SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Amira Learning, the company re-inventing learning to read with AI, has been selected as a finalist for the prestigious SXSW EDU 2019 Launch competition. Amira is among the few chosen from hundreds of start-ups to pitch for Launch of the year. Amira Learning will unveil its new technology live at SXSW EDU. Launch features the start-ups deemed the year's most innovative new companies. The competition is presented by the Walton Family Foundation.
Amira leverages 20 years of ground-breaking innovation from Carnegie Mellon University to help young children master reading. The software is uniquely able to listen to students read out loud, detect their errors and deliver interactive interventions to build reading skills. In field trials in classrooms around the world conducted by leading universities, Amira powered growth equivalent to giving each student their own certified 1:1 human tutor.
"Amira has the potential to change the landscape of independent reading practice", said Dr. Katherine Miles, Assistant Professor at CUNY and reading scientist for the Reading Rescue program. Dr. Miles is one of the world-class scientists from the fields of psychometrics, AI, reading science and speech recognition whose expertise powers Amira.
"Our mission is to help every child become a motivated and masterful reader by 3rd grade" said Mark Angel, Amira's Co-founder and CEO. "Today, 65% of 9-year old children are not proficient readers. Longitudinal tracking has shown these students are 4 times more likely to drop out, have 30% less career earnings and struggle to ever master life's most important skill."
Amira Learning has combined the latest advances in AI and the most impactful discoveries from reading science to create an interactive and customizable Avatar. Amira is able to tutor Kindergarten thru third grade students through every step of the learning journey – listening word by word, helping when needed, asking questions, bolstering skills. Amira is the first intelligent tutoring system able to assess oral reading fluency and deliver deeply personalized coaching, enabling enormous time savings and generating powerful data for teachers. The company will present in front of a live audience and industry judges during the SXSW EDU conference in Austin, Texas.
For more information about the SXSW EDU 2019 Launch competition, visit: https://www.sxswedu.com/competitions/launch/.
About Amira Learning
Amira Learning is re-inventing learning to read with AI. Amira is the first interactive avatar able to assess, read along with and coach developmental readers. Amira utilizes technology developed by Carnegie Mellon University and is led by the former senior technical managers at Renaissance Learning, the leader in Reading Assessment and Practice software in K-12 classrooms. For a personalized demo of Amira, email info(at)amiralearning(dot)com. For more information about Amira Learning, please visit http://www.AmiraLearning.com.
About SXSW Edu
The SXSW EDU® Conference & Festival fosters innovation in learning by hosting a community of optimistic, forward-thinking, purpose-driven stakeholders with a shared goal of impacting the future of teaching and learning.
The ninth annual SXSW EDU will return to Austin, March 4-7, 2019, for four days of compelling sessions, in-depth workshops, engaging learning experiences, mentorship, film screenings, startup events, policy discussions, competitions, exhibition, networking, and so much more. Through collaboration, creativity, and engagement, SXSW EDU empowers its global community to connect, discover, and impact.
SXSW EDU is a component of the South by Southwest® (SXSW®) family of conferences and festivals.
SOURCE Amira Learning
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