How Lexia’s Literacy Solutions Stay Current, Relevant, and Effective

Both the science of reading and educational technology are dynamic fields. That means literacy tools must grow in step with the latest findings on language acquisition, instructional best practices, cultural responsiveness, and technology integration.

Lexia’s Commitment to Continuous Improvement

At Lexia®, we believe a district’s investment should stand the test of time. So, we continually assess and enhance our literacy solutions to reflect the latest evidence and classroom realities.

Whether leveraging the latest technology, incorporating educator feedback, implementing advances in research, or increasing accessibility, we ensure we deliver the most effective, evidence-based instructional support.

“Lexia’s resources are top notch; they’re constantly updating the lessons and the slide decks, the decodable texts, and everything else. They’re always teaching me something new.”
—Christine Cyporyn, Title I Coordinator at Waterford School District, Michigan

Below are examples of the ways we ensure that our products and resources evolve with the times.

Lexia Core5 Reading

Lexia® Core5® Reading is an adaptive literacy program that accelerates the development of literacy skills for all students in grades pre-K–5, helping them build skills in both word recognition and comprehension to support reading success.

To keep the program aligned with modern classrooms, Lexia regularly refines lesson content and format. We also stay on top of changing state standards and align our content and reporting in the program’s state-specific versions (as well as in our other literacy solutions described next) to updated standards. 

Core5 updates frequently enhance multimodal learning and support by: 

• Helping students feel more confident and in control of their learning by providing clearer audio guidance for activities like Passage Fluency 
• Supporting Emergent Bilingual learners during key processes such as Autoplacement by adding audio assistance in their home language
• Ensuring we can engage the families of all students by creating translations of caregiver materials in native languages such as Bengali, Polish, Arabic, and more

Another way we improve students’ experience with Core5 is by strengthening the program’s alignment with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). These updates include improved keyboard navigation, which makes it easier for students who rely on keyboard controls to move through the program.

Core5 enhancements also regularly improve educators’ workflow in their myLexia® accounts by: 

• Streamlining navigation, such as letting teachers view individual student progress without having to keep going back to the Class Overview screen
• Providing support for boosting student engagement, such as embedding data-driven insights into Skill Check assessments
• Empowering educators to more effectively prioritize interventions by providing critical details (such as when a student was flagged as needing help)
• Saving teachers time and putting student data front and center through options like letting teachers set a default class to appear upon login

Lexia PowerUp Literacy

Lexia® PowerUp Literacy® is designed specifically for students in grades 6–12 who are at risk of not meeting College- and Career-Ready Standards. The program focuses on accelerating literacy gains through an intensive, personalized learning experience that focuses on three distinct strands of literacy skills—word study, grammar, and comprehension. PowerUp enables students to make multiple years of growth in a single academic year.

To better engage adolescent readers as they address literacy skill gaps, Lexia regularly updates PowerUp to create a more motivating experience. Upgrades for improving engagement can include anything from adding inviting background music on the Home Page to creating celebratory animations that provide positive reinforcement for meeting unit goals.

New passages, refreshed themes, and updated artwork are regularly added to PowerUp’s strands. We also create new activities—such as Essential Vocabulary activities that introduce students to key terms before reading—and materials for strengthening comprehension and vocabulary support across the program.

Since PowerUp serves older students, we respect these learners' maturity by adding features that streamline workflow and promote student agency, including: 

• Time-savers like a button on the Home Page that returns students directly to the last activity they were working on
• Motivators such as displays of weekly unit goals on Home Screens 
• Progress meters on strand cards to help students keep track of how they’re doing

Of course, when we add self-monitoring components to students’ accounts, we make it quick and easy for teachers to see the resulting data, too. The previously mentioned weekly unit goals are displayed in updated teachers’ Class Usage Reports, with unit progress organized by strand.

In addition, we continually increase the program’s flexibility so teachers can use the instructional model or strategies of their choice. For example, educators have the ability to turn off automatic features such as strand management so that units stay active even after students meet weekly usage goals, and teachers can revisit those units as needed.

PowerUp regularly streamlines teacher workflows. For example, it creates an option for seeing all class activity in one Skills Status report instead of having to open individual student reports. Another example involves placing students’ most recent certificates in teachers’ Student Action Plan section so the documents are easier to access.

Like Core5, PowerUp continues to expand its alignment with WCAG accessibility standards. In addition to improved keyboard navigation, updates like volume control and enhanced color contrast for better visibility and readability allow students to adjust their learning experience to their needs.

Lexia English Language Development

Lexia English Language Development™ is an Adaptive Blended Learning speaking and listening program that supports students’ English language development through academic conversations. It is designed to help Emergent Bilingual students acquire higher language proficiency levels of English.

We increase students’ engagement by personalizing several details of their learning experience, such as: 

• Strengthening students’ emotional connection to their avatar by having the image appear on the login confirmation screen

• Promoting students’ ownership of their learning by letting them easily see what level they’re working at, how many activities they will need to complete, their weekly progress, etc.

• Implementing data-driven improvements to the program’s units to further develop reading skills and increase engagement during assessments

We also focus on enhancing Lexia English’s speech recognition capabilities. The resulting advancements can include training the program’s acoustic models with new data sets for greater accuracy and enabling platform-independent microphone management so students can easily perform Lexia English’s See & Speak tasks on any device. 

Lexia English regularly creates new reports and refreshes resources like its District and School Overviews to help teachers, school administrators, and central office staff make instructional decisions. Two report examples are the School Progress Report, which lets building administrators view and drill down into reading proficiency gains by grade ranges, and the District Progress Report, which can show student progress districtwide from the start of the school year or the time of placement in the program.

In addition to improving keyboard navigation, we increase the program’s accessibility by allowing students to control features such as the program volume and by making language support, lesson directions, and media units available in Spanish. We also help educators make the learning experience as easy as possible for students who speak other languages by letting them set a student’s home language across multiple Lexia programs at once.

Lexia Community Center

Professional growth doesn’t stop when a product is implemented or a professional development course ends. That’s why we created the Lexia Community Center, an online space designed specifically for educators and leaders who are using Lexia products or who have participated in our professional learning.

This flexible, easy-to-navigate space supports continuous improvement through peer-to-peer collaboration, on-demand and live learning, and 24/7 access to practical support. Whether you’re connecting with fellow educators on discussion boards, exploring Lexia® Academy courses, or troubleshooting in the Help Center, the Community Center will help your team stay informed, inspired, and ready to effectively deliver instruction.

Driving Literacy in the New Learning Era

At Lexia, our mission is always to give students and teachers the most engaging, efficient, and instructionally sound content and resources. Find out more about how our products can empower your teachers and bring about real literacy change for your students.