Lexia Reading Core5

Adaptive reading software for foundational skills in preschool and elementary grades

Overview

Lexia Reading Core5 provides targeted reading instruction via a digital curriculum for students in Pre-K through fifth grade. Students work through a bundle of personalized activities in the order of their choosing, while the system adapts to and tracks their performance for teacher and administrator progress reports. Schools and districts can purchase per-student or unlimited (per-site) licenses for the product.

APPROACH

Lexia Reading Core5 Content Overview

Core5 Curriculum aligns to Common Core State Standards and was designed to correlate with state standardized tests including the California Standards Test, Kansas Computerized Assessment and the New Mexico Standards Based Assessment. The program also correlates to the popular DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) and MAP (Measurement of Academic Progress) assessments.

Students can access Core5 through a web browser, iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch apps and select Android tablet apps. Schools can also download the student version of the program. Teachers and administrators use a separate platform, myLexia, to access reports and tools.

Core5 can be used as core curriculum in a blended learning environment or targeted instruction for on, above and below grade-level students. Student content begins with lessons, and assessment is incorporated throughout the program. Core5 does not use diagnostics or tests. Instead, the platform sources activity and performance statistics from each lesson to provide progress reports. The content targets the following six reading areas:

• Phonological Awareness (Pre-K through kindergarten)
• Phonics (Pre-K through second grade)
• Structural Analysis (third grade through fifth grade)
• Fluency (Pre-K through fifth grade)
• Vocabulary (Pre-K through fifth grade)
• Comprehension (Pre-K through fifth grade)

In addition, the program aims to develop cultural competence with international themes. Each of the program’s 18 levels features a different region of the world (e.g., Paris, The Amazon Rainforest, Scotland, Africa, etc.,) with animated characters representative of the locale. Students are presented with facts about animals, plants and native environments throughout the lessons.

Lexia Reading Core5 for Students

Students begin Core5 with grade-level activities. A student is first presented with a standard (grade-level) question. If the answer is correct, the student moves to other activities or offline worksheets called Lexia Skill Builders that are designed to reinforce the concept that was just learned and develop the ability to recall the meaning of new words and concepts quickly. Lexia Skill Builders use activities like coloring, storytelling, creative writing and reading comprehension questions to reinforce concepts.

At each level, students maintain awareness of their progress with a timer and a scoring system based on stars. With each new level that the student achieves, they choose between two warm-up activities to reinforce concepts that they just learned.

If the student misses a question, the system provides another question with scaffolding (removing some incorrect answers and other distractors on the screen), and if the answer to the scaffolded question is correct, the student has a chance to answer a different standard question. However, if a student misses the scaffolded question, the program shifts to direct instruction, followed by a scaffolded level and then a standard level question.

Throughout the program, English Language Learners (ELLs) receive support in the form of native language instruction in Spanish, Mandarin, Haitian-Creole, Arabic, and Portuguese. Other aids for ELLs includes a picture glossary with definitions and punctuation and grammar guides for words.

Lexia Reading Core5 for Teachers and Administrators

Core5 offers companion instructional tools for teachers to use for offline instruction. Lexia Instructional Connections integrate instruction in complementary ELA (English Language Arts) skills including listening, speaking and writing. Lexia Lessons offers lesson outlines targeted to teacher-led small group or classroom differentiated instruction.

The myLexia website provides reports at the student, class, grade, school and district level and features a search tool so teachers can find resources they need without navigating through the system. In addition, teachers can generate certificates for parents to demonstrate progress and achievement. Individual student reports that are available to teachers include lesson difficulty level, progress toward specific standards and alerts for students that need intervention.

After students use Core5 for one month, myLexia provides Performance Prediction indicators on a student’s likelihood to meet year-end goals and creates a personalized plan for each student. The student’s personalized plan includes a recommendation for the amount of instructional time spent on the platform and recommended offline instruction and supporting materials. Administrators can view student and teacher login usage, manage individual accounts and make changes to a group of teacher or student profiles at once with the bulk feature.

PRICING

Pricing for Lexia Reading Core5 depends on the individual needs of each school and district.

Discounts are available for small schools (less than 150 students) high volume and multi-year contracts.

RESEARCH

A 2016 report by LEAP Innovations, a Chicago non-profit dedicated to connecting educators and schools with edtech tools, conducted a study in which more than 1,000 students in third, fourth and fifth grade used Lexia Reading Core5. The study found that students who used Core5 scored 1.42 points higher than the control group (students who didn’t use Core5) on a post-program reading test.