Corporation for Public Broadcasting

This grant was to enable Sesame Workshop to expand on the pioneering cross-platform work of The Electric Company (TEC) project to help children master the early literacy and numeracy skills and concepts that are critical for student avoidance of a later decline in reading skills, which often occurs in the fourth grade and is a key indicator for intervention to prevent high school dropout even later. This grant will orchestrate the national deployment of transformative educational experiences targeted to the nation’s most disadvantaged children, their families and educators. Sesame Workshop will produce 12 new episodes of the TEC television series, featuring additional content to complete TEC’s content “genome” addressing all 72 phonics skills necessary for children to achieve reading fluency. They will also develop and implement two 36-hour models for after-school and summer instruction, as well as four new games and content for the TEC website. They will research new content and promote viewing through a targeted promotional launch and station relations plan. Complementary work will be completed with U.S. Department of Education Ready To Learn funds. Adventures on Prankster Planet will be a curriculum-based, interactive, replayable virtual quest in which children practice literacy skills, including numeracy vocabulary, through a game-rich immersive world and in the company of a virtual mentor from The Electric Company cast.