microsoft teams introduces reading progress in microsoft teams

After a year of practicing resiliency, building technology and self-management skills, and navigating emotional turmoil, students are preparing to return to a rigorous school experience without some of the skills they would have built in a normal school year. A recent study from Stanford University (https://edpolicyinca.org/publications/changing-patterns-growth-oral-reading-fluency-during-covid-19-pandemic) illustrated the flattened growth of Oral Reading Fluency during the pandemic. In a broad sample of school districts, second and third graders performed about 30 percent behind expectations, with the most severe impact concentrated in already struggling schools. In an environment of continued disruption and uncertainty, Microsoft is introducing Reading Progress as a resource to help build opportunities for students and educators to get back on track in a non-stigmatizing and highly customizable way. 


Reading Progress in Teams supports students in building fluency through independent reading practice, educator review via video, and educator insights.  Teachers can upload a single reading fluency assignment or differentiate for their class’ many levels. Students read their passages out loud, creating an audio/video recording that a teacher can access and review at their convenience.  Traditionally, tracking students’ fluency is irregular and time consuming because it requires one on one close listening, while somehow still managing the remainder of the class. Creating recordings allows educators to check students’ progress more regularly while also freeing up time for active instruction. By empowering students to complete their reading fluency assignments regularly and independently, Reading Progress keeps the focus on practice and growth, not performing under pressure. Now reading fluency practice can happen anywhere!

Educators can use the Auto-detect feature for quick review, or manually code any errors; either way, valuable data is collected in Insights. Teams Education Insights dashboards help visualize class and individual progress. Insights also provides a holistic view of trends and data including accuracy rate, correct words per minute, mispronunciations, omissions and insertions.
 
Some newer components to Reading Progress include:

• PDF upload – Educators can upload and convert a PDF passage into a Reading Progress assignment.
• Improved Assignment creation layout - we've expanded and simplified the area where educators upload and modify the student reading passage.
• Reading Passage preview and edit text – educators can now modify the uploaded passages before assigning.  
• Support for over 100 languages – Reading Progress is now localized in over 100 languages, and all of the same languages that Teams is supported in. Educators can also upload documents in over 100 languages.
• Expanded Auto-detect language support – Auto-detect for speech is now supported in 37 languages and locales. Note that these languages are in “preview”, which means we are still improving accuracy and adding additional languages. Additional languages can be uploaded and marked manually.  View the full language list.
• Student View – Educators can view the student experience while creating an assignment.
• Edit Text during grading and review - educators and manually add student insertions during review.
• Coming soon – ReadWorks sample content, reading passage support for OneNote pages, Teams Files and Channels.

Reading Progress inside of Microsoft Teams is rolling out right now and can be accessed via the “Create Assignment” selection, then clicking “Add Resource”, where a new choice for Reading Progress will show. Educators can then upload a Word or PDF document with the passage of their choice, set the “pickiness” level for the AI software, and then assign to the class.  Teachers can access all the students’ recordings from a single locale and watch back the video while seeing the students’ mispronunciations, omissions, self-corrections, insertions and repetitions.

By:  Ryan McGinnis, CA BOCES Professional Development