I'd heard about Raz Kids in an article that I read a while back (I'm sorry I don't remember where from) and had heard about a few of my colleagues using it and thought I'd give it a try. I went to my principal and she happily gave approval for the $109 US. My idea was to use it mainly for Home Reading and also in class during center time.
For the Home Reading portion, I talked to quite a few of my parents about it during the year's first parent conferences and the parents thought it was a good idea. They liked the idea of being able to access it through their mobile devices and not having to keep track of physical books. I targeted the students and parents I knew were below grade level, and had difficulty keeping track of resources. I thought it was a win-win. I was wrong.
I introduced it through blog posts, agenda messages as well a notes home that included log in information. I got the kids excited about it at school, worked hard to make sure they were independently able to log in and use the program. Even with all that hype and reminders, I have less than half my class of 22 using it on a regular basis. Actually only 4 use it weekly outside of school.
I broke down some reports and came up with these numbers:
I estimated that the total number of hours to date, using 30 minutes as an average practice time, for the year is about 42. That's not including weekends or holidays and non-instructional days. For the entire time we've had the program I have 6 students that have used it for less than 2 hours, 4 of those students are reading well below grade level currently. The other 2 are at grade level. 6 more students used it 2-5 hours, 4 of those are not reading at grade level and 2 are above grade level. 4 students have read 5-10 hours, 2 of them are exceeding grade level and two are well below. The final 6 students have read 10+ hours, 3 are exceeding and 3 are below grade level. Of that 10+ category, only one has more than 24 hours the rest are between 10 and 16 hours.
In the classroom, the students get a chance to use the program once a week and they get about 20 minutes on average to use it. The data above includes the time in class that they get and some of those students only use it at school. The program is incorporated into our Literacy Center time as one of the centers. I also try to get them on (especially the students that need the practice) when ever I can, but really I had planned for this to be used at home more than at school.
So as I am writing this, I am pondering whether or not I will ask for it again next year. On one hand, I can turn over responsibility for Home Reading to parents. It takes up way less space and wastes way less time. On the other hand, if the parents are not going to use it, is it worth the money?
