Learning Ally Partners with Square Panda to Deliver Reading Solutions Across Entire Pre-K to Grade 12 Range

SUNNYVALE, Calif. and PRINCETON, N.J., Oct. 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Square Panda, creator of an award-winning multisensory edtech literacy platform aimed at pre-readers and early readers, and Learning Ally, a leading nonprofit education solutions organization focusing on struggling learners, announced today that they have signed a strategic partnership. The partnership will enable the two companies to collaborate on sales, marketing and implementation opportunities, and serve the entire pre-K to grade 12 education market.

As the sole distributor of Square Panda products in the U.S. education market, Learning Ally will now complement its award-winning Audiobook Solution targeting students with reading deficits in grades 3-12, and Professional Learning catalogue reaching nearly 100,000 educators, with the ability to provide an early literacy learning system designed for students in pre-k to 3^rd grade.

The Learning Ally Audiobook Solution is a proven multisensory reading accommodation featuring human-read audiobooks, student-centric features and a suite of educator tools for real-time progress monitoring and data reporting that helps struggling readers with a reading deficit become confident, engaged learners, capable of reaching their academic potential.

Square Panda's learning games are grounded in the latest neurological research around brain development and reading. Its multisensory playset interacts with tablets to help children learn reading skills with confidence. Its proven approach helps build essential reading skills in children ages 2-8 years old?engaging multiple senses, including sight, touch and sound, as research has shown this is how young children learn best.

"For more than 70 years Learning Ally has been providing innovative support for students from across the United States with reading deficits, blindness and visual impairments, and physical disabilities that don't allow them to read standard print," said Andy Butler, CEO of Square Panda. "We are proud that Learning Ally has chosen Square Panda as its phonics and reading readiness partner to extend its offering to reach early learners. Their current reach to 17,500 schools and their educator success infrastructure will allow us to move the needle on ensuring all children in our schools meet the 'Read by [grade] 3' goal, which all educators aspire to achieve."

"We are thrilled to expand our footprint into early literacy and partner with Square Panda," said Andrew Friedman, CEO and president of Learning Ally. "Square Panda's literacy platform will enable early childhood educators with an adaptive literacy system, allowing them to better meet the needs of all types of students with different social-economic backgrounds and/or learning differences to develop core fundamental reading skills."

About Square Panda
The award-winning Square Pandatm playset is a complete phonics learning system with multisensory play. Designed for kids two and older, the playset blends physical and digital learning as it keeps kids entertained through age-appropriate learning games grounded in research-based curriculum. Early readers play their way to reading fluency as they engage with physical smart letters that connect them to a library of learning games. Every play session guides children as they explore the alphabet, practice letter sounds, discover rhymes, build vocabulary and more. For more information, visit www.squarepanda.com.

About Learning Ally
Learning Ally is a leading education solutions organization dedicated to transforming the lives of struggling learners. The Learning Ally Audiobook Solution is a proven multisensory reading accommodation for students with a reading deficit, composed of high-quality, human-read audiobooks, student-centric features and a suite of teacher resources to monitor and support student success. Used in more than 17,500 schools, this essential solution, along with its catalogue of Professional Learning, bridges the gap between a student's reading ability and their cognitive capability, empowering them to become engaged learners and reach their academic potential. For more information, visit www.LearningAlly.org.

SOURCE Learning Ally