{"id":1679,"date":"2022-03-10T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-10T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/education\/blog\/2022\/03\/10\/how-one-district-is-improving-literacy-with-reading-progress\/"},"modified":"2022-03-10T07:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-03-10T15:00:00","slug":"how-one-district-is-improving-literacy-with-reading-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/education\/blog\/2022\/03\/how-one-district-is-improving-literacy-with-reading-progress\/","title":{"rendered":"How one district is improving literacy with Reading Progress"},"content":{"rendered":"

The pandemic has disrupted every industry\u2014education included\u2014and research shows that the past two years of distance education have interrupted learning for many students, especially those who are part of vulnerable populations.<\/p>\n

Sarasota County Schools, a diverse, Florida district of more than 41,000 students, has worked to tackle the issue head-on with Microsoft\u2019s Reading Progress, a free tool built into Microsoft Teams to help students improve their reading fluency. The district has in turn helped bring equity and inclusion to the forefront.<\/p>\n

In piloting Reading Progress<\/a>, through a program with Microsoft and using the HP Probook 640 device for educators and the HP x360 for students, Sarasota County Schools and its educators, such as Anita Dennison, were able to make a notable difference. They traded in traditional, time-consuming running records\u2014a practice in which students read aloud to a teacher as the teacher codes their reading level and needs\u2014for automated coding of students\u2019 independent, recorded readings. This streamlined practice is one that can not only build students’ skills and confidence as they\u2019re able to practice privately without worrying about judgment from observers, but can also save teachers valuable time so they can focus on other tasks important to improving student learning.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how Reading Progress helped Sarasota\u2019s students catch up and embrace reading\u2014and how the tool can help students in other districts, too.<\/p>\n

Fostering equity-first learning<\/h3>\n

Anita\u2019s classroom, where she teaches intensive reading to a mix of learners in grades 6-8, centers around helping vulnerable students, such as English as a Second Language (ESL) students and special education students. Her aim is to improve their reading levels, which are at a kindergarten to sixth grade level when they first enter her doors.<\/p>\n

Throughout the pandemic, her classroom took on a unique form as she taught in person to both students who were present in the room and students who tuned in remotely from home. It wasn\u2019t long before pandemic-related learning interruptions became apparent: her students were less focused, paying less attention, not completing assignments, and not following directions. \u201cYou could tell that they were doing 5,000 other things,\u201d Anita said.<\/p>\n

But in October 2021, Reading Progress made its way to Anita\u2019s classroom, significantly improving students\u2019 performance and confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe repetitiveness of [Reading Progress]\u2026increases their reading skills, so then they\u2019re more willing to participate because they feel successful,\u201d Anita said. \u201cIt\u2019s incredibly spot-on.\u201d<\/p>\n

This not only helps vulnerable students in classrooms like Anita\u2019s but can benefit students who struggle with anxiety in any classroom. As they feel more comfortable reading aloud independently, they\u2019re more relaxed doing it in front of others, which allows learning gaps to close and enables equity to flourish.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a lot of English as a Second Language students. They do not want to read out loud, ever, because they\u2019re afraid to get made fun of\u2026it takes a long time to get them to participate,\u201d said Anita, who added that Reading Progress \u201cdefinitely has an effect on the equity across the board.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another free reading tool has helped foster equity and support student learning, too. That tool, Immersive Reader, is likewise built into Teams and increases the readability of content by giving students the ability to have content read aloud to them and to adjust settings such as font spacing and text size. Anita has leveraged it in her eighth grade class for quizzes on listening comprehension, and it has helped students grow the confidence needed to effectively practice and improve their literacy. One such student with cognitive differences who entered Anita\u2019s class reading at a kindergarten level left her class reading at a third-grade level.<\/p>\n

When that student first met Anita, he told her he couldn\u2019t read, but \u201cby the end he was saying he could read, and he would tell his other teachers he could read\u2026his effort went through the roof,\u201d Anita said. \u201cHe definitely gained confidence and would try things on his own more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Making time for inclusion<\/h3>\n

There\u2019s no one-size-fits-all approach to learning, and Reading Progress has enabled educators in Sarasota\u2019s district to individualize student learning experiences in a way that supports inclusivity.<\/p>\n

The automation of the time-consuming practice of running records allowed educators like Anita and her colleague, Nicole Vickers, who is a middle school intensive reading teacher in Sarasota County Schools, to have more time to develop personalized learning plans and educational strategies for individual students\u2014thanks to the data from Reading Progress.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Students] get such a better insight into seeing themselves, and it feels less like yet another assessment,\u201d said Nicole. And as students feel more connected to the material they learn, and become empowered by the individualized strategies their teachers create for them, the students ultimately feel better seen, heard, and included in class.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of my students are a hard group to engage,\u201d said Anita. \u201cBut with this reading program, they\u2019re buying in. They\u2019re investing. And that\u2019s huge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarasota\u2019s decision to integrate Reading Progress into classrooms like Anita\u2019s underscores how access to the right tools can create more effective, equitable, and inclusive classrooms.<\/p>\n

Read more about the success story of Sarasota County Schools<\/a> and sign up for the Microsoft Newsletter<\/a> to learn how school districts across the country are transforming learning with Microsoft Education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s how Microsoft\u2019s Reading Progress helped students at Sarasota County Schools catch up and embrace reading\u2014and how the tool can help other students, too. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":283,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_classifai_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37,21,27,33],"tags":[],"audience":[249,150],"content-type":[153],"product":[],"topic":[165,168],"coauthors":[231],"class_list":["post-1679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-accelerate-learning","category-educators","category-microsoft-teams","category-remote-and-hybrid-learning","audience-education-decision-makers","audience-educators","content-type-customer-stories","topic-accessibility","topic-immersive-reader"],"yoast_head":"\nHow one district is improving literacy with Reading Progress | Microsoft 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