Artificial Intelligence

NWEA Introduces AI-Powered Reading Coach for 1:1 Personalized Reading Practice

• By Rhea Kelly
• 05/21/24

K-12 assessment and research organization NWEA has added an AI reading coach feature to its MAP Reading Fluency early literacy assessment product. Dubbed Maya, the Coach tool uses artificial intelligence to provide personalized coaching based on a student's individual assessment results.

Once a teacher assesses his or her class with MAP Reading Fluency, the assessment results place students into 1:1 personalized coaching with Maya, NWEA explained in a news announcement. The tool listens as students read aloud, detects oral reading errors, and provides coaching in real time, such as showing how the lips should move when forming words. Other "microinterventions" include reading along, lip-syncing, and rhyming words to strengthen foundational reading skills.

"Not only can a teacher assess an entire room in one class period, gaining objective and actionable results quickly, but that data now informs each student's personalized Coach session and supports student growth," said John Newburn, senior product manager for MAP Reading Fluency at NWEA, in a statement. "It's like giving each student their own reading coach that becomes an extension of the teacher who supports their instructional methods."

For more information, visit the NWEA site.