For Immediate Release
PRINCETON, NJ - April 14, 2021 - Learning Ally has announced the winners of the 2021 Great Reading Games, a national event designed to encourage students—particularly struggling readers—to read and build habits that will help them succeed in life.
The education solutions organization, whose mission is to transform the lives of early and struggling learners through innovative literacy solutions, started the Great Reading Games seven years ago to motivate and engage struggling readers and has seen participation grow ever since.
“The Great Reading Games is one of our favorite times of the year because it really gets people excited about reading,” says Terrie Noland, Ph.D., CALP, Learning Ally’s Vice President of Educator Initiatives. “It’s a fun, competitive way to promote reading across the nation that motivates even the most reluctant readers to read twice as much and three times as often.”
The goal of the event is to get students reading with frequency, which Learning Ally defines as reading at least twenty minutes a day for thirty-three days, shown to lead to improved academic and social-emotional outcomes. This habit can contribute to double the rate of reading growth if maintained for two months.
This year, more than 51,000 students from 2,700 schools competed in the Great Reading Games, reading a record-breaking 17 million pages during the nine-week event. Top student performers win digital gift cards. Teachers win prizes and recognition for their schools.
Here are this year’s first-place winners:
- Elementary School Purple - Parkview Elementary School, California
- Elementary School Blue - Rosa Parks Learning Center, California
- Elementary School Green - Madison County Central School, Florida
- Elementary School Orange - Spring Valley School, Alabama
- Middle School Purple - Elevated Digital Learning Academy, California
- Middle School Blue - Atascocita Middle School, Texas
- Middle School Green - Linwood Middle School, New Jersey
- Middle School Orange - East Orange STEM Academy, New Jersey
- High School Purple - Hiawatha Collegiate High School, Minnesota
- High School Blue - Universal Academy - Coppell, Texas
- High School Green - The New York Institute of Special Education, New York
- High School Orange - Ramsey Junior High School, Arkansas
“This was a challenging year for everyone in education, especially teachers and their students,” said Noland. “For them to come together and surpass last year’s record is truly inspiring. Congratulations to all the students who participated and a heartfelt thank you to their teachers for working tirelessly to support their students and instill in them a passion for reading and learning.”
About Learning Ally
Learning Ally is a leading nonprofit education solutions organization dedicated to equipping educators with proven solutions that help new and struggling learners reach their potential. Our range of literacy-focused offerings for students Pre-K to 12th grade and catalog of professional learning allows us to support more than 200,000 educators across the US. The Learning Ally Audiobook Solution is our cornerstone award-winning reading accommodation used in more than 18,500 schools to help students with reading deficits succeed. Composed of high-quality, human-read audiobooks and a suite of teacher resources to monitor and support student progress, it is designed to turn struggling readers into engaged learners.
For more information, visit www.LearningAlly.org.