Showing results for caters

Next-generation speech recognition technology

Text Reading Online was created in partnership by Amplify and SoapBox Labs, a Dublin-based developer of accuracy and privacy driven voice technology for children. Text Reading Online represents the first literacy assessment of its kind to enable remote evaluation of reading accuracy, fluency, and comprehension.

Assess remotely with Text Reading Online

How it works

To perform the Text Reading Online assessment, students read two texts aloud. The first text is at the student’s grade level and the read-aloud is evaluated for reading accuracy and fluency through SoapBox Lab’s speech recognition technology.

Students then answer a set of text-dependent comprehension questions to evaluate their degree of understanding. This is repeated with the second text, which is adapted based on the student’s performance on the initial text, including their accuracy, fluency, and comprehension.

A digital reading comprehension activity shows a passage about a Texas heatwave and multiple-choice questions for students to answer, with an owl cartoon giving instructions.

Data from the oral reading fluency assessment, including reading rate and specific error types, provides educators with near-real-time feedback, which they can use to identify areas of focus and cater lessons to each student’s needs.

Learn about mCLASS

Text Reading Online is a measure available within mCLASS, a K–6 universal assessment, instruction, and intervention suite. To learn how to bring mCLASS to your school or district, visit this page to fill out a contact form.

Making the most of your stimulus funding

There are literally billions of dollars left in ESSER stimulus funds—and regardless of the role you serve in K–12 education, some of those dollars can help you and your students. Though you have until Sept. 30, 2024, to assign these funds, it’s never too early to ensure that you and your colleagues are taking advantage of what’s available to you to invest in your students and classrooms.

While 20% of your district’s funding must target instructional loss caused by the pandemic, you can direct the rest toward your specific needs—whether you need print instructional materials, dual language supports, or personalized learning to help your students catch up.

We’re happy to guide you through the current funding landscape and offer some tips for claiming your funding and helping get your students back on track.

Overview of the stimulus funding landscape

We’ve reached historic levels of federal investment to support the recovery of K–12 education. The American Rescue Plan (ARP) has supplied our nation’s schools with three buckets of ESSER stimulus funds:

$13 billion under the CARES Act in March 2020 (ESSER I)
$54 billion under the CRSA in December 2020 (ESSER II)
$122 billion under the ARP in March 2021 (ESSER III)

This brings the total funds to $189 billion—a staggering amount available to help you, your students, and your colleagues. ESSER III funds must be assigned by Sept. 30, 2024, but this doesn’t mean the programs and services you purchase will expire. Your state can request an 18-month extension to liquidate the funds, and the changes needed to transform student performance and other school needs aren’t bound by this date.

As you consider how to spend your funding, keep in mind that there are 16 types of allowable expenses, including learning software; summer learning and after-school programs for at-risk students; and activities that support federal requirements, such as ESEA and Titles I, II, III, and IV.

Spending priorities across states

Within the boundaries of allowable expenses, many states have already begun deciding how they want to target the specific needs of their districts.

Stimulus investments must reflect your district’s needs while taking into account the unique skills and gaps of individual students.

At the state level, Georgia is prioritizing student mental health and wellbeing, while Massachusetts is taking on that issue in addition to figuring out how to measure learning loss and helping districts reopen safely.

New York is emphasizing early childhood education, staff training, maintaining operations, and education technology. Kansas has similar goals with learning software, in addition to a focus on continuing operations, providing sanitation supplies, and catering to remote students’ needs.

One report tracking stimulus funding in 1,040 school districts across 35 states found patterns among school needs. More than half the districts studied set aside funds for summer learning, a third plan to pay for transportation, and a quarter will invest in online platforms.

Amplify programs fit the bill

All Amplify programs and services meet the funding criteria, including our literacy, dual language, and STEM suites.

Our literacy suite is made up of high-quality instructional materials that are based on evidence, which is one of the purchasing requirements in the American Rescue Plan. These programs provide students with personalized instruction—whether it’s at the core, supplemental, or intervention levels.

For more detailed information about using stimulus funding to get your students back on track in reading, watch our recent webinar to learn more about Amplify Reading, our personalized reading program for grades K–5, and mCLASS^Ⓡ, our early foundational literacy assessment.

Want to learn more about ESSER and how to use these funds thoughtfully? Visit our stimulus funding webpage where you’ll have access to a tracking tool that allows you to search by state and district to see approximately how much money is headed your way. As you explore ways to use the funds available to you, be mindful about the long-term impacts of the choices you’re making, and listen to your teachers, students, and overall school community. Creating or expanding upon an instructional system that includes core curriculum, a reliable assessment tool, and personalized and supplemental learning is a great way to set your teachers and students up for success now and in the future.

Embracing artificial intelligence in the math classroom

Artificial intelligence seems to be everywhere these days. We use it when we ask Alexa or Siri for the morning weather report. We use it when GPS tells us how to best avoid traffic. We use it when we chill at the end of the day with a recommendation from Netflix.

But what about during the day—and specifically, at school? Even more specifically, can AI be leveraged to enhance the math classroom?

“While AI is an amazing tool, you’ve really got to make sure that you are focusing in on your expertise as well,” says veteran math educator and STEM instructional coach Kristen Moore, “And saying, ‘How can I use this to make something better?’ and not just, ‘How can I use this to make something?’”

In this post, we’ll talk about the current state of AI in math education, and how it can support educators in making math better. (SPOILER: It’s not going to replace you!)

First, some STEM learning for us: What is artificial intelligence?

Artificial intelligence, or AI, refers to the development of computer systems able to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence.

It involves creating algorithms and systems that enable computers to learn from data, adapt to new situations, and make decisions or predictions.

AI aims to mimic human cognitive functions such as understanding language, recognizing patterns, solving problems, and making decisions. It encompasses a range of techniques and technologies, including machine learning, neural networks, natural language processing, and robotics.

The term “artificial intelligence” was introduced in 1956. The availability of vast amounts of data and advancements in computer power in the 2010s led to additional breakthroughs. And with the proliferation of smartphones, smart devices, and the internet, AI technologies began to work their way into our homes, cars, pockets, and everyday lives.

What’s the state of AI in education?

AI is already commonplace in schools and classrooms. Here are just a few examples:

Adaptive learning: This software uses AI algorithms to adjust the difficulty and content of lessons based on a student’s performance, helping students remain engaged and challenged at their optimal level.
Assistive technologies: AI helps students with disabilities by providing assistive technologies like text-to-speech and speech-to-text tools, making educational content more accessible.
Plagiarism detection: These tools use AI algorithms to identify instances of copied or unoriginal content in students’ assignments, essays, and projects.
Data analysis for teachers: AI analyzes data from student assessments to identify trends and insights, helping teachers make informed decisions about instructional strategies. It can also predict students’ performance trends, helping teachers identify at-risk students early and intervene to provide additional support.
Grammar, spelling, and style checkers: AI can provide real-time feedback to students (and teachers!) on their writing work.

Embracing AI technology in your math classroom

While AI is not here to replace teachers, it is here to stay. And experts say it’s only going to become more commonplace. But despite how common AI is already—both outside and inside school—not all teachers are familiar with its numerous applications and potential. Now is a great time for educators to start exploring its uses and get ahead of the curve.

Here are a few easy entry points for math teachers.

ChatGPT: A common AI tool, ChatGPT is designed to understand and generate human-like text based on the input it receives. It’s trained on a wide range of internet text, which enables it to generate responses to a vast array of prompts and questions.

Most students have likely experimented with ChatGPT, while teachers—though aware of it—are less likely to use it. ChatGPT has highly practical applications for both groups, though—including in the math (and science) classroom.

It can, for example, help teachers plan interesting, relevant math lessons for their students. Kristen Moore, who discusses this topic on Math Teacher Lounge, suggests that math teachers use ChatGPT to:

Connect topics to student interests and vice-versa. (Teachers can ask ChatGPT for real-life applications of polynomials and select those that might pique student interest, or ask about math applications derived from students’ hobbies and pursuits.)
Generate word problems (including step-by-step solutions), lessons, projects and rubrics, and more.

Toward the (near) future

As AI advances, it will continue to revolutionize education. Here are a few time-saving ways that educators can look forward to using it in their classrooms.

AI tutors: AI-powered virtual tutors will help math students with homework questions and provide explanations for various concepts. These tutors can be available at home 24/7, allowing students to seek an AI homework helper whenever they need it.
Automatic graders: Some AI tools can automatically grade math work, including multiple-choice and short-answer assignments. These tutors can be available at home 24/7 in any household with internet access, allowing students to seek more personalized instruction.
Personalized learning paths: These AI-powered platforms will work particularly well for math students by adapting to each student’s skill level and pace, offering tailored exercises and challenges that cater to their strengths and identify areas of improvement. They will analyze students’ performance and adjust the difficulty of content, ensuring that students get targeted support and opportunities to progress.

More to explore

To dive deeper into AI in math education—and get rolling with AI in your classroom—check out this two-episode mini-series on our Math Teacher Lounge podcast focused on just that:

Season 5, Episode 7: Discerning the role of AI in education with former teacher, current education technology entrepreneur, and general partner at Reach Capital Jennifer Carolan, who has a lot to share about how AI can partner with educators to foster social learning opportunities.
Season 5, Episode 8: Utilizing AI as a teaching tool with educator Kristen Moore, who discusses how she uses ChatGPT to revolutionize student learning and streamline lesson planning.

“I’m a believer that learning is inherently social,” says Carolan, who is quick to emphasize how technology can enhance that quality, not replace it. The same can be said for the role teachers play in the classroom—a role technology can support, but never take away. To learn more about this topic (and discuss it with your fellow educators!), head to our Math Teacher Lounge community!

First-of-its-kind voice-powered assessment to help educators understand and accelerate the literacy development of remote learners

BROOKLYN, New York—August 25, 2020—Amplify, a publisher of next-generation curriculum and assessment programs, today announced the release of a voice-enabled reading assessment for grades 1–6, created in collaboration with Dublin-based SoapBox Labs, which develops accuracy and privacy driven voice technology for children. Text Reading Online is the first literacy assessment of its kind to enable remote evaluation of oral reading fluency, accuracy, and comprehension—critical indicators of reading development for young readers.

“Given the realities of teaching and learning in a pandemic, educators are seeking approaches to assessing a child’s independent reading when they cannot be together in person,” said Larry Berger, chief executive officer at Amplify. “We are pleased to offer Text Reading Online as a part of the overall mCLASS literacy suite to help educators assess their students’ reading development remotely, including the accurate identification of learning loss and how best to address it, this year.”

Reading accuracy, fluency, and comprehension are important indicators of whether students are making the transition from learning to read to reading to learn. Like most early literacy assessments, however, evaluation of oral reading fluency typically requires direct in-person observation of students by trained educators. By enabling educators to understand and evaluate fluency, accuracy, and comprehension development, even in a remote setting, Text Reading Online can help educators tailor instruction and avoid reading loss during a critical developmental stage.

To perform the assessment, students read two texts aloud: the first text is at the student’s grade level, the second is adapted based on the student’s performance on the initial text. Students then answer a set of text-dependent comprehension questions to evaluate their degree of understanding. Data from the assessment, including reading rate and specific error types, provides educators with near real-time feedback, which they can use to identify areas of focus and cater lessons to each child’s needs.

Named one of Europe’s hottest startups by Wired UK in 2019, SoapBox Labs was founded by Dr. Patricia Scanlon, whose popular TEDx talk explains the ways in which technology can “transform a child’s reading journey.” In 2018, Scanlon was named to the Forbes list of Top 50 Women in Tech globally.

“This is about making educators’ lives just a little bit easier by providing them with tech-enabled tools that allow them to engage in accurate and private literacy assessment for all their students,” said SoapBox Labs CEO Dr. Patricia Scanlon. “But the implications are even more far reaching. The moment for voice tech in learning has arrived, and we view our work as essential in the development of a more inclusive, equitable education future.”

Text Reading Online will be available for free to all of Amplify’s mCLASS customers during the 2020-2021 school year. Visit the Text Reading Online page on Amplify.com to learn more.

***

About Amplify
A pioneer in K–12 education since 2000, Amplify is leading the way in next-generation curriculum and assessment. Our captivating core and supplemental programs in ELA, math, and science engage all students in rigorous learning and inspire them to think deeply, creatively, and for themselves. Our formative assessment products turn data into practical instructional support to help all students build a strong foundation in early reading and math. All of our programs provide teachers with powerful tools that help them understand and respond to the needs of every student. Today, Amplify serves five million students in all 50 states. For more information, visit amplify.com.

About SoapBox Labs
SoapBox Labs develops award-winning voice technology for kids modeled on kids’ speech, language, and behaviors. Proprietary and built from the ground up, our accurate, private, and age-appropriate voice technology powers immersive play and learning experiences, including literacy and language learning tools, for children ages 2 to 12 years old. To view demos, download reports and white papers, or learn more about how our technology powers third party education and toy companies, go to www.SoapBoxLabs.com.