Guided Lessons Combine Online Video with Live Coaches and Addresses Reading Skills Gap from Covid-19 School Closures; Program Developed with Help from the UC Merced Venture Lab.

Merced, CA—July, 22, 2020—Learn to Read, with support from the UC Merced Venture Lab, today launched a virtual Summer Reading Program designed for K-5 elementary school children.

The online Summer Reading Program combines self-paced Internet video lessons with live coaching sessions for individual student attention and encouragement. Reading lessons are designed for students entering kindergarten through the fifth grade.

The Summer Reading Program delivers individual lessons to students via a series of 500 recorded videos for each of the eight defined reading skill levels. Each video is approximately 12-15 minutes long and is accompanied by activity pages in a printed workbook, to make a full 30- minute lesson.

After a student has completed one or more lessons, the student has an online meeting with a reading coach who reviews the student’s work, addresses any questions or issues in the student’s grasp of the reading skills, provides encouragement and reviews the next assignment.

“Parents can have a strategy for their children to keep up with reading and comprehension standards, plus the live coaches are there to check on students’ progress and provide encouragement,” said Vivian Mendoza, Co- founder of Learn to Read. “Students are excited and motivated when they manage their own learning process and have a chance to show off their work.”

To enroll a child, parents or guardians can visit LearntoReadOnline.org. Parents with financial hardship may apply for a scholarship from the Learn to Read organization ( email: info@learntoreadonline.org ). UC Merced Venture Lab was instrumental in recognizing the disruption being caused by the early closure of schools and the uncertain date for schools to reopen. The Venture Lab’s charter provides support for the development of startup companies but is also committed to empowering individuals to address issues in their communities.

“As community citizens, we sought to fill this gap by partnering with Learn to Read to offer the community an age-appropriate summer reading program.” said Peter Schuerman, Associate Vice Chancellor of the Office of Research and Economic Development at UC Merced.

Other parties that were instrumental in the creation of the Summer Reading Program include teachers from McSwain School District, who are actively involved in student placement and oversight, educational consulting firm Walsh, Cassady & Walsh, and 4Venir, a non-proft organization providing STEM literacy taught by UC Merced graduate students. The UC Merced students are recruited by the UC Merced Community Engagement Center and the Center for Career and Professional Advancement.

About Learn To Read:
The Learn to Read program provides a reading curriculum specific for teaching reading skills to elementary school students. The program features recorded reading lessons that follow a workbook, students engage in two to four reading lessons per week and a reading coach connects online to review student progress, address challenges and determine the next week’s assignments. For more information, see https://LearnToReadOnline.org

About UC Merced Venture Lab::
The UC Merced Venture Lab provides people who want to explore entrepreneurship with resources to help them develop skills, create opportunities, and design their lives. It is open to people with a sincere interest in starting a company, and whose needs are a good fit for our resources. The program is designed to empower people to make a difference in their lives, their communities, and beyond.

The program operates across the region, with locations in Merced, Atwater, Modesto and Fresno. Resources include free legal advice through our partnership with UC Berkeley Law School, co-working spaces, meeting spaces, workshop spaces, coaching, access to mentor networks, matchmaking to find collaborators and team members, specialized training, and events. For more information, see. https:// venturelab.ucmerced.edu/.

Media Contacts:
For Learn to Read:
Jim Connor
Co-founder, Learn to Read
jconnor@LearnToReadOnline.org
Mobile: 415-518-8874