When Tiffany Hicks would read with her son Jaxson before he entered kindergarten at McKinley Elementary School, he would sometimes struggle to follow along with her.

Hicks said he had difficulty understanding some words and concepts, which would cause him to second-guess himself and get anxious when it came time for him to do some reading. Sometimes the anxiety of not knowing a word would bring Jaxson to the point of tears.

“If he didn’t know the word, he would just shut down and cry because he was really frustrated,” she said. “He gets anxious because he wants to be right all the time.”

That behavior began to change once Jaxson entered kindergarten. Students like Jaxson in Jolie Brouttier’s class began using a computer software program in the fall called Smarty Ants, which helps students up through second grade learn letters, words, sounds and more through computer-based lessons.

To help make learning more appealing to the kids, many of the lessons are designed like games.

Students take their lessons in the form of an ant, hence the name Smarty Ants. The students get virtual rewards for passing a lesson, such as outfits they can use to customize the look of their ant.

“I think Smarty Ants has taken some of the pressure off (my son),” Hicks said. “It makes reading and learning fun, and it’s okay to make a mistake because he can just retake the lesson. It’s just like playing a game for him.”

Since using the program, Hicks said she’s seen her child gain more confidence in his reading ability and be able to follow along with her easier when they read together.

“It’s not just about his ability but also boosting his confidence,” she said. “It’s been a complete turnaround.”

The Bakersfield City School District began introducing students to Smarty Ants a couple years ago in an attempt to reduce a gap in early literacy that the district has been seeing. Since then, it has slowly expanded to more schools.

“The students don’t have many foundational literacy skills coming in,” Brouttier said. “You’re lucky if they know their colors and their 2D shapes, maybe the letters in their name. If the world was perfect, they would come in knowing all of their letters and sounds so we could jump right in to reading. Instead, we’re having to play catch up.”

According to the California Department of Education, only around 35 percent of third-graders in the district met English standards in the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress last year. Third-graders are the youngest students to take the test.

After trying out the program on its students, BCSD is now offering Smarty Ants free of charge to parents of children from 3 to 5 years old, with the goal that children will come into the district with stronger literacy skills than older students. 

“The intent is to provide children with more access to literacy before they enter our school system,” said Mark Luque, assistant superintendent of educational services for the district. “We understand that literacy is the key to everything in society.”

So far, the district said several families have signed up for the software. The hope is that more parents will take advantage of the program as word about it continues to spread.

Brouttier said she’s excited to see what kind of literacy foundation her future students have when they come in. At the very least, she said she hopes it will at least give the kids experience with technology.

“Many kids come in with no exposure to computers because they don’t have them at home,” she said.

However, since Smarty Ants can be used on most devices — including smartphones — Brouttier hopes she won’t have to spend as much class time just getting students used to the technology.

When kids start the program, they take an assessment that determines their level of reading readiness, after which lessons are tailored to their skill level.

“I have some students who don’t know any letters or sounds, so I often have them repeat lessons. Then I have a student that can read at third-grade level and he’s learning contractions,” Brouttier said. “I love that I can remediate someone, I can challenge someone, we can do interventions. It’s really great.”

Luque said the district won’t get a clear look at whether the Smarty Ants program has had a significant impact when it comes to student test performance for another couple years, when students who have been using the program enter third grade and take the CAASPP test.

However, Luque said the district is seeing some progress already in reading levels and scores and are hopeful that test data will also reflect an improvement.

“We’re excited about how we can continue to build literacy in schools,” he said. “This is an integral piece of that. I think this is going to propel us forward as a district.”