The Foundation for RTR
Using recent advances in MRI technology, Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychologists and Neurology researchers have found that 7th grade students begin to develop entirely new pathways in their brains allowing them to process more complex text.
Previous reading comprehension techniques have failed to provide access to these pathways and as the NAEP reports, comprehension scores for our students have remained stagnant for 40 years.
The good news is that in one month RTR students exponentially increase their reading comprehension, measured by standardized tests. As they continue to use their new pathways, they continue to improve their comprehension skill, just as athletes work hard at their sport to improve their skills.
Just how much can students increase their reading comprehension abilities? In this case, students have the power to control their own destiny. Imagine that!
The National Report Card over a 40 year time period…
The NAEP (National Assessment of Education Progress) beginning in 1975, biannually measured the Reading Comprehension in 4th, 8th and 11th grades. In each of those grades the scores were stagnant through the years. From 1975 to 2015—40 years nearly a flat line on the graph. A score of 260 points in 1975 and a score of 265 in 2015.
U.S. 8TH GRADERS IMPROVED THEIR READING COMPREHENSION BY JUST EIGHT WORDS IN 40 YEARS!
The Foundation for ReadThinkRemember
Plasticity
The brain can "grow itself" as it learns new things, AND then it can "prune itself" to remove some of what it knows to make room for it. The two Stanford professors each received One Million dollars from the Kavli Prize (Norway).
Eye Movement
Just before his death, Keith Raynor figured out that the way our eyes moved had an impact on how we read. That is part of the EHB--the eye-hand movement that folks like Maria Montessori suggested was essential to learning to read (one hundred years earlier).
Reading Comprehension
Reading comprehension takes place on the right side of the brain, which was named many years ago as the Visual Word Form Area. The left side of the brain was named the Auditory Word Form Area, which is where we learn about the shapes and sounds of our language (I call it the Phonics side of the brain.)
Recent images of the inside of the VWFA show a bright flash of light that indicates comprehension occurring.
So I have begun calling RTR "Reading at the speed of light." When the fastest reader in the world, Howard Berg (Guinness Book of World Records), reads at 25,000 words per minute, and our students have been averaging 250 words per minute (measured by NAEP) for over 50 years, something is screwed up.
Reading faster with the right tools (RTR) helps our brains understand what they read is the very simple answer.
Mindset
Mindset is such an essential concept that two universities Stanford, led by Carol Dwek, and the University of Pennsylvania, led by Angela Duckworth, both launched research projects about the same time studying slightly different aspects of it. Both have received international acclaim.
Basically, it seems we have both a Brain and a Mind. The brain takes on some activities on its own. Our mind, on the other hand, is controlled by us. And the decisions result from us thinking and deciding about our actions. Is that scary or what????
My point of view with RTR is based on CHOICE Theory based on psychologist Dr. William Glasser's work in about the 1970s. We are responsible for all of our behavior. And with RTR, they get a chance to decide how they behave using their entire tools. In this case, they can build a "mindset" that they are strong and smart—and know how to read and think better than most people. So, no matter what has happened to these RTR kids before, they can take charge of their lives and make a better outcome for themselves.
And finally, as the students read, they will THINK AND REMEMBER as they read so they can build a memory in the MIND of all the new important stuff they are learning, Some will be in school, and some will be in life.
