Archipelago Learning Enhances Study Island High School Product For Increased Career And College Readiness

Archipelago Learning Inc., a leading subscription-based online education company, today announced the release of the latest version of The Island, part of Archipelago Learning's leading subscription-based Study Island product offering for high school students and teachers.

Completely revamped with relevant, online collaborative learning environments, The Island will offer high school students more complex and age-appropriate games; self-paced digital writing assignment portfolios; a comprehensive college readiness section rich with test taking strategies for ACT, SAT and AP exams; and extensive career planning guidance. Teachers will find The Island full of robust lessons aligned to current Kentucky Core Content (4.1) Standards and the new Common Core State Standards. Also new are custom assessment builders for ad hoc diagnostic and formative assessments, easy online and real-time reporting functions, and an improved school-to-home communications component.

"Our instructional design team has worked tirelessly to make a good product great," said Allison Duquette, chief marketing officer for Archipelago Learning. "Developed solely with today's tech-savvy teachers and students in mind, this economical and engaging learning tool will serve as the perfect online destination for today's digital natives. It taps their enthusiasm for technology, their need for collaborative learning situations, and a hip format that will help them succeed in the classroom while preparing for life after high school."

Today's Tech-Savvy Students

To begin working in The Island, students choose their own unique avatar or profile image from an internal library of images. Once online, students travel through self-paced, standards-aligned math, reading, writing, science, and social studies content, gaining "passport stamps" for successful mastery and completion in each activity. The 24/7 anytime, anywhere learning gives students access to high quality lessons and questions with instant feedback and built-in remediation for the ultimate individualized learning experience. Because of The Island's collaborative design, students can easily work on group assignments from home, create study groups to prepare for upcoming tests and discuss classroom lectures, and exchange ideas and tips for excelling in the classroom.

"Study Island students don't memorize the answers, they learn the topics," added Duquette. "That's made easier by giving students choices based on how they best learn. We offer our standard test mode or a more challenging high school game format. With either option, students are motivated to answer the questions correctly and the best part, they are practicing and mastering key concepts learned earlier in the classroom."

For upper high school students, the college readiness and career planning activities are some of the most progressive in the education market today. College-bound students will appreciate the online, interactive test preparation programs with pointed test-taking strategies as well as content necessary to succeed on ACT, SAT and AP exams. For students who want to get a jump-start on their careers, The Island gives the opportunity to create professional resumes, write business letters, or build recommendations with the Resume Builder function. Using embedded flash video, students will see first-hand examples — good and bad — of real job interviews. Additionally, students will learn how to make follow-up calls and inquire about jobs with the Interview Tips section.

Teacher Benefits

Students aren't the only ones who will benefit from incorporating The Island into their day-to-day activities. For example, the new Custom Assessment Builder enables teachers to easily build both ad hoc diagnostic and formative assessments in core subjects giving them the real-time data they need to make informed instructional decisions.

The new Digital Writing Assignment Portfolio fuses content and technology to deliver a paperless assignment tool that not only helps develop student writing and vocabulary skills, but also allows teachers to provide immediate, electronic feedback. Tracking students' individual progress from the first day of school until the last will now be much easier with Online Reporting. The Island records every student session in a real-time report card. This allows teachers to easily view student strengths and weaknesses so prompt intervention and remediation can be delivered.

Duquette added, "We've tried to incorporate most everything educators need to maximize their efforts to effectively engage learners and increase student achievement."

Common Core’s Curriculum Maps in English Language Arts

This announcement contains a link to tools to support implementation of the English language arts portion of our new standards (known locally as Kentucky Core Academic standards [KCAS] and nationally as Common Core State Standards [CCSS]):

Common Core’s Curriculum Maps in English Language Arts were written by public school teachers for public school teachers. The maps translate the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for Kindergarten through 12th grade into unit maps that teachers can use to plan their year, craft their own more detailed curriculum, and create lesson plans. The maps are flexible and adaptable, yet they address every standard in the CCSS. Any teacher, school, or district that chooses to follow the Common Core maps can be confident that they are adhering to the standards. Even the topics the maps introduce grow out of and expand upon the "exemplar" texts recommended in the CCSS. And because they are free, the maps will save school districts millions in curriculum development costs. The draft maps are available for public comment until September 17.

Archipelago Learning to Give Free Study Island Licenses to Teach For America Corps Members

Archipelago Learning, a leading subscription-based online education company and developer of the highly-respected Study Island, has entered into a partnership with Teach For America. Under the terms of the affiliation, new Teach For America corps teachers will receive a free, two-year license to Study Island that can be used with their students upon completion of the program's online training modules.

"Helping to eliminate educational inequity in the United States is the cornerstone of what Teach For America was created to do," said Tim McEwen, CEO for Archipelago Learning. "And that's why we developed Study Island -- to make sure that every child has the tools to help him learn and master core academic content. We are truly excited to help these amazing new educators make a difference in classrooms around the country."

Teach For America is a national corps of teachers that go above and beyond traditional expectations to improve the educational outcomes of children growing up in low-income communities. The organization seeks top graduates from all academic majors and backgrounds who have demonstrated outstanding achievement, perseverance, and leadership. Teach For America received a record-breaking 46,000 applications this year, and admission was more selective than ever before, with an acceptance rate of 12 percent. This fall, more than 8,200 corps members will be teaching in 39 regions across the country. Beyond their impact as corps members, two-thirds of the 20,000 Teach For America alumni across the country remain in education. More than 450 Teach For America alumni serve as school principals or superintendents, more than 500 work in government or policy, and nearly 30 serve in elected office.

The web-based Study Island system incorporates standards-based instruction, interactive games, and rewards to help improve student performance. By providing engaging, self-paced instruction and positive reinforcement, Study Island helps students take control of their learning and build their confidence, while creating a culture of academic success. The comprehensive, web-based program combines rigorous content in math, reading, writing, science and social studies, and its online instruction, practice, assessment, and productivity tools are built directly from state standards and the new common core standards. For teachers, Study Island includes lesson plans, video and supplemental and digital resources and tools for monitoring student progress that enable differentiated instruction for on-level, struggling and advanced learners.

Study Island is available for purchase by schools, districts and learning centers, as well as parents and students. For more information please visit the Study Island website at: www.studyisland.com.

About Archipelago Learning

Archipelago Learning is a leading subscription-based online education company that provides standards-based instruction, practice, assessments and productivity tools that improve the performance of educators and students via proprietary web-based platforms.

Study Island, the core product line, helps students in kindergarten through 12th grade master grade-level academic standards in a fun and engaging manner and is utilized by over 10 million students in approximately 21,800 schools in the United States and Canada.

EducationCity, used by 8,200 schools in the United Kingdom and 4,800 schools in the United States, provides online K-6 instructional content and assessments for reading, mathematics and science.

Northstar Learning, for the post-secondary market, offers online instructional content and exam preparation products across a variety of core curriculum and vocational topics.

For more information, please visit www.archipelagolearning.com. Archipelago Learning is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.

About Teach For America

Teach For America is the national corps of outstanding recent college graduates who commit to teach for two years in urban and rural public schools and become lifelong leaders in expanding educational opportunity. This fall, more than 8,200 corps members will be teaching in 39 regions across the country, while more than 20,000 Teach For America alumni continue working from inside and outside the field of education for the fundamental changes necessary to ensure educational excellence and equity. For more information, visit www.teachforamerica.org.

This news release was distributed by GlobeNewswire, www.globenewswire.com

Q & A about EduJob Money

While this article is specific to PA, it contains good general information regarding the flow of $10 billion EduJobs funding to states and school districts.


The Morning Call (Lehigh Valley, PA)

August 13, 2010

Breaking down education jobs money
It can be used for hiring, rehiring, or paying expenses related to current employees.

With $878.8 million of federal cash soon on its way to Pennsylvania to help stave off education job losses, many Lehigh Valley school districts are wondering how they can put the money to work without increasing spending in the long-term.

The U.S. Department of Education on Friday clarified how districts can use the money not only for hiring or rehiring, but also for maintaining its current work force, such as paying for benefits, professional development and pension costs.
The Morning Call compiled the following questions and answers to explain the new program:

Q: What is the purpose of the money?

A: Congress passed $10 billion in education job money Tuesday for districts to use for compensation, benefits and other expenses associated with hiring, rehiring or keeping current employees on the payrolls. Allowed uses of the money include salaries, performance bonuses, health insurance, retirement benefits, incentives for early retirement and pension fund contributions.

Q: Which employees can be supported with the money?

A: Teachers, principals, assistant principals, academic coaches, teacher trainers, classroom aides, counselors, librarians, secretaries, social workers, psychologists, interpreters, physical therapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, technology personnel, nurses, athletic coaches, security officers, custodians, maintenance workers, bus drivers and cafeteria workers.

Q: When will the money be available?

A. States must first apply to the U.S. Department of Education, which expects to issue money to approved state within two weeks. States may use 2 percent of the money for program administration, but must make the remaining 98 percent of money available to local school districts. The Education Department expects the money to be available locally by September.

Q: How will districts get the money, and how long does it last?

A: The money will be distributed through either the basic education funding formula or the federal Title I formula, depending on what the state decides. Individual district amounts have not yet been released by the state. Districts are encouraged to use the money this school year, but have until September 2012 to spend it.

Q: Can the state tell local districts how to use the money?

A: No. Local districts can use the money how they see fit so long as they meet all other requirements and guidelines both in the law and issued by the Education Department.

Q: Does the money mean districts will definitely be hiring?

A: No. Districts should be careful not to hire new people using one-time money unless they know they can afford the increased costs in the long run, after the federal money is gone. In many cases, districts will probably report saving jobs and use the money for expenses such as professional development.

Q: How will the impact be tracked?

A: States and local school districts will be required to report how they use the money and how it supported personnel in quarterly reports similar to those required for stimulus money. The first report will be due in October.

christopher.baxter@mcall.com
610-778-2283
MORE INFORMATION
See the U.S. Department of Education's website for the Education Jobs Fund at http://www2.ed.gov/programs/educationjobsfund/index.html. Specific questions can be e-mailed to EducationJobsFund@ed.gov

States: Come Get Your Edujobs Money

Posted: 13 Aug 2010 11:36 AM PDT
This article comes from the “Education Week” blog: Politics K-12 [webeditors@epe.org]

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan wasn't kidding when he promised school districts and states that the applications for the new Education Jobs Fund (created under the $10 billion edujobs bill) would be very quick and "streamlined."

Less than a week after President Obama signed the edujobs bill, the application has been posted, and it is super straightforward. There is basically only one question: States have to specify whether they plan to distribute the funds through Title I or through their state education funding formula. (Except for Texas, which is special, and gets no choice in the matter. Texas has to distribute the funds via Title I. And, it has stricter maintenance-of-effort provisions.)

The money can be used for restoring cuts in salaries and benefits and boosting teacher pay in the 2010-2011 school year. Districts can also eliminate furlough days that had been scheduled for the 2010-2011 school year.

But they can't use the funds to pay salaries and benefits for outside contractors, except in cases where districts contract with other districts for specific services. And the money can't be used for central office staff.

Districts can use the funds to pay the salaries of teachers and other employees, including principals, assistant principals, academic coaches, in-service teacher trainers, classroom aides, counselors, librarians, secretaries, social workers, psychologists, interpreters, physical therapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, information technology personnel, nurses, athletic coaches, security officers, custodians, maintenance workers, bus drivers, and cafeteria workers.