Professional Development

Lexia Intros Self-Paced Digital Program for Grade 4-8 Educators Teaching Literacy Skills

• By Kate Lucariello
• 01/19/23

Literacy company Lexia has introduced Lexia Aspire Professional Learning to help educators of grade 4-8 students teach literacy skills, focusing on helping them transition from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.” Aspire Professional Learning is digital, self-paced, and flexible. It expands on Lexia’s existing LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) program, which teaches the fundamentals of reading instruction. The Aspire program aims to equip educators with the knowledge and skills to support varying levels of literacy competency in their classrooms, the company said.

With the 2022 NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) data showing that “69% of students aren’t reading at a proficient level in grade 8, and 67% of students are below proficiency in reading levels in grade 4,” Lexia said educators have wanted more help with how to teach literacy skills. “With this program, educators can quickly build the depth of skills they need to support their students who are reading to learn but may still have gaps in the foundational reading skills developed when they were learning how to read, comprehend, and articulate their ideas across various subjects,” said Lexia’s Chief Learning Officer, Liz Brooke.

The program accommodates all upper elementary and middle school educators and includes content area teachers, classroom teachers, interventionists, speech pathologists, and English language arts educators, according to a release. It takes about 40 hours to finish and focuses on three areas: word recognition; language comprehension; and reading comprehension and writing. Educators take a few foundational courses and then choose which area they wish to begin with. They can work in any order and will receive individual content and additional support in areas they need more help with. “The courses are practical and immediately transferable to the classroom,” Brooke said.

The program provides district administrators a data dashboard to follow educator progress. This information can help leaders decide how best to support their educators, the company said.

Visit the Lexia Aspire Professional Learning Page to find out more.

Lexia is part of the Cambium Learning Group company, which was founded in 2003 and provides education technology and PreK–12 solutions to education challenges.