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<Paper uid="H01-1075">
  <Title>Now PPRICE Speech and Language</Title>
  <Section position="2" start_page="0" end_page="0" type="intro">
    <SectionTitle>
1. INTRODUCTION
</SectionTitle>
    <Paragraph position="0"> Our vision is to use technology to provide a high-quality, low cost reading coach that delivers voice-activated reading instruction, practice, and assessment over electronic media. Reading is fundamental; it can also be fun. However, about 40% of mainstream 4th graders cannot read at the basic level. One of our country's critical needs is to improve reading performance for all children since their future, both individually and together, depends on literacy. Reading level predicts economic performance for both individuals and societies.</Paragraph>
    <Paragraph position="1"> Beyond the basics, as reviewed in the recent report of the National Reading Panel (2000), engaging children in supported oral reading is the most valuable means toward building their reading proficiency. At present, however, the only means of giving children such practice is by finding a human adult who will sit with them and help them. However, technology can provide an automated reading coach to break through this bottleneck, so that every child in every school can get the support that she or he needs. This technology will help reduce the digital divide, and provide an unprecedented level of tracking data to leverage teachers' instruction and assessment efforts and to build the next generation of intervention techniques.</Paragraph>
  </Section>
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