electronic read to me for struggling or ESL learners

Action research question: Is it possible to implement an electronic read-to-me program between two target groups: grade 6 middle school students and the service organization Kiwanas, which results in a significance increase in the Star reading assessment of each student as recorded between September and June.

Background: The Kiwanas service organization has a well established read-to-me program in many elementary schools which involves a one-on-one relationship between the reader and the student. This middle school model plans on using MP3 transcripts so that the reader would have a reading/listening connection with many students. The service organization members would tape "scripts" which have been e-mailed to them by the teacher directly into a podcast for subsequent downloading by the students. The students in the pilot classroom have brought their own I-pods or MP3 players to school and have been introduced to the technological requirements of using the devices. Seven-eights of the students use a language other than English in their homes. Two students have identified learning difficulties.