The Houston-based literacy program “Reading With A Rapper” is launching a new digital platform through a collaboration with Microsoft.
Since its founding in 2018, the educational program has helped elementary, middle school and high school students learn to analyze literature by studying rap lyrics. The program has been so successful that it’s spread to schools in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Kansas City and elsewhere.
Missouri City rapper Buddie Roe makes music for the curriculum and said this new digital platform will help them reach even more students.
“It started with just pen and paper, but now kids are changing, the world is changing. So ‘Reading With A Rapper’ needed to evolve as well. So, we conveniently want to bring the program where the kids are. We want to meet them where they’re learning, how they’re learning. They love technology, so we want to bring it straight to them,” Roe said.
Jeremy Gant, a curriculum specialist for the program, said they’re already making a big impact, reaching about half a million kids in 6 cities.
The new digital platform will stream pop culture content, like music videos, documentaries and short films, directly into classrooms.
Gant believes the partnership with Microsoft will help boost the country’s low literacy rate.
“For the next three years, Microsoft is lending their technology for us to build whatever we need to build. And we’re going to provide tech literacy grants to schools across the southern region. So, any underserved school within Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, the Carolinas, Florida, we’re going to be able to service you guys at scale, district-wide, to kind of combat these big national literacy deficits right now. 54% of the country reads at a sixth-grade level in 2024, which costs us $2.2 trillion dollars a year just off literacy.”
The program is now looking for school districts who want to apply for a grant to bring the program into their classrooms for free. Even parents who educate their children at home can apply.
You can visit ReadingWithARapper.com for more information.
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