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This past year Learning Ally Education Solutions GM Tim Wilson approved a special project where we provided a license to the Brooklyn Urban Garden Charter School (affectionately known as BUGS) in return for the opportunity to study their experience with Learning Ally solutions. It was a truly fruitful year for the students and teachers, and yielded results even we did not expect.
During their introduction to Learning Ally in November, teachers were thrilled by the variety and quality of our solutions, with teacher Betsy McGowan, the school’s reading specialist, exclaiming, “It looks like Christmas came early this year!” By January all of Betsy’s students with reading deficits were registered with our program.
BUG’s eighth-graders were all assigned a dystopian novel, one which was available through our audiobook solution. More than a few students told Betsy that this was the first time they had read an entire book--Learning Ally made it possible for them.
The next assigned book, Born a Crime by Trevor Noah, was in our queue but unavailable when assigned. Encouraged by their success with their first book, many of the students were inspired to work really hard and read the print version! It took longer and they had to work much, much harder to keep up, but they liked the feeling of understanding and participating in the class discussions.
The final book for the school year was George Orwell’s classic, Animal Farm, already available through Learning Ally. One student told Betsy she had been able to learn so much more vocabulary using Learning Ally’s audiobook solution.
A few weeks ago we received a surprise at our Princeton office: a huge card thanking the Learning Ally team (that includes YOU, volunteers!). Each student signed their name and gave us the number of pages they read, all of them (and their teachers) so proud of their progress.
This kind of success is possible because of all the great people we have working on our solutions. This is just one example of how our volunteers make a difference in people’s lives every day--a difference that supports them through a lifetime of learning. Thank you all for the gifts of your time, talent, and treasure. Our friends at BUGS are just one small group that is grateful every day for your presence in their lives.
Metrics Update for this week:
Our readers increased to 211,197
We had 46,753 reading at frequency*
Happy Summer, and Happy Reading, everyone!
*at frequency = students are reading books multiple times during the school year, with a general target of thirty times (more for lower grades, less for upper grades). Our data shows that most of these students read for at least 20 minutes each time.
Once again, Learning Ally hosted its hit online conference Spotlight on Dyslexia this past Friday. SPOD is a dynamic conference featuring sixteen speakers from all over the country, experts and specialists in dyslexia, literacy, and neuroscience, for in-depth discussions of the facts of dyslexia and the issues faced by dyslexic students, their families and their teachers. This incredible event lasts all day and is attended by educators and administrators, parents, students, and teachers-in-training--anyone who wants to learn more about dyslexia and the solutions available that help people with dyslexia succeed in a print-based environment and beyond.
Completely online, SPOD’s Theater offered fifteen sessions (three to choose from during each session period) ranging from “Older Struggling Readers: What Do They Need?” to “We’ve Screened for Dyslexia...Now What?” and “What a Successful Public School Dyslexia Program Looks Like”.
In addition, our Keynote Speaker was Dr. Maryanne Wolf, an educator famous for her advocacy for children and literacy around the world. Her keynote address was “Lessons from the Reading Brain for Dyslexia, Early Diagnosis, and Intervention”. Click here to learn more about her: https://www.maryannewolf.com/
To augment the activity of the day, we also had a Lounge with two chatrooms available all day, one specifically for educators and one specifically for parents. These were places where people could reach out and learn from each other’s experiences. There were some great interactions going on, and it was absolutely heartwarming to see people helping each other succeed.
The Resource Center was a great place where participants could access and download pdfs and videos provided by Learning Ally, our partners, and the speakers:
Learning Ally partnered with edWeb.com so that educators attending the event could receive up to sixteen Continuing Education credits. One great aspect: if you were tied up that day, every session is recorded, and participants can access the sessions and Keynote Address later to experience at the time that is best for them. Another bonus: since participants could attend only one-third of the presentations live, the recordings give participants the opportunity to experience ALL the sessions. Educators who registered for the event have until September 30th to submit their quizzes and receive their CE credits. Each session also had its own dedicated chat and Question and Answer that attendees could actively participate in during the live sessions, giving them the opportunity to ask questions directly to the speakers, as well as to chat with others interested in the specific topic being discussed.
We had over 1400 registered, and it was a busy day. A few of the comments we received included:
From a teacher: SPOD exceeded her expectations, it’s fabulous, easy to understand with great downloadable resources!
From a student: “Hi, everyone, I hope everyone’s enjoying their conference. I’m so excited to be here to be supporting Learning Ally. Learning Ally has been such an instrumental part to my Success in school. I’ve been using the software since 10th [grade] and it has transformed the way I learn.”
From another teacher: “The students love Learning Ally! I always do a group lesson how to utilize it correctly before sending them off to read/listen. We focus on how listening to a book can be a tool that will help them become stronger readers...and they come in SO proud that they finished their first book. I feel that Learning Ally levels the playing field for them. They can tackle a text that other students are reading and are able to discuss it with them because they are able to listen and comprehend instead of struggle to decode words and create meaning…”
In a past year an educator who attended told us, “The conference helped me grow so much as an educator and I earned CE credits. The content and the experts were top notch!”
This year’s conference was no different--sought-after content, knowledgeable speakers, opportunities to share ideas and solutions! Learning Ally has once again supported the success of teachers, administrators, students, and families, all over the country! Start thinking now about joining us next time!
Our readers increased to 207,718
We’ve had over 135 million pages read--an increase of 66% over last year for school readers!
We had 45,403 reading at frequency*
Thanks for all your hard work, everyone--together we are making a tremendous difference in the lives of so many people!