How Lexia works:
Lexia Reading Core5 is a computer-based reading program that focuses on six skills of reading for students pre-K through 5th grade. Older students and adults can also use the program. When students sign up, Lexia places them on grade levels based on their reading ability. As students complete units, comparable to lessons, they move up in levels. If a student gets stuck on a lesson, the program is designed for one-on-one instruction with a teacher until the student comprehends the lesson and can move on. If a student completes what Lexia considers a grade level of work, the student is considered on target to finish the year reading on grade level.
A Chattanooga-funded reading program, touted as a success by the mayor and poised for expansion, isn’t producing the results claimed by City Hall.
In Mayor Andy Berke’s annual state of the city address this year, he said: “More than 4,000 kids are actively participating in our Youth & Family Development Department’s reading initiative all around the city. And 50 percent of those young people are reading at or above grade level.”
Yet the mayor’s office isn’t telling the whole story, according to data analyzed by the Times Free Press and interviews with officials who helped create the computer-based reading program, Lexia Reading Core5.
While the mayor’s office says 50 percent of the Chattanooga children active in Lexia this school year are reading at grade level, the data show that many students have done only minimal work on grade level and are nowhere near the 80 to 100 percent completion mark that indicates a child is ready for the next grade.