LITERACY LEVELS CRIPPLING AMERICA'S FUTURE?
ALEKSEY VAYNER' EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE MAY BE A SOLUTION
Ifourchildrenareourfuture,thenwehaveaproblem.Accordingtopublicschoolstatistics,fewerand
fewerchildrengraduatehighschoolseachyear,andthosewhodoreadat3to4gradelevelslowerthan
necessary. ThethreeyearlyOECDProgrammeforInternationalStudentAssessment(PISA)report,
whichcomparestheknowledgeandskil sof15yearolds,rankedtheUnitedStates14thoutof34OECD
countriesforreadingskil s,andabelowaverage25thformathematics.
AnotherrankingagencyrankedAmerica'shighschooleducationquality117thof153developedcountries
basedonstandardizedtestscores,andaveragereadinglevelsacrossacountry.(AverageAmerican
readsat2nd gradelevel).Suchpoorliteracyspel sdisasterforyoungAmericansandforourabilityto
competeintheGlobalmarket.

Skepticswouldarguethatyoungchildrenandhighimmigrantpopulationareskewingthedata,buteven
theyagreethatsomethingneedstochange.Butwhatkindofchange?
Beforeanysolutioncanbeimplemented,thecauseoftheproblemhastobeisolated.Thecountryis
goingthrougheconomiccrisisandlacksthefundingtoadequatelystaf schools?Teachers'salariesare
basedonyearsofserviceinsteadofperformance?Thesamesolutionshavebeenat emptedfor40years
insteadoftryingsomethingnew?Al trueandvalidpoints,butsomepeoplewhoaretacklingtheliteracy
issuebelievetheproblemismorefundamental,andtheanswerlieswiththekidsthemselves.Onesuch
personisAlekseyVayner.
Graduate of Yale University, London School of
Economics,andfounderofEmpoweraChildInc.,a
nonprofit that focuses on helping children learn
criticalskil slikereading,Alekseydoneresearchand
conductednumerousprimarystudiestoanalyzehow
peopleread,andwhatchangesarerequiredtoread
bet er.

AlekseyVaynerlooksbeyondeconomicandinstitutionalreasonsinsearchfortheanswertoAmerica's
readingproblem.Firstgenerationimmigrant,heexperiencedfirsthandthedif icultyoflearningEnglishin
anovercrowdedpublicschoolESLclassroom,surroundedbychildrenwhowere. .dif iculttoteach.
"Lookingbeyondal theobviousmacroproblems,therewasoneconstant.Studentswerenotengaged;
EmpoweraChildInc@ 2011

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simplyput,theywerebored.Theirat entionspanisminimal,andteachersdonothaveadequatetoolsto
engagestudents,"saysAleksey.
SoanalyzingwhatdoesengageAmerica'syouthtoday,andtheanswerappearedobvious-videogames.
Ironical y,manyexpectsconcurvideogamesareamongtheprimaryreasonsforkids'shortenedat ention
span.ThoughAlekseyVaynerconfessestoneverbeeninterestedinvideogamesasakid,henow
becamefascinatedwithpotentialofvideogamestobecomeaviablelearningtool.
Fastforwardto2010,andsoftwareteamledbyAlekseyVaynerdevelopedIvyReader,aneducational
suitewithreadingandspeedreadingmoduleatitscore,butwithatwist-itisdesignedtosimulatea
primitivecomputergame.Kidswatchthescreen,fol owabasicsetofgamerules,andprogressinlevelsif
theypassescalatingdif icultylevels.Althoughtheprogramwasoriginal ythoughtupbyAlekseywhenhe
wasstil atYaleUniversity,andithasbeentestedprimarilybyIvyLeaguestudentstoincreasereading
speed,abetatestwithagroupofNYCbasedhighschoolstudentshasbeenverypromising.

StudentsweresimplygivenIvyReadertoplaywith,withoutinstructions,requirements,expectations,and
mostimportantlywithoutincentives.Therewas100%participationrate,wil al ofthestudentscompleting
17exercisesscientifical yproventoimprovetheirreadingability,whichrequired23continuousminutesof
uninterruptedengagementbythestudenttocomplete,tothenbeabletomovetolevel2ofthegame.
99%ofsubjectsalsoshowedsignificantreadingimprovementafterjustonelevel. .andthereare12levels
tocompletethegame!

Whilethesamplesizemightbesmal andtheresultsarepreliminary,itisclearthatAlekseyVaynerison
tosomething,potential ysolvingthemostcommonproblemsteachersarefacingwheneducatingour
youth,whicharechildren'sengagementandat entionspan.Throughout2009and2010AlekseyVayner
andhisteamworkedonwaystoexpandIvyReaderandmakeitamorecomprehensivelearningtool,"that
wouldteachkidsabouttheimportanceandtheprocessofgoalset ingandtimemanagement,thecore
habitsofsuccessfulandhighlyef ectivepeople,"Alekseysaid.TodayIvyReadercomesful yequipped
withthesemodules,aswel asatypingtutorprogram,andalargeelectronicbookslibrary,whichwil only
continuetogrow.
Thenext stepforAlekseyVaynerwil betotakeIvyReader,whichhasproventoengagekidsand
teachingthemessentialskil s,nottheleastofwhichisreading,intothepublicschoolsacrossthecountry.
ThatisAleksey'snextnonprofitproject,andisahugeundertaking.
"Ofcoursewewouldliketoseepublicschoolsinasmanystatesaspossiblegiveitatry,sinceit
has been so successful on a smal er scale in the Northeast. I am covering the cost of
development,productionanddistributiontotheschoolsthatacceptaninvitationtobetatest
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IvyReader,sotheyreal yhavenothingtolose,"saidAleksey.

Todate,EmpoweraChildInc.hasnotsolicitednoracceptedanyoutsidefunding.Al developmenthas
been paid for by Aleksey Vayner and outreach projects have been carried out by volunteers.
Understandingthatsuchapproachwil notbesustainablewhenIvyReadergoesnational,Alekseysaid,

"Iwanttomakesurethatwemakeabigpositiveimpact,dosomethingverysubstantialbeforewe
askpeopletodonate[toEmpoweraChildInc.].Ihatetheapproachofmanygrassrootsnon
profitsthataskformoneybecauseoftheir`vision,'orbasedontheir`plans,'butwhohavenot
doneanything.Visionsandplansareadimeadozen. .SoIdon'twantEmpoweraChildInc.to
beoneofthosenonprofits.Muchlikeinventurecapitalbusiness,peopledon'tgivemoneyfor
conceptsandforagoodreason-mostofthemfail!WhenI'l havetoraisesomemoneyIwantto
beabletosaythisiswhatwehavedone;it'smorethanavision,it'snotevenproofofconcept,
it'sasuccessfulprojectthatisworkingnow,theseareourmeasurableresults,andnowwecould
usesomemoneytoscaletheimpact."
WithIvyReadershowingrealresults,andpotentialtoimprovenationalreadinglevelsiftheprogramis
introducedtoschoolsnationwide,raisingmoneyshouldnotbeaproblemforAlekseyVayner.Much
biggerchal engecurrentlyliesinthelayersofbureaucracyofourpubliceducationsystem.Hehasbeen
knockingondoorstogetthispilotprojectapprovedbytheDepartmentofEducation,and"itliteral ytakes
monthstogetaresponse,andit'susual y`Ohhh,Idon'tdealwiththat,trypersonX,'andthatgoeson
forever.Nothinggetsdone,"commentsAleksey.
AlekseyVaynerisdeterminedtoseethis importantproject succeedonanationalscale.Hesees
IvyReaderasanevolvingplatform,andanewfunctionalapproachtoeducatingandempoweringour
children.
"Thereare 98,817publicschoolsacrossthecountry,withhighschoolsalonehostingover
fourteenandahalfmil ionstudents.IfwecanonlygetaquarterofthemusingIvyReaderand
sharingthegamewithoneoftheirfriends,that'shalfabil ionkidswithimprovedreadingskil s,
cleargoals,andsometimemanagementhabits-al beforetheyevengraduatehighschool.Now
that'sanimpact!"
Eveniffractional ysuccessful,IvyReaderwil provetobeasuccessfulpilotprogram.Itwil fundamental y
impactchildren'slivesbyimprovingtheirreadingskil sandtimemanagementhabits.Itcanalsolaythe
foundationforthegamingindustrytousegamestoeducateAmerica'syouthinsteadofproducingmore
grotesqueandexceedinglyexpensivevideogameswhich,someexpertsargue,directlycontributeto
children'sviolenceandADD.

EmpoweraChildInc@ 2011

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Sinceitsconceptionin2006,theEmpowerAChildInc.setacommitmenttoimprovingthequalityof
educationinmanypublicschoolsacrossthenation.However,"many"isjustisn'tenoughforAleksy
Vayner.ThegoalAlekseyhassetfortheEmpowerAChildgroupistoimproveeverychild'sreading
abilityintheUnitedStates,andtodosowhilegivinghighqualityeducationalmaterialtoschoolsforfree.

Asanindividualwhohasdevotedsignificantamountofhistimeandresourcestoimprovingthelivesof
childreneverywhere,AleksyVaynercontinuestoworkonhisprogramsandof eringseveryday.With
everypassingmonth,VaynertriestoperfecttheIvyReader,theIvyLearnerAcademy,andtofurtherhis
causethroughtheEmpowerAChildgroup.WebelievetheapproachAlekseyVaynerhastakenwith
IvyReaderand EmpoweraChild foundationwil leaveanationalfootprintinaformofhigherliteracy
levelsacrossAmerica.

By: RobbinKoirneratEmpoweraChildInc
EmpoweraChildInc@ 2011

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