CASE STUDY / MITCHELL COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT
Learning Ally helps students reading below grade level become engaged and confident learners in the classroom and at home.
When Kristie Autrey became curriculum director for Mitchell County School District in North Carolina and learned the state had partnered with Learning Ally, she jumped at the chance to implement it. Learning Ally is a leading nonprofit edtech organization that transforms the lives of students by providing equitable access to grade-level content through its library of high-quality, human-read audiobooks and suite of teacher and student resources that integrate into the school instruction environment. The extensive audiobook library contains K-12 curriculum-aligned titles, literature and popular titles in digital formats with proprietary technology that highlights the text so students can listen and read at the same time. This helps students spend less time struggling to decode words and more time absorbing content. As a result, students are more engaged in learning and less likely to fall behind in class. As a reading expert teaching students with dyslexia, Autrey says, “Too many students fall behind because they cannot keep pace with assignments.” Her district serves students with dyslexia, students who are two years behind reading at grade-level, and students with visual impairments.
In Mitchell County School District, teachers participating in the program agree:
- Learning Ally equips students to better engage in classroom discussions.
- Students show improvement in their reading fluency, comprehension, vocabulary and critical-thinking skills.
- Students spend less time struggling to decode words and more time absorbing content.
- Students show improvement on graded assignments.
Usage and Implementation
Mitchell County started using Learning Ally during the 2016-17 school year. Autrey says the program was easy to implement across seven district schools. Elementary school students began using Learning Ally in third grade, when severe reading disabilities are often identified, according to Autrey. Other teachers were also excited to get access to Learning Ally once they saw how engaged students became while accessing not only required academic content, but also titles that reflected students’ personal interests.
“We make sure that students who require reading support have access,” Autrey says. Many students have also been able to move out of remedial classes because they can now read K-12 textbooks and literature on their grade level.”
Innovative Tool for Engagement
Autrey believes that for students to be more effective learners, their senses need engagement, which is something high-quality, human-read audiobooks do exceptionally well. Learning Ally provides a multisensory experience that helps struggling readers process and engage in content. “Learning Ally is a tool that helps struggling readers access information so that they can stay on par with their classmates and feel confident in their learning process,” Autrey says. “Teachers now use Learning Ally to flip the classroom, where more reading time is spent outside of school and more learning and discussion time is happening in class.”
Feedback and Results
Autrey says she looks at the Learning Ally dashboard once per week so she can monitor student usage across the district. Teachers can also track students’ reading progress, gain insight into students’ reading preferences and manage reading goals. Autrey believes human-read audiobooks take learning engagement to a higher level than computer voices can. “Our students have improved their fluency, comprehension, vocabulary and critical-thinking skills. They are able to do book reports at grade level. They read with more independence. Their morale has improved. These are all strong indicators of a beneficial school-reading solution.”
Learn more about the Learning Ally Audiobook Solution and schedule a demonstration to learn how this tool can help your struggling readers this school year.