The idea of LESA

The Idea of LESA Was Born in Spring 2024.

Birgir had experienced several "aha" moments that would be delightful to solve digitally through his children, who are of elementary school age. They both attend Kársnesskóli in Kópavogur.

Italian Every Day.

One of these experiences was when his then 10-year-old son started learning Italian on the Duolingo app. He is a "typical" soccer boy who, generally speaking, isn't very interested in studying and reading. But when it came to this app, he found it so fun that he ended up learning Italian daily. He surprised his father when he had been learning for 365 consecutive days. It was easy to imagine then, what if reading had this effect? Not just reading at home for 15 minutes a week, but every day - including Saturdays, Sundays, and all public holidays if you count those. Even on days when books are left behind when the family is at a summer house or abroad.

Reading Booklets and Statistics.

Another trigger was going over the reading booklets that the children bring home, with parents signing off when the child has read. There you need to mark, for example, which books are being READ and how many pages. Birgir saw the potential for extensive nationwide statistics and thought, who needs the Pisa test when you can obtain much better data? There, he saw the potential to measure reading speed (the natural reading speed, not an "exaggerated" one), reading comprehension, reading enjoyment, and more. This would create a kind of national reading index where authorities could intervene in certain areas if needed and even learn from those schools/areas that are performing well.