2/6/2019

Massachusetts’ Early Literacy Expert Panel Recommends Lexia RAPID Assessment for Use with Students Ages Five and Up

BOSTON (Feb. 7, 2019) – An interdisciplinary advisory panel for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has unanimously recommended Lexia Learning’s Lexia^® RAPID™ Assessment (RAPID) as a literacy screener for children ages five and up. The Early Literacy Expert Panel selected RAPID after a rigorous five-month review process as part of the State’s effort to develop effective comprehensive assessment systems for students.

Lexia RAPID Assessment is a K–12 computer adaptive universal screener that efficiently screens the skills most predictive of end-of-year reading success. Administered up to three times a year, RAPID for Grades K–2 measures students’ foundational skills in the key reading and language domains of Word Recognition, Academic Language, and Reading Comprehension. RAPID for Grades 3–12 measures complex knowledge, understanding, and application of skills within these domains. In addition, RAPID provides actionable data that identifies the literacy instructional priorities at the district, school, class, and student level through the use of immediate scoring and online reports. Based on those profiles, the program generates instructional groups and links to instructional resources.

The nine-member Early Literacy Expert Panel is charged with providing recommendations to State education agencies on the alignment, coordination, implementation and improvement of all existing efforts that bear on children’s literacy outcomes. Panel members collaborate with the commissioners of the Department of Early Education and Care, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and the Department of Higher Education.

The panel decided to focus their efforts for 2017 and 2018 on reviewing and identifying screening tools for recommendation. Panel members partnered with the State’s Birth to Third Grade (B–3) Advisory Group to develop a set of criteria that included components related to administration, cost, population served and content. Input from members of the public helped panel members determine which criteria to prioritize for the selection of a literacy screener, and they developed a short-list for further review. The criteria included the following:

- Ability to administer more than once a year
- Ability to administer digitally
- Low cost, reliable and valid (research-based)
- Offers meaning and code-based tasks
- Ability to be administered in 20 minutes or less

“After Lexia presented RAPID to the Early Literacy Expert Panel, the panel’s initial thoughts about the literacy screening tool were confirmed—RAPID was the unanimous choice and the only choice for students five and older,” said Lexia President Nick Gaehde. “The panel’s co-chairs—Ann Reale of the MA Executive Office of Education and Dr. Nonie Lesaux of Harvard Graduate School of Education—as well as others on the panel, represent deep professional expertise in a range of domains related to children’s reading proficiency, including education, medicine, public policy, and community and family engagement, so it was gratifying that they quickly and unanimously moved RAPID to the top of their list for recommendation. We are privileged to have this opportunity to support dedicated teachers throughout Massachusetts.”

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About Lexia Learning

Lexia Learning, a Rosetta Stone company, empowers educators through adaptive assessment and personalized instruction. For more than 30 years, the company has been on the leading edge of research and product development as it relates to student reading skills. With a robust offering that includes solutions for differentiated instruction, personalized learning, and assessment, Lexia Learning provides educators with the tools to intensify and accelerate literacy skills development for students of all abilities. For more information, visit www.lexialearning.com.

About Rosetta Stone

Rosetta Stone Inc. (NYSE: RST) is dedicated to changing people’s lives through the power of language and literacy education. The company’s innovative digital solutions drive positive learning outcomes for the inspired learner at home or in schools and workplaces around the world.

Founded in 1992, Rosetta Stone’s language division uses cloud-based solutions to help all types of learners read, write, and speak more than 30 languages. Lexia Learning, Rosetta Stone's literacy education division, was founded more than 30 years ago and is a leader in the literacy education space. Today, Lexia helps students build fundamental reading skills through its rigorously researched, independently evaluated, and widely respected instruction and assessment programs.

For more information, visit www.rosettastone.com. “Rosetta Stone” is a registered trademark or trademark of Rosetta Stone Ltd. in the United States and other countries.

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Contact: Charlotte Andrist 
Nickel Communications 
charlotte@nickelcommpr.com
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