Learn To Read On Line (LTROL) is a progressive and visionary
education company with an innovative and classroom-proven remedy for
a critical national and worldwide epidemic: illiteracy.
LTROL educational products are designed to be used via the web in
a use-on-demand fashion, or can be used on a local computer as a
stand-alone instruction package.
The Marketing Opportunity
Signs of the problem are everywhere, and the statistics are
staggering. Today, over 21 million citizens in this country are
classified as illiterate. Reading scores of students in our public
schools are shamefully below accepted levels. College enrollment
ranks are filling with freshmen who cannot read. The growing
reading and literacy problem is a top priority of the Bush
presidency. Concerned parents, foundations, and public and private
school administrators are looking for help wherever they can find
it. They are demanding better ways to teach reading to our children,
and they are demonstrating a strong willingness to spend money for
results. School districts and parents are approving the allocation
of billions of dollars to the search for new and results-oriented
programs to address the crisis.
Seeing millions in potential revenues, many are rushing to
market their get-well panaceas for the nation's illness. Education
and non-education publishers are moving quickly to market their
reading programs. After-school tutoring is a booming business, as
evidenced by the enormous popularity of operations such as Sylvan
Learning Centers, Kaplan, and others. Barely a day passes without
some mention in the media about Hooked on Phonics, The Phonics Game,
and other products guaranteeing to fulfill the elusive promise of
better reading aptitude. Now, virtually every computer store offers
dozens of computer-based reading programs on CD-ROM. These products
bring in revenue of hundreds of millions of dollars each year. There
is no end in sight.
LTROL is uniquely positioned to respond to the pressing demands
and the growing opportunities presented in this marketplace.
The Product
Armed with the electronic license from Phoenix Learning Resources
(Phoenix) that allows us to bring the Phoenix Reading Program to the
worldwide web platform, LTROL is now ready to launch the online
version of the reading series. Our goal is to leverage the powerful
reach of the Internet to market and digitally deliver our electronic
version of this time-tested and widely endorsed product. LTROL
brings a web-enabled, interactive enhancement to a program that has
been taught in classrooms for three decades and is currently in use
in over 6000 schools nationwide.
Our web-based offering makes an effective learning methodology
even better. And we make it more accessible to the world of people
who need it.
LTROL's approach to reading improvement is based on the classical
learning principles of the noted psychologist, Dr. B.F. Skinner. Our
programmed instruction package builds on the concept of positive
reinforcement to foster a cumulative and progressive response-reward
environment for the student. Through extensive live classroom
experience and refinement, the product was updated and converted to
an electronic version that is used to successfully teach basic and
remedial reading skills to children age 3 and older, students in
grades K-12, and adults.
Today's children are vastly different from those born 10, 5, even
1 year ago. In a very real sense, our children in this Electric Age
are wired. They are plugged into the immediacy of a constantly
changing information flow. They learn electronically, not by
passively sitting and watching, but by interacting.
As a fully functional, digitized version of the original printed
reading series, LTROL is enhanced with high-resolution graphics,
animation, and sound. The student will always hear the correct
answers to questions in addition to seeing the answer onscreen. As
an added learning feature, students have the opportunity to listen
to the correct pronunciation of new additions to their vocabulary.
Plus, the training package makes effective use of voice recognition
technology, allowing students to verbalize their answers or they can
respond in the more traditional manner, using the mouse and keyboard
to point, select, and click on choices. LTROL makes learning to read
an enjoyable activity for the child and the parent. Our program
works and it teaches. The greatest reward comes when the child
learns and the mother gets a hug. LTROL is the first reading product
of its kind currently available online: No other program on the
market today can make this claim.The facts speak for themselves:
- There are one billion people around the
world
that want to learn to read English.
- 45 million Americans are enrolled in an
English
as a Second Language (ESL) course at night.
- At present, there is no online, web-based
learn-to-read program available to tap this enormous market
space.
Let us assume that revenue estimates are correct and that the
marketplace for reading improvement products is into the hundreds of
millions of dollars, global in nature, and evergreen; that is, new
customers sprout up and increase the total potential user base with
every new birth. Add to that scenario the real-time availability of
a reading program that can consistently deliver on its promise.
Then, and only then, can you begin to appreciate and embrace the
true vision of LTROL.
Corporate Focus
LTROL is not a dot.com company. We are an education company that
uses the best forms of delivery systems for our products. Our focus
is clear and uncompromising: We teach reading and we use the most
effective technology we can find to deliver our lessons. For us, the
Internet is a means to an end. We have researched the web as an
electronic delivery system, and we understand how to use it as a
vehicle for accommodating growth in a market that is increasingly
global in nature. We know that when our base of daily online lesson
experiences dynamic expansion-from tens of thousands to hundreds of
thousands, almost overnight, the support and delivery backbone for
our product will already be in place. We will then only accept new
students when they are able to consistently and successfully dial in
without being frustrated and angered by a busy signal or an error
message that is generated because an Internet server may be
temporarily down. LTROL is a small company with a clear vision and
an ambitious goal: Teaching the world to read.
LTROL is a dedicated and highly committed team of educators,
reading specialists, and child development professionals who share a
common passion and vision. We know how to bring innovation to the
classroom. Our chairperson, Carole Wolfe Korngold, is the leading
educator and advocate for Montessori in this country. Carole
received the top honor at the 40th annual Montessori convention in
New York. She has trained over 4,000 Montessori teachers, and has
served as the President of the American Montessori Society. She is a
nationally recognized and respected leader in her profession. Our
goal is to apply our knowledge and resources to become a world
leader in the online reading education business. To achieve this
objective, we will continue to identify areas of outreach that will
allow us to build special support relationships with our customer
base. These activities will ensure our long-term growth and
viability.
As an important start in this area, we will
create a new customer service department that will help the parents
of a child with reading difficulties who is in need of remediation or
additional support to get back on track with the lessons. Our
confidence in the effectiveness and reliability of our product is
backed up by the outsource suppliers we have identified who fully
understand our model and have pledged their willingness to work with
us as we grow. With the help of our investors, partners, and others
equally committed to stemming the tide of illiteracy, LTROL will
meet the challenges of the future.
The Near Future
Where do we go from here? The future prospects for LTROL are both
exciting and boundless. Possible avenues and courses of action for
ensuring the success of the LTROL initiative might include any or
all of the following aggressive marketing approaches:
- Engaging dozens of strategic partners to
help us penetrate diverse markets
- Launching a concentrated effort to
license
distributors or syndicators
- Providing cable operators or DSL
providers
with the lessons they need to make them more
competitive in their
race for the @home customer.
- Enlisting the assistance of foundations
that
grant millions for literacy programs.
- Arranging guest appearances by LTROL's
educators
on TV talk shows such as Oprah, Rosie O'Donnell, and
Larry King
Live; and our participation in radio programs that
discuss literacy,
reading, and the benefits of LTROL.
- Pursuing sales and distribution
arrangements
for our product through established names such as
Bertelsmann,
Pearson, McGraw-Hill, Disney, Amazon.com, and
many more;along
with the biggest names in the
computer industry, like Intel, Dell,
and Gateway.
Bottom Line: No one in today's market can afford to spend
millions in advertising as Hooked on Phonics did in its initial
year, with expenditures totaling $35 million. In 1994, the makers of
Hooked sold $125 million and ran one of the most successful
Infomercial campaigns of all time. Those free-spending days are
over. LTROL intends to create and solidify the brand through the
right strategic partnerships, the right PR campaigns, and working
with the right foundations.
With your investment help, LTROL
will take on this first-mover opportunity to rapidly establish the
company and our product as the leader in this growing, multi-billion
dollar on-line industry. From there, our growth will be meteoric.
This document details information pertaining to the
business plan for LearnToReadOnlineTM, and contains subject matter
that is proprietary. No portion of this document may be duplicated
by either mechanical or electronic means or distributed or
broadcasted without the expressed written consent of
LearnToReadOnline. This document remains the property of
LearnToReadOnLine, and must be returned to owner upon request. If
you receive this document in error, please contact the owner as
indicated below.
|
