College and Career Readiness

College and career-readiness (CCR) standards are the driving force behind the trend of reading increasingly complex text. However, this use of complex text in middle and high school presupposes that students have already mastered fundamental literacy skills. Lexia® PowerUp Literacy® simultaneously addresses gaps in fundamental literacy skills while building the higher-order skills students need to comprehend, analyze, evaluate, and compare increasingly complex literary and informational texts. With PowerUp, your students will be able to:

  • Read grade-level-appropriate materials independently and proficiently
     

  • Master literary and text-specific vocabulary through appropriately scaffolded instruction
     

  • Read increasingly complex text to learn and practice skills and strategies that promote the higher-level processes of reading
     

Try PowerUp Student Lessons

 

College and Career-Readiness (CCR) Standards

Rigorous college and career-readiness (CCR) standards guide K–12 instruction across the United States. These standards stress the importance of students reading increasingly complex texts to better prepare for college, careers, and civic life. 

However, this use of and focus on complex text in middle and high school assumes that students have already mastered the fundamental literacy skills necessary to comprehend and engage with these more challenging texts independently.

Although there are various reasons why students may not achieve proficiency in all content standards, reading proficiency is essential to student success not only in English language arts, but across all content areas. 

 

How Lexia Helps

College and Career-Readiness Standards (CCRS) 


Lexia PowerUp Literacy provides struggling and non-proficient readers in grades 6 and above with the personalized instruction they need to master fundamental literacy skills, so that they can better focus on deriving meaning from a text. 

Designed specifically for students in grades 6 and above, PowerUp features a range of authentic informational and literary text genres in the grade-level complexity bands. PowerUp precisely targets individual students’ needs, balancing instruction in both foundational and advanced skills to prepare students to not only comprehend but also analyze, evaluate, and compare increasingly complex texts.


PowerUp features a range of authentic informational and literary text genres

Related Resources
  • Blog
Addressing the English Learner Teacher Shortage
Black male teachers in a circle with students on carpet

In 2017, the U.S. Department of Education awarded a multimillion-dollar grant to Aquinas College in Michigan intended to address the shortage of English Learner (EL) professionals in that state. A press release about the grant outlined the gravity of the situation, noting that “about 88,000 students in Michigan need an...

Read More
  • Blog
What is an emerging bilingual and why does this new label matter?

Schools and districts commonly use the terms “EL” or “ELL” when describing English (language) learners in the United States. While this terminology is widely accepted and understood, it fails to highlight one of the most important aspects of students learning English in schools: They are becoming bilingual. In fact, some...

Read More
  • Blog
Adolescent Literacy Crisis or Crisis of Student Engagement?
Adolescent Literacy Crisis or Crisis of Student Engagement?

It is widely acknowledged today that too many adolescents lack sufficient literacy skills. The United States Department of Education has even declared a “crisis” in adolescent literacy, stating that “the literacy skills of many students in grades 4–12 are so alarmingly low that the students have difficulty meeting the academic...

Read More
  • Blog
Twitter 101: How to Start Your Own Teacher Twitter Account
Twitter 101: How to Start Your Own Teacher Twitter Account

Educators know the value of collaborating with colleagues—after all, these connections are often where we get our best ideas! As the education world becomes increasingly digital, teachers have more and more opportunities to connect with each other, whether they work in 

Read More
  • Blog
Playful Assessments: 3 Ways to Inject Fun into Measuring Outcomes
Playful Assessments: 3 Ways to Inject Fun into Measuring Outcomes

Assessing students with standardized testing is a given in public schools throughout the United States—especially in the wake of 2001’s federal No Child Left Behind law, which mandated that all students in grades three through eight be tested annually in reading and math, while older students should be periodically tested...

Read More
  • Blog
Want Better Educational Technology? Consider Putting Teachers in Charge
Want Better Educational Technology? Consider Putting Teachers in Charge

Using technology in the classroom is a given for most teachers today. In fact, a 2017 study conducted by MidAmerica Nazerene University in Kansas found that more than 70 percent of surveyed teachers said their students “use tablets or laptops daily.” An even higher number—86 percent—reported having Wi-Fi access in...

Read More