Friday, September 12, 2008

Below is a sample letter on introducing parents to Study Island:

Dear Parent,

Our school now has access to a great resource for preparing our kids to master the Kentucky Core Content Standards. We have a subscription for a web-based program called Study Island, which is accessible to students from school or home. If you have Internet access, your child can access Study Island from home as well.. The information below provides an overview of the program. We are excited about the potential benefits this program can bring to our students, and we encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity by using Study Island. Please feel free to contact Study Island at 800-419-3191 x3 or support@studyisland.com if you have any questions.

Using Study Island from Home
Since the Study Island program is completely web-based, students can access it from any computer with an Internet connection and a standard web browser (Internet Explorer or Netscape). Results from students study sessions are recorded and made available to the teachers. This includes results from sessions completed at home. The program is divided into sections based on subject (math, reading, etc.). Each section is made up of 10 to 25 topics. Each topic contains about 20 to 25 questions with explanations. All topics are accompanied by a lesson, which includes some brief information about the material covered by the questions in the topics. It is helpful to view the lesson before answering the questions in the topic.

Follow the instructions below, in order to use the program:
1. Go to www.studyisland.com
2. Enter your username and password at the upper-left of the screen, and click “Login”.
Note: Students will receive a username and password from their teacher at school.
3. Click on the section tab (math, reading, etc.) that you wish to work on.
4. Click the "Pretest" in order to begin the pretest for the section. You must complete 10 pretest questions before moving on to the topic in the section.
5. Once you complete the "Pretest,” you may work through the remainder of the topics in any order you like. You must "pass" all topics before taking the "Post Test".
6. To pass a topic, you must satisfy the topic’s passing requirements which are based a minimum number of questions answered (usually 10) and a minimum percentage correct (around 70%). A blue ribbon icon is displayed next to all passed topics.
7. Once you have passed all the topics in the section, you have to pass the "Post Test" for the section before the section is complete. Ignore this step if the section has no "Post Test".
8. When you pass all topics in all sections, you have completed the program for that grade level!To access the Reports:
1. After your child has logged in, select a subject from the left-hand side of the screen to access the reports.
2. Here, you will find a variety of reports with information such as how much time your child has spent on various subjects, how they used their time, and what questions they missed. You will also be able to compare your child with other children in their class and in their state that are using Study Island. You can select reports by Subject or select the Summary option to get all subjects.

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