Real Results
Music skills and reading
Daily music-making practice
Singing, letter sound acquisition, and reading
Minneapolis Public Schools
Lincoln Elementary
After using singing games to practice letter sounds for three months, three classrooms of K students outscored all 50 schools in letter sound acquisition. They also made the most growth from fall to winter.
Bancroft Elementary
In the fall, most 1st grade students in one class were below reading level. They practiced sight words daily using folk songs and singing games. After 3 months, 77% were reading at or near grade level, and by the end of the year, nearly all were reading at grade level. See charts.
Singing and reading fluency
Singing and reading
The Rock ‘n’ Read Project partnered with 2,500 students in 25 schools in a five-year state pilot funded with grants of $600,000 from the MN Legislature. Rock ‘n’ Read implemented a singing-based software program, Tune into Reading (TiR). During the year with the most schools, 1/3 of 150 4th and 5th graders who scored at the bottom reading level (Does Not Meet) on the prior year’s Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) went up a level (to Partly Meets) on the MCA after singing and reading songs with a software program for 13.5 hours during that school year. An independent data analyst found the gains to be statistically significant. The 500 fourth and fifth graders at those nine schools who did not use TiR did not make significant gains in reading levels on the MCA.
