Common Core Standards for Kentucky Now Available on Study Island

Study Island From Archipelago Learning Announces Common Core State Standards Product Update

Professional Development, Instructional and Assessment Materials Will Help Teachers Adjust Classroom Practices, Prepare Students for Transition to New Standards

June 30, 2010 2:45 PM EDT

DALLAS, June 30, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- When the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers released the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for K-12 education earlier this month, they set in motion a seismic shift in what students are expected to learn and how teachers are supposed to teach. Kentucky became the first state to officially commit to adopt the CCSS, and since that time, additional states, including Maryland, Michigan, Hawaii, Missouri, New Mexico, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Ohio and Utah have also announced their intent to move to the new standards.

To help educators ensure their students are gaining the critical knowledge and skills specified by the new standards, Archipelago Learning, (Nasdaq: ARCL), a leading subscription-based online education company and developer of the highly-acclaimed Study Island, announced today the availability of the first of their products built directly from the CCSS. The Study Island Kentucky edition includes on-line instructional content, supplemental resources, video lessons, a digital writing portfolio, on-line assessment development, and engaging animated games. In addition, the new Study Island Kentucky edition includes an extensive on-line integrated professional development module, with teacher videos, lesson plans, activities, and supporting materials to enable a smooth and effective transition to the new standards. Kentucky customers will be able to concurrently access both the prior Kentucky standards as well as the new updated Common Core State Standards from within the Study Island product, to provide districts and schools with complete flexibility. Updates to other Study Island state editions will be made available based on each state's specific time frame for implementing the CCSS.

"Change can be complex, challenging and expensive for schools and districts, but not with Study Island," said Tim McEwen, chief executive officer for Archipelago Learning. "Because we are 100 percent digital we have always been uniquely positioned to help schools and districts transition curriculum and assessments to new standards, simply and cost-effectively. It's no different with the Common Core State Standards and no doubt why we are one of the fastest growing providers of online education solutions to the K-12 market. Study Island is the most economical resource available to schools to support the transition to the new standards, providing an online resource built from current standards, a roadmap for helping educators transition to the new standards, and the most comprehensive coverage of the new Common Core State Standards and all included at no additional charge to our regular very affordable subscription price. In most cases, the annual subscription price of Study Island for a student is less than the cost of a hamburger and fries in a fast food restaurant!"

Through its large and experienced product development team, proprietary content management systems and authoring tools, Study Island's online instruction, practice, assessment, and productivity tools are built directly from state standards and the new Common Core State Standards, and are constantly updated. The comprehensive, web-based program combines rigorous content in math, reading, writing, science and social studies with interactive games and rewards that engage students, reinforce accomplishments and create a culture of academic success. In addition, Study Island's eLearning professional development workshops are available to help educators effectively transition to the new common core standards and optimally use Study Island's curriculum, assessment and reporting features and functionality. The goal is to speed student acquisition of fundamental academic skills and conceptual understandings, and to do so via a unique methodology that ensures learning mastery is sustainable and achieved in a fun and engaging manner that motivates continued student learning throughout their academic careers.

"Study Island has an inherent ability to anticipate and be ready 24/7 with the digital resources required to succeed in this ever-changing K-12 landscape," said McEwen. "Kentucky was the first state to adopt the standards and I know there is some concern among educators across the state about how they will be ready to teach and assess to the new standards in a consistent manner, and do so in a time of budgetary constraints. Study Island has always been committed to ensuring that our product is developed from the most current standards available for each state, and our customers can rest assured that we are completely prepared to integrate the new standards into our product for each state that adopts them."

Study Island is available for purchase by schools, districts and learning centers, as well as parents and students. More information along with pricing for individuals and quantity discounts for educational institutions is available at the Study Island website: www.studyisland.com; or, better still, contact Study Island's Kentucky Sales Rep, Pat Ryan [800.419.3191 x7617 or pat.ryan@studyisland.com]

Study Island Summer Camp

DALLAS, June 3, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Seasonal brain drain. It sounds serious, but in fact it's a pretty common occurrence among children when they return to school after the summer break. Experts agree that on average, students lose the equivalent of one to nearly three months of previous learning – in effect erasing this amount of learning from their mind.

The good news for parents and students is that this "academic atrophy" can be reduced and even eliminated. To help diminish summer learning loss, Archipelago Learning (Nasdaq:ARCL), a leading provider of online education programs to K-12 schools across the country, has launched Study Island Summer Camp, an engaging and educational supplemental program complete with summer themed, multi-curricular online games for students in grades three - eight.

"Many parents are looking to fill the 70+ days of summer vacation with fun and engaging activities to keep their children involved. At the same time they worry about their children retaining what they learned from the prior year, and staying sharp and prepared for the upcoming school year ahead," said Karla Kennard, Study Island's consumer marketing manager. "Study Island Summer Camp provides the best of both worlds; offering fun and engaging games that reinforce and advance learning. Since it can be used anytime and anywhere there is an Internet connection, children have the flexibility to log on and 'play' anytime they want."

Study Island Summer Camp offers an Elementary School course of study for grades three-five and a Middle School version for grades 6-8. Each program offers age-appropriate curriculum materials for math, science, English and social studies, many of them taken from the successful Study Island program used by millions of students in schools across the country. Working independently in quiz mode, game mode or with a printable worksheet, students can review information from the previous school year and even get ahead on the next grade level.

"We are continually looking for ways to enhance and support our vision," said Allison Duquette, chief marketing officer at Archipelago Learning. "We believe that given the right tools, all students can, and will indeed, flourish beyond our expectations. Combating summer learning loss doesn't have to be complicated or boring, it just takes a focused, fun program. We are very excited about Study Island Summer Camp and its ability to weave learning into summer activities that children already enjoy."

The product is available online until August 31, 2010 at a cost of $19.00/program.

To obtain additional information or to purchase the program, visit www.studyisland.com/summercamp or call 800-419-3191.

Group pushes for nationwide educational standards

Posted: Jun 02, 2010 2:37 PM EDT
From: http://www.fox41.com/Global/story.asp?S=12582802

By third grade, students should know how to write a complex sentence and add fractions, no matter if they live in Georgia or California. Eighth-graders should understand the Pythagorean theorem. And by high school graduation, all U.S. students should be ready for college or a career.

That's the goal of sweeping new education benchmarks released Wednesday called the Common Core State Standards. Kentucky is one of the states that has signed onto the project that aims to replace a hodgepodge of educational goals varying wildly from state to state with a uniform set of expectations for students. It's the first time states have joined together to establish what students should know by the time they graduate high school.

"With these standards, we can provide all of the country's children with the education they deserve," said West Virginia schools superintendent Steve Paine, who gathered with other educators and officials from across the country at Peachtree Ridge High School in Suwanee just outside Atlanta to release the final draft of the standards. "Having consistent standards across the states means all of our children are going to be prepared for college and career, regardless of zip code."

States are expected to use the standards to revise their curriculum and tests to make learning more uniform across the country, eliminating inequities in education not only between states but also among districts. The standards also will ensure students transferring to a school district in a different state won't be far behind their classmates or have to repeat classes because they are more advanced.

Under Common Core, third-graders should understand subject-verb agreement, fifth-graders need to know about metaphors and similes and seventh-graders must understand how to calculate surface area.

States that sign up are supposed to use the standards as a base on which to build their curricula and testing, but they can make their benchmarks tougher than Common Core.

All but two states -- Alaska and Texas -- signed on to the original concept of Common Core more than a year ago.

Critics worry that the standards will basically nationalize public schools rather than letting states decide what is best for their students. Texas' commissioner of education, Robert Scott, has said that the state didn't sign on to Common Core because it wants to preserve its "sovereign authority to determine what is appropriate for Texas children to learn in its public schools."

So far, the standards have been adopted by Kentucky, Hawaii, Maryland, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Another 40 states and Washington, D.C., have agreed to adopt the standards in coming months, said Gene Wilhoit, executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, which joined with the National Governors Association in leading the Common Core project. Wilhoit was once a social studies teacher in Indiana, and has served as Kentucky's Education Commissioner. "We don't think it's acceptable that because a student lives down in Atlanta and not up here, they should have different outcomes," said Wilhoit before Wednesday's event in the northern Atlanta suburbs.

The federal government was not involved, but has encouraged the project, including adoption of the standards as part of the scoring in the U.S. Department of Education's "Race to the Top" grant competition. President Barack Obama has said he wants to make money from Title I -- the federal government's biggest school aid program -- contingent on adoption of college- and career-ready reading and math standards.

"As the nation seeks to maintain our international competitiveness, ensure all students regardless of background have access to a high quality education and prepare all students for college, work and citizenship, these standards are an important foundation for our collective work," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Wednesday in a prepared statement.

Common Core was structured over a year of meetings with teachers, parents, school administrators, civil rights leaders, education policymakers, business leaders, and others from across the country. The group produced multiple drafts and collected comments from more than 10,000 people online.

"The world is small now, and we're not just competing with students in our county or across the state. We are competing with the world," said Robert Kosicki, who graduated from a Georgia high school this year after transferring from Connecticut and having to repeat classes because the curriculum was so different. "This is a move away from the time when a student can be punished for the location of his home or the depth of his father's pockets."

Common Standards Initiative: http://www.corestandards.org/