Charleston School District Deploying Reading Intervention Software
Kanawha County Schools of Charleston, WV, the largest district in the state, has chosen Scientific Learning's Reading Assistant to provide reading intervention support to fourth- and fifth-graders in the district's 26 Title I schools.
Reading Assistant features a special, research-validated speech recognition technology, which "listens" as students read aloud and offers help and feedback when a student has trouble with a word. "Reading Assistant makes oral reading practice possible even when their teacher cannot be nearby," explained Jane Roberts, assistant superintendent of elementary education at KCS.
A committee of educators, reading specialists, and administrators approved the software as a key component of the district's response to intervention program, which this year will serve students struggling with reading in grades K through 5. The goal of the RtI program is to help students improve fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Several of the software's unique features led to the decision, including:
- Voice module that verbalizes unfamiliar words at a user's request;
- Contextual sentences and picture representations;
- Modeling selected reading so users can hear the correct pronunciation and inflection beforehand;
- Recording oral reading so users can privately play back and assess their own efforts; and
- Displaying quiz scores, fluency scores and more so students can take ownership of their own advancement while teachers are updated on their development.
A complete list of features, a detailed explanation of how the software works, and a demonstration can be found here.
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