Child holding a blue tablet, singing along to a song to improve reading literacy

Our mission is to save struggling young readers from illiteracy through the power of singing.

The Need

Every child deserves an equal chance to succeed.

There is an urgent, nationwide need to raise the literacy levels of struggling young readers. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), two-thirds of children around the country cannot read at grade level. These children are at risk of never being able to read proficiently.

Illustration showing stagnant U.S. reading proficiency. 
Reading proficiency in the United States has not changed in 50 years.
Pie chart illustrating 75%. 
75% of children who read poorly at age 9 will struggle to read for the rest of their lives.
A text image of '4x' 
Students who do not read proficiently by the end of 3rd grade are 4 times more likely to drop out.
Group of teachers and students smiling in a library. The students are holding green drawstring bags with their FLiP tablets.

The Solution

It’s hard to believe that the FLiP program was discovered “by accident.”

Carlo Franzblau, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Sing Out and READ wanted to learn to sing on pitch so that he could sing lullabies to his young children. So he set out to develop a software program that would help people learn to sing in tune. Unexpectedly, it was discovered that children who were using this singing program were improving their reading scores dramatically.

Following this Aha! moment, Carlo sought research by literacy experts at the University of South Florida’s College of Education to confirm this result. Five years of rigorous research showed that struggling readers gained one full years’ reading level in three months’ time!

We partner with community organizations, family foundations, local governments and like-minded non-profits who have an interest in children’s literacy.