Walters Announces New Tools to Improve Literacy Across Oklahoma Schools

Amira screening and learning platforms will be available to every K-5th student;
partnership utilizes reading materials created by
Dr. Bill Bennett, Ronald Reagan’s U.S. Secretary of Education

Oklahoma City, Okla – State Superintendent Ryan Walters announced the availability of the Amira Statewide Screening Assessment and Learning Platforms in partnership with Resilience Learning, an assessment and learning platform that will be made available to Oklahoma public school districts for the upcoming academic year. Designed to support literacy development from kindergarten through fifth grade, the Amira assessment will be available to every student in these grades.

“Today’s announcement is the latest advancement in our statewide effort to improve literacy across Oklahoma,” said Walters. “Amira with Resilience Learning is a critical asset for teachers in the classroom. Not only does this platform employ pioneering AI technology to improve children’s reading abilities, but also taps into Dr. Bill Bennett’s The Book of Virtues, exposing students to the values that will help them progress into upstanding and impactful members of society. The Amira screening tool will identify the students in greatest need of support and the Amira Learning Platforms, with Resilience, will set them on a path to meeting their grade-level goals.”

Students enrolled in the Amira Learning Platform with Resilience will be provided effective reading support that employs former U.S. Secretary of Education Dr. Bill Bennett’s The Book of Virtues in their reading journey. Not only will students learn to improve their reading, but they will be exposed to stories that help children understand and develop the foundational components of moral character: Responsibility, Courage, Compassion, Loyalty, Honesty, Friendship, Persistence, Hard work, Self-discipline, and Faith.

“I’m pleased that Oklahoma has taken advantage of Amira with Resilience in an effort to give Oklahoma’s young learners the achievement of not only literacy, but also learning to read by way of understanding right from wrong,” said Dr. Bill Bennett, U.S. Secretary of Education under Ronald Reagan. “Moral literacy is as important as literacy itself; the opportunity to learn both simultaneously is a gift and will be the basis of great fortune available to Oklahoma’s youth.”

Districts interested in implementing the Amira assessment this year will have an extended window to complete the beginning of year screening assessment and complete the Strong Readers Survey on Single Sign On as required by the Strong Readers Act.

OSDE will provide 100,000 licenses for the Amira learning platforms. Students who are focusing on K-2 reading skills can use the Amira Learning Platform to practice and receive corrective feedback on these skills to make gains in their reading ability. Students who are reading at or above a 3rd grade level can use the Amira Learning Platform with Resilience to continue to practice and improve reading skills. Details about how to apply for these licenses will be released to districts in the coming weeks.

Amira Learning and Resilience Learning have formed a partnership to create the world’s first intelligent reading assistant combined with foundational virtues to foster student success. The Amira Learning Platform with Resilience marries speech recognition and artificial intelligence with the science of reading to deliver personalized, real time tutoring to students as they practice reading. As students read passages aloud from The Book of Virtues authored by Dr. Bill Bennett, Amira listens and assesses. When students struggle, Amira provides in-the-moment feedback and support. Using its intelligent voice recognition, every child is reading in their own voice, at their own level — in English or Spanish — with moment-by-moment support from Amira.

To learn more about Oklahoma’s partnership with Amira and Resilience, please visit https://sde.ok.gov/strong-readers-amira.

To learn more about Amira screening and learning platforms, please visit https://amiralearning.com.

To learn more about Resilience Learning, please visit https://resilienceinlearning.com/.