Irish speech recognition company SoapBox Labs has struck a multi-year deal with global publisher Scholastic to integrate the company’s technology into its future reading products.
The first product, Ready4Reading, is powered by SoapBox Labs’ AI-based speech engine, which is built to accurately recognise children’s voices and will help diagnose reading fluency and highlight potential issues, regardless of race, background, age or ethnicity.
The foundational skills curriculum will be made available first to US schools and districts from this summer, but there is the potential that it could be extended to a wider audience. It combines print and digital K-3 phonics for use in the classroom, providing targeted practice and feedback for children.
There was no indication of the exact value of the deal due to its multi-year nature, but SoapBox Labs said it was a “significant” six-figure sum for the initial project.
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The global nature of Scholastic‘s publishing is considered a big boost for SoapBox, which employs 35 people.
“Most people would have some sort of recognition of Scholastic either from their own reading habits or from their kids,” said chief executive Dr Martyn Farrows. “So for us, you know, the fact that it’s Scholastic, the fact that they’re a global company, the fact that they have a very strong education division, but a huge consumer media division as well, is a game changer for us.”
SoapBox Labs has been working with Scholastic for two years, but this new deal is a platform partnership rather than a product one, opening up new possibilities for the working relationship.
“Our vision is to provide a voice technology for all products that require voice. In terms of statistics, now we’re getting close to having processed 100 million requests to our service – that’s 100 million opportunities for feedback for kids that wouldn’t have existed were not for the voice technology being in place. We’re beyond the tipping point of scale,” Dr Farrows said. “The agreement with Scholastic envisages them processing hundreds of millions of requests per year themselves. There is going to be a multiplier effect once this becomes a utility across the industry.”
A big part of the appeal of SoapBox Labs’ technology is its focus on equity. Last October the Irish company was awarded the first product certification to an educational technology company that focuses on equity in the design of artificial intelligence systems.
The product certification, Prioritising Racial Equity in AI Design, serves as an important indicator for education stakeholders and families that products recognise the importance of mitigating racial bias in new learning tools and technologies.
“SoapBox has developed a unique speech engine and shares the same values as Scholastic, including a deep commitment to designing equitable technology that serves all children,” said Rose Else-Mitchell, president of Scholastic Education Solutions. “We both understand the challenge educators face supporting the literacy development of every child. We’re eager to unlock the power of voice in early reading instruction with the launch of SoapBox-powered Ready4Reading, and many more programmes to come.”
