BOSTON, March 24, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Listenwise, an award-winning platform that brings podcasts to the classroom, is the first curriculum to offer Lexile audio measures on each of their podcast lessons. Knowing the Lexile audio measure of an audio passage will help educators connect students to audio content at a level of complexity that is appropriate for their listening comprehension skills. Until now, there have been no classroom tools that have provided measures for listening content. In contrast, similar measures of text complexity have been extremely popular and valuable for reading.
The Lexile audio measure is based on a scientifically developed scale by MetaMetrics® which was unveiled within the Lexile Framework® for Listening at the Learn Launch conference on January 30. This new Lexile audio measure provides a valid and reliable research-based approach to leveling listening passages. Listenwise is currently the only program with this measure that can support literacy acquisition through podcast lessons for grades 2-12.
With the 2019 release of the NAEP results, it has brought an urgent call-to-action to put more focus on literacy acquisition. The Lexile Framework for Listening is an important addition to the literacy landscape, as a tool to help educators monitor their students' listening ability and provide a way to select listening materials to foster listening comprehension growth. This pairing provides a powerful tool for educators to use to better understand the listening ability of their students and to provide audio materials to best support their listening growth.
"Listening is an important part of literacy – both in the school years and beyond. However, until now, there has not been a standard system for measuring the complexity of audio content. This new Lexile audio measure provides a valid and reliable research-based approach to leveling listening passages and will be a game changer for literacy," said Monica Brady-Myerov, CEO & founder of Listenwise.
Lexile audio measures provide an exciting opportunity to support students at earlier stages of language acquisition, particularly elementary students and English learners, as they build foundational comprehension skills in both listening and reading. Listenwise user, Jim Bentley, fifth grade teacher in Elk Grove District in California, said, "Finding the right level of audio for your students is essential. It's like finding the right shoe or glove that fits. These new Lexile listening measures will make it easy for me to find the right fit to challenge my students to listen to more complex topics and content in order to stretch their comprehension levels. I can see it making an impact on how we teach listening skills."
Listenwise is MetaMetrics' inaugural partner, bringing its new Lexile audio measures to the classroom. The validity and reliability of these measures are a major industry advancement with the potential to impact both listening and reading.
"The Lexile Framework for Listening is on the same scale as the Lexile Framework for Reading in order to be able to make comparisons about students' relative skills in both listening and reading. With scientifically valid and reliable measures of both reading comprehension and listening comprehension, the relationship between the two can now be studied in greater depth, which will inform the field of literacy instruction in important ways, " said Alistair Van Moere, Ph.D., MetaMetrics' chief product officer.
Learn more about how the Lexile audio measures will be used to deepen literacy instruction in Listenwise's upcoming webinar, presented in collaboration with Metametrics. Sign up for free here and watch the webinar this Wednesday, March 25th at 2 pm PST/5 pm EST.
About Listenwise
Listenwise is an award-winning listening comprehension platform for grades 2-12. We harness the power of listening to advance literacy and learning in all students. Our collection of Lexile leveled podcasts keeps teaching connected to the real world and builds student listening skills at the same time. The curriculum aligned podcasts are paired with learning tools and listening comprehension assessments to transform them into rigorous academic content. Students are motivated by the interesting real world stories, and Listenwise provides the literacy supports and differentiated instruction necessary for diverse classrooms including ELs and reluctant readers. Sign up for a free trial of Listenwise to explore all the Lexile-leveled engaging podcast lesson supports that Listenwise Premium offers in order to strengthen your students' literacy (now available for an extended period of time due to remote learning).
About MetaMetrics
MetaMetrics is an award-winning education technology organization that offers the only scientifically valid, universal scales for measuring reading and listening (Lexile) and math (Quantile) with plans to develop measures for oral reading fluency and writing. The Lexile and Quantile Frameworks measure student ability and the complexity of the content they encounter. Lexile and Quantile measures and related technologies link assessment to instruction and provide next steps for students of all ages and abilities. The measures also provide valuable insights about students' potential for growth. MetaMetrics' measures, products and services are licensed to dozens of education product companies to help achieve that growth. For 35 years, MetaMetrics' work has been increasingly recognized for its research-based approach to improving learning. For more information, visit metametricsinc.com.
SOURCE Listenwise
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