http://www.letsgolearn.com/blog/ Online Education Blog – LetsGoLearn.com en aekwilliams@LetsGoLearn.com Copyright 2011 2011-06-30T20:39:32+00:00 http://www.letsgolearn.com/blog/dora_on_pennsylvania_rti_list/ http://www.letsgolearn.com/site/dora_on_pennsylvania_rti_list/#When:20:39:32Z The Pennsylvania Department of Education has included Let’s Go Learn’s Diagnostic Online Reading Assessment (DORA) on its list of approved assessment tools for secondary level RtI.  DORA is included on the list as a diagnostic assessment, for obtaining individual student strengths and weaknesses.   Click here for the Pennsylvania Department of Education Literacy Assessment Tools for Use With Students Grades 4 Through 12. Reading, Assessments, Response to Intervention, Administrators, Teachers, LGL Spotlight 2011-06-30T20:39:32+00:00 http://www.letsgolearn.com/blog/teachers_literally_sing_dora_praise/ http://www.letsgolearn.com/site/teachers_literally_sing_dora_praise/#When:04:01:27Z Teachers from Downey Unified in Southern California went way beyond the call of duty and wrote a custom song called "DORA... Just the Way You Are".  They performed before a professional development day that our founder Dr. McCallum lead at Williams Elementary.  Dr. McCallum has been very active in helping districts implement literacy reform efforts.  Enjoy!  We were very impressed here at Let's Go Learn!     Experts, Richard Capone, CEO, Let’s Go Learn 2011-06-15T04:01:27+00:00 http://www.letsgolearn.com/blog/lets_go_learn_launches_innovative_series_of_instructional_products/ http://www.letsgolearn.com/site/lets_go_learn_launches_innovative_series_of_instructional_products/#When:22:44:49Z KENSINGTON, CA (March 2011): Let’s Go Learn, Inc announces the release of the newest in its family of online supplemental reading and math instruction, LGL Edge Series, including LGL Reading Edge, LGL Comprehension Edge, LGL Pre-Algebra Edge, and LGL Algebra Edge. The LGL Edge Series is a powerful, web-based learning system, designed specifically for secondary students, to give them the extra edge they need for success in Reading, Pre-Algebra, or Algebra I.  Beginning with Let’s Go Learn’s award-winning assessments, the LGL Edge Series supplemental instruction programs engage older students, while ensuring that each student’s unique learning needs are met. Supplemental instruction uses high-interest, age-appropriate learning aids such as songs, videos, and games.  Featuring a scoring system designed to encourage intrinsic motivation in students, the LGL Edge Series rewards students frequently with positive feedback as they move ahead.  Teachers can monitor each student’s progress, and repeat assessments clearly show advances in learning. Says Let’s Go Learn CEO and co-founder, Richard Capone, “The LGL Edge Series addresses a critical need in secondary education: truly differentiated instruction for older students that both offers high quality education and keeps older students engaged.  By combining this exciting instruction with Let’s Go Learn’s award-winning assessments, we have created a supplemental program for secondary students unlike anything on the market!” Let’s Go Learn’s Diagnostic Online Reading Assessment (DORA) serves as the foundation for LGL Reading Edge and LGL Comprehension Edge.  DORA diagnostically assesses students in eight subskills of reading, intelligently adapting to students in real-time as they respond to each question in the online program. Immediately after the assessment, students who qualify for instruction are automatically transitioned into powerful online reading lessons in either LGL Reading Edge, which focuses on decoding skills, or LGL Comprehension Edge, which address comprehension strategies and vocabulary growth. Lessons use a wide variety of student-friendly materials, including hard-to-find high-interest/low-readability passages. Let’s Go Learn’s Diagnostic Online Math Assessment: Pre-Algebra (DOMA: Pre-A) serves as the foundation for LGL Pre-Algebra Edge.  DOMA: Pre-A diagnostically assesses students across 14 different areas of math knowledge that teachers consider essential for success at the Algebra I level, adapting to students as they respond to each question in the online program. Immediately after the assessment, students who qualify for instruction are automatically transitioned into powerful online pre-algebra lessons, with up to 63 levels of instruction.  Let’s Go Learn’s Diagnostic Online Math Assessment: Algebra serves as the foundation for LGL Algebra Edge.  DOMA: Algebra diagnostically assesses students across 11 different areas of Algebra I knowledge, adapting to students as they respond to each question in the online program. Immediately after the assessment, students who qualify for Algebra Edge are automatically transitioned into up to 63 levels of online algebra lessons, addressing only the skills that each student requires. Let's Go Learn offers K-12 reading and math assessment and instruction as well as professional development courses for teachers and specialists.  Developed by math and reading specialists and researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, Let's Go Learn's suite of products has proven to be extremely valid and reliable.  Since its founding, Let's Go Learn has been used to perform over two million assessments nationwide.  Let’s Go Learn is committed to creating innovative, scalable educational assessment and instructional tools that help parents, teachers, and administrators rapidly advance students’ abilities. By combining cutting-edge technology with best practices in education, Let’s Go Learn provides top quality, research-based resources to the educational community, utilizing experts in reading, math, assessment, and instruction.  Let’s Go Learn strives to develop solutions that are practical and easily sustained in today’s educational climate, providing students with the support necessary to ensure long-term success. For more information about The LGL Edge Series or other Let's Go Learn products, please call 1-888-618-7323 or visit online at http://www.letsgolearn.com/. LGL Spotlight 2011-03-01T22:44:49+00:00 http://www.letsgolearn.com/blog/apple_ipad_missing_the_boat/ http://www.letsgolearn.com/site/apple_ipad_missing_the_boat/#When:06:02:57Z So what’s up with Apple and its lack of support for Adobe Flash?  Apple cites concerns about processing/power management, claiming that Adobe Flash uses too much and will run down battery life on iPhones.  But the reality is that the big bulk of users in education will be iPad users, and battery life won’t be an issue for the iPad.  Plus, the iPhone battery life stinks right now.  I don’t think Flash could make it any worse.  In one or two years, as technology improves, it will become a moot point.  Before I continue, I have to establish that I’ve always been a big Apple supporter.  I owned the very first Macintosh in high school and loved it.  A few years later and after a double-side floppy disk drive upgrade, I was even using Pagemaker on an 800k floppy disk to make ads as a part-time job.  And today, my family and I have three Macs in our house, an iTouch, and Apple’s Time Machine, which is awesome.  Now, getting back on topic, many customers have been asking us, “Is Let’s Go Learn going to work on the iPad?”  Currently, like the 2 million other flash developers, we rely on Flash to control our users’ experience.  For Let’s Go Learn, teachers can log in fine on an iPad, but students cannot take our assessments without full Flash support.  While our backend is all custom application development, we choose Flash and PDF as the only two standards that we require.  In order to control the interface when a student is assessed, Flash provides us the control that we need.  Thus, when Steve Jobs says that HTML 5 is the solution, it irks me to no end.  The HTML 5 standard isn’t finalized.  For us developers doing real work “today,” we cannot rely on vapor ware (software promised but not released).  We need standards that are rock solid because we are an assessment company.  I know that 99.5% of the time, Flash will perform properly regardless of the browser it is run on or the platform a user is using.  We do not mind that the standard is owned by a private company.  If we were a non-profit and you were all using our assessments for free, that would be a different story.  I suspect that even when HTML 5 comes out, if we can adapt our assessments to this open standard, it will take a long time to become confident that the user experience is uniform across browsers and operating systems. With that said, my vote is for everyone who loves Apple products to send emails to Apple demanding that they fully support Flash in the web browser.  Fortunately, there is some light at the end of the tunnel.  Adobe is already planning to provide a means for Flash developers to put their applications on the iPad  (http://techcrunch.com/2010/01/27/adobe-flash-ipad/).  Also, my guess is that as sales of Android (Google’s smart phone platform) devices soar, Apple will reevaluate their no-Flash policy.  By the way, I just got an Android-based phone and I’m impressed.  I was actually able to do an assessment on my phone!  While it doesn’t have the out-the-door smooth user-interface of Apple products, with a little tweaking it is proving to be more flexible.  What do you expect?  Google is, after all, another great company! I think Steve Jobs needs to take the chip off his shoulder and realize that there is a place on the web for commercial and open standards.  Hey, isn’t the iPhone a closed standard?  I recall a raging debate about how controlling Apple is with its review of iPhone apps.  Hummm… Experts, Richard Capone, CEO, Let’s Go Learn 2011-01-14T06:02:57+00:00 http://www.letsgolearn.com/blog/a_fresh_start_making_the_most_of_a_new_school_year/ http://www.letsgolearn.com/site/a_fresh_start_making_the_most_of_a_new_school_year/#When:16:00:02Z I always look forward to the beginning of a new school year. It is a great opportunity to make a fresh start...by Gretchen McIntosh I always look forward to the beginning of a new school year.  It is a great opportunity to make a fresh start.  Students benefit from a clean slate to embark on an energetic move toward skill improvement.  Parents have a chance to make a fresh start with regard to their children’s health and education. A child’s physical well-being has a large impact on his or her ability to excel in school.  Juliana Goodwin from News-Leader.com reminds parents to keep children on an established bedtime routine, make sure their children stay hydrated, even if that means taking a water bottle to school, and teach children about portion control while providing well-balanced meals.               Start the new school year off right by making a stronger commitment to your child’s education.  Katherine Rannie reminds us that children benefit greatly from parental involvement in their education.  Some of these benefits include, but are not limited to, better attendance, better in-school behavior, more consistently completed homework, and greater achievement gains in math and reading.  Start out the school year knowing what your child is prepared for and what he or she still needs to learn.  Let’s Go Learn’s Diagnostic Online Reading Assessment (DORA) and Diagnostic Online Math Assessment (DOMA) provide parents with immediate information about their children’s reading and math skills and offer instructional recommendations which speak to individual children’s needs.  Seize the opportunity to make this the best school year yet! For Parents 2010-09-20T16:00:02+00:00 http://www.letsgolearn.com/blog/reducing_the_summer_slump_some_tips_and_ideas/ http://www.letsgolearn.com/site/reducing_the_summer_slump_some_tips_and_ideas/#When:14:11:00Z It seems the only way to truly avoid the summer slump is to include in a lazy summer day some extensive, monitored, and challenging practice in reading and mathematics. by Gretchen McIntosh Summer is in full swing and my children’s inquisitive little minds are slowly but surely forgetting the mass amounts of knowledge they worked so hard to accumulate this past year in school.  I was able to find some great ideas to help with the “summer slump” and have instituted several of the practices.  Brenda Rindge from the Post and Courier recommends summer camps, visiting the library, taking educational trips, practicing math daily, limiting television and computer time, and previewing what subjects your children will be learning in the next academic year.  However, the short time spent on these enrichment activities does not compare to the exposure and practice that took place during their average school day. According to Johns Hopkins University Center for Summer Learning, all young people have a loss of learning during the summer months.  Their research found that many students lose up to two months worth of competency in math skills.  James Kim, Assistant Professor of Education at Harvard University, cites similar concerns about loss of reading competency and has found that most summer reading programs offer little help to combat this loss.  In order to improve a child’s reading ability, books need to match the child’s reading level and the child’s comprehension level has to be monitored.  It seems the only way to truly avoid the summer slump is to include in a lazy summer day some extensive, monitored, and challenging practice in reading and mathematics.    Let’s Go Learn’s instructional systems provide assessment plus differentiated lessons to help children reach their learning goals in reading and math.  Unique Reader and Unique Reader Secondary offer comprehensive reading instruction.  Unique Math and Pre-Algebra Pathways are automated, differentiated math instructional systems.  All of these products are web-based and easy for children to maneuver, and they provide the specialized monitoring needed to help children avoid the summer slump. Reading, Math, Instruction, For Parents 2010-07-16T14:11:00+00:00 http://www.letsgolearn.com/blog/race_to_the_top_a_parents_perspective/ http://www.letsgolearn.com/site/race_to_the_top_a_parents_perspective/#When:13:15:01Z So what can I do as a parent to help my state get the federal grant money to really improve my children’s education?by Gretchen McIntosh                The President has just announced the “Race to the Top” grants to Delaware and Tennessee to reward their state education policy reforms, which included adopting standards and assessments to better prepare students for careers and college, getting high-quality teachers, turning around low-performing schools, and creating data systems to track performance.  Ohio, where my own children attend school, was in the running but fell short. So what can I do as a parent to help my state get the federal grant money to really improve my children’s education?                I might not be able to have an impact on state-wide education reform, but I can start a fire right here in my own community.  I am not satisfied with the education currently offered to my children.  I would argue that there is enormous room for improvement.  My children are enrolled in dance and music lessons to offset the lack of these programs in their school.  We frequent the art museum and pay for art classes at that museum so that my children are exposed to art more than the two times a month their school curriculum allows.  But they still need more challenge in reading and math.                  I know I am not alone in my concerns.  Across the country in California, Kirsten in her Silicon Valley Moms Blog recognizes that “we are failing our children and we can do so much better.”  By banding together under the common desire to better the education of our children, we can accomplish much more.  As parents, we hear all the time that if our neighborhood school is not what we want, then we must put in the time and effort to change it.  And now the federal government is pushing on the other end.  Our opportunity is knocking.  I am sure that my children’s school could implement all of the reforms requested by the “Race to the Top” initiative.  Great assessment and differentiated instructional programs are available to assist districts with improving and tracking performance.  District leaders need to be informed about teachers who have lost touch and perhaps need to be replaced with more energetic, student-centered teachers.  If motivated teachers are given the proper tools to assist with assessment and supplemental instruction, the low-performing schools would improve greatly.  Our children’s education would be positively affected, and that is change we will all benefit from. For Parents 2010-06-12T13:15:01+00:00 http://www.letsgolearn.com/blog/implementing_response_to_intervention_rti_at_urban_school_districts_webinar/ http://www.letsgolearn.com/site/implementing_response_to_intervention_rti_at_urban_school_districts_webinar/#When:00:19:56Z Implementing Response to Intervention (RtI) at Urban School Districts webinarThis 2 part webinar was presented to district administrators in the North-East of the U.S. It first quickly covers the typical district landscape and then moves to discuss how response to intervention can be implemented efficiently. It covers the role of universal screeners, diagnostic assessments, as well as how modern online diagnostic assessments such as those produced by Let's Go Learn can play an critical role in improving RtI deployments. The CEO and founder of Let's Go Learn is the presenter in this candid presentation of RtI. Part 1: Part 2: Response to Intervention 2010-03-12T00:19:56+00:00 http://www.letsgolearn.com/blog/article_feature_-_west_oakland_elementary_school_uses_technology_to_help_ki/ http://www.letsgolearn.com/site/article_feature_-_west_oakland_elementary_school_uses_technology_to_help_ki/#When:16:45:12Z Article written for the Oakland TribuneCheck out this recent article written for the Oakland Tribune by Katy Murphy: Article excerpt:"Scott, who has taught Prescott Elementary School children for nearly 40 years, now has an extra tool: Let's Go Learn, a Web-based, graphic-intensive literacy and mathematics program brought to the school by Oakland Technology Exchange-West, a West Oakland-based nonprofit. With donations and grants from area businesses, OTX-West distributes thousands of free, refurbished computers to homes, schools and community centers each year. It also helps middle school and high school families across the city acquire Internet service for free or cheaply" http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_14082456 LGL Spotlight 2010-01-13T16:45:12+00:00 http://www.letsgolearn.com/blog/lessons_from_a_jar/ http://www.letsgolearn.com/site/lessons_from_a_jar/#When:18:26:23Z I suspect that the more time our children spend exploring ideas authentic to them on their terms, the more deeply they'll understand the world around them and the better able they'll be to make a significant mark on the world. by Paolo Martin According to the article "Why Do We Forget Things?" by Parade Magazine author Martha Weinman Lear, there are many reasons why we become more forgetful as we get older.  She writes, "We actually may be wired to forget.  Consider:  If everything stuck to that mental flypaper, we would be in big trouble.  We’d be overwhelmed by trivia.  The longer we live, the more memories we stuff into our brains, and the harder it may become to locate any particular one….  After all, how important is it (how does it help you survive in the world) to remember the name of that restaurant you ate at last night?  What is important to remember is what ‘eating’ means and how to eat." O.K.  I get it.  What I’ve been considering a growing debilitation in my advancing years might really be a survival tactic engineered by nature.  I guess this could be useful.  Besides, how do we expect to be fully present and in touch with what the future may bring if we are living in the past?  But, on the other hand, didn’t some wise person or other once say, "Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it?"  I guess the significance of how and what we remember as time marches forward may be even more complicated than what philosophers try to capture in catchy phrases or what scientists discover about the human mind.What I’m really interested in is the phenomenon of how vitally important things in life get lost or forgotten only to reappear many generations later-in one case, a full continent  away—by people far removed from each other.  This is what happened when a group of teenagers from a small rural high school in Uniontown, Kansas unearthed the story of a humble elderly lady from Warsaw, Poland.  Irena Sendler was her name; a social worker during World War II, she organized a risky plot to save thousands of children from being exterminated during the final liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto by the Nazis in 1943.  She orchestrated their change of names and safe placement into foster families, orphanages, hospitals, and convents.  In hopes of reuniting these children with their biological families one day, Irena wrote the real names of all the children she had rescued on a piece of paper, placed it in a jar, and buried it under a tree far away.  When the Nazis later captured Irena and repeatedly tortured her, she refused to reveal either the names of the people who had helped her in her mission or the names of the children she had saved from extermination.  She was given the death sentence.  However, on the morning of the day she was to be killed, her German executioners set her free, falsely proclaiming her dead after having been bribed by friends of Irena’s rescue workers.  For the rest of the war, Irena had to live in hiding while she plotted to reunite the thousands of rescued children with their families when the war ended.  Tragically, most were never reunited with their families because so many had been killed in the Holocaust.  Over time, Irena’s name and the names of her underground rescue workers faded away.In 1999, Irena’s legacy was discovered by a group of high school students when a teacher encouraged them to work on a year-long National History Day project.  Before they re-discovered, through extensive research, the heroism of Irena Sendler, her story had been unsung for decades, buried by 45 years of communism in Poland.  As a matter of fact, when the students sought Irena’s final place of rest, they discovered that she was still alive.  Through their work, especially a play they wrote together, the students were able to spread Irena’s story throughout the world and bring her the recognition she deserved before she passed away with dignity and honor this past May.  Their website, Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project, describes their mission. There are many lessons to be learned from the story of the students from Uniontown, Kansas and Irena Sendler.  As an educator, I am particularly struck by the power of granting student agency in schools—that is, taking students seriously and allowing them to explore the things that really matter to them, just as Mr. Conrad did with his class in Uniontown.  Those students’ lives (and the lives of many around the world) were never the same because of it.  Teachers, because of the heavy expectations on the classroom-on the sheer volume of information to be taught and on how it is to be taught—don’t you sometimes feel that children don’t walk away with much of deep value?  I suspect that the more time our children spend exploring ideas authentic to them on their terms, the more deeply they’ll understand the world around them and the better able they’ll be to make a significant mark on the world. Instruction, Experts, Paolo Martin, Reading Specialist 2009-11-18T18:26:23+00:00