“The research has shown that the districts that are using the Study Island and the Reading Eggs are the districts that have greater success ...

This article was posted February 1, 2012 and is from the "Independent" [Greater  Media Newspapers - A Group of Ten Community Newspapers Serving Monmouth and Middlesex Counties]


Mat-AB BOE sets 2012-13 district goals


Increases in literacy, morale, nontax revenues, graduation rate targeted



BY NICOLE ANTONUCCI, Staff Writer


The Matawan-Aberdeen School District will focus on increasing student performance and morale and reducing spending for the 2012-2013 school year.


During the Jan. 23 Board of Education meeting, board President Charles Kenny highlighted the district’s top four goals for this academic year.


“These goals are very demanding and they will be hard to achieve,” Kenny said. “The nuts and bolts of how this would be achieved is a fluid process and it is a process the administration is charged with.”


According to Kenny, the board held a special meeting on Nov. 20 to prioritize goals for the coming year.


“There are many goals that the board wants to achieve, but these were the goals that we thought were important,” he said.


Superintendent David Healy explained that the administration has already begun to implement various measures to make the goals more attainable.


The first goal is to reduce the non-proficiency rate on the statewide NJ ASK test in reading among third-grade students by 15 percent.


Upon coming to the district, Healy learned some students, particularly in third grade, weren’t meeting the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) benchmark in language arts on the NJ ASK test.


“Having worked in Middletown, being closely involved in a lot of literacy initiatives in Middletown and seeing that success, the most important thing was analyzing the data and knowing what to do with the data,” he said.


Based on the data, different tools are being used, including guided reading for grades 3 to 5 as well as training for teachers.


A portion of the $584,217 in additional 2011 state aid was used to provide classroom libraries with level readers for classroom instruction, Healy said.


He added that a recently added Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) tool would assess progress three times a year.


“It gives us an indication of how students are progressing in the area of language arts literacy, and based on that information, we create strategies toward really addressing what the data provides to us,” Healy said.


“Depending on where the students are or how well they do on the assessment, we either continue to provide the whole-group instruction, small-group instruction, or one-on-one instruction, with the goal to bring every student to at least grade level or above.”


In addition, monies were allocated from No Child Left Behind funds to conduct a language arts literacy summer school for students exiting first through fifth grades who are two grade levels or more behind on the DRA.


The idea, Healy explained, is for those students who are falling behind to attend summer school so they can improve reading grade level.


Students are also utilizing Study Island (grades 3-12) and Reading Eggs (grades K-2), two Web-based programs that follow the core curriculum content standards and directly correlate to the NJ ASK. “The research has shown that the districts that are using the Study Island and the Reading Eggs are the districts that have greater success on the NJASK and some of those other assessments,” Healy said.


Healy said the focus is on early childhood literacy since it can ultimately impact areas such as science, social studies and math literacy.


He added that if students progress in literacy, it could help decrease the need for additional special programs.


“It reduces the need for things like resource room, it reduces the need for basic skills, and we will see a reduction in the classification of students for reading disabilities.


“Oftentimes when we classify students for reading disability it’s not because they can’t read, it’s because they never learned how to read properly,” he said.


The second goal is to prepare an annual budget with a tax levy increase that does not exceed 1.5 percent from the prior year without any reduction in programs.


To do this, the administration plans to improve operational efficiency and to increase nontax based revenue.


“[We are looking at] our use of custodial overtime, we are looking at the utilization of the utilities and how they can be better addressed such as more energy-efficient systems, replacing some of our boilers with more efficient systems,” Healy said.


He said the district could also save money by bringing out-of-district students back to the district.


“When we bring students back to the district, we are bringing them to a program that is equal to, if not better than, the program they are currently in. That is a more efficient way of managing our students that are currently out-of-district placements,” Healy said.


“That can be a tremendous cost savings to the district and we can utilize that money to enhance our programs to benefit those students.”


The district also will identify revenue sources that are not based on taxes, Healy said, including studying how facilities can be used by outside organizations.


“Although we believe that we should provide a service to the community in terms of our facilities we want to make sure the district is appropriately compensated for the use of those facilities,” Healy said.


He added that the state has also approved advertisements on district-operated school buses.


“That can be a pretty solid revenue source when you consider that our buses run all day long between the school programs, our preschool programs, our athletic programs, our summer programs. It is a great opportunity for our district to use the buses to advertise.”


The third goal is to enhance the morale for students and staff by decreasing districtwide suspensions by 10 percent and decreasing district-wide violence and vandalism incidents by 10 percent.


“We have been addressing the problems and not necessarily the symptoms,” Healy said, adding that early intervention is needed.


“We have developed a partnership with CPC Behavioral Healthcare where students are referred and behavioral plans are put into place, creating positive behavioral support systems,” Healy said.


He said that supervision in school hallways and cafeterias has been increased to address problems that may be happening between classes.


“It comes down to good building management and having the team approach from the teachers and administrators to the students all working together. It is very important to have a positive, nurturing environment in our buildings.”


Finally, the district plans to reduce the number of high school seniors taking the Alternative High School Assessment (ASHA) by 25 percent.


When students do not pass the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA), a requirement for graduation, they have the option of taking the ASHA, Healy said.


To reduce the number of students taking the ASHA, Healy said HSPA preparation would be increased.


Healy said that while the district will work to attain the four goals recognized as priorities, there are about 50 other goals that have been identified.


“We believe,” Healy said, “we are going to meet the challenge.”

Archipelago Learning's Study Island Receives eSchool Media's 2012 Readers' Choice Award in the K-12 Category

By Calvin Azuri, TMCnet Contributor

Archipelago Learning’s Study Island is the winner of eSchool Media’s 2012 Readers’ Choice Award in the K-12 category. Study Island is a program that functions as an Internet-based medium of instruction grounded in individual state testing standards.

From all across North America, educators and administrators nominate their favorite educational technology products or services. In all, almost 1,400 nominations were received. Each of the prize-winning products and/or services was placed into one of three categories: K-12, Higher Education and Honorable Mention.

In release, Tim McEwen, President and CEO of Archipelago Learning, said, “The Study Island team is thrilled to receive this validation from our customers. We work hard to ensure a fun and engaging experience for students and provide the tools necessary for teachers to meet their yearly goals. It’s wonderful to be recognized by the people who use our products on a daily basis.”

eSchool Media publishes eSchool News, eCampus News and eClassroom News are and the 2012 Readers' Choice Awards Report was featured in January issues of each of these three publications. This report is also available on each of the eSchool Media publication websites. This special supplement is a complete showcase on the prize winning products and their services. It also includes viewpoints from readers as well as visitors on why each entry deserves a mention.

Archipelago Learning is a subscription-based, software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider in the field of education products. Their products are utilized by more than 14 million students in approximately 37,600 schools based in the USA, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Study Island is a digital supplemental solution that works as a support system to help K-12 students gain mastery over their grade-level academic standards in a fun way.

A Primer on the Common Assessments

The following article is about a Webinar I participated in and comes from Curriculum Matters and was Posted: 30 Nov 2011 12:42 PM PST

It would be quite an understatement to say that there is intense interest in the common assessments.

Judging by the outpouring of participation and questions we had for our webinar on the topic yesterday, people in the edusphere are craving a whole lot of information that isn't really available yet and are anxious about the many unresolved questions. That makes sense, of course, given the stakes that will be riding on the tests when they become available in 2014.

The presenters were Laura Slover and Joe Willhoft, leaders of the two assessment consortia, PARCC and SMARTER Balanced, respectively. They walked participants through the basics of their test-design ideas and reported on where the projects stand and what we can expect in the months ahead. (The webinar and accompanying Power Point presentations are available on a special page of our website. You'll see that if you were a registered participant in the webinar, you have to log in to see the archived webinar. If you didn't register, you have to do so in order to see the archived presentation.)

In the hour we had, we were able to ask Willhoft and Slover only a small fraction of the questions that inundated us before and during the webinar. A sampling of the questions, though, offers interesting insights into what's on people's minds, and the broad range of people who are watching this work very keenly.

Among those listening in yesterday were curriculum, assessment, technology, and content-area specialists from school districts and state education departments; superintendents, principals and classroom teachers; representatives of major education publishing and testing companies; folks from a wide range of advocacy groups; college professors and high-ranking university administrators.

There were long-range policy questions (How will the consortia be funded once the $360 million in Race to the Top funds runs out?) and nitty-gritty implementation questions (Can calculators be used for the PARCC math assessment? What are the plans for essay scoring?).

There were questions that suggested a need for clarification of the assessment dialogue itself, such as this one from an assistant superintendent in a school district: "Is the term 'interim' synonymous with 'benchmark'?" And this one: "What is the difference between formative assessment and classroom instruction?"

Unusually large numbers of questions fell into several key areas, though. One was how the new assessments will be accessible to students with disabilities and those learning English. Another was a vein of concern about districts' and schools' technological capacity to move to large-scale online assessment.

Yet another probed the question of comparability: With two assessment systems, will you really be able to compare the performance of students in a PARCC state with that of students in a SMARTER Balanced state? Another cluster of questions sought clarification of how the tests will be used by higher education: Will they be used for admission? What about for course-placement purposes?

Answers to these buckets of questions are worth listening to for yourselves; some are more nuanced than others, and all are clearly influenced by the early stage of the work.

Another bucket of questions focused, of course, on concrete details about the tests themselves (When will we be able to see prototype test items? When will the test blueprints be available?). The consortia's timelines offered some answers there. But clearly, folks are anxious for far more concrete information than what is currently available. We'll do our best to bring that to you as we get it. But that gap between standards and assessments is not a comfortable place for states, districts, schools, and teachers to find themselves.

- Catherine Gewertz

Archipelago Learning Acquires English Language Learning Provider Alloy Multimedia

Executing on Strategy to Offer Teachers a Comprehensive, Fully Digital Supplemental Solution

Archipelago Learning, a leading subscription-based, software-as-a-service provider of education products, announced recently that it has acquired Houston-based Alloy Multimedia, publisher of ESL ReadingSmart, an online, standards-based program for English language learners (ELL), for $2.0 million in cash, and the founder will receive a royalty on future net sales of ESL ReadingSmart. The transaction closed on June 24, 2011.

"We are excited to complete the acquisition of Alloy Multimedia and its flagship product ESL ReadingSmart, and welcome Clara Rojas and her team into our organization. ESL ReadingSmart is another high quality, rigorous and engaging product to add to Archipelago's portfolio, and enables us to better meet a growing need for our customers," said, Tim McEwen, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer for Archipelago Learning. "We continue to take the necessary steps toward delivering on our strategy to become a leading provider of digital supplemental education by offering a comprehensive suite of products."
He went on to say, "There are approximately six million English language learners enrolled in K-12 schools in the U.S. annually, and that number has grown by nearly five percent per year. We believe a compelling online ELL product that is simple to implement and use, is engaging, and actually works, will serve as an invaluable tool to help teachers improve the English language proficiency and academic performance of these students."

Clara M. Rojas, Founder of Alloy Multimedia commented, "We are enthusiastic about becoming part of the Archipelago Learning product set and family. English language learners are a growing and underserved student-base. With Archipelago Learning, a proven digital education provider with a robust sales and marketing infrastructure, we will be able to offer ESL ReadingSmart to millions of students across the U.S."

Launched in 2002, Alloy Multimedia publishes ESL ReadingSmart, an online, standards-based program for English language learners targeted toward grades 4-12. The product offers individualized, content-based instruction to develop English language proficiency with emphasis on literacy and academic language development for newcomers, beginners, intermediate, early advanced, and advanced English learners. ESL ReadingSmart is currently used in approximately 350 schools, primarily in Texas.

We plan to fully integrate Alloy Multimedia into Archipelago Learning this year with six employees joining our operations. Mark S. Dubrow, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Archipelago Learning commented, "We view this strategic opportunity to enter the ELL market as an effective use of free cash flow to enhance shareholder value. We anticipate that this acquisition will be accretive in year two."

Archipelago Learning Unveils Enhancements to its Study Island Digital Lessons

Archipelago Learning a subscription-based software-as-a-service provider of education products announced the release of Study Island’s Fall enhancements that include mobile optimization, new games, interactive flash animations and enhanced lessons

In a release, Tim McEwen, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Archipelago Learning said, “Districts and schools are under immense pressure to improve student performance, while dealing with severe budget constraints and changing state and federal accountability mandates.”

“With the launch of these enhancements, educators using Study Island have the latest customizable digital education tools to increase student learning and improve academic performance, all in one affordable, easy to use web-based solution,” McEwen added.

According to company sources these new enhancements are expected to help educators and students enjoy easy access to a better learning experience. It will also showcase how Study Island makes the print-to-digital transition affordable and easy for schools. Study Island is actually a high impact, low cost educational solution offering standards-based instruction, practice, assessment and productivity tools.

Besides being very useful for K-12 students and their teachers this updated offering will be suitable for use on mobile devices such as iPad, iTouch, and iPhone besides Android tablet and smartphone devices.

This enables teachers and students to easily access Study Island lessons, activities, and reports from any connected mobile device, emphasized officials.

The new lessons will come with easier navigation, and new videos, slide shows and interactive animations that are sure to increase engagement and reinforce academic concepts. Study Island’s new animations will feature interesting characters, for 2nd through 5th grade math and English language arts that will facilitate individualized, self-paced instruction or whole-class instruction on interactive whiteboards.

Study Island ensures that the lessons and activities are designed to suit individual state standards and Common Core State Standards. The lessons offer fun-based and engaging content in math, reading, writing, science and social studies.

Also the real-time reporting on student performance will help teachers to differentiate instructions using a research-based content bank that encompass more than 440,000 unique items which will prepare students for state assessments. The product also includes tools for parent communication and professional development added officials.

In related news a recent report published by education market research firm Simba Information reveals that the highly competitive PreK-12 landscape will go digital soon owing to budget constraints. The study shows that the digital courseware segment will drive the PreK-12 school market, growing 34 percent to $1.43 billion by 2014.