The announcement of this partnership between Age of Learning and the Florida House of Representatives is one of the highlights of Celebrate Literacy Week, Florida! and the New Worlds Reading Initiative. The initiative is designed to help improve literacy rates through Florida’s first-ever statewide book delivery and parental-engagement program.

Age of Learning’s partnership offers every Florida family FREE access, through Dec. 31, 2021, to a comprehensive digital library of books at ReadingIQ.com/NewWorlds.

Literacy Week and the New Worlds Reading Initiative are meant to highlight how essential it is for children to have access to books to foster a lifelong passion for learning and put them on a path to success. Currently, only 47 percent of Florida’s students beginning elementary school are academically prepared for kindergarten, and only 43 percent of the state’s 3rd grade students are reading at grade level based on statewide assessments. These 3^rd grade reading struggles lead to negative long term educational outcomes: 88 percent of students who do not graduate from high school struggled with reading in 3rd grade. The free access to books offered to Florida families by Age of Learning through our ReadingIQ digital library is expected to help improve literacy rates in the state.

“Age of Learning is excited to support the New Worlds Reading Initiative through our ReadingIQ program,” said Age of Learning CEO Paul Candland.  “The easy-to-access ReadingIQ platform will immediately provide Florida’s children with thousands of high-quality titles from popular publishers that help them build and grow a love of reading, all while improving comprehension and literacy. This resource will also allow parents to develop a better understanding of their children’s current reading level and progress through the assessment feature of ReadingIQ, while ensuring each child has access to books that match his or her interests and level.”

Florida families can sign up for free access our comprehensive digital library at ReadReadingIQ.com/NewWorlds.

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Adventure Academy

Our partnership with HMH brings an outstanding collection of classic, award-winning children’s titles, some of which include:

• Jumanji and The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
• Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle
• The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
• Several Curious George^® titles by H.A. Rey
• Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
• The Napping House by Audrey Wood
• Mouse Count by Ellen Stoll Walsh

Our recent nationwide survey of 1,000 teachers and 1,000 parents found that lack of access to high-quality books is a major challenge for children 12 and under, and that expanding availability is critical to improving reading skills. Students with access to both a traditional and digital library are 53% more likely to be reading above grade level, and exposure to a significant variety and volume of books fosters a lifelong love of reading. Guided by these findings and our team of literacy development experts, Age of Learning continues to expand our educational programs with quality children’s literature and non-fiction.

“Increasing children’s access to books that engage, inspire, and educate is fundamental to our mission,” said Doug Dohring, founder and CEO of Age of Learning. “Partnering with HMH to bring more award-winning and classic books to ReadingIQ, ABCmouse, and Adventure Academy will provide more opportunities for children to experience the joys and benefits of reading in our educational offerings.”

Our award-winning ReadingIQ platform recently added Reading Level Assessments, developed by the assessment team here at Age of Learning, in cooperation with leading education and assessment research organization SRI International, to seamlessly match learners with books at the appropriate reading level. ReadingIQ includes three widely used book leveling systems—Accelerated Reader^®, Lexile^®, and Guided Reading—and all books in the HMH collection are assigned a reading level. Many HMH titles are also professionally voiced to support engagement and comprehension among pre-readers and developing readers.

Visit www.ReadingIQ.com, www.ABCmouse.com, and www.AdventureAcademy.com to learn more about Age of Learning’s educational programs, or download the apps via Apple’s App Store or Google Play. All programs are available for families on a low-cost subscription basis.

The post Age of Learning Announces Partnership with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Bringing Large Collection of Award-Winning and Classic Titles to ReadingIQ, ABCmouse, and Adventure Academy first appeared on Age of Learning.

Developed by assessment experts here at Age of Learning, in cooperation with leading education and assessment research organization SRI International, Reading Level Assessments provide children age-appropriate passages and accompanying comprehension questions. The assessments, which take just minutes to complete, dynamically adjust their degree of difficulty in response to each child’s performance. ReadingIQ then recommends books at the appropriate level for the child. As children use ReadingIQ and improve their reading skills, the platform periodically prompts them to retake Reading Level Assessments to adjust their recommended level. Reading Level Assessments are currently available for ReadingIQ families and will be available for ReadingIQ teachers well before the upcoming school year.

ReadingIQ now includes three widely used book leveling systems, Accelerated Reader^®, Lexile^®, and Guided Reading, enabling teachers and parents to use their preferred system to adjust the reading level for each child.

We also announced the launch of ReadingIQ Show What You Know quizzes, a new listening and reading comprehension feature. Show What You Know quizzes provide engaging, voiced questions at the end of ReadingIQ books, helping pre-readers and readers build their comprehension and critical thinking skills.

According to recent nationwide surveys of more than 1,000 teachers and 1,000 parents, two-thirds of parents do not know their child’s reading level, making it difficult to provide appropriate reading materials. And teachers consistently report that children do not spend enough time reading outside of school. We developed ReadingIQ to address these challenges by providing children through 6^thgrade with access to high-quality books that match their interests and reading abilities.

Age of Learning founder and CEO Doug Dohring summed up the benefits of these new ReadingIQ enhancements this way: “ReadingIQ is more than a collection of nearly 10,000 high-quality books–it’s a literacy platform with the goal of developing and advancing children’s reading skills. These latest enhancements help ensure young readers more easily find books at the appropriate reading level to engage, inspire, and delight them.”

Today we also announced the recent launch of PlayCrew, a group consisting of a wide range of educators, parents, and children who test the company’s products and provide direct feedback to inform product design and development. Extensive in-person and remote research sessions with teachers and families helped shape many ReadingIQ capabilities, including the new Reading Level Assessments.

Available on computers, tablets, and smartphones, ReadingIQ offers nearly 10,000 expert-curated titles from leading publishers. To help strengthen the school-home connection around reading, Age of Learning provides the entire ReadingIQ platform at no cost to teachers, with the ability to assign books to their students. ReadingIQ is available at www.ReadingIQ.com and can be downloaded to smartphones and tablets through the Apple App Store or Google Play.

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