With a student population made up of 96 percent Hispanics and 60 percent English Language Learners, administrators at Mountain View School District in California needed a literacy program which would identify learning gaps and provide differentiated instruction and practice in key skill areas. The district began using Lexia Reading in 2007. Last year, it moved to a full implementation in all elementary schools.
“As a Reading First district, we are dedicated to applying proven methods of early reading instruction in the classroom in order to affect significant improvement in our students’ reading skills across all five domains of reading,” said Dr. Peter Knapik, Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Staff Development, Mountain View School District. “With the Lexia product we are witnessing a huge difference not only in English language acquisition, but in language arts skills overall.”
Students who are performing below or far below grade level are scheduled to use Lexia for 20 minutes each school day. As students spend more time on the program, teachers are able to quickly identify and meet with students who need further support.
The reading software, in use by nearly 900 schools and learning resource centers across the state of California, helps students pre-K through 12th grade acquire and improve essential reading skills while providing educators with integrated assessment reporting. The real-time snapshot reports provide constant progress monitoring to teachers so they can hone and target instruction, without delay or waiting for the next benchmark exam.
Lexia Reading offers more than 800 activities for reading skills development. Each of the age-appropriate, skill-specific activities conforms to federal guidelines. Students using the program work independently as the software automatically detects when additional practice is needed. This “branching” technology ensures that students demonstrate mastery of each reading skill before proceeding to the next skill.
Santa Ana School District in Orange County and Sacramento’s Folsom Cordova Unified School District are two of the many other California districts that have implemented the Lexia Learning System into their language arts toolkit this year. Additionally, El Monte Unified School District and River Delta Unified School District recently renewed their license agreement with Lexia Learning.
Educators in Santa Ana were drawn to Lexia Reading’s foundational approach to reading skills practice. Students receive additional practice through the enjoyable activities that are core elements of the software solution. Engaged in the activities, students are learning - whether they realize it or not.
“Research has shown that in addition to high quality instruction, students need intensive practice opportunities to develop essential reading skills including phonological awareness, sight word recognition, sound-symbol correspondence and word-attack skills,” said William Skelly, principal of Heninger Elementary. “Lexia does just that by providing students with individualized reading skills instruction and practice that builds core competencies, and provides teachers with detailed feedback on student progress. Struggling students receive scaffolded support, while students demonstrating proficiency advance to more challenging concepts.”
