See for yourself with a free trial!

In part because of their success with LANGUAGE! Live, Knox County is the first large, metropolitan district in Tennessee to be recognized as an “exemplary” district.

Many of the district’s struggling adolescent readers believed that they would never be able to learn how to read—that they were “too dumb” to learn as they had repeatedly failed. After the district implemented LANGUAGE! Live for middle- and high-school readers who were struggling, teachers reported that it was tremendous to see students realize that they are smart and can learn to read successfully.

Teachers say that LANGUAGE! Live bridges the gap between where students actually are and where they need to be. While all teachers successfully implemented LANGUAGE! Live, the teachers who were the most successful were those who participated in the Year Long Reading Course based on the LETRS program—both programs by Voyager Sopris Learning. One program director describes it as a master’s level course in teaching students how to read.

All struggling readers experienced Lexile growth, but students of the teachers who participated in the professional development program experienced the greatest growth.

Northwest Middle School principal Karen Loy reports that 60 percent of her incoming sixth graders were reading at a second-grade level. Because they implemented LANGUAGE! Live with great fidelity, after three years of LANGUAGE! Live intervention, her students “leave the school as literate adult readers.”

How LANGUAGE! Live closes the gap in adolescent reading skills faster

Teacher Antavia Hamilton-Ochs at Bartlett High School in Anchorage, Alaska, says that students with reading deficiencies are constantly reminded in every class and subject that they have low reading skills. Adolescents who haven’t experienced academic achievement can be very dispirited.

After implementing LANGUAGE! Live with her students, Hamilton-Ochs was surprised to see how much of a difference the blended solution made for them. She has a mixed class in both Level 1 and Level 2, so she rotates the students between teacher-led instruction and the online component. She says the students were immediately engaged because of the avatars, peer videos, and the fact that the program was designed specifically for secondary students.

LANGUAGE! Live supports both teachers and students with instructional and learning strategies. For example, Hamilton-Ochs provides students with immediate feedback after listening to their voice recordings. These recordings allow her to see who needs additional help and who is doing well enough to move to the next level. Some Bartlett students have shown significant growth of up to two to three years of progress in one school year—up to 300 Lexile points of growth.

“LANGUAGE! Live is life changing,” Hamilton-Ochs says, “and can help break the cycle of poverty, so that these kids can have they life they deserve.”

Charleston County (SC) Schools was looking for a program for struggling adolescent readers to fill in the gaps of the reading instruction they missed in elementary school. The district chose LANGUAGE! Live to use with 812 students in 23 schools.

School leaders wanted an age-appropriate reading program with multiple components that would engage their struggling readers. With LANGUAGE! Live, they found a comprehensive, blended reading solution that focuses on both foundational and advanced literacy skills.

Teachers report that students are able to work at their own pace, and on different levels than what their peers are on. LANGUAGE! Live’s avatars and peer videos resulted in high levels of student engagement and buy-in.

The blended learning format allows for both online and teacher-led instruction. Writing skill development is also integrated in LANGUAGE! Live, providing teachers and students with a comprehensive ELA program.

Repeating the reading strategies over and over has resulted not only in reading success, but students are also taking those learning strategies into their other classes, so their success is extending to other parts of the curriculum as well.

Burke Middle School executive principal Maurice D. Cannon, Sr. says, “One hundred percent of students participating in LANGUAGE! Live have seen significant growth.” In many cases, the growth has been between 200 and 500 Lexile points in one year.

When Principal Mario Acosta arrived at Hernandez Middle School in Round Rock (TX) Independent School District, he brought LANGUAGE! Live with him from his previous school. Based on his prior experience with the program, Acosta says that “closing the literacy gap will allow us to close the achievement gap.”

Using LANGUAGE! Live has been a life-changing experience for Hernandez students who have struggled to meet grade-level benchmarks in reading. The program individualizes instruction for every student.

“Students find success immediately,” says Acosta, “because the program is meeting them at their individual level. We’ve seen years of Lexile gaps closed in a semester.”

Not only are students achieving proficiency in reading, but they’re also gaining confidence so their success spreads to other subjects. In addition, teachers have seen a correlated increase in STAR achievement test scores.

About LANGUAGE! Live

LANGUAGE! Live redefines literacy intervention. Struggling readers in grades 5–12 excel with two times the literacy gains to close gaps faster than they can with any other literacy product. LANGUAGE! Live is a comprehensive literacy solution that focuses on foundational and advanced learning skills with digital and teacher-led intervention to significantly improve reading and writing skills. It meets students where they are and gets them where they need to be. LANGUAGE! Live inspires new levels of confidence and drive in students at all levels who are struggling to become successful readers. This award-winning, blended literacy program accelerates literacy growth so students can meet grade-level expectations and participate in core instruction. With LANGUAGE! Live, students discover the impossible is possible.

LANGUAGE! Live is a blended model that combines the power of teacher instruction with online practice and instruction. Teacher-led Text Training helps students advance in their knowledge and understanding of vocabulary, grammar, and comprehension, and—unlike other programs—LANGUAGE! Live also provides extensive writing practice. Online Word Training addresses foundational skills including phonics, spelling, sentence structure, and fluency.

Students love the avatars, peer videos, and relevant content. As students progress in reading increasingly difficult texts, their vocabulary grows and they learn grammar and syntax in context so that their comprehension and writing improve as well. All students are successful because LANGUAGE! Live was designed specifically for them.

In a blended classroom with students at different levels, a solution that’s easy to learn and implement is needed. LANGUAGE! Live simplifies it all with expert support, comprehensive teacher training, and on-demand coaching to successfully prepare teachers.

LANGUAGE! Live is successful because it is:
• Effective—fostering both foundational and advanced learning
• Innovative—with student-driven technology, age-appropriate programming, and a captivating social media platform
• Flexible—able to be implemented in any classroom.

Find out more about how LANGUAGE! Live closes gaps in students reading skills faster than any other literacy program. See for yourself with a free trial!

Join the webinar

Create Conditions that Inspire Brilliance: Optimizing Adaptive Learning

March 14
Register here

Approximately 10 million U.S. children have trouble learning to read; of these, 10 to 15 percent eventually drop out of high school—and only 2 percent complete a four-year college degree. When students struggle, it’s often because a misconception is blocking their progress.

If teachers had time to work with each child for hours individually, they’d learn what is holding these students back. But that’s just not possible in a typical classroom.

We know all kids can learn. We just need to understand how they learn best. That’s where adaptive learning can help.

Adaptive programs adjust to how students are performing in real time, anticipating and then delivering the specific types of learning content students need to progress.

Most adaptive literacy programs follow a predefined scope and sequence when teaching students to read, much like a textbook. In other words, they send students down one of several predetermined paths. But what if students need a different approach altogether?

Velocity®, from Voyager Sopris Learning, goes beyond adaptive. It optimizes learning by providing the best and most effective instruction for each individual student. It provides students with exactly what they need, exactly when they need it. Velocity continually monitors students’ understanding in real time, analyzing dozens of discrete thought processes behind each skill and using this information to coach students in areas where they’re struggling.

Velocity's sophisticated adaptive learning engine dives deep into a student’s thought process to uncover any misconceptions that might be standing in the way of learning. The program then aims to fix those misunderstandings before continuing with a lesson.

Suppose a student is working on reading comprehension. He or she might be given a short reading passage and asked to highlight the topic sentence. If the student gets this wrong, the program tries to figure out why by offering follow-up activities than can hone in on the exact nature of the problem. Once it has confirmed the source of the problem, Velocity delivers instruction to target that area of weakness and alerts the teacher when their expert intervention is needed most.

By adjusting organically to support a child wherever he or she needs assistance, rather than following a predefined scope and sequence, the program functions as an extension of the teacher’s presence in the classroom.

In effect, Velocity serves as a highly intelligent tutor that responds dynamically to each child’s learning needs, no matter how complex these might be—providing truly individualized instruction for every learner.

Velocity is the ONLY K-5 ELA solution that assists teachers in providing true 1:1 instruction. Your 60-day free trial starts here: http://go.voyagersopris.com/tech-learning/velocity-trial

What’s the biggest complaint about classroom projectors? In a recent poll, 64% of projector users say it’s the Lamps. The lamps lose brightness and need to be replaced, or they stop working and need to be replaced. Not only do you lose productivity without your classroom projector (how many teachers can teach without a projector these days?), the cost of a replacement lamp is expensive, as well as the cost of someone getting up on a ladder and replacing that lamp.

Maintenance for lamp projectors is also an issue. Not only do lamp projectors require costly replacement lamps every year or two, they also needed frequent air filter changes and cleaning. Since projection lamps run very hot, the LCD or DLP elements, power supplies and other internal components tend to deteriorate rapidly, further limiting the useful life of the projector.

Some schools were so aggravated with lamps and the constant maintenance for their lamp projectors that they switched to flat panel displays, sacrificing screen size for reliability. But even though flat panels are getting larger (84 inches and up now); they are still nowhere near the 20 foot widths you can normally get from a projector. While the 84” screen size may work fine in smaller rooms, students can have difficulty reading text on the smaller flat panels from the back of a larger classroom. As LampFree projector pricing has decreased over the last few years some of the schools that switched to flat panels are now switching back to projectors.

For other schools going LampFree was a better solution right from the start. Having a LampFree projector means no more lamps to replace, no more filters to replace, less down time, lower maintenance costs (less ladder climbing…) and now they are smaller, lighter, and brighter than ever. While lamps on traditional lamp projectors lose brightness between 1,000 and 3,000 hours, the light sources for many LampFree projectors are rated for up to 20,000 hours with minimal degradation in brightness. That means your LampFree projector could last over 10 years, based on an average six hours of use a day during a 180-day school year, without ever having to get out the ladder and change a lamp.

Another advantage of going LampFree is no harmful Mercury. Mercury is a highly toxic element that is hazardous to human health and to the environment. The adverse effects of mercury poisoning cannot be understated. Although the use of mercury is widely prohibited worldwide today, this hazardous substance continues to be employed as a light source for conventional projector lamps. LampFree projectors have no Mercury and are better for the environment.

Casio, a company ahead of the times, has already completely eliminated the use of mercury in its projectors, starting with the world’s first “Green Slim” LampFree projectors in 2010 and now their entire projector assortment is LampFree. In addition, Casio LampFree projectors consume less energy, up to 50% less electricity when compared to conventional lamp projectors, have no expensive replacement lamps or filters to replace, and since they require minimal maintenance, they require minimal labor costs to maintain. When you add up the original purchase price, the cost of replacement lamps, replacement filters, labor costs, and higher energy usage, LampFree projectors cost much less over the 20,000 hour life of your projector.

So it’s not a big surprise that more and more schools are choosing LampFree projectors. According to PMA data, there is a growing trend away from lamp projectors and last year more than 23% of all projectors sold were LampFree. PMA is predicting that by the year 2020 38% of all projectors sold in the US will be LampFree.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

LampFree Case Study

LampFree Full Line Catalog

Transitioning from learning to read to reading to learn is essential for students moving into intermediate grades, middle, and high school. Adolescent readers must be able to navigate increasingly complex texts and develop the deeper knowledge of the topics they are studying. Reading proficiency is foundational to a student’s ability to master the complex subject matter required in higher grades.

Before students can master the 4 Cs—critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and communication—they must be reading on grade level. Middle and high school students who are not proficient readers fall more and more behind their classmates and are at risk for dropping out before graduation. It is difficult for these students to become successful readers without direct intervention and extensive practice.

To help them achieve success, teachers need a comprehensive English language curriculum that leverages the best of teacher-led and online instruction in a blended learning environment supported by ongoing assessments, data analytics and comprehensive literacy guidance for teachers.

Students will become motivated for success through research-based, targeted intervention and practice. As their language skills improve, students will not only be capable of reading and understanding complex texts but will also produce more sophisticated writing. Immediate, positive feedback rewards them for developing stronger skills.

LANGUAGE!®Live

is a comprehensive ELA program that combines the most current research with motivational, classroom-tested strategies to fill gaps in literacy. Students immediately respond to their teacher and peer coaches, and the age-appropriate content means students stay engaged while they achieve success.

Webinar: Motivating Struggling Adolescent Readers

Motivating non-proficient readers with a track record of failure is the focus of this webinar from leading reading researcher Dr. Louisa Moats and Sheryl Ferlito, high school reading specialist from Chippewa Valley Schools in Michigan. Getting students to believe that they can become successful readers is an enormous challenge. Dr. Moats and Ferlito discuss strategies to motivate adolescents to achieve reading success.

Research: The Nature of Reading Difficulties in Older Students

The consequences of poor reading skills are clear. Each year, 1.3 million students drop out of high school, and 70 percent of them have poor reading skills that not only keep them from graduating but also impact their potential lifetime earnings. This report outlines the research base for proven strategies to intervene and turn struggling readers into successful readers.

Buyer’s Guide: How to Choose the Most Effective Adolescent Reading Program

Readers who struggle in middle and high school face unique challenges that must be addressed with specific intervention strategies in a way that develops foundational skills while engaging students in age-appropriate, high-interest topics. This guide clearly lays out the elements of a successful adolescent intervention program so that districts can choose a research-based, effective reading program with confidence.

Curriculum Guide: LANGUAGE! Live, Comprehensive Blended Solution for Grades 5–12

Leading-edge research about what it takes to turn struggling adolescent readers into successful ones is the underpinning for this award-winning reading curriculum. It meets students where they are and takes them to where they need to go with direct instruction and scaffolded practice. It’s effective because it fosters both foundational and advanced learning and effectively engages students to achieve reading proficiency—laying the groundwork for college and career readiness.

Join Tech & Learning content director Kevin Hogan, Superintendent Henry Thiele, Tech Director Scott Harris, and Division Director Chris Prekopa from Comcast Business for a webinar on this same topic. Register here.

While virtually every school in the U.S. is connected to the internet thanks to the federal E-rate program, that standard alone doesn't add up to success in the 21st century.

Educators and administrators today face a host of complexities around the issue of digital equity, including capacity planning, affordability and keeping pace with devices and platforms. It is without question the biggest challenge facing educators today

The rapid evolution of technology toward ever-advancing and interconnected devices is widening the digital equity gap in education, even as schools prepare students to participate in the digital economy by learning coding and media production instead of passively using modules.

Where once this technology could be considered a luxury, it is now a necessity—and communities agree that success in education shouldn't depend on a child's zip code. Providing access to technology is the sure path to achieving digital equity and giving students the best chance at success.

But school districts facing limited resources simply cannot meet these challenges alone. Solving this complex problem requires a community-wide effort built around partnerships in business and beyond that make it easier for educators to provide access to crucial technologies such as broadband internet and mobile devices, in order to truly prepare students for the future.

Businesses, not for profits, parents and leaders in communities nationwide are guiding the way to tearing down the silos that house access to resources. These types of partnerships—with participation from state and federal education officials—are key to finding scalable solutions that can be applied to school districts large and small.

Ideas such as helping identify free wifi sources, or providing wifi hot spot checkout opportunities at school libraries, are helping uncover ways to create digital access for all students outside of the classroom. Identifying and leveraging state and federal resources are also areas in which a community-partnership approach can lead to digital equity.

Webinar: Solving the Digital Equity Puzzle

Through a partnership approach, Comcast Business is helping schools, universities and libraries bridge the equity gap in the classroom and beyond.

Listen in on a webinar as Tech & Learning content director Kevin Hogan will lead a panel discussion on how to solve the digital equity puzzle. Joining him on this challenging topic are panel members Henry Thiele, superintendent of a large suburban district, and Scott Harris, tech director of a rural district, as well as Chris Prekopa from Comcast Business.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Ethernet: Paving a Path to Higher Learning

http://cbcommunity.comcast.com/browse-all/details/ethernet-paving-a-path-to-higher-learning

Stay Connected in the Digital Classroom (Infographic)

http://cbcommunity.comcast.com/browse-all/details/infographic-stay-connected-in-the-digital-classroom

Students in the U.S. today show a high interest in attending college after graduating from high school, but getting them there is proving to be a challenge for educators.

The disparity in expectations between students’ goals and outcomes is wide and growing. Although their overall desire to attend college has increased over the past two decades—93 percent of middle school students now say that is their goal—less than half actually enroll in college and only 26 percent graduate within six years of enrolling.

Meanwhile, researchers predict that within the next decade, 63 percent of all jobs in the U.S. and nearly all high-wage jobs in growing industries will require some college education. What happens when these trends eventually intersect?

Given that 20 percent of incoming freshmen at four-year institutions, and half of those at two-year colleges, are enrolling in some type of remedial coursework, preparedness is a forefront issue. K−12 educators can help reduce the gap between expectations and outcomes by addressing the need for ongoing assessments throughout the students’ educational careers.

Assessments provide actionable data that educators can use to understand strengths and weaknesses among individual students, and then create improvement and intervention plans that help them achieve their goals. By ensuring that students are learning the necessary skills as they advance through elementary, middle, and secondary schooling, educators can prepare students for life beyond K−12.

Acuity® from McGraw Hill Education can help you measure how students are achieving in alignment with their goals and the Career- and College-Readiness Standards (CCRS) from the U.S. Department of Education.

Using Data to Inform District Planning

Data is playing an increasingly large role in helping school districts across the U.S. adequately plan for learning needs, and Acuity is giving educators the tools to merge the art and science of education.

Learn the Benefits of Acuity From Educators

Don’t let data intimidate you. See how educators like you are using Acuity to benefit their students and school districts.

Boosting Student Achievement with Personalized Instruction

Through Acuity, acting on data from interim educational assessments can be fun for students. Read how Acuity’s resources can help students increase their progress.

Learning is a multi-sensory experience. Educators understand that classroom set-ups need to optimize sight lines for students, and provide consistently high levels of access to teachers’ spoken presentations and the audio components of multimedia learning. There’s even more to the story, when teachers, technology specialists, and administrators factor in the multiple learning styles that students bring to class. Some are visual. Some are kinesthetic. Others learn best by hearing information and speaking to reinforce their knowledge. And of course, today’s wealth of technology-enhanced learning resources and the drive for personalized learning also underscore the need for high quality audio delivery as a required part of instruction.

Choosing the Right Headphone Solutions

Some learners are distracted by noise around them and that makes it difficult to focus and stay on task. For these learners, many educators are recognizing the advantage of noise cancelling headphones, to limit noisy distractions and interruptions. Other learners improve comprehension and retention by listening to instructional content and/or reading and listening simultaneously. Here, clear, crisp audio is critical so students can engage fully in the concepts and content being presented. And in reading and foreign language classes, students need to speak aloud and hear themselves accurately, to develop fluency, expression, and reading confidence. Headsets that include built-in microphones and are designed to reproduce the student voice accurately and without distortion are critical to student progress.

Durability and Reliability Are Part of the Equation

From a practical standpoint, headphones and headsets for school use are in a class by themselves. They need to be designed for constant, rugged use and be priced affordably for whole class, small group, and individual users. Warranties that work in the education setting are critical as well, to protect schools’ investment in this kind of equipment.

A Headphone is a Headphone…Isn’t It?

Headphones have become a standard consumer product but savvy school technology leaders and teachers have come to realize that many “consumer” models simply are not designed or engineered for the rigors of constant educational uses. Further, consumer warranties typically don’t cover school uses. It’s an important distinction and one that can save schools time and money over the longer term.

Califone Specializes in Audio for Education

In 2016, Califone is celebrating its 70th anniversary and the company has been designing and delivering audio equipment for education throughout its long history. Case studies that provide educators’ own stories in using Califone headphones and headsets can be found at www.califone.com/casestudies and the company’s catalog, videos, and other educator resources are available online at www.califone.com/community.php. The company has recently introduced a new gaming headset, for use in instructional games and other game-based learning environments. Information about this latest Califone innovation is available at www.califone.com/products/gh507.php.

Resources

Watch the Listening First Video:

Watch the 3068 Series Video:

High-Quality Headphones Help Boost English Literacy Skills in Young Learners – Read the Case Study

Browse our Teacher Reports Here