Setting Early Readers Up to Succeed

The U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences has awarded a $10 million grant to UB researchers to establish the Center for Early Literacy and Responsible AI (CELaRAI).

Led by X. Christine Wang, professor of learning and instruction in the Graduate School of Education and director of the Fisher-Price Endowed Early Childhood Research Center, CELaRAI will focus on harnessing AI to revolutionize early literacy instruction for K-2 students across the nation. The center’s mission is to improve reading skills with a focus on students from underrepresented and underserved communities.

The U.S. is facing a significant challenge in early literacy. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, only 33% of fourth graders achieved proficiency in reading comprehension in 2022, a shortfall predominantly affecting low-income, Black, Latinx and other marginalized students.

“We believe that, with the right support, all students—regardless of their backgrounds—can succeed in literacy,” said Wang. “Our goal is to create opportunities for all students, particularly those from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds whose educational needs are often not fully met by our education systems.”

Wang’s team proposed innovative solutions to address this need, including the use of generative AI.

The center will develop a tool called AIRE, or AI Reading Enhancer, to support students in independent reading by generating personalized text, providing real-time reading analysis and offering just-in-time literacy support. AIRE will focus on improving key literacy skills such as phonics, word recognition, fluency and comprehension.

Over the next five years, the center will engage in three core activities:

• Researching and developing the AIRE tool through a national survey, user-centered studies and an efficacy study.
• Addressing the ethical challenges of AI use in schools by developing responsible AI guidelines.
• Offering national leadership in responsible AI and early literacy through research dissemination and capacity-building initiatives.

Research will be conducted in diverse urban, suburban and rural public elementary schools in New York, Michigan and North Carolina, serving students from low to mid-socioeconomic backgrounds.

“When educational tools are developed, it’s important to ask whose needs are being met—and whose are not,” Wang said. “Our center will pay special attention to ethical and responsible AI development and deployment to address bias and promote equity.”

This new grant builds on UB’s longstanding leadership in AI research, with nearly 50 years of experience pioneering innovative solutions. From the world’s first autonomous handwriting recognition system, which saved the United States Postal Service billions of dollars, to more than 200 faculty using AI to solve critical societal issues, UB’s AI research is advancing the public good.

UB’s latest AI efforts, which include projects in medical imaging, combating deepfakes and addressing the shortage of speech-language pathologists in K-12 education, further cement its role as a national leader in AI-driven solutions.

As Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer noted in regard to the new grant, “Earlier this year, I helped UB establish a new National AI Research Institute and open a new $20 million federally funded National AI Institute for Exceptional Education to help children with disabilities learn to speak.

“Now,” he said, “UB can continue to use its top-notch AI research facilities to help the next generation grow and thrive, and further position upstate New York as a national hub for innovation.”

Learn more about UB’s groundbreaking AI research in early literacy.