Our Storyscape
Product by Voces Digital
Facts checked: Not yet checked
Our take (not a Learning Standard rating). This label applies to learning-science judgments throughout this overview.
Our take (not a Learning Standard rating)
Our Storyscape provides context-rich English language learning through cultural storytelling, which aligns well with the comprehensible input hypothesis. However, because The Learning Standard has not yet formally evaluated this curriculum, we cannot definitively verify its mastery-based progression or specific retention outcomes for your child.
Pros
- Anchors vocabulary and grammar instruction within culturally relevant narratives to improve contextual retention.
- Employs competency-based progression to ensure students demonstrate comprehension before advancing to new material.
- Provides broad access to all available proficiency levels under a single subscription to support personalized pacing.
Cons
- Lacks independent third-party efficacy data confirming its impact on student language acquisition.
- Restricts access to a teacher-driven subscription model that prevents independent at-home parent use.
- Requires significant educator scaffolding to bridge direct instruction with the digital storytelling elements.
What Do We Know About Our Storyscape?
Our Storyscape functions as a teacher-facilitated English as a Foreign Language (EFL) curriculum rather than a standalone app for independent home practice. Designed by Voces Digital for middle and high school students, it uses narrative-based lessons to teach language skills. Your child will encounter vocabulary and grammar embedded within stories that highlight the cultures of the English-speaking world. This approach leverages context-dependent memory, helping students retain new words better than rote memorization by connecting language to meaning and culture. While the platform claims to use mastery-based learning, meaning your child must demonstrate understanding before moving forward, The Learning Standard has not yet evaluated the specific mechanics of these assessments. The curriculum is built primarily for classroom integration rather than solo learning. Parents should know that access requires a teacher subscription, making it a poor fit for a family looking for a casual weekend learning app. Instead, it is a comprehensive academic tool best utilized when an educator guides the pacing, provides direct instruction, and monitors competency milestones.
How Does Our Storyscape Work?
Our Storyscape uses a narrative-driven, comprehensible input approach paired with direct instruction and mastery-based assessments. Students log into the digital platform to read, listen to, and interact with culturally relevant stories designed for their specific proficiency level. By embedding target English vocabulary and grammar structures directly into narratives, the curriculum forces students to use context clues for reading comprehension. After engaging with a story, students complete practice exercises that test their retention and understanding. The platform uses competency-based learning mechanics, meaning students must achieve a baseline score on these practice sets before unlocking more complex texts. This structure prevents learners from advancing with critical gaps in their foundational language skills. Because a single license grants access to multiple difficulty tiers, teachers can personalize the learning path, assigning lower-level texts to students who need scaffolding and more advanced cultural narratives to those ready for complex syntax.
Strengths and tradeoffs of Our Storyscape
The biggest strength of Our Storyscape is its reliance on context-embedded storytelling to teach language, while its biggest weakness is its strict dependence on teacher facilitation for individual access. Contextualized learning is highly effective for language acquisition; by wrapping English vocabulary and grammar in cultural narratives, the curriculum provides the authentic input necessary for long-term retention. This aligns with cognitive science principles showing that narrative structures naturally reduce cognitive load, allowing students to process foreign languages more efficiently. Mastery-based progression is another structural advantage. The platform requires students to demonstrate competency through interactive assessments before moving on, which helps prevent the accumulation of learning deficits over time. However, the lack of independent parent access is a significant limitation. Pricing and distribution are locked behind teacher and classroom licenses, meaning parents cannot easily purchase this for at-home tutoring. Furthermore, because The Learning Standard has not yet rated this product, we cannot verify the spacing or retrieval practice algorithms embedded within the digital assessments. The curriculum relies heavily on the classroom teacher to dictate review cycles and ensure spaced repetition occurs.
Who Might Benefit From Our Storyscape?
Our Storyscape is best for middle and high school ESL or EFL educators who want a comprehensive, story-driven curriculum for their classrooms. It is highly effective for students in 6th through 12th grade who struggle with traditional rote memorization and need narrative context to anchor their language learning. Because it provides access to all proficiency levels simultaneously, it is an excellent fit for blended classrooms where teachers need to differentiate instruction and assign personalized reading tracks based on individual student mastery.
Data Transparency
Meets Data Transparency Standard
Our Storyscape meets our data transparency standard at Level 2 of 3 (Parent control). Level 3 needs the policy to document an API for retrieving their own data and a named export format.
25 of 35 checks passed
Evaluated October 2026
Voces Digital →Level 1 · Basic protections
Does not sell data or target ads at students, limits sharing, and lets parents see and delete their child's data.
Level 2 · Parent control (meets the standard)
Families can get their data out, know who processes it, and know how long it is kept.
Level 3 · Direct data access
Families or schools can pull their own data through an API, in a stated format.
Not documented: an API for retrieving their own data, a named export format
View all 35 checks
Parent Access7/8
Does the policy mention parents specifically?
“If you are a parent and you wish to access, review or have your child’s personal information deleted please contact the teacher or school to make this request.”
Can parents view their child's data?
“Parents have the right to review their student's stored data and may request for it to be deleted.”
Can parents modify their child's data?
The policy lets parents access, review or delete their child's data, but gives the right to request corrections only to teachers, schools and students, not parents.
Can parents delete their child's account?
“If you are a parent and you wish to access, review or have your child’s personal information deleted please contact the teacher or school to make this request.”
Is there a dedicated Children's Privacy section?
“Guidelines for Children Under 13 (COPPA)”
Does it reference COPPA compliance?
“The certification Seal posted on this page indicates Voces Digital has established COPPA compliant privacy practices and has agreed to submit to PRIVO’s oversight and consumer dispute resolution process.”
Does it reference FERPA compliance?
“Voces Digital acts a school official under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act(FERPA) when providing its service to the school.”
Is parental consent required for child accounts?
“As Voces is used in an educational setting, a teacher or school must enter into an agreement they have the authority of the school to provide consent on behalf of a parent before providing student data or adding students to the platform.”
Data Portability3/5
Can users access their personal data?
“At any time you may contact help@vocesdigital.com to request information about the data we have, correct any data, or request that the data be erased.”
Can users download/export their data?
“A teacher or school may download data before it is deleted.”
Is there a self-service data access tool?
“A teacher or school may download data before it is deleted.”
Is a specific data format mentioned for export?
The policy does not name a file format for exported data.
Is there an API for data access?
The policy describes only LMS integrations, not an API that lets users retrieve their own data.
Data Minimization3/6
Is data collection itemized?
“First and Last Name (or initials) - User ID - The following activity submissions made in Voces as part of classroom assignments.”
Can the app be used without a real name?
The policy says it collects students' first and last names (or initials) and reads student names from LMS rosters.
Can the app be used without an email?
“No contact information is collected from students.”
Does it state collection is limited to what is necessary?
“We collect as little information about our users as possible to provide access and support.”
Is IP address anonymized or truncated?
The policy says it collects IP addresses and does not mention anonymizing or truncating them.
Is location tracking explicitly excluded?
The policy does not rule out location tracking, and its definition of personal information includes location data.
Third-Party Protection6/7
Does it explicitly state no selling of data?
“We will never sell any teacher or student data.”
Are third-party providers named?
“Quantum Services Group - Server Hosting”
Are providers contractually restricted?
“Any companies that could have access to personal information will have signed privacy agreements with Voces.”
No-targeted-advertising commitment?
“Students will not be subject to any behavioral advertising or profiling. We do not sell or disclose student data for commercial purposes.”
Is AI/ML data sharing addressed?
The policy does not address AI or machine learning.
Child-specific sharing restriction?
“We do not distribute any personally identifiable information about students to third parties.”
Cookies/tracking limited or opt-out?
“You may disable the function of Cookies by choosing the browser’s configuration.”
Deletion & Retention5/5
Can users delete their account?
“Upon request, we will delete your personal information from our systems within a 3 business days. A teacher may also delete student data as desired.”
Self-service deletion mechanism?
“A teacher may also delete student data as desired.”
Specific data retention timeline?
“We will store your personal information, in a form which permits us to identify you, for a maximum of 90 days after the teacher's subscription expires and 30 days after a class is deleted.”
Auto-deletion of inactive accounts?
“for a maximum of 90 days after the teacher's subscription expires and 30 days after a class is deleted. This process is automated nightly to ensure that data is not kept longer than necessary.”
Post-deletion handling described?
“Backups of all data are kept for seven days.”
Advertising1/4
Advertising model explicitly disclosed?
The policy lists Google Ads/Doubleclick as an ad network and says Voces will never advertise to a student, but it does not explain its advertising model.
Free from third-party advertisements?
The policy lists Google Ads/Doubleclick as a service provider and does not say the product is free of third-party ads.
Children excluded from ad targeting?
“Students will not be subject to any behavioral advertising or profiling.”
Ad-free option available?
The policy does not offer an ad-free option or say the product has no ads; it says only that students are never advertised to.
Meets Data Transparency Standard
The reviewed policy met our data transparency standard. This result describes the policy disclosures we assessed. Actual practices and legal compliance were not verified.
About this evaluation: Based on automated analysis of Voces Digital against 35 policy-disclosure questions, including questions adapted from the Common Sense Privacy Program's published evaluation questions. TLS is not affiliated with Common Sense Media, and this is not a Common Sense rating. Quoted text is copied from the policy; unquoted notes are our summary. Results describe what the policy documents, not the company's actual practices. Privacy policies can change: this review reflects the version we analyzed and does not determine legal compliance.
Sources and review method
TLS combines product information and editorial analysis to explain how Our Storyscape works, its tradeoffs, and the questions to ask before choosing it. Product features, an instructional rationale and evidence of learning outcomes are different kinds of information.
Formal Learning Standard assessment: not yet completed. Data Transparency findings are reported separately and do not establish learning effectiveness. Read our methodology.
Frequently Asked Questions About Our Storyscape
Is Our Storyscape free?
No, Our Storyscape is not free. It is a paid curriculum designed primarily for schools and educators, starting at $100 per teacher, plus an additional $100 for every block of 10 student licenses. There is also a bulk purchasing option of $1000 for a single teacher managing up to 150 students. This pricing model reflects its design as an institutional classroom tool rather than a casual consumer application.
Is Our Storyscape good for middle school students?
Yes, Our Storyscape is highly appropriate for middle school and high school students. Designed specifically for learners in 6th through 12th grades, the curriculum provides narrative complexity and cultural themes that are developmentally suited for adolescents. The content avoids the juvenile presentation found in many early language apps, making it engaging for older students navigating English as a foreign language.
What does Our Storyscape teach?
Our Storyscape teaches English as a Foreign Language (EFL) through the lens of humanities and cultural studies. Your child will learn English vocabulary, grammar structures, and reading comprehension by engaging with stories centered on the diverse cultures of the English-speaking world. This approach ensures students build both linguistic competence and global cultural awareness simultaneously through structured direct instruction and narrative immersion.
Has The Learning Standard evaluated Our Storyscape?
TLS has not yet completed a Learning Standard evaluation of how well Our Storyscape teaches. Its privacy policy has been reviewed for Data Transparency and reaches Level 2, Parent control.
Is Our Storyscape COPPA compliant?
The reviewed privacy policy references COPPA. A policy reference alone does not establish COPPA compliance. Policy review note: The policy says its practices comply with COPPA and are certified by PRIVO.
Is Our Storyscape FERPA compliant?
The reviewed privacy policy references FERPA. A policy reference alone does not establish FERPA compliance. Policy review note: Voces says it acts as a school official under FERPA.
Does Our Storyscape have a children's privacy policy?
The reviewed policy includes a dedicated children's privacy section. Policy review note: The policy has its own section on children under 13 and COPPA.
Does Our Storyscape sell student data?
The reviewed policy states that the app does not sell data. This is a policy statement; actual data practices were not verified. Policy review note: Voces says it will never sell user data.
Can you delete your data from Our Storyscape?
The reviewed privacy policy describes account deletion. We have not tested the deletion process. Policy review note: Users can ask to have their personal information deleted.
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- Pricing
- Voces subscriptions are priced per teacher starting at $100 with additional student licenses available to add at $100 for 10 students. We also offer an option for $1000 per teacher with 150 students. A teacher or student license gives the user access to all of our available levels or titles.
- Platforms
- Web Browser, iOS (Apple mobile), iPadOS (Apple tablet), Android (Google mobile), Tizen (Samsung mobile), Windows (Microsoft), macOS (Apple), Chrome OS (Google)
- Grade Levels
- 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade, 9th Grade, 10th Grade, 11th Grade, 12th Grade
- Website
- Visit site