Page 5 - iRead EL in Research Paper

iRead turns the promise of technology into reality through individualized, adaptive, and engaging instruction that can help all students, even the most challenged ones, learn how to read so that they can read to learn.
Introduction to iRead
iRead is a digital foundational reading program designed to close the achievement gap before it begins by placing all K–2
students on a path to success in Grades 3–12 and beyond.
The iRead student software provides explicit, systematic instruction and individualized, ongoing practice in the foundational literacy skills of phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, phonics, decoding, word recognition, morphology and syntax, uency, and spelling. The systematic instruction delivered by the software targets the areas of the foundational skills that students are struggling with and provides individualized practice in these areas until students attain mastery of each skill. Students are given the opportunity to put the skills to use to create meaning as they read and comprehend literary and informational texts.
Built from the ground up to support rigorous state standards, iRead’s scope and sequence moves as a continuous set of topics from kindergarten to second grade, allowing for di erentiated placement, adaptive instruction, and ongoing practice for children who are below, on, and above grade level.
iRead O ers
1. Technologythatcomplementswhatteachersdobest
2. Apersonalizedlearningprogressionforeverystudent
3. Embeddedassessmentthatensureschildrenaretaughttomastery
4. Thebestthinkingfromcognitivescienceandgamingtheory
5. Anengaging,supportiveonlineenvironmentforchildrenandtheirfamilies
In addition to the student software, iRead provides a comprehensive system of support for educators—equipping them with the resources they need to maximize their e ectiveness in the classroom. The program comes with everything teachers need to teach foundational reading—including SAM Central, a digital environment that provides actionable data and reports, strategic grouping tools, and point-of-use instructional resources. From SAM Central, teachers can access three years of foundational reading content and over 200 lessons for whole- and small-group instruction, anytime and anywhere that there is an Internet connection.
About This Report
This report explains how iRead draws on the best research in early literacy instruction to give students in Grades K–2 the foundation they need to become successful readers and learners. It describes the research evidence favoring explicit and systematic instruction in the foundational literacy skills, and it explains how iRead’s design re ects this research. It also describes how iRead matches the best available research and expert opinion related to personalized learning, multisensory instruction using multimedia technology, and formative assessment and progress monitoring, as well as how iRead supports positive student behavior and encourages family engagement. In sum, this review shows how iRead takes advantage of technology to support teachers in providing the best possible instruction for beginning readers of all abilities.
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