Education support service Juniper Education has announced a partnership with Lexplore Analytics to provide schools with Lexplore’s reading assessment, which uses eye-tracking and AI technology to quickly identify potential issues with reading in children as young as six.
The eye-tracking technology helps teachers to highlight issues with children’s reading and pick up when a child would benefit from being given more challenging reading materials, so they can act quickly to support their pupils.
“We can ensure that schools across the globe have the cutting-edge tools they need to tackle barriers to literacy”
The partnership brings Lexplore Analytics into Juniper’s existing offering of software and services used by more than 7,000 schools across 20 countries, which includes advanced pupil assessment tracking tools and an innovative management information system.
“Many schools are deeply concerned about the impact of the recent school closures on their pupils’ learning progress and they want to help children get back on track as quickly as possible,” said Gavin Freed, chairman of Juniper Education.
“Our partnership with Lexplore Analytics puts literacy at the heart of our offering and gives teachers a holistic toolkit of assessments they can use to prevent children from falling behind as they return to the classroom.”
Lexplore Analytics tracks the way a child’s eyes move when they read two passages of text, one out loud and one in their head.
The technology records how long the child’s eyes rest on one word, and how quickly the eyes move forwards and backwards across a series of words, to identify any reading issues a child may be struggling with.
The solution can spot if a child may be at risk of specific difficulties such as dyslexia, even when they have developed coping strategies to mask problems over time.
There is no writing involved for children and results are available in minutes, providing a true picture of a child’s reading skills in isolation of their writing or English language ability.
Stephen Park, managing director of Lexplore Analytics in the UK, added, “Juniper is one of the biggest names in pupil tracking in schools and there’s a natural synergy between our two organisations.
“Through this partnership, we can fulfil a shared desire to ensure that schools across the globe have the cutting-edge tools they need to tackle barriers to literacy and unlock their pupils’ true potential.”
