2/3/2021

A Look Back at 2020: a Message from Nick Gaehde, President of Lexia

At the start of a new year, many of us like to look back and reflect upon what we were able to accomplish professionally and personally. And 2020 was truly a year like no other, with COVID-19, social movements, and an historic election pushing students, schools, and communities to their limits. But while students, families, educators, and districts certainly faced monumental challenges, they persevered to make great strides in managing the new normal of virtual and hybrid learning. Here at Lexia, we also made the best of a truly unprecedented situation.

Before charging forward into a new year, I always like to pause and evaluate our professional and personal successes. As part of this exercise, I ask myself a few simple questions: 

• What were our greatest accomplishments?
   
• What am I particularly grateful for?
   
• What new aspirations will we chart a path toward in 2021?
   

With those questions in mind, let me start with this: 2020 was an amazing year at Lexia, and that’s because of you, our partner schools and districts!

In all:

• 325K educators logged into our educator platform
   
• Educators completed 21,700 Lexia® Academy eLearning courses
   
• 5.5 million students used the online programs to complete 77 million skills

To each of you who kept student learning front and center during what was the single most academically challenging year in recent history, I want to say a sincere thank you. It's because of you that Lexia was able to achieve so much in service of the company mission last year, despite 2020's myriad obstacles.

In January, we released the results of a study evaluating Lexia® PowerUp Literacy® that showed PowerUp is up to five times more effective at promoting reading gains than the average middle school reading intervention.

In February, we were honored to receive the research-based design product certification from Digital Promise for our personalized literacy solution, Lexia® Core5® Reading. This product certification serves as rigorous, reliable testimony for administrators, educators, and families seeking vetted, research-based educational technology products.

We started March with the big announcement that PowerUp was listed on the Evidence for ESSA website as the most effective secondary literacy intervention. In fact, PowerUp earned a "Strong" rating—the highest rating offered by Evidence for ESSA.

As March went on and the pandemic forced schools and districts to move to remote learning, Lexia quickly pivoted to assist teachers and parents; by offering free license upgrades and resources, we helped students continue to advance their literacy skills. More than 500,000 K–12 students first started using our literacy programs from home during the spring disruption period, and more educators than ever used myLexia® to monitor students’ learning.

In April, PowerUp continued to earn accolades from highly regarded organizations. This time, it was named as a SIIA CODiE Awards program finalist in the Best Reading/Writing/Literature Instructional Solution for Grades 9–12 and Higher Education category.

In May, we launched our first Emergent Bilingual Educators of the Year award program. Later in the month, both Core5 and PowerUp were named 2020 EdTech Cool Tool Awards finalists by EdTech Digest, which recognized the innovative way that both programs empower teachers to individualize and personalize learning.

As we rolled into July, Core5 received an Evidence for ESSA “Strong” rating. Very few reading technology companies have designed programs that earned Strong ratings at both the elementary and secondary level—and of those that met this high bar, the Evidence for ESSA estimates suggest Lexia’s programs have the largest impact on student reading outcomes. Needless to say, this was a proud moment for all of us at Lexia!

In August, we saw the launch of Lexia English, a new adaptive blended learning speaking and listening program powered by Lexia, for emergent bilinguals in grades K–6. The revolutionary program supports young emergent bilinguals as they build the linguistic competence and confidence needed for academic success.

October brought exciting news as Cambium Learning Group, Inc., a leading provider of award-winning education technology and supplemental K–12 solutions, added Rosetta Stone and Lexia to its family of companies. John Campbell, CEO of Cambium Learning, had this to say: “Rosetta Stone and Lexia are both iconic digital education brands with tremendous breadth and impact worldwide. Despite the uncertain time in the education industry, both brands have shown remarkable resilience and partnership to their growing base of users. By leveraging our combined scale, Rosetta Stone and Lexia will be able to reach even more teachers, students, and lifetime learners and better serve their existing customers.” Here at Lexia, we couldn’t be more confident about what our combined offerings will do to transform the future of K–12 education for administrators, teachers, and students.

In November, we announced the 10 winners of the Emergent Bilingual Educators of the Year award program. A total of $20,000 in grant donations and $75,000 in subscriptions to the Lexia English for Education language learning programs were awarded to teachers of English learners.

Certainly, Lexia enjoyed many accomplishments in 2020, and although there is much to be grateful for, it all comes down to you!

To the paraprofessionals, classroom teachers, reading specialists, technology directors, and school and district administrators who have dedicated their careers to helping children, your resilience and dedication are remarkable.

And to each and every one of the parents and caregivers who took up the gauntlet to become teachers at home this year, we offer a heartfelt “thank you”!

As we enter 2021, our aspirations remain steeped in delivering the very highest quality of research-proven adaptive personalized literacy and language solutions. And because we truly value our partnership with you, you can rest assured that we won’t stop there. 

All of us at Lexia wish you a happy and healthy 2021!

—Nick Gaehde, President, Lexia