By Molly Duffy

After seeing readers fall through the cracks, Cedar Rapids middle school knew they needed a tool to better identify their struggling readers. Learn more about the school’s use of the iASK* screener—which is now part of the comprehensive Foundations Learning System—to quickly identify students’ areas of deficit, replacing otherwise labor-intensive assessments.

Cedar Rapids middle school educators are betting on a new tool to better identify struggling readers in grades 6, 7 and 8. The reading screener and diagnostic tool, called iAsk, is one of few that focuses on middle school students — rather than young children in kindergarten through third grade, where learning to read is a top priority. The Iowa Assessment of Skills and Knowledge — or iAsk — was developed by the Coralville-based Foundations in Learning and tested in Cedar Rapids middle schools. Foundations in Learning researcher Carolyn Brown said the tool can help middle school educators better serve their students — two-thirds of whom are not proficient readers, according to test scores from the National Assessment of Education Procurement.

Continue reading New ‘tool’ identifies struggling readers via Cedar Rapids Gazette

*At the time of this article, our screener was known as iASK. This product is now part of the integrated Foundations Learning System, which combines a screener, diagnostic and intervention, along with curriculum guides and detailed reporting, into the only solution that brings the science of automaticity to reading assessment and intervention.