Lightsail Education Takes Top Honors in Gates Foundation's Nationwide Literacy Courseware Challenge
New York, NY (PRWEB) August 02, 2013 -- LightSail Education, a creator of digital literacy solutions, today announced that the company has received a grant of $500,000 from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as part of its Literacy Courseware Challenge.
LightSail uses complex texts, authentic assessments, social media, data analysis and scaffolding tools for teachers to deliver Common Core-aligned reading and writing platforms that drive rapid growth in student literacy in grades K-12. Currently designed for iPads, LightSail will use the Literacy Courseware Challenge award to support the development of an HTML5 user interface for virtually any device – including Android, Windows and Mac – to be completed later this year.
“We are thrilled to be recognized by the Gates Foundation as leaders in the digital literacy space,” said Gideon Stein, LightSail’s co-founder and CEO. “LightSail integrates reading and writing activities that have been proven to accelerate student literacy into an intuitive and easy-to-use tablet solution. Our goal is to give every teacher the tools to be an effective literacy instructor and rise to the high standards of the Common Core. We are honored to be part of such an impressive group of organizations, all of whom share our passion for educational excellence and leveraging technology to end our nation’s literacy crisis.”
Chief Academic Officer, Jessica Reid, added, “The forty-five states that have adopted the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts are committed to making certain students are college and career ready when they graduate from high school. LightSail is designed expressly to ensure that schools can keep that commitment.”
Teachers participating in the LightSail Alpha confirm its potential. Jessica Scanlon, a New York City school teacher working with at-risk fifth graders observes, "Motivating students whose literacy levels are years below grade level can be tough. But with LightSail, they are excited about reading and writing. The ideas that they generate with it are astounding! In addition, the data that I receive in real time allows me to focus my interventions with individual students in ways I previously could only dream about doing.”
Currently in late-stage alpha development, LightSail is working with several of the nation’s most innovative charter networks and districts to pilot its platforms. LightSail features additional analytics provided by MetaMetrics, creators of the Common Core-aligned Lexile Framework for Reading. LightSail’s commercial release is scheduled for fall 2013.
About LightSail Education: LightSail Education was founded in 2012 by a group of educators, entrepreneurs, and engineers to address critical educational challenges with engaging, efficient, and – above all – measurably effective digital solutions.
For More Information: Jessica Marshall – jessicam(at)lightsailed(dot)com
Gideon Stein, LightSail Education, http://www.lightsailed.com, +1 (646) 373-3888, [email protected]
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