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In the fall of 2002, Arkansas Tech University initiated a reading project in partnership with the Pottsville, Arkansas School District. This partnership developed out of the need to discover if using Wizcom reading pens, in a fourth grade general education classroom, would provide children with the means to learn and function in all subject areas regardless of individual reading abilities. This initiative generated the question: "What method can be used to help children to be successful in all subjects regardless of their reading levels?" The purpose of this project is to collect and analyze data to determine the merits of using the Wizcom reading pen with students in a fourth grade general education classroom.

Over the years, educators have intuitively recognized that chronological years are not the sole determiner of a child's academic and social abilities. A child being assigned to a particular grade level, by chronological years, may in fact cause the child great difficulty due to the fact that his/her maturation level does not correlate, at this point in time, with the standardized norm. At a recent press release, Secretary of Education, Paige (2002) said, "Research shows that reading failure exacts a heavy toll on student motivation and school performance." Thus, children who are mismatched academically may drop out mentally, physically, and/or socially.

Studies on brain imaging are documenting physiological differences among readers. Shaywitz, from Yale University's Center for Learning and Attention, has been involved in using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to help determine reading responses in the brain. According to Shaywitz (1998) there are biological reasons why some children cannot read. While conducting research she observed how "very frustrated [sic., poor readers become] by the fact that they can understand what they hear but not what they read." In an interview with Shaywitz, Marcia D'Arcangelo (1999) asked, "Why is it important to understand that reading is biologically based?" Shaywitz answered:
We often blame children, particularly bright children who have trouble reading, for not being motivated enough or for not trying hard enough. As if somehow, it's their fault. But if we have evaluated the children, we know that they're trying hard, more than anyone can imagine. But they have nothing to show for it. Before, we could hypothesize that the child was very bright but had a real biologic difficulty making him or her unable to read. Now, we can look at an imaging pattern and say, "Aha, this is a real problem; this is as real as a broken arm that you might look at on X-ray."

In the United States, educating diverse learners, both culturally and/or academically, is viewed as the norm. In a fourth grade classroom reading abilities may vary greatly depending on the child's attributes, reading delays, progressing normally, or gifted in the area of reading. With such a wide range of abilities, teachers can encounter an almost over powering problem in attempting to teach each child on his/her own reading level. The present emphasis on academic achievement further exacerbates the negative impact that reading problems can create emotionally, socially and/or physically. In speaking to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, First Lady, Bush (2002) stated:
Every expert who participated in the White House Summit on Early Childhood Cognitive Development stressed that reading is the keystone for academic and life success. A failure to learn to read not only leads to failure in school, but portends failure throughout life. Not only are children humiliated emotionally and socially in school because of this failure, but they are unable to learn about the wonders of science, mathematics, literature, and other subjects because they cannot read grade-level texts.

Because of difficulty with words in textbooks, children may spend much of the school day sitting and waiting to ask questions or simply skip over critical concepts. The project with the Wizcom reading pen is intended to help to eliminate much of the wasted time and stress associated with reading problems. The Wizcom reading pen is a handheld scanning pen with a display window and earphones. The ability to use earphones with the pen facilitates using the reading pen privately in a public setting. Peers are unaware of how frequently the pen is being used.

The reading pen may be set for reading individual words or entire sentences. By setting the pen to only read individual words, the students are encouraged to read the parts of the material that they are capable of reading. The portable reading pen is capable of scanning words written in a wide range of fonts and letter sizes. These words are read aloud and displayed in a small window situated on the upper side of the pen. An American Heritage College Dictionary provides syllabication and definitions. The last 80 words scanned are automatically saved in a word bank (Wizcom, 2002).

Other types of electronic readers are available on the market, such as computer stations with software programs and scanners, handheld dictionaries, and scanning pens for particular books. The advantages of using the Wizcom reading pen include: (a) the pen will scan and read words from a wide range of publications, (b) the pen allows a reader to choose "when", "where", and "how" reading may take place, and (c) there the word bank shows which words need to be remediated.

According to S. Heller (personal communication, May 5, 2002) the Wizcom representative, there has not been any research conducted in a general education classroom with a set of Wizcom reading pens. The research that led to the development of the Wizcom reading pen began in Israel in 1989 (Ligature/Wizcom, 2002). The Ligature Company developed the first version of the present reading pen in 1998. The first shipments of the pens to this country occurred in 1999.

The results of this project will be used to collect information on the advantages/disadvantages of using the Wizcom reading pen in future classrooms. The first Phase of the project will involve the collection of data during the 2002-2003 school year through quantitative and qualitative methods. Pretests and posttest will be given on the Stanford 9 as well as Reading Renaissance: Accelerated Reader STAR Reading test. Surveys, questionnaires and focus groups will be conducted with parents, students, teachers, and principals. The participants in the experimental fourth grade classroom in Pottsville, Arkansas are composed of 23 fourth grade students and one teacher. Three fourth grade classrooms will used as control groups. The vision for Phase II, pending the results of this project, is to place Wizcom reading pens in third and fourth grade classroom in the Pottsville, Arkansas School District and surrounding school districts.

Preliminary data from the Accelerated Reading test at the end of the first nine weeks showed the reading pens to be beneficial. The analyzed data showed that the experimental group had an increase in the number of points point that were earned, 383 points earned compared to the control groups 197 points, an increase of 51% by the experimental group over the control group (see Figure A). The experimental group had an increase in the number of words that were read at the rate of 2.3 million words to 1.5 million words from the control group, an increase of 65% by the experimental group over the control group (see Figure B). The experimental group had an increase in accuracy of 87% compared to an increase in accuracy of 83% by the control groups (see Figure C).

Conclusion

With the development of the fMRI, scientific proof is available to suggest that the Wizcom reading pen may very well be a tool that can help children deal with problems associated with reading problems in the general education settings. Data collected during the 2002-2003 school year will form the benchmark for discovering the advantages/disadvantages of using the Wizcom reading pen in general education settings. The preliminary data that has been analyzed suggests that the Wizcom reading project will show a significant gain in reading by the experimental fourth grade group by the end of the 2003-2003 school year. By using the Wizcom reading pen, it may be possible for all children, even those who may never develop the ability to read on their own, to have the opportunity to be lifelong learners.

Bush, L. (2002). First lady addresses the senate committee on health, education, labor, and pensions. Retrieved November 26, 2002, from http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/01-2002/01242002b.html

D'Arcangelo, M. (1999). Redefining literacy learning about learning to read: A conversation with Sally Shaywitz. Educational Leadership, 57 (2). Retrieved June 3, 2002, from www.ascd.org/readingroom/edlead/9910/darcangelo.html

Ligature/Wizcom. (2002). Retrieved June 3, 2002, from www.ligatureltd.com/corporate/index.html
Page, R. (2002). $11 million in reading first grant for Mississippi children. Retrieved November 26, 2002, from www.ed.gov/PressReleases/11-2002/11192002.html

Shaywitz, S. (1998 ). National institutes of health. Retrieved June 3, 2002, from www.nih.gov/news/pr/mar98/nichd-02.htm

Shaywitz, S. (1999). Redefining literacy learning about learning to read: A conversation with Sally Shaywitz. Educational Leadership, 57 (2). Retrieved June 3, 2002, from www.ascd.org/readingroom/edlead/9910/darcangelo.html

Wizcom. (2002). Retrieved June 1, 2002, from www.Wizcomtech.com/index.php3