Little Rock School District implements new virtual tutoring to improve reading levels

The pandemic made a lot of things more challenging, from going to the grocery store to visiting loved ones in the hospital. Things were especially complicated for young students trying to stay on grade level at school. On Thursday, the Little Rock School District hosted a demonstration to show administrators how a new online tutoring program will help students catch up on their reading levels. “It’s really targeting the specific gaps that students have in their early literacy skills,” Little Rock School District’s Chief Academic Officer, Melissa Gudy said. When students put on their blue headphones— that means it’s tutoring time. “The Ignite Reading program is a daily intervention, it’s 15 minutes, it’s a high dosage tutoring where kids are online, across the computer with a tutor that they see virtually every day,” Gudy explained. She said that more than half of the district’s students are not reading on grade level and that she saw the learning gaps before the pandemic started. “I think the pandemic has certainly exacerbated those gaps and really created additional issues with attendance and students not being in school,” she said. That’s why the district is partnering with Ignite! Reading to get students caught up.