EPS Learning, the leading provider of PreK-12 literacy solutions, continues to extend its solution set with the unveiling of EPS Reading Accelerator. With a focus on improving reading skills for middle school students, Reading Accelerator provides a simple, sustainable, and speedy intervention path for building middle school reading proficiency.
A Tier 2 reading intervention, EPS Reading Accelerator is geared toward students with gaps in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. The blended learning program includes 5-step, structured literacy lessons that can be used in small groups or with the whole class to close gaps in foundational skills and build toward grade-level proficiency.
“Our mission at EPS Learning is to open a lifetime of literacy and learning for every student,” said Steven Guttentag, CEO of EPS Learning. “With the addition of EPS Reading Accelerator to our comprehensive literacy suite, we take one step closer to that goal by applying our deep expertise in reading intervention to the underserved population of striving middle school readers.”
According to NAEP, the Nation’s Report Card, 69% of students who attended 8th grade in 2022 were not yet proficient in reading. This nationwide literacy crisis at the middle school level has been intensified by the pandemic’s learning interruptions and persists as current solutions on the market are not meeting the needs of students and educators. These solutions often require additional resources and extensive educator training and do not engage students with age-appropriate content. With Reading Accelerator, teachers now have an age-appropriate, engaging and easily implementable solution to get middle school reading levels back on track.
“Educators who’ve implemented Reading Accelerator tell us that it has increased their confidence and skills in teaching foundational literacy. These middle school educators are now being asked to teach skills that normally are the focus of elementary school educators, so building their strengths in this new subject area is critical to student success,” said Janine Walker-Caffrey, Chief Academic Officer of EPS Learning. “With EPS Reading Accelerator, educators will be able to better support their students toward meeting or exceeding reading proficiency levels.”
EPS Reading Accelerator includes EPS Reading Assistant, an AI-driven reading tutor that uses voice-recognition technology to provide students with adaptive reading practice. Reading Assistant accelerates student progress toward reading proficiency while providing teachers with dashboards to gauge student progress. Reading Accelerator combined with Reading Assistant makes it simple for any teacher or paraprofessional to deliver highly effective literacy intervention.
“Not knowing how to read can be a very traumatic experience,” said one teacher from East Orange, New Jersey. “Reading Accelerator increased my confidence because it equipped me on how to teach my students to read in a gentle and most non-threatening way.”
