Some Philadelphia Kindergartners Learning Reading via New iPads
By Mike DeNardo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Some Philadelphia students are tapping and swiping their way through reading lessons, in a new pilot program.
The kindergarten kids at Jackson Elementary School today were engrossed in the iPad Minis in front of them, learning letters, their sounds, and how they form words.
It's a four-year pilot at the Jackson and Ziegler schools, using software designed by AIM Academy (formerly the Academy In Manayunk), a Conshohocken school for children with language-based learning disabilities.
"We have our research advisory team actually look at specific iPad applications that would map to the learning research," says Pat Roberts, the CEO there.
Two hundred iPads are being made available to 750 Philadelphia students through two donations: $500,000 from the Olitsky Foundation, and $400,000 from the annual "Burger Brawl" competition by Rouge restaurateur Rob Wasserman.
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More than half of Philadelphia students are not reading on grade level by the end of third grade. One of schools superintendent William Hite's goals is to have every student reading on grade level by age eight.