American Reading Company Among First to Bring Assessment Tool Built Around Common Core Standards to Education Market

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., Sept. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- American Reading Company is making it easy for school districts nationally to meet Common Core Standards (CCS) reading and language arts requirements by being among the first to provide a fully integrated, standards-based formative assessment that can be used to determine whether or not students are acquiring reading skills at the appropriate grade level and can also track rate of reading growth.

A majority of states have already adopted the CCS – a set of established national guidelines that are meant to ensure all students are learning the same skills and acquiring the same knowledge regardless of where they live – meaning that school districts within those states must align their curricula. American Reading Company's reading tools and solutions take the guess-work out of that process, since the centerpiece of each is the Independent Reading Learning Assessment (IRLA), a framework for teaching and learning that has been built on the architecture of the CCS and indicates what students should be learning and when they should be learning it.

The IRLA helps teachers establish a baseline proficiency level for students, develop action plans to ensure reading proficiency, and monitor student progress.  Objectives are spelled out clearly for students at each level.

"With the IRLA, administrators and teachers can start the new school year with the CCS at the center of their teaching, learning and accountability systems," said CEO and Founder Jane Hileman. "We expect this to transform teaching and learning in our schools."

Through her innovative work creating the 100 Book Challenge reading program and the original IRLA, Ms. Hileman was invited in 2003 to serve on the steering committee for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), an organization at the forefront of the CCS movement. Recognizing that schools would eventually adopt these standards, Ms. Hileman decided to redesign her company's IRLA to help schools match their curricula to the CCS.

About American Reading Company

American Reading Company transforms school cultures to create sustainable reading achievement through training, management, and monitoring. The company is based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Today, more than a million students in 41 states participate in the company's programs, Action 100, 100 Book Challenge, Research Labs, and Summer School Express. For more information, visit www.americanreading.com.

SOURCE American Reading Company