Washington's Dyslexia Advisory Council Recommends Istation As Literacy Screening Tool

Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) approves Istation's dyslexia-screening technology for Washington state school districts

Dallas, TX /PRNewswire/ - Istation, a leader in educational technology, has been approved by the state of Washington to assess and identify dyslexia and other learning difficulties for early-screening purposes. Istation joins a vetted list of academic screeners throughout the state.

Istation's dyslexia-screening technology was developed in part with Joseph Torgesen, PhD, Professor Emeritus of the Florida Center for Reading Research at Florida State University. Torgesen is a key figure in the study of both dyslexia and computer-assisted instruction.

"The tool developed by Dr. Torgesen as part of Istation's team provides reliable, continuous assessments in this area and is credited with being an important aid to help identify students at risk of dyslexia early in their academic careers," said Istation's Chief Operating Officer, Ossa Fisher. "In addition, because Istation is adaptive, it adjusts the subtests based on performance, so those students in need receive the subtests more relevant to their areas of need."

Istation's assessments comply with the state of Washington's recently enacted legislation on dyslexia screening requirements. Istation addresses dyslexia and other academic difficulties with a well-established methodology within its assessments, Istation's Indicators of Progress (ISIP™).

The ISIP objectives are divided into eight animated subtests that address components crucial to long-term success in reading. Both students that are at-risk and those not at-risk (according to reading ability) respond to a series of interactive tasks that have been shown to correlate highly with measures of comprehension. Key target areas include phonemic awareness, letter knowledge, alphabetic decoding, spelling, text fluency, vocabulary, listening comprehension, and oral reading fluency. Teachers can apply the timely and specific ISIP error analysis data to create prescriptive and targeted student interventions and help guide further instruction based on individual needs.

Washington school districts that purchase and use Istation's computer-adaptive assessments will receive thorough training and ongoing support from an expert literacy team experienced in catering to the needs of both teachers and students.

Through Istation's in-person workshops, webinars, learning modules, and technical assistance, educators learn how to best utilize Istation's reports to provide appropriate interventions. Students benefit from an ongoing evaluation of their skills with Istation's online diagnostic assessment, which is used in identifying learning disabilities while analyzing a wide metric of reading levels and literacy. Early detection of dyslexia is key to maintaining progress on the path to academic achievement.

Istation's individualized assessments can audit the status of an entire classroom in approximately 30 minutes. The time saved allows instructors to address students who need extra attention in order to meet grade-level reading expectations. Istation has a proven track record of identifying students' under-the-radar issues that may have otherwise gone undetected.

Istation serves over 8,900 campuses in a total of seven countries, including the United States. Six different departments of education have implemented Istation software statewide: Florida, Kansas, Texas, Idaho, Arkansas and New Mexico.

For more information, visit https://www.k12.wa.us/about-ospi/workgroups-committees/currently-meeting-workgroups/washington-state-dyslexia-advisory-council

About Istation
Founded in 1998 and based in Dallas, Texas, Istation (Imagination Station) has become one of the nation's leading providers of richly animated, game-like, educational technology. Istation was named one of 2019's "EdTech 1000: Companies Transforming Education" by EdTech Digest and has received numerous national educational technology awards. The Istation program puts more instructional time in the classroom through small-group and collaborative instruction. Istation's innovative reading, math and Spanish programs immerse students in an engaging and interactive environment and inspire them to learn. Additionally, administrators and educators can use Istation to easily track the progress of their students, schools and classrooms. Istation now serves more than 4 million students throughout the United States and in several other countries. The company celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2018.