Arizona State University has spun out edtech Learning Ovations.
Learning Ovations, a fresh Arizona State University spin-out, has formed to improve literacy rates in US schoolchildren. A total 33% of all pupils in the US leave the third grade (when they are nine years old) without knowing how to read, and the company’s stated mission is to reduce that to 0%.
Learning Ovations’ technology platform is currently in use in several schools and school districts, with significant improvements being observed. In classrooms using the technology, 94% of pupils learn how to read by the end of third grade.
The technology is based on eight years’ worth of research by Carol Connor, professor at Arizona State University’s Department of Psychology and senior learning scientist at the university’s Learning Sciences Institute.
The research has been funded by the US National Institutes of Health and the US Department of Education. It identified four types of classroom learning. Learning Ovations’ software uses this research and these types to allow teachers to create personalised reading instructions. The software, which can be used alongside the teacher’s existing curriculum, also tracks pupils’ needs, provides personalised lesson plans and monitors progress.
The company is currently running a Kickstarter to fund development of a mobile app that would bring its technology to more classrooms.
Jay Connor, founder and CEO of Learning Ovations, said: “Our central goal is to get all children reading by the end of third grade, so we wanted to pursue as many avenues as we could to bring these resources to teachers for the benefit of all children. We hope this campaign will allow us to gift this app to many teachers.”
