WHAT IS THE POWER4Kids Reading INITIATIVE?

POWER4Kids is a strategic results-driven plan to take the guesswork out of schoolwork. It is an Initiative designed to provide empirically verifiable evidence about which programs and methods succeed at teaching the highest percentage of children the basic skills necessary to become proficient readers. In particular, the first POWER4Kids Initiative will study the at-risk children who have fallen a year behind in their age-appropriate reading aptitude, identify the specific weakness(s) in the way they learn, and determine the most effective targeted intervention program to boost this type of weakness and, therefore, accelerate their reading ability to a normal level.

Reading remediation programs will kick off the POWER4Kids Initiative. In time, a series of clinical studies in math and writing skills development will be introduced and added.

As our scientific research team presents us concrete evidence as to which programs and methods emerge as the most effective, we will proceed to mobilize these results to parents, teachers and policymakers - enabling them to offer and teach the most effective reading programs in their school and afterschool programs. POWER4Kids will provide a clear understanding on how skills develop, specific obstacles that arise for many children, and how effective evidence-based instruction can overcome these obstacles.

The lack of previous public support on this issue is understandable because the public is generally unaware of instructional options and their differential effectiveness. Parents and others have been lead to accept that the failure of a great many students to learn to read is due to deficits in the children. The general public has no way of knowing that children's achievements in reading are largely a function of how they are taught. However, POWER4Kids will change this. The ultimate goal of the Initiative is to ensure that our nation's children succeed academically and not waste critical developmental years in programs that provide minimal or no results.