The Lafayette Parish School System (LPSS) is an urban school district in southern Louisiana, serving both the city of Lafayette and the greater Lafayette Parish. It is one of the largest (no. 6) and most diverse (no. 2) districts in the state. It is also an above-average performer in terms of academics, with approximately 70% of students achieving proficiency in both reading and math assessments.
There is always room for improvement, and so, with the support of the district Superintendent—who is a big proponent of the notion that literacy impacts overall academic achievement—they began investigating tools and solutions. None seemed to meet their needs until they found the Learning Ally Audiobook Solution®. Since then, it’s become an essential part of students’ daily lives, delivering measurable results and allowing reading to take off in Lafayette Parish!
The Challenge
Lafayette Parish Schools places a strong emphasis on academics, particularly literacy. They practice Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) in their classrooms daily, using Renaissance Learning’s Accelerated Reader as a database to track the number of words their students are reading. Their goal is to ensure all students read a million words per year on their way to developing proficiency. Despite this, students were falling far behind their goal of one million words per year. “We realized that students were pretty good at pretending to read,” says Catherine Guillory, Elementary ELA and Library Science.
The district explored a number of options, none of which seemed to be a perfect fit. Some failed to align with their curriculum, while others put limits on how many books could be read simultaneously; others were simply too expensive. Was there a solution available that could provide unlimited access to all of the content their students needed simultaneously?
“We realized that students were pretty good at pretending to read.”
– Catherine Guillory, Specialist, Elementary ELA and Library Science, LPSS
The Implementation
As an Elementary ELA and Library Science Specialist, Catherine Guillory had long been a proponent of using audiobooks as a means to provide access to content. She pointed the district in that direction at the beginning of their search.
Audiobooks solved the question of access, yes, but there was still the issue of volume. The search continued until her Secondary ELA and Library Science counterpart, Randy Bernard, mentioned the Learning Ally Audiobook Solution®. One of his reading coaches discovered it while searching for audio support for the text in their curriculum. Suddenly, both Randy and Catherine knew they had the solution to the district’s needs. The Learning Ally Audiobook Solution provided greater access to the tools they had been using at a fraction of the cost, and there were no limits to how many books students could download—or how many students could read the same content simultaneously.
“The Learning Ally Audiobook Solution® has become part of our culture now.”
– Catherine Guillory, Specialist, Elementary ELA and Library Science, LPSS
READING TAKES OFF IN LAFAYETTE PARISH
Lafayette Parish Schools began using the Learning Ally Audiobook Solution in July 2021. Because they employed it as a part of their SSR regimen, usage was high right from the start. Every student in every school starts the day with 20 minutes dedicated to reading. It didn’t take long for teachers to begin using it as a hybrid reading tool in their classes, playing audio while students read along with traditional print books. This type of use has been easiest to employ with elementary and middle school students because reading time, whether whole class or independent, is built into their schedule.
Students like it too. Both Randy and Catherine agree that by reading with the solution as a whole class, no one has to feel bad about needing scaffolding. “It’s more a fact of life in our classes; it has become part of our culture now,” says Catherine.
“Once they started using it, reading just took off,” says Randy. “It’s not everyone can read; it’s everyone is reading.” They can back this statement up, too. In one nine-week period, data from Accelerated Reader said students in grades 1-8 read nearly five million words.
“Once they started using it, reading just took off. It’s not everyone can read, it’s everyone is reading.”
– Randy Bernard, Specialist, Secondary ELA and Library Science, LPSS
The Outcomes
The most obvious outcome for everyone in Lafayette Parish is that the students are reading, and not just during their SSR time. There has been a carry-over into other classes and students’ personal time, which has, in turn, led to improvements in student engagement and academic success.
During the 2021-2022 school year, LPSS was #1 in the state for student growth out of 68 districts. They moved in rank to the top 15 in every subject area over that time, with one of their elementary schools growing the most in the entire state.
According to the Louisiana Department of Education’s (LDOE) accountability system for the 2021-2022 school year, the district’s performance score increased 5.7 points to 84.8 And for the 2022-2023 school year, LPSS’s score has increased another 2.5 points to 87.3.
Randy Bernard recognizes that there could be other contributing factors to this success but believes the influence of reading with the Learning Ally Audiobook Solution cannot be understated. He says, “The Learning Ally Audiobook Solution® provides us with the opportunity to provide them with that practice that leads to being able to read.” Reading results from the Learning Ally Audiobook Solution back this up.
“The Learning Ally Audiobook Solution provides us with the opportunity to provide (students) with that practice that leads to being able to read.”
– Randy Bernard, Specialist, Secondary ELA and Library Science, LPSS
Learn more about the Learning Ally Audiobook Solution here. To get a downloadable version of this story, visit this page.