Hempstead High School is a public high school located in Hempstead, New York, United States serving over 1,600 students per year. The Early College High School (ECHS) program was established to provide students with essential tools to develop soft skills that will empower them to navigate through every day and extreme circumstances. This is a comprehensive operational system supporting a recovery and academic enrichment platform.

When first learning about the program we discovered a majority of the students were non-native English speakers. At first there was a little fear when it came to introducing a Speed Reading & Memory Bootcamp to their students due to a potential language barrier. Iris Reading has taught workshops for over a decade to millions of individuals both in-person and virtually, and one of the most common questions we receive include the following:

1. What if English is not my native language?

2. Can speed reading help me with my ESL courses and tests?

3. Will speed reading help me do well on the TOEFL exam?

4. Can speed reading help me read faster in my native language?

In fact, this question comes up so often we wrote an article on how we have customized our workshops to support ESL individuals. Speed reading & comprehension techniques not only benefit the non-native English speaker in being a faster and more efficient reader, but the skills are also directly translatable to their native language as well! Our Speed Reading & Comprehension Bootcamp would be tailored to provide techniques for developing one’s language capabilities and cognitive skills together.

Iris Reading & Hempstead High School officially partnered to host an in-person Speed Reading & Memory Bootcamp that spanned across one week.  The sessions were customized to help students approach technical material (text books, standardized reading exams, and articles) more effectively. The sessions not only introduced the techniques that would empower the students, but also each session took time to have the students practice these strategies through drills and exercises. 

These sessions proved to be a success as students reading speeds and comprehension levels increased as each day progressed. On average each student started the class with a beginning reading speed of 204 words per minute (WPM) and a comprehension level of 71%. From a reading speed perspective the students were average as many resources indicate that the average reading speed of most adults is around 200 to 250 words per minute, which translates to two minutes per page. College students, probably because they must practice reading, move that pace up a notch to about 300 words per minute. 

By the end of the Speed Reading & Memory Bootcamp each student saw an average of an 80% increase in their reading speed and a 20% increase in comprehension levels. This means the students are now able to get through more reading material in less time. Teaching students to productively get through their information intake is a modern day super power. To be able to absorb information faster than those around you is skillset that will translate perfectly during the students academic and professional careers and Iris Reading is grateful to have been apart of this transformation.