Here’s How a Step Up for Students Scholarship Lets Students in Florida Access Readability

March 21, 2023

Step Up for Students Scholarship

Through the program Step Up for Students, struggling readers in Florida may be awarded $500 in scholarship funds to pay for reading tutoring, resources and other materials to help them gain reading proficiency.

Readability has partnered with Step Up for Students as a participant in the New Worlds Reading Scholarship Program. To qualify for this program, children need to be in kindergarten through fifth grade and meet specific requirements (related to test scores and other eligibility parameters). Here’s how the Step Up for Students scholarship program lets these Florida students utilize the award-winning Readability tutoring program.

Who Qualifies for the New Worlds Reading Scholarship Program?

 Not all struggling readers will qualify for scholarship funds through the New Worlds Reading Scholarship Program. This program is designed to help children in lower elementary grades—kindergarten through fifth grade—who haven’t met benchmark reading standards.

Eligibility for the program is based on numerous factors and scores related to reading. For example, for certain students to qualify, their ELA scores from the previous year’s statewide standardized assessment must be below Level 3. According to the Florida Department of Education, Level 3 correlates to a “satisfactory” reading level. Proficiency is denoted by a Level 4, and Level 5 is “advanced.” In addition, eligibility also may be determined by scores from FAST ELA Reading for Progress Monitoring 1 (PM1), PM2 or PM3 from 2022-2023. Younger children in kindergarten through second grade have other eligibility requirements for qualifying for the scholarship.

Step Up for Students Scholarship

About the Scholarship Funds

Students who qualify for the New Worlds Reading Scholarship can receive $500 to pay for reading support services including private tutoring, reading programs and other materials. Readability has partnered with Step Up for Students and scholarship recipients can use these funds to pay for a monthly Readability subscription ($19.99 per month).

Login to Readability Using Step Up for Students

For students who qualify for the scholarship, Readability makes it easy to login to the program and allocate the funds to pay for the Readability program. Simply access the Step Up for Students scholarship account and choose Readability in the My Scholar Shop.

Here’s How Readability Benefits Struggling Readers

Parents whose children qualify for the reading scholarship through Step Up for Students might be unfamiliar with the Readability program. How does the program help children become better readers? How does Readability measure progress?

Readability Offers a Virtual Tutor to All Children

Readability is not a program that is designed to simply move children through books through clicking their way to success and program completion. Readability’s design is supported by a virtual reading tutor that is powered by voice-recognition software and serves as a built-in AI guide during all reading lessons.

Children are always supported as they read books aloud in their leveled library through the program. As the child reads, the tutor learns their voice and understands when they need help. The tutor—like an in-person teacher—provides encouragement and feedback, too.

The AI tutor also is the tool that measures a child’s reading progress. Children read aloud, and, as they read, the tutor is assessing their reading fluency. This reading data point is measured in words read per minute. A fluent reader should read text clearly, with proper emphasis and pronunciation.

Some children can decode easily and read fluently, but they might lag behind their peers in comprehension. The tutor helps children better understand what they read as they read; at the end of each book, the tutor asks questions to gauge understanding.

These questions are a comprehension quiz. However, the tutor will not punish a  child for answering a question incorrectly. Children need to feel supported, and some children need help understanding how to improve their comprehension.

The AI tutor teaches children to re-read to gain understanding of text. When the child answers a comprehension question incorrectly, the tutor will show them a section from the book that provides clues that can help them accurately answer the question. The tutor reads the section aloud, too.

Step Up for Students Scholarship

Readability Reinforces Vocabulary Mastery

Failing to understand the meaning of a word in a story can impact the child’s understanding. Vocabulary skills are an important component of the reading journey. To help children increase their vocabulary knowledge, every Readability book includes a list of vocabulary words found in the story.

In addition, the program encourages children to learn and discover other words as they read. Asking questions aids in the learning process, and Readability lets children click or tap any word in a story to hear the word’s definition or hear it used in a sentence.

As children discover new words, those word discoveries are added to a master vocabulary list that is always accessible. Children can read through their list of words and review the definition at any time.

Storytime is Anytime

Not all parents have the time to read aloud to their child. When students have access to Readability, they also have access to audio narrations of their favorite Readability books.

Through a feature called Storytime, children can listen to books in their leveled library read aloud to them at any time. They can follow along in the book as they listen; through hearing and seeing the text of the story, children can enhance their understanding as they enjoy the story time experience.

How Does Readability Assess Progress?

Readability is an award-winning reading program that is proven to boost a child’s reading ability. Every c child starts the program at their most ideal reading level—typically, this is the reading level below their current level.

Children start at a slightly lower level to help them get acclimated to the program and feel confident when they begin. They will quickly move up to the next reading level. To advance through the next reading level, children need to demonstrate mastery in both fluency and comprehension. Readability will only move children to a harder reading level when they are ready.

Parents can follow their child’s progress at any time. Parents have access to private portal in the program called the Parent Dashboard. As Readability can be used for up to three children on one account, parents will  have a dashboard for each child using the program.

The Parent Dashboard displays the child’s reading data from the program. Parents can view their child’s reading level, their comprehension, and reading fluency (measured in words read per minute). The Dashboard also displays the duration that the child used the program.

Accessing Readability without the Step Up for Students Scholarship

The Step Up for Students New Worlds Reading Scholarship Program is only available to eligible students in the state of Florida. However, parents in any state can sign up for a free seven-day trial period of Readability to explore it with their child; the free trial provides access to all the program’s features, and students can work with the AI tutor, too.

Since Readability is designed for children in kindergarten through sixth grade, parents can use the program for several children while paying for only one subscription. Again, one monthly subscription can be used by up to three children.

In addition, parents also can use Readability’s free reading level assessment to understand their child’s reading proficiency and find out their child’s current reading level. The assessment also will help parents learn how to help their child with reading at home. The reading assessment is free and only takes about one minute to complete. Use the assessment to uncover a child’s reading ability and then sign up for a Readability trial to explore how the program can help with reading confidence and proficiency.