The History of Lexia
Lexia® was founded in 1984 by Bob Lemire. He wasn’t a reading specialist or researcher and he wasn’t looking for a new career; he was a well-respected investment adviser and land-use consultant. What Lemire did have, though, was a son diagnosed with dyslexia.
Founded in Literacy
In search of an answer, Bob Lemire took his son to his friend, Dr. Edwin Cole—noted neurologist and head of the Reading Clinic at the Massachusetts General Hospital as well as the founder of several schools for students with dyslexia. He had been a long-time colleague of Dr. Samuel T. Orton and Anna Gillingham, principal creators of the respected reading system that carries their name.
After testing, his son was diagnosed as developmentally dyslexic and received one-on-one tutoring. Moved by his son’s success in overcoming his reading difficulties, Lemire realized many other children had reading difficulties and most of them did not have the same resources and guidance as his family. Lemire and Dr. Cole began to discuss the issue with neighbor Dr. Littleton Meeks, an expert in technology. Despite the fact that computers were still in their infancy, the three decided to create a company that would use computer technology to help students receive the explicit, systematic, and personalized instruction they needed to become successful readers and confident learners. This was the beginning of our commitment to the science of reading and Structured Literacy-based literacy solutions.
Today, Lexia serves more than 6.7 million students and 360,000 across more than 23,000 schools nationwide. We continue to lead our field in developing innovative science of reading-based approaches to literacy’s biggest challenges, and are committed to leading the change that education needs.
Company Timeline
1984
Bob Lemire founded Lexia to help students with dyslexia become successful readers and confident learners
1985
Lexia received major grant funding from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to fund product research, design, and development
1992
Lexia expands focus and mission to serve not only students with dyslexia but also every beginning and struggling reader
2005
Nick Gaehde joined Lexia as president
2006
First peer-reviewed article published confirming Lexia’s efficacy
2007
Introduced Lexia Reading
2007
Introduced adaptive blended learning model
2012
Lexia reached 1 million student users
2013
Introduced Lexia® Core5® Reading to support educators in providing differentiated literacy instruction for students of all abilities in grades pre-K–5
2015
Introduced Lexia Assessment Without Testing® to provide educators real-time performance data for their students as they work independently in Lexia's instructional programs
2016
Lexia reaches 3 million student users
2017
Lexia Assessment Without Testing earns patent
2018
Introduced Lexia® PowerUp Literacy®, to help struggling and nearly-proficient readers in grades 6–12 become proficient readers and confident learners
2019
Introduced Lexia Academy to support educators’ professional growth with self-paced, meaningful, and relevant learning opportunities—anytime, anywhere
2019
Achieved “Strong” ESSA rating
2020
Introduced Lexia® English Language Development® for grades K–6 to support students’ English language development through academic conversations
2020
Launched Help Center to support educators and families to get the most out of our programs
2020
Acquired by Cambium Learning® Group
2020
Lexia reached 5 million student users
2020
PowerUp named SIIA EdTech CODiE Award finalist
2021
Began offering Lexia LETRS® from Voyager Sopris Learning®
2021
Lexia English Language Development named Best Solution for English as a Second Language at the CODiE Awards
2022
Voyager Sopris Learning became part of Lexia. Began offering LETRS as part of the Lexia brand family.
2023
Lexia reached 6.7 million student users
2024
Lexia celebrates its 40th anniversary
A Cambium Learning® Group Brand
