My Reading Coach
The Fort Bend County Juvenile Probation Department began implementation of a literacy program for law-involved juveniles in 2005 after learning about “My Reading Coach” software, which was developed and is distributed by Mindplay Education Solutions (visit http://www.mindplay.com). The need for this literacy program continues to be supported by statistics showing that over 80% of the 15, 16 and 17 year olds on juvenile probation in Fort Bend County are significantly behind in school. Without individualized remedial assistance, a 16 or 17 year old in the 9th grade is already defeated with no real reason to try to do better and stay out of trouble.
Since its beginning, the program has grown from two computer workstations in one site to nine workstations in three sites. Latest statistics show that during the 2012/2013 school year to date, the literacy program has worked with a total of 82 juveniles at the Department’s two Juvenile Leadership Academies. Of that total, 41 cadets (or 50%) needed “My Reading Coach”. On the average, they had beginning scores of 66.5% and improved to an average of 94% after approximately 6.5 hours working the program.
In 2012, Mindplay introduced Mindplay Virtual Reading Coach (MVRC). This program builds on the successful key program designs of “My Reading Coach”. It is a fully Internet based program with an expanded curriculum that integrates the unique diagnostic tool, the Reading Assessment Prescriptive Service (RAPS) and the fluent reader program. The Juvenile Probation Department’s Special Programs staff received a Results-Oriented Preview of this Virtual Reading Coach and was so impressed with the vast improvements that were made and the positive impact that it would have on the students needing the literacy program that all literacy workstations have been upgraded to MVRC.