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If our youngsters are our future, then we've got a problem. According to public college statistics, fewer and fewer kids graduate high schools each year, and those that do read at 3 to 4 grade levels lower than required. The three-yearly OECD Program for World Student Assessment (PISA) report, which compares the information and skills of 15-year-olds, ranked the US 14th out of 34 OECD nations for reading abilities, and a below-average 25th for mathematics.

Another ranking agency ranked America’s highschool education quality 117th of 153 developed nations based totally on standardized test scores, and average reading levels across a country. (Average American reads at 2nd grade level). Such poor literacy spells catastrophe for young Americans and for our capability to compete in the World market.

Skeptics would disagree that babies and high immigrant population are skewing the data, but even they agree that something needs to change. But what sort of change?

Before any solution can be implemented, the cause of the difficulty has to be isolated. The country is going thru economic crisis and doesn't have the funding to adequately staff schools? Teachers ‘ incomes are based totally on years of service rather than performance? The same solutions have been attempted for 40 years rather than trying something new? All true and valid points, but some folks that are tackling the literacy issue believe the problem is more fundamental, and the answer lies with the children themselves. One such individual is Aleksey Vayner.

Student of Yale College, London School of Economics, and founder of Empower a Child Inc, a non-profit that concentrates on helping kids learn imperative talents like reading, Aleksey done research and conducted countless first studies to analyze how people read, and what changes are required to read better.

Aleksey Vayner looks beyond commercial and prescribed reasons in search for the answer to America’s reading problem. First generation immigrant, he experienced first-hand the issue of learning English in an over-crowded public college ESL classroom, besieged by children who were…difficult to teach. “Looking beyond all of the clear macro issues, there was one unalterable. Students were not engaged; in simple terms they were bored. Their attention span is marginal, and teachers do not have acceptable tools to engage students,” announces Aleksey.

So researching what does engage America’s youth today, and the answer appeared obvious “games. Ironically, many expects concur computer games are among the most important reasons for children ‘ shortened attention time. Though Aleksey Vayner confesses to never been interested in computer games as a kid, he now became interested in potential of videogames to become a viable learning tool.

Fast-forward to 2010, and software team controlled by Aleksey Vayner developed IvyReader, an academic suite with reading and speed reading module at its core, but with a twist “it is intended to simulate a primitive PC game. Children watch the screen, follow a basic set of game rules, and progress in levels if they pass rising hardness levels. Though the programme was originally thought-up by Aleksey when he was still at Yale University, and it's been tested basically by Ivy League scholars to extend reading speed, a beta test with a bunch of NYC-based high school scholars has been very promising.

Students were simply given IvyReader to play with, without directions, necessities, expectations, and most vitally without motivations. There had been 100% collaboration rate, will all the students completing 17 exercises scientifically-proven to improve their reading ability, which needed 23 continuous minutes of uninterrupted engagement by the scholar to finish, to then be in a position to move to level 2 of the game. 99% of subjects also showed significant reading improvement after only one level…and there are 12 levels to complete the game!

While the sample size could be small and the results are initial, it is clear that Aleksey Vayner is on to something, potentially solving the commonest issues teachers are facing when training our youth, which are children’s engagement and attention span. Through 2009 and 2010 Aleksey Vayner and his team worked on methods to expand IvyReader and make it a more comprehensive learning tool, “that would teach kids about the significance and the method of goal-setting and resource allocation, the core habits of successful and very effective people,” Aleksey said. Today IvyReader comes fully equipped with these modules, as well as a. Typing tutor program, and a large e-books library, which should only continue to grow.

The very next step for Aleksey Vayner will be to take IvyReader, that has proved to engage kids and teaching them necessary talents, not the least of which is reading, into the general public faculties across the nation. That is Aleksey’s next non-profit project, and is a massive undertaking.

“Of course we might like to see public colleges in as many states as possible give it a try, since it has been such a success on a smaller scale in the Northeast. I am covering the price of development, production and distribution to the colleges that accept an invite to beta test IvyReader, so they really have nothing to lose,” asserted Aleksey.

To date, Empower a Child Inc. has not solicited nor accepted any outside funding. All development has been paid for by Aleksey Vayner and outreach projects have been carried out by volunteers. Understanding that such approach may not be tolerable when IvyReader goes countrywide, Aleksey declared,

“I want to be certain that we are making a big positive impact, do something awfully important before we ask folk to give [to Empower a Child Inc.]. I hate the approach of many grassroots non-profits that ask for cash because of their ‘vision, ‘ or primarily based on their ‘plans, ‘ but who've not done anything. Visions and plans are a penny a dozen…So I don't want Empower a Kid Incorporated. To be one of those non-profits. Very like in venture capital business, folks do not give money for ideas and for an excellent reason “a lot of them fail! When I’ll have to raise some cash I want to be able to say – this is what we have done; it’s more than a vision, it's not even proof of idea, it is a successful project that is working now, these are our measurable results, and now we could use some money to scale the impact.”

With IvyReader showing great results, and potential to enhance state reading levels if the program is introduced to colleges countrywide, raising money shouldn't be an issue for Aleksey Vayner. Much more difficult challenge now lies in the layers of bureaucracy of our public education system. He has been knocking on doors to get this pilot project approved by the Dep. of Education, and “it will take months to get a reply, and it’s customarily ‘Ohhh, I do not cope with that, try person X, ‘ and that goes on for ever and ever. Nothing gets done,” comments Aleksey.

Aleksey Vayner is determined to see this critical project succeed on a national scale. He sees IvyReader as an evolving platform, and a new functional approach to educating and enabling our kids.

“There are 98,817 public colleges across the land, with highschools alone hosting over fourteen and a half million scholars. If we are able to only get a quarter of them using IvyReader and sharing the game with one of their buddies, that's half a bln children with improved reading skills, specific goals, and a little time management habits “all before they even graduate high-school. Now that's an impact!”

Regardless of whether fractionally successful, IvyReader will prove to be a successful pilot program. It'll fundamentally impact children’s lives by improving their reading talents and time management habits. It can also establish the foundation for the gaming industry to use games to educate America’s youth rather than producing rather more bizarre and very pricey computer console games which, some experts disagree, at once make a contribution to children’s violence and ADD.

Since its conception in 2006, the Empower A Child Inc. Set a dedication to improving the quality of education in numerous public schools across the land. However , “many” is just isn't enough for Aleksy Vayner. The goal Aleksey has set for the Empower A Child group is to improve each child’s reading capability in the United States, and to do so while giving top quality educational material to colleges freely.

As someone that has devoted heavy amount of his time and resources to improving the lives of children everywhere, Aleksy Vayner continues to work on his programs and offerings each day. With every passing month, Vayner tries to perfect the IvyReader, the IvyLearner Academy, and to further his cause thru the Sanction A Kid group. We suspect the approach Aleksey Vayner has taken with IvyReader and Empower a Child foundation will leave a countrywide footprint in a form of higher literacy levels across America.

Robbin Koirner is a former analyst for Board of Education, contributes
articles to magazines on the topic of education and literacy solutions.
For more information about Empower a Child Inc. non-for-profit projects
to improve literacy please visit www.empowerachild.org