Standing Rock Schools has expanded a reading program for students who need extra help.

The Read Right Program is for students who read below their grade level. It uses books that students complete to get up to grade level, in addition to working in small groups with a reading teacher. The district has the program in middle and high school and started this year with the elementary school.

"I have seen great improvement in my class," said Cari Kramer, a Standing Rock middle school teacher. She has taught Read Right since the program began two years ago.

Now her colleague Lisa Lunde is learning to be a Read Right trainer to teach other teachers in her district how to use the program.

Last year 57 students went through the program and were reading on grade level. Parents and other teachers tell Kramer they see a difference in the students who go through the program. They read more and perform better in classes.

"If you can't read, you won't be successful in any other class," assistant superintendent Clyde Naasz said.

The middle school students are more successful on tests and he expects this year's juniors to perform better because of the ones who have gone through the program. There was a 12 percent increase in reading proficiency the first year after the Read Right program was started and a 2 percent increase in proficiency last year, Naasz said.

The program is targeting about a quarter of the students who need it, Naasz said. By training Lunde as a trainer, he hopes to reach more students.

(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@;bismarcktribune.com.)