Istation Reading provides computer-based assessment and instruction in reading and writing for PreK-12 students. Students complete game-based lessons and activities led by animated characters while the program generates reports on their progress for teachers, parents and administrators. Schools can purchase individual student licenses for Istation Reading.

APPROACH

Istation Reading Overview

Istation (Imagination Station) Reading offers a suite of research-based assessment and instructional tools for targeted instruction and intervention that include:

• ISIP ER (Early Reading) and AR (Advanced Reading) - a game-like adaptive reading assessment
• Istation Reading - Reading curriculum for grades K-12
• Istation Reading en Español - Spanish reading curriculum for bilingual and dual immersion programs in grades K-3

The Istation Reading curriculum offers 400+ hours of instruction and correlates with Common Core and state Standards. The curriculum maintains an interdisciplinary focus incorporating science content and writing instruction into the program. Istation Reading assesses each student’s ability in the following areas:

• Listening Comprehension
• Phonemic awareness
• Letter Knowledge
• Alphabetic Decoding
• Vocabulary
• Spelling
• Comprehension
• Fluency

Istation is available on web browsers, Apple devices and Chromebooks. Students can access Istation Home on personal devices.

Istation Reading for Students

Istation begins with the game-like ISIP (Istation Indicators of Progress) assessment that determines each student’s reading and level and adjusts in length and difficulty in real-time based on student performance. The program uses assessment data to generate an individualized learning path for reading instruction. Early Readers (grades PreK-3) take the ISIP ER with activities like matching pictures to audio and selecting synonyms from a short list of words. For advanced readers, activities include choosing a synonym based on context or identifying appropriate words to complete a paragraph of text.

The ISIP AR for advanced readers (grades 4-12) incorporates a space exploration theme throughout the assessment. For example, one game requires students to select a synonym by shooting one of four asteroids, each displaying a possible answer. Students can use a glossary or notebook to take notes while working through activities.

The reading curriculum includes explicit instruction, guided practice and independent practice and instructs students according to their reading ability rather than age or grade level. Each lesson incorporates various levels of scaffolding that adjust based on student performance. If a student gets an incorrect answer, the program provides a hint by removing an answer choice or highlighting the correct answer. The activities are also time-sensitive, providing more scaffolding and hints if the student delays in answering the question. Throughout the school year, the program provides monthly formative assessments.

Students can read books or play games that reinforce learning on Istation Home. Istation Reading syncs across devices and students pick up right where they left off in the previous lesson if they use Istation on multiple devices.

Istation Reading for Teachers

In addition to reports and data profiles, Istation offers a variety of alerts and classroom tools for teachers. Teacher Station contains custom classbook lists and a library of more than 1,500 teacher-led lesson plans for individual, small group and whole class instruction. Teachers can also trigger additional assessments of specific skills at any time in the program.

Teachers and administrators have access to student data reports including the following:

• Student Summary - includes individual student performance data including Lexile measure, ISIP rank, grade level and priority alerts
• Skill Growth - identifies groups of students with similar skill deficiencies
• Priority Report - identifies which students need intervention
• Summary Report - identifies class performances statistics by skill
• Classroom Summary - determines instructional needs for classroom
• Executive Summary - reports campus performance statistics for administrators

The Istation Home Parent Portal offers parents access to the Student Summary and Skill Growth reports in English and Spanish.

PRICING

Schools and districts can purchase the ISIP assessment license for $5 per student. Schools and districts can request a quote for the Istation Reading curriculum online.

RESEARCH

A 2014 independent study of 150 kindergarten students in Texas found that Istation had a statistically significant impact on early reading abilities. The study found that Istation’s Reading instruction accounted for ~18% of differences between the treatment group (students that used Istation) and the control group (students that did not use Istation). The greatest gains were found to be in Hearing and Recording Sounds and Letter-Sound Knowledge.