Read and Ride and Raise Your Test Scores

The read and ride program — started five years ago at Ward Elementary School in Winston-Salem, NC — is boasting some impressive results. After filling up some classrooms with recycled exercise bikes where students can read and ride, the school sees students who participate scoring much higher in reading proficiency than those who don’t. And their interest in reading goes up when they participate.

To be fair, this is not controlled data. These folks have pre/post comparisons that show the kids who participate improve their scores much more than kids who don’t. But selection bias might be part of the effect. So we hope that this grassroots program will find its way into a definitive study that no one can pick apart.

Regardless, this story is encouraging on many fronts. It takes the “let’s try standing desks in kindergarten” initiave and does it one better. On top of the benefits of keeping kids moving, we’re adding the benefit of making reading fun and even rewarding. The kids at this school see a chance to read and ride as a real treat. They are competing for reading time.

If you want to see this program in action, the Today Show will feature this school on Monday.

“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” — Joseph Addison

Click here to read more from Fast Company, here to read some of the data from the Read and Ride program, and here to more about the Today Show segment on Ward Elementary School.

Blue Bicycle Books, photograph © Blue Bicycle Books

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