4/25/2020

How Literacy Can Improve Equity and Academic Excellence For All NYC Students

The New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) is committed to providing every child in every New York City public school with a rigorous, inspiring, and nurturing learning experience regardless of family income, race, nationality, disability, language spoken at home, sexual orientation, or gender identification. Since 2015, the NYC DOE has been acting on this commitment through an initiative called Equity and Excellence for All (EEA). This agenda has been central to today’s improved student outcomes in New York City. 

Framework for Great Schools

Part of NYC DOE’s vision and mission that complements its Equity and Excellence agenda is the Framework for Great Schools. At the center of the Framework are the three core elements to support students achievement: 

• Instructional guidance

• Teacher empowerment

• Student-centered learning 

How Lexia Aligns With the Goals of New York City’s Equity and Excellence for All Initiative

Designed to help students in grades pre-K–12 become proficient readers and confident learners, Lexia's adaptive, technology-based literacy programs align with the goals of NYC DOE’s Equity and Excellence for All initiative. With Lexia’s personalized learning model, students are motivated by their own success, student performance data is easy to access and simple to interpret, and teachers have the resources they need for face-to-face instruction and independent student practice.

For students of all abilities in grades pre-K–5

Lexia® Core5® Reading is a differentiated literacy program that allows students to build fundamental reading skills by working online at their own pace. Core5 provides explicit, systematic, and personalized learning in the six areas of reading instruction, and targets skill gaps as they emerge, providing teachers with the data and student-specific resources they need for individual or small-group instruction. 

Each activity incorporates instructional branching, providing immediately support only when needed. Progress bars, animations, and the ability to repeat directions further strengthen students’ self-monitoring and executive functioning skills. To support autonomy for English language learners, directions for Core5 are available in Spanish, Mandarin, Haitian, Creole, Vietnamese, Arabic, and Portuguese. 

For struggling and non-proficient readers in grades 6 and above

Lexia® PowerUp Literacy® helps struggling students become proficient readers and confident learners. PowerUp helps educators simultaneously address gaps in critical literacy skills while helping students build the higher-order skills they need to comprehend, analyze, evaluate, and compare increasingly complex literary and informational texts. Blending online student-driven explicit instruction with offline teacher-delivered lessons and activities, PowerUp empowers secondary teachers—regardless of their background or expertise in reading—to deliver the exact instruction each student needs to become a proficient reader. 

Assessment Without Testing®

Lexia’s programs support NYC DOE’s promise of teacher empowerment through access to real-time data, mobile technology, implementation services, and professional growth.

Lexia’s Assessment Without Testing? technology gathers norm-referenced student performance data without stopping to administer a test. Teachers can easily check students’ progress in real time, identifying areas of struggle early.

Within these myLexia reports, a data-driven action plan is provided for each student, helping teachers focus their attention on those who need the most support. This action plan identifies the skill areas in which the student is currently working, their completed levels, as well as the skills they may need teacher-led instruction to master.

Supporting Teachers and Driving Academic Gains With Lexia’s Implementation Services and Other Resources

Implementing a new program can be difficult, but Lexia’s team of implementation experts partner with you to develop a year-ling, personalized implementation plan that takes your student population and professional learning needs into account. From technical set-up guidance and on-site training, to organizing, scheduling, and delivering live, online professional learning sessions, Lexia sets you and your team up for success.

In addition, Lexia Academy offers teachers an eLearning platform that supports educators’ professional growth with meaningful and relevant learning opportunities — anytime, anywhere. Courses in Lexia Academy are structured with incremental learning segments to help busy educators integrate resources and strategies into their classrooms.

NYCDOE’s Equity and Excellence for All agenda has already resulted in improved student outcomes. With Lexia’s adaptive, technology-based literacy programs, you and your team can help ensure reading proficiency and college readiness for all learners in New York City.