INDIANAPOLIS – To leave a lasting, positive impact on the third-grade students of Indiana, the NCAA and its partners at Indiana Sports Corp are launching Read to the Final Four beginning Nov. 10 as part of the 2021 Men’s Final Four’s statewide community engagement. The literacy program consists of classrooms across the state competing in a personalized reading tournament.
"Read to the Final Four aims to use friendly competition to promote literacy and make students better readers, and bringing the program home to Indianapolis is especially rewarding,” said JoAn Scott, managing director of the Division I men’s basketball championship. “We are thrilled to offer a chance for Indiana students to truly be a part of March Madness and advance to the Final Four just like their favorite teams!”
The program encourages and inspires local third graders to achieve reading growth with several incentives and prizes, giving students free and unlimited reading practice on a personalized digital platform containing more than 6,000 digital books. Schools, districts, and teachers will be able to register for the program at FinalFourIndy.com.
Read to the Final Four is a reading competition encouraging schools to log the most minutes reading and make the top 68 schools in the state. The program uses a digital literacy platform, powered by Renaissance myON®, to provide access to books and track time spent reading. The top schools throughout Indiana will be selected Jan. 29 during an official selection show to advance to the final bracket-style competition. Teams will then advance based on the number of minutes read during each week, with the Final Four schools celebrated during the 2021 Final Four festivities April 3 and 5 in Indianapolis.
“Read to the Final Four is an exciting opportunity to engage third graders from throughout the state in Final Four programs,” said Katie Douglas, co-chair of the Indianapolis Local Organizing Committee. “The impact of the 2021 Final Four will go well beyond the baselines, and provides our community a vehicle to drive and promote initiatives that will create positive impact on our youth.”
Read to the Final Four is a cornerstone program of the NCAA Final Four. Schools interested in participating this year can visit FinalFourIndy.com.
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About Indiana Sports Corp
Founded in 1979 as the nation’s first sports commission, Indiana Sports Corp is a not-for-profit organization focused on bringing premier sporting events to Indiana to drive economic vitality, facilitate a vibrant community with civic pride and garner positive media attention. Because of this, Indiana Sports Corp is able to provide positive, sports-related opportunities for youth in the community. For more information, please visit IndianaSportsCorp.org.