Home » Research » Southeast Region » Success Story: Lincoln County High School, Fayetteville, TN

Classroom Results

Southeast Region

Success Story: Lincoln County High School, Fayetteville, TN

When Lynn Craig was presented with the opportunity to implement the AutoSkill Academy of READING software program at Lincoln County High School, she was delighted. Craig had long been aware of the program and its positive impact on students with reading disabilities.

"Reading disabilities pose one of the most critical learning problems for students in North America," says Lynn Craig of the Lincoln County School System. Citing statistics that indicate 45 percent of students are either delayed or disabled readers, Craig points out that most of them never catch up. Their inability to read causes them to fall further and further behind in all subjects.

"But things may be changing in Tennessee," she says. She is referring to the adoption of the Academy of READING software program by Lincoln County High School, not far from Nashville. There, students use the program three to five times a week for 30 minutes at a time. Results have been dramatic; overall reading ability has improved by an average of 2.5 grade levels.

"One of the reasons why the Academy of READING is successful," Craig says, "is because it is the result of years of research by neuropsychologists to determine what happens in the brain during the reading process." This research, she adds, has uncovered specific reading subskill problems – problems that the Academy of READING is able to diagnose and address at a pace suitable to each individual student.

Another reason the program is effective, say teachers at Lincoln County High School, is its automaticity component: the passing mark for any given level is 96 percent, which ensures that the subskills taught in that level become automatic and reading becomes second nature.

Students at Lincoln County High School spend a total of 25 hours per semester working on the Academy of READING program. The returns, it appears, are well worth the investment: students learn more effectively, improve their academic careers and master a skill that promises a lifetime of enjoyment.