NWEA Adds an AI-powered Reading Coach to its Innovative Early Literacy Assessment

Virtual coach enables teachers to deliver 1:1 reading practice based on students' assessment data without losing instructional time

PORTLAND, Ore., May 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- NWEA, a K-12 assessment and research organization, announced today a new feature called Coach within its innovative early literacy assessment, MAP® Reading Fluency™. This new feature leverages AI to provide personalized reading coaching based on each student's assessment results.

Meet Maya. She's a friendly AI-driven coach inside NWEA's MAP Reading Fluency and is available to districts this summer. Leveraging Maya starts with a teacher assessing the whole class with MAP Reading Fluency. Those results place students into 1:1 personalized coaching with Maya. Students read aloud to Maya; in real-time, she provides coaching aligned with the science of reading, such as showing how the lips should move when sounding words. Several studies on the technology behind Maya have shown that AI-powered coaching can significantly improve reading skills.

Beyond the 1:1 support this personalized coaching provides, this new feature also offers educators a much more granular look at students' literacy needs so they can make appropriate decisions for their classrooms.

"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, Sr. Product Manager for MAP Reading Fluency at NWEA. "It's like giving each student their own reading coach that becomes an extension of the teacher who supports their instructional methods."

Get an inside look at MAP Reading Fluency with Coach: https://www.nwea.org/resource-center/resource/map-reading-fluency-with-coach-video/

Read the fact sheet about MAP Reading Fluency with Coach: https://www.nwea.org/resource-center/resource/map-reading-fluency-with-coach/

About MAP Reading Fluency

MAP Reading Fluency (now with Coach included) continues to evolve into one of the most trustworthy assessment tools in the market. It provides educators with reliable and accurate data that supports instructional decisions to advance reading development for all students. The CODiE award-winning tool, launched in 2018 as a first-of-its-kind adaptive universal screening and progress monitoring early literacy assessment for grades pre-K to 5, is now used by more than 1.4 million students in more than 2,000 districts nationwide.

Beyond quality data, one of MAP Reading Fluency's most valuable features is the timesaving aspect for teachers. Instead of assessing each student in a class one by one taking a day or more, a teacher using MAP Reading Fluency can get those powerful insights in one class period for an entire group of students. Aligned with the science of reading, the early literacy assessment measures and monitors oral reading fluency, literal comprehension, and foundational reading skills from season to season and year to year. It quickly screens students at risk of reading difficulty, including characteristics of dyslexia. The benchmark assessment is available in both English and Spanish.

View new case studies of districts sharing how they have leveraged MAP Reading Fluency in their schools.

Read more about MAP Reading Fluency's recent third-party review showing high marks for reliability, validity and accuracy.

About NWEA

NWEA^® (a division of HMH) is a mission-driven organization that supports students and educators in more than 146 countries through research, assessment solutions, policy and advocacy, and professional learning that support our diverse educational communities. Visit NWEA.org to learn more about how we're partnering with educators to help all kids learn.

Contact: Simona Beattie, Communications Director, [email protected] or 971.361.9526

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SOURCE NWEA