TEA Adds Academy of Reading to Intensive Reading Instruction Grant

• By Chris Riedel
• 07/07/08

AutoSkill International announced last week that its Academy of Reading has been selected by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) for inclusion in its Intensive Reading Instruction grant. The announcement will allow schools eligible for the grant to choose AutoSkill's reading intervention solution for use in their programs.

The grant program, first introduced in 2005, provides funding to schools in need of intensive reading programs. The programs are designed to improve test scores for students in grades 4 through 8 and must meet criteria defined by TEA prior to approval.

Before being included in the grant program, Spring Independent School District in the Houston area piloted Academy of Reading in three schools and reported average reading score gains of two Lexile levels. Results on their Texas assessments jumped by around 30 percent, prompting the district to use the program in all its elementary and middle schools for the 2007-2008 school year.

"Exemplary Texas school districts, such as Spring ISD, are already seeing how the Academy of Reading can help close the achievement gap for their students," said KC Lim, CEO, AutoSkill International, in a prepared statement. "Now as part of the Commissioner's List of Approved Intensive Reading Program providers, we will be able to partner with even more Texas school districts as state educators continue to strive toward their goal of having all students achieve at grade level."

AutoSkill's program includes researched-based instruction, assessment and performance outcome measures, data-driven instructional systems, and professional development. This is the first year since 2005 that TEA has allowed for the addition of newly approved reading intervention programs to the grant.

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About the author: Chris Riedel is a freelance writer based in Florida. He can be reached via e-mail here.

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