Emerging Technologies Project

1. Read Naturally:
A Proven Approach to
Building Reading
Proficiency
Beth Browning

2. What is Read Naturally?
• An effective online tool that individualizes instruction and improves
reading proficiency
• Allows students to work with high-interest material at their skill level
• Audio support and tracking programs that help improve fluency,
vocabulary skills and comprehension

3. How Does This Technology Support the
Vision for Technology Use in our School?
• Buford Middle School strives for an increase in students achieving at
the Distinguished Learner category in all areas of the Georgia
Milestone. Differentiated instruction, continuous data review and using
various forms of technology are three methods used for achieving this
goal, all of which are supported by Read Naturally.
• This technology supports the vision for our school system because it
helps close the achievement gap and ensures all students are college
and career ready.

4. Evaluation of how Read Naturally Supports
Buford Middle School’s Vision for
Technology Use
• Buford Middle School is a Title 1 school with roughly 1,150 students.
39% qualify for free and reduced lunch; 14.8% with limited English
language proficiency and 11.6% with disabilities.
• While the vision of Buford City Schools is to empower all students to
become globally competitive critical thinkers, innovative problem
solvers, responsible individuals, and productive citizens who are
college and career ready, there is still a need for all students to make
improvements in achievement rates in order to help them become
college and career ready.
• Read Naturally is a technology that can be used in conjunction with
teacher instruction to help bridge the gap, while also providing a way
for us to track and share student progress at Special Education and
Response To Intervention (RTI) meetings.

5. Key Benefits of Read Naturally
• Develop in readers the skills necessary for fluent and effortless
reading
• Progress monitoring drives instructional practice, helping in
making instructional decisions and alerts teachers to reading
problems.
• Multiple students can receive instruction at their own pace.
• Students are instructionally engaged in the act of reading and
their time on task is high.
• Differentiates instruction to meet individual needs

6. Target Population
• The Read Naturally program is geared towards students with a
skill level of grades 1-8, but the intervention level is beginning
reader to adult.
• While it was designed for below level students and ESL students,
it also provides a way to accelerate on level readers.
• Since Buford Middle School is a 1:1 school with each student
having a Chromebook and/or iPad to use, this could be used in all
language arts resource settings, in the ELL setting, as well as with
interventionists.

7. Equipment and Software
• The technology is web based and is compatible with both
Chromebooks and iPads.
• Wireless access is required for each computer.
• Adobe Flash Player is required.
• Headphones are preferred so that students are not distracted.
• Teachers will use the district provided laptops or iPads to monitor
student data.

8. Technical Support
• Read Naturally offers a hands-on training workbook for teachers
who are implementing the program in their classroom, as well as
training software and accompanying videos.
• Read Naturally also conducts seminars, demonstrations,
webinars and online courses for further training.
• Technical support is available by submitting a request directly
through the Read Naturally website.
• Teachers can also access the troubleshooting portion of the
website for answers to frequently asked questions.

9. Limitations
• Sometimes teachers are not always able to attend the in-person training
seminars.
• Wireless connectivity is required, so if the internet goes down, this would
hinder delivery.
• Students have to receive instruction on how to graph their progress.

10. Cost of Technology
The more Read Naturally seats you purchase, the less you pay per
seat:
1-5 seats $159/seat
6-29 seats $55/seat
30-129 seats $23/seat
130+ seats $19/seat
Stereo headphones are listed on their website for $20/pair or students
could bring their own earbuds to school.

11. Potential Funding Sources
• Buford Middle School could use Title 1 expenditure funds since
this technology is being used to meet the academic goals of the
student population.
• Teachers could endeavor to write grant proposals to secure
funding.
• Teachers could put a proposal out on DonorsChoose.org to see if
they can raise the funding.

12. How do we use this technology?
• The progress monitoring component of Read Naturally would give
us the necessary data for the Response to Intervention program.
• Special education teachers could use Read Naturally to help their
students meet IEP goals and objectives.
• ELL students could learn the basics of the English language in
conjunction with grade level curriculum.
• Students have more autonomy over their learning since they track
their own progress.

13. How Does This Technology Support
Specific Learning Goals?
• Read Naturally provides nonfiction reading opportunities as
required by Common Core State Standards.
• Spanish translations for stories are available in early sequenced
levels, helping our school to remediate learning.
• Read Naturally helps strengthen comprehension and vocabulary
skills- both weak among our RTI, ELL and special education
students.
• Ensures the basics of phonics are mastered so deeper
comprehension can be achieved.

14. How Could This Technology be used to
Differentiate Instruction?
• Read Naturally begins by assessing a student’s reading fluency
level, and the instruction that follows is based on those results.
• Options are provided to easily differentiate the program to meet
individual needs.
• A student works at his or her own pace in an appropriate level of
material.

15. How Could This Technology Promote
Communication?
• The progress monitoring reports can be shared with parents to
show them their child’s strengths in weaknesses with reading
fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.
• The Response to Intervention team can use the data as a
communication tool with the RTI team to determine progress.
• Special Education teachers can use the data provided to discuss
strengths and weaknesses with the IEP team and develop
appropriate goals and objectives.

16. Evaluation of Research
• In 1989, the creator of Read Naturally, a reading teacher named Candyce
Ihnot, conducted a study in her classroom for her master's thesis. “She applied
three research-based methods (teacher modeling, repeated reading, and
progress monitoring) in a simple set of steps in an attempt to improve her
students' reading fluency. Her approach proved to be effective and became the
basis for what would become known as the Read Naturally Strategy.” (2019)
retrieved from https://www.readnaturally.com/research/research-basis
• “Teacher modeling improves reading fluency (Daly & Martens; Eldredge &
Quinn; Heckelman; Kuhn & Stahl; McAllister; Reitsma; Skinner, Logan,
Robinson, & Robinson). Teacher modeling consists of a proficient reader
modeling correct pronunciation, rate, expression, and phrasing while reading
with a less able reader. Dyad (paired or partner) reading, echoic reading,
neurological impress method, and choral reading are examples of this strategy.
Teacher modeling helps students learn unknown words and practice difficult
words. It also encourages proper pronunciation and expression.” (2019) retrieved
from https://www.readnaturally.com/research/research-basis/read-naturally-strategy

17. Evaluation of Research
• “Repeated reading also improves fluency (Dowhower;
Knupp; Koskinen & Blum; Kuhn & Stahl; LaBerge &
Samuels; Larking; O'Shea, Sindelar, & O'Shea;
Rashotte & Torgeson; Richek & McTague). Repeated
reading means reading a short story or passage many
times until a student is able to read it fluently. Repeated
reading helps the student learn to recognize some
words, master others, and increase fluency. The student
will be able to transfer knowledge of the words learned
and mastered to subsequent text.” (2019) retrieved from
https://www.readnaturally.com/research/research-basis/read-naturally-strategy

18. Evaluation of Research
• “Daily monitoring of student progress improves student achievement
(Schunk).Monitoring increases student involvement in the learning process
and promotes teacher awareness of each student's progress. By
communicating goals and expectations, a teacher can increase students'
academic achievement (Althoff, Linde, Mason, Nagel, & O'Reilly). In
addition, providing students with feedback on their progress toward short-
and long-term goals has been shown to increase students' performance
(Conte & Hintze). When students are given specific goals, they demonstrate
significantly higher self-efficacy (Schunk & Rice). Progress monitoring
rewards students for their efforts by showing evidence of their progress and
motivates them to keep reading. When performance data is graphed, both
teachers and students can easily monitor progress (Fuchs & Fuchs, a, b;
Fuchs, Fuchs, Hamlett, Walz, & Germann; Fuchs, Fuchs, Hamlett, &
Whinnery).” (2019) retrieved from https://www.readnaturally.com/research/research-
basis/read-naturally-strategy

19. Implementation Plan
• Determine how many students would need Read Naturally in our
school.
• Ensure funding is secured.
• Teachers should complete the online training course prior to
implementing the Read Naturally program in their classroom.
• Students will receive instruction on how to complete their
progress monitoring charts.
• Teachers should continue further training with webinars or receive
support as needed.

20. Reflections
• I began researching Read Naturally when I saw a need for a
research based program to use as the school interventionist. I
then realized that this program would provide great benefits to our
special education population, as well as our ELL students.
• I intend to use this program this school year to see if there is
growth in reading fluency, vocabulary and comprehension skills
as evidenced in the research I conducted.

21. Works Cited
Johnson, M., Hone, J., K, J., Adams, C., Barngrover, A., Burton, S., . . . Holmes, A. (2019,
June 04). Read Naturally® Live. Retrieved July 10, 2019, from
https://www.readnaturally.com/product/read-naturally-live
Johnson, M., Hone, J., K, J., Adams, C., Barngrover, A., Burton, S., . . . Holmes, A. (2019,
June 04). Read Naturally® Live. Retrieved July 10, 2019, from
https://www.readnaturally.com/research/read-naturally-strategy
Johnson, M., Hone, J., K, J., Adams, C., Barngrover, A., Burton, S., . . . Holmes, A. (2019,
June 04). Read Naturally® Live. Retrieved July 10, 2019, from
https://www.readnaturally.com/research/research-basis
Johnson, M., Hone, J., K, J., Adams, C., Barngrover, A., Burton, S., . . . Holmes, A. (2019,
June 04). Read Naturally® Live. Retrieved July 10, 2019, from
https://www.readnaturally.com/product/read-naturally-live#pricing
Buford Middle School Accountability Report. (2018). [PDF file] Retrieved from
http://www.bufordcityschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/BMS-Accountability-Report-
2018-2019.pdf