Meet AMIRA
This year, our school has partnered with Amira Learning in support of our readers. Amira is a digital reading tool that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to assess students’ reading mastery and coach them through new reading skills. You can watch a 1 minute overview of Amira here!
Our school will administer Benchmark Assessments through Amira this year so that we can assess students’ reading proficiency levels and identify individual student’s areas of need and provide support. The Benchmark Assessment is an independent assessment. This means that your child will complete it on his or her own. We know that not only is reading new for K5 but the Chromebooks are too, so extra support is given to our youngest students. All other learners will have teachers monitor while assessing. Each student will practice on Amira before the Benchmark.
Students may be asked to identify letters, produce letter sounds, blend words, segment words, read words, listen to a story and retell it, read, and/or respond to a story after reading. Amira’s expectations are different for each grade level. Within a week of the assessment, you will receive a parent report explaining the results. Just like with any test, we take into account everything we know about your child to provide the best instruction!
In addition to the Benchmark Assessment, some students will also use Amira’s “Tutoring” mode to strengthen their reading skills. They will read out loud, receive interventions and support specific to them, and talk about the story they’ve read to build their comprehension skills.
Amira is a program committed to AI safety for students. Amira uses AI to select from a predetermined set of interventions and responses. Amira does not pull from the internet and cannot respond to students outside of the curated options vetted by humans. All student data is protected and owned by the district. Our team has been thoroughly impressed with their efficacy data and work with education researchers to develop the best product for students.
Please reach out to your child’s teacher with any questions or concerns!