child’s teacher being able to know immediately that they “get it” and can move on without fear of leaving someone behind.
ReadEngage allows for all of this and more!
I founded ReadEngage with my close friend and colleague, Clay Schepman. We both teach in a middle school, and we set off to find truly valuable reading data that showed us more than "Patrick missed number 5 but got 6, 7, and 8 correct". We couldn't find that data. We couldn't find the data that showed that "Patrick is proficient in the skill of identifying main idea and supporting details".
ReadEngage generates that very data that gives us an understanding of student strengths and weaknesses and also allow teachers to see evidence of mastery more quickly than grading an assessment. Students can show what they are capable of and teachers can benefit from the enhanced data to aid in planning.
We piloted ReadEngage in several schools, and we received rave reviews from the students and teachers involved. We also did work last year with a large education consulting firm – and they found uses in our platform that we didn’t even envision. Our favorite sentiments from students were that they felt comfortable working on our platform because no one knew that they might have been working on a different skill or level from other students. Our favorite sentiments from teachers were that the system was so open that they used ReadEngage daily in ways that Clay and I couldn't imagine. This is the magic of placing a great tool into the hands of great educators!
ReadEngage has the ability to group students in a variety of different ways, from grade level to skill practice. We can group English Language Learners and Special Education students into groups virtually that appears no different than any other student’s group. We can group High Ability students from across classes in order to accommodate their academic needs. Teachers can have multiple groups running multiple activities...all without creating new content – they use the content they already have!
We want to launch ReadEngage in schools and other educational settings for the 2016-2017 school year, which mostly begins in August. It’s hard to raise money being a startup in the Midwest, especially focused in the education space. Our call to action to get your help. The funds we receive will enable thousands of students to sign up and benefit from the ReadEngage platform.
We appreciate all donations, no matter how small, and know that your donation will directly impact a student. Our donors can expect communication from our teachers and students who are using ReadEngage. We will encourage our students to write letters to donors describing their progress with the system and how it is impacting their academic goals.
Please take time to visit the ReadEngage website and
check out our brief video tutorial below to see for yourself how our system can positively impact students.
Most sincerely,
Ryan Culbreth
<iframe media_type="0" media_id="oZGL7cqKiyM" class="youtube-replace" title="YouTube video player" style="margin-bottom:20px;width:560px;height:315px;" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/oZGL7cqKiyM/?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="1"></iframe>
When I decided to be a teacher I knew that I wanted to help students realize their potential by giving them what I consider to be the most precious gift. That gift is the ability to read. Education is shifting away from a child-centered approach to a performance-centered approach. This shift hurts students, especially our most marginalized students. I can teach my students the best strategies for reading, I can arm them with the tools of annotation and close reading, and I can help them choose the perfect book for their interests and abilities. That is as far as I can go. Imagine being able to see a student engage with a text as they read. Imagine being able to see the exact moment that comprehension begins to break down and being able to help when it matters most. Imagine you or your child’s teacher being able to know immediately that they “get it” and can move on without fear of leaving someone behind.
ReadEngage allows for all of this and more!
I founded ReadEngage with my close friend and colleague, Clay Schepman. We both teach in a middle school, and we set off to find truly valuable reading data that showed us more than "Patrick missed number 5 but got 6, 7, and 8 correct". We couldn't find that data. We couldn't find the data that showed that "Patrick is proficient in the skill of identifying main idea and supporting details".
ReadEngage generates that very data that gives us an understanding of student strengths and weaknesses and also allow teachers to see evidence of mastery more quickly than grading an assessment. Students can show what they are capable of and teachers can benefit from the enhanced data to aid in planning.
We piloted ReadEngage in several schools, and we received rave reviews from the students and teachers involved. We also did work last year with a large education consulting firm – and they found uses in our platform that we didn’t even envision. Our favorite sentiments from students were that they felt comfortable working on our platform because no one knew that they might have been working on a different skill or level from other students. Our favorite sentiments from teachers were that the system was so open that they used ReadEngage daily in ways that Clay and I couldn't imagine. This is the magic of placing a great tool into the hands of great educators!
ReadEngage has the ability to group students in a variety of different ways, from grade level to skill practice. We can group English Language Learners and Special Education students into groups virtually that appears no different than any other student’s group. We can group High Ability students from across classes in order to accommodate their academic needs. Teachers can have multiple groups running multiple activities...all without creating new content – they use the content they already have!
We want to launch ReadEngage in schools and other educational settings for the 2016-2017 school year, which mostly begins in August. It’s hard to raise money being a startup in the Midwest, especially focused in the education space. Our call to action to get your help. The funds we receive will enable thousands of students to sign up and benefit from the ReadEngage platform.
We appreciate all donations, no matter how small, and know that your donation will directly impact a student. Our donors can expect communication from our teachers and students who are using ReadEngage. We will encourage our students to write letters to donors describing their progress with the system and how it is impacting their academic goals.
Please take time to visit the ReadEngage website and
check out our brief video tutorial below to see for yourself how our system can positively impact students.
Most sincerely,
Ryan Culbreth
<iframe media_type="0" media_id="oZGL7cqKiyM" class="youtube-replace" title="YouTube video player" style="margin-bottom:20px;width:560px;height:315px;" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/oZGL7cqKiyM/?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="1"></iframe>
Organizer
Ryan Culbreth
Organizer
Seymour, IN
