Imagine Learning Partners with SoapBox

Imagine Learning, a provider of student literacy solutions, is partnering with SoapBox Labs, a provider of speech recognition for kids. Beginning this summer, Imagine Learning's Language & Literacy program will include Fluent Reader+, powered by SoapBox's voice technology, to help educators assess and monitor students' reading and language learning progress.

"We've long imagined the possibility of speech recognition technology to help teachers make the most of their time in the classroom," said Jeff Pendleton, senior vice president and general manager of supplemental and intervention at Imagine Learning, in a statement. "But most speech engines have been designed primarily for adults and don't work well for kids. The results of our pilot with SoapBox's voice engine show that it not only works accurately for children, but also for a diversity of accents, dialects, and learning abilities. This is exciting for us and for educators everywhere."

Imagine Language & Literacy is an adaptive learning program that accelerates literacy and English language development for students in grades pre-K to 6. In a three-month pilot with 15,000 students from diverse backgrounds using SoapBox's voice technology, Imagine Language & Literacy's Fluent Reader+ scored oral reading fluency and language artifacts with a level of accuracy comparable to that of experienced educators in the classroom. Moreover, teachers in the pilot accessed the oral scoring tool 165 percent more often than their peers, reflecting their feedback that automation resulted in them using the tool more frequently and with more students.

"At SoapBox Labs, we pride ourselves on building speech recognition technology for kids that is accurate, inclusive, and fair. We are delighted to have been selected by Imagine Learning to service their user base of students, educators, and classrooms across the U.S.," said Martyn Farrows, CEO of SoapBox Labs, in a statement "This partnership is borne out of a focus on constant innovation and improvement, and we are excited about the opportunities for working together in the future."

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