Lexia PowerUp & Other Instructional Software

Hillary, I appreciate and "second" your question, and hope we can identify software that focuses specifically on adults. Although the basic reading skills targeted (comprehension and fluency leading to critical thinking) are likely to be the same for adolescents and adults, the content used to engage those two populations is likely to be very different.   Does anyone have recommendations for digital resources that integrate instruction to occupational areas or college-major topics for adults and is matched to CCR standards? Like you, Hillary, I "caution against expecting too much from a software program," However, software can provide ideal tools for differentiation and even individualization of instruction in classrooms, don't you think?    This question also led me to think of the repository of Open Educational Resources (OER) listed by the Adult Learning Zone: A Designers for Learning Project, which offers MOOCS that have teachers all over the world create lesson plans for adult learners following a specific template that matches activities to CCRS. The plans are individually posted on OER Commons, so they are not compiled into a curriculum software package, but many would fit in well to teaching adults to read better. Being licensed as OER, teachers can use, modify, and share at will as long as they provide attribution ot the original author. Leecy  

We used Lexia years ago before Rosetta Stone took it over.   A coworker whose child uses it says it's had great upgrades.   

Our version was primarily focused on decoding -- based on syllable structures as I'd learned in my Orton-Gillingham training.   There were some exercises in comprehension but that was not the emphasis.   I do *not* know if upgrades go that way. 

I found it was quite effective for the students who really weren't fluent decoders.   I did a quick Slosson on a couple of classes and there would always be 2-3 students who guessed at words flat out (so they didn't see them as things to be decoded at all) and a few more who were limited by not knowing what to do when words got bigger.   I suspect this depends a whole lot on their K-12 education so it would scope out differently in different places.   

For comprehension, we're using Reading Plus now for practice.   It starts with a good assessment of its own, and then students get vocabulary lessons and reading passages to read, with comprehension questions.   The program tells you what kinds of questions students miss, so you can know what skills to target.   It doesn't "teach" the comprehension, though the questions are clear enough so that they get students thinking about things in new ways.   There are questions about the purposes of a sentence and since it's multiple choice, students get thinking about those processes (to compare things? to support an idea?   To contradict an argument?).   

    I've found the Reading Plus people amazingly good to work with and they're getting more popular w/ adult educators ... they will do pilots and training so you can figure out whether it's a good fit.   

     For teaching comprehension, when I did that,   Joanne Carlisle has some great booklets with thoughtful exercises that break down comprehension into simpler thinking.   I would make half a dozen more exercises from her example, based on student interest.   

    Hope other folks have more to say on this!   I know there's a good free reading comprehension product out there, too... can't recall its name...