FAQ
Find quick answers about implementation, research, and classroom use of English Islands.
If you don’t see your question here, feel free to contact us.
In research conducted at a mid-sized urban school district, students using English Islands for just one month improved up to 19.3%. This was on material that the students had never learned from their teacher, demonstrating the platform's ability to support truly independent learning. Read more..
English Islands is designed by teachers and has been developed carefully with guidance from Ph.D-level literacy experts across North America. The Science of Reading is at the heart of every aspect of our learning methodologies, and all our development is based on research done by trusted sources such as Harvard, Carnegie Mellon and the National Reading Panel.
Teachers receive pinpointed data on letter-sound pairs, allowing them to quickly identify exactly where students struggle without having to listen to every student read individually.
Data that would typically take weeks of one-on-one assessment can be viewed on English Islands after just a single 15-minute session, supporting progress monitoring, targeted intervention and faster instructional decisions.
Research shows that as little as 3 sessions per week of 10-15 minutes on English Islands leads to statistically significant improvements in early literacy skills. The study also demonstrated that the more time students spend practicing on the platform, the more their literacy scores improved. More information on the Efficacy Study can be found here.
English Islands is web-based and can be accessed on any internet-connected device with a microphone. In schools, the most commonly used devices include iPads and Chromebooks.
For best results in classroom settings, headphones with noise-cancelling microphones are strongly recommended, as they help reduce background noise, ensure accurate voice recognition and provide an overall better student experience.
Our voice recognition is trained on accents from around the world, so it is able to understand a range of accents and dialects. The platform is also uniquely designed to support Multi-Lingual Learners in vocabulary acquisition. Please note however that if an accent is very strong, it may be difficult for the voice recognition to clearly understand the student.
Absolutely! English Islands was built for independent learning. One of our goals is to support students when teachers or parents/guardians aren’t able to provide help.
Schools can assign English Islands for at-home practice, and we offer resources to help families get up and running on the platform.
Learn how to pilot English Islands in your school or district here.
English Islands fits within several allowable education funding sources, including Title I, Title III, Title IV, and IDEA.
Learn more about funding options here.
If your school or district doesn't have funds to purchase English Islands, we can provide a discounted teacher subscription to ensure your students get the help they need. Reach out to us here: support@englishislands.com