Online High School Partners with Pearson to Create e-Texts for 30,000 Students

Pearson and James Madison High School, a Georgia-based online learning institution that offers self-paced courses to high school and career students, have partnered to create customized eBooks and print companions coherent with the Common Core State Standards.

James Madison High School, and its parent organization Ashworth College, began working with Pearson in late 2010 to create new Common Core curriculum for 23 courses. Through the partnership, JMHS students now access a wide range of online learning tools, including course-specific websites, online instructor support, peer collaboration networks, on-demand tutoring services and engaging video. The school’s mixed demographic of students includes adult learners, as well as traditional-age high school students who may be re-enrolling to complete their schooling.

The new Common Core State Standards seek to promote literacy across course disciplines and help students develop skills in reading, writing, speaking and listening. They focus more intently on developing the critical thinking aspects of mathematics, concentrating on how students are able to apply and extend math principles.

“The courses we have developed with Pearson are unrivalled in quality, and provide cutting-edge technology and learning tools completely coherent with the Common Core to help our students succeed in completing their high school requirements – long before they will be assessed against these new standards,” said Dr. Leslie Gargiulo, Vice President of Education for both Ashworth College and James Madison High School.

The new English Language Arts courses cover content across the genres of non-fiction, fiction, poetry, and drama with an emphasis on key reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. Mathematics programs include courses in Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Geometry, Pre-calculus, and Pre-algebra.