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Solutions

  • Academy of READING
  • Academy of MATH
  • Explode The Code
  • S.P.I.R.E.

Efficacy Study Report (E.S.R.)

  • Academy of READING Efficacy Study (Randomized Control Study)
    The goal of the study was to measure the effectiveness of the Academy of READING® program for students in Special Education. Five schools from Whitehall City Schools, near Columbus, Ohio participated in the study. Students were randomly assigned to a treatment or control group. The students who participated in the Academy of READING® program, compared to students in the control group, demonstrated significant learning gains during the study period. Students' improvement in general level of reading achievement, overall reading abilities, comprehension and vocabulary, as well as their fluency gains were significant by the end of the study. This research study design meets all the requirements of What Works Clearinghouse.

Customer Comprehensive Implementation Report (Effectiveness Overview) (C.C.I.R.)

  • Whitehall-Yearling High School
    This report examines the efficacy of the Acadewmy of READING® and Academy of MATH® programs for Whitehall-Yearling High School students who were trained in the programs from January to April 2011.
  • Whitehall City School District: Elementary Schools
    This report examines the efficacy of the Academy of READING® and Academy of MATH® programs for elementary school students at Beechwood Elementary School, Etna Road Elementary School, and Kae Avenue Elementary School. Data is reported for those students who were trained in the Academy of MATH and the Academy of READING during the 2010-2011 school year.
  • Spring Independent School District, TX
    The goal of this project was to evaluate the efficacy of the Academy of READING® and Academy of MATH® with struggling elementary, middle, and high school students. Gains were examined on the Placement tests and Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) standardized test.
  • Faust Junior High School, Chambersburg, PA
    The effectiveness of the Academy of READING in promoting reading skills was examined in a group of 8th grade students at Faust Junior High School. Students participating in the study had been identified as having at least two years of reading delayed problems. After 11.5 hours of time on task on the Academy of READING, these students showed statistically significant gains of 2.4 grade levels on the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test.
  • Independence Middle School, Bethel Park, PA
    In less than one school year, a group of 93 regular and special education students training on the Academy of READING demonstrated substantive average gains of 2.5 grade levels on the Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test.  Prior to training, only 14.4% of students scored at or above their grade level on the SDRT. Following training, 54.4% of students scored at or above their grade level on the test.
  • Sweetwater Elementary School, Sweetwater, TN
    Students in the 3rd grade at Sweetwater Elementary School participated in an evaluation of the Academy of READING intervention program. Prior to training on the Academy of READING, only 4% of students scored at or above the third grade level on the STAR Reading Test. Following training, 50% of students scored at or above their grade level and 2% of students scored at or above the fourth grade level.
  • Evergreen Elementary School, Holmen, WI
    The goal of this project was to evaluate the efficacy of the Academy of READING and Academy of MATH with struggling students in third through fifth grade. Gains were examined on the Placement tests and Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) standardized test.

Customer Implementation Report (Effectiveness Overview) (C.I.R.)

Case Studies

  • Eastview Elementary School, BC
    Eastview Elementary, part of North Vancouver School District in British Columbia, employs the latest technologies to help students in kindergarten through grade 7 who are falling behind to develop the skills they need to meet grade-level expectations. When Karen Roberts began her position in the learning assistance centre (LAC) three years ago, she implemented Academy of READING® and Academy of MATH® - intervention programs from EPS/School Specialty® Literacy and Intervention - at the recommendation of the new principal, who had used them at another school.
  • 21st Century Preparatory School, Racine, WI
    In reaction to a growing concern that numerous students were performing well below grade level, educators at 21st Century Preparatory School in Racine, Wisconsin, realized that the solution to stemming the tide of sagging performance was already in the building — Academy of READING® and Academy of MATH®.
  • Davenport North High School, Davenport, IA
    The Davenport School District had already been using the Academy of MATH for two years when they added the Academy of READING in 2004. Originally a program they used for only the special education students, Davenport North found the Academy of READING and the
    Academy of MATH so helpful that their administration began using it with students of all abilities, in all three high schools (Central, West & North).
  • Janesville School District, Janesville, WI
    Identifying struggling students is rarely a problem for educators — most have at least a mental list of kids who are unfortunately falling behind. Identifying what the best course of action for those students is where the challenge is often found. For the School District of Janesville, that prescribed action included the intervention solutions Academy of READING® and Academy of MATH®.
  • Ladue High School, Saint Louis, MO
    Every student that passes through Joanne Curran’s classroom struggles with some aspect of reading — fluency, vocabulary, comprehension or any of a number of important components. Consequently, every child she works with reads far more slowly than age-level expectations. An important addition to Ladue’s curriculum offers each of these students the opportunity to turn all that around — Academy of READING.
  • LEARN Charter School, Chicago, IL
    Courtney Francis, Head of LEARN Charter School, knows that education builds upon a strong foundation in reading and math skills, but she wasn’t convinced that technology could be the instrument to aid in strengthening those skills. The literacy intervention software programs Academy of READING and Academy of MATH made her a believer.
  • Los Arcos Learning Center, Salida, CA
    Salida Union School District developed a supplemental program, using the Academy of READING, to provide additional assistance to ELL and economically disadvantaged students and improve scores on the California Academic Performance Index. The results were dramatic – 42% of the students who attended the program showed significant growth in their language skills, compared to only 24% of students who did not attend the program.
  • Edgewater High School, Orange County, FL
    Located in Orlando, Edgewater High School (EHS) is home to a diverse multicultural and socioeconomic student population: 46% are African American, 12% are Hispanic, and 16% are Special Education. Meeting the learning needs of such a diverse student population can be challenging for any school. This reality hit home in 2004 when EHS failed to make the necessary gains with the lowest 25% of its students on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test for the two previous years.
  • Valley High School, Las Vegas, NV
    Rapid growth in newcomer students with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) is challenging many schools across the nation to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) targets established by No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Valley High School turned to Academy of READING; a software-based literacy intervention solution that has a proven track record for achieving permanent and measurable gains in students of all ages.
  • Washington Middle School, Springfield, IL
    A short assessment led to a decision to test the Academy of READING and Academy of MATH with 76 students in the winter semester. The pilot results for Washington Middle School were compelling with some students achieving gains of 2.0 levels in a three month period.
  • Nash-Rocky Mount Schools, Nashville, NC
    Nash-Rocky Mount administrators decided to incorporate the Academy of READING into their high schools' regular curriculum after discovering that almost 20% of their incoming grade 9 students were reading below grade level.  According to Sylvia Matthews, Executive Director of Secondary Education, the Academy of READING is an excellent resource for high school teachers because it gives them the tools to teach their students and the data to show that it is working.
  • Shilohview Elementary School, Dayton, OH
    Shilohview was in dire need of a reading intervention solution that would produce immediate and measurable academic gains for a large population of at-risk students. After implementing the Academy of READING, Shilohview Elementary School saw that some of their students, who normally don't progress at benchmark rates for DIBELS testing, were performing as much as 30% beyond their expectations.
  • Brownsville Area School District, Brownsville, PA
    In 2003 all five Brownsville Area schools failed to meet the minimum standards established by the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) and all schools fell into the red and required 'school improvement'. "The PSSA forced us to look at how we were instructing our students. We needed to formulate very clear goals and forge a long term plan that would help us to level the playing field," says Dr. Harry Miale, Assistant to the Superintendent.
  • Independence Middle School, Bethel Park, PA
    Like many schools, Independence Middle School had a population of “at-risk” students that school educators could not help using standard, time intensive remedial efforts. These students achieved 39% or less on the TerraNova test or were deemed Basic or Below Basic on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA). Two reading specialists, Kimberly Pepper and Sonja Kubinec, were fiercely determined to find a new way to help these students.
  • Blackman Middle School, Murfreesboro, TN
    BMS decided to implement a pilot program called Across the Road in the summer of 2003. Approximately 50 to 60 students from grades 6 to 8 participated in the initial pilot with borderline grade 8 students being a priority. BMS decided to use Academy of READING and Academy of MATH as the literacy intervention solution of choice.
  • Claughton Middle School, Houston, TX
    Two years ago, despite many progressive student support initiatives, Claughton's TELPAS score dipped to a bare pass at 53%. After researching various alternative intervention methods Delic Loyde, Principal of Claughton Middle School, quickly settled on Academy of READING and Academy of MATH.
  • Sebeka School District, Sebeka, MN
    Like many schools across Minnesota, educators at the Sebeka School District were faced with an important decision — how best to utilize funds available from the Minnesota Microsoft settlement. Many software intervention solutions were investigated and considered. Based on first-year results, Superintendent Dave Fjeldheim is certainly convinced they made the correct decision in adding Academy of READING® and Academy of MATH® to their curriculum.
  • Sheboygan Falls School District, Sheboygan Falls, WI
    Jean Born's pre-implementation research paid off. The Sheboygan Falls School District recently completed their first year of using both the Academy of READING and Academy of MATH and district administrators have seen marked improvement throughout the student body.

 

Efficacy Study Report (E.S.R.)

  • Academy of MATH Efficacy Study (Randomized Control Study)
    The purpose of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of the Academy of MATH® program in helping Tier II and Tier III students that are at risk of academic failure in mathematics to attain critical mathematics skills. The students who participated in the current study all attended Westwood Elementary School located in Manchester, Tennessee. The study was a randomized control trial of the Academy of MATH®. The students who participated in the Academy of MATH® program, compared to students in the control group, demonstrated significant learning gains during the study period. Students' improvement in general level of mathematics achievement, overall mathematics abilities, Numbers and Operations and Measurement. This research study design meets all the requirements of What Works Clearinghouse.
  • University High School, Orange County, FL
    A randomized control trial (RCT) study was conducted with students at University High School, Orange County Public Schools, FL. The study showed that the Academy of MATH test group achieved significant math gains on the Stanford Diagnostic Mathematics Test (SDMT) and on the FCAT.

Customer Comprehensive Implementation Report (Effectiveness Overview) (C.C.I.R.)

  • Whitehall-Yearling High School
    This report examines the efficacy of the Acadewmy of READING® and Academy of MATH® programs for Whitehall-Yearling High School students who were trained in the programs from January to April 2011.
  • Whitehall City School District: Elementary Schools
    This report examines the efficacy of the Academy of READING® and Academy of MATH® programs for elementary school students at Beechwood Elementary School, Etna Road Elementary School, and Kae Avenue Elementary School. Data is reported for those students who were trained in the Academy of MATH and the Academy of READING during the 2010-2011 school year.
  • Evergreen Elementary School, Holmen, WI
    The goal of this project was to evaluate the efficacy of the Academy of READING and Academy of MATH with struggling students in third through fifth grade. Gains were examined on the Placement tests and Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) standardized test.
  • Spring Independent School District, TX
    The goal of this project was to evaluate the efficacy of the Academy of READING® and Academy of MATH® with struggling elementary, middle, and high school students. Gains were examined on the Placement tests and Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) standardized test.
  • Great Falls Public Schools, MT
    During the 2006/2007 school year the Academy of MATH® intervention software program was actively used at 16 schools in the Great Falls Public Schools District. The program was targeted mainly towards students that were having difficulty with their math skills.

Case Studies

  • Eastview Elementary School, BC
    Eastview Elementary, part of North Vancouver School District in British Columbia, employs the latest technologies to help students in kindergarten through grade 7 who are falling behind to develop the skills they need to meet grade-level expectations. When Karen Roberts began her position in the learning assistance centre (LAC) three years ago, she implemented Academy of READING® and Academy of MATH® - intervention programs from EPS/School Specialty® Literacy and Intervention - at the recommendation of the new principal, who had used them at another school.
  • Capistrano Elementary School, Modesto, CA
    Students at Capistrano Elementary School, located in northern California's San Joaquin Valley, were facing academic challenges, lagging in math achievement and requiring intervention to master grade-level expectations. Capistrano Elementary leaders reviewed a number of research-based intervention solutions before choosing the Academy of MATH® from EPS/School Specialty Literacy and Intervention four years ago.
  • Anderson Elementary School, Houston, TX
    Anderson Elementary is home to a suburban student body of approximately 850, of which 60% qualify as economically disadvantaged. Prior to the implementation of the Academy of MATH program, teachers and administrators saw that some of these students were scoring low on district and/or state assessments and others demonstrated learning difficulties in their classroom assessments.
  • 21st Century Preparatory School, Racine, WI
    In reaction to a growing concern that numerous students were performing well below grade level, educators at 21st Century Preparatory School in Racine, Wisconsin, realized that the solution to stemming the tide of sagging performance was already in the building — Academy of READING® and Academy of MATH®.
  • Davenport North High School, Davenport, IA
    The Davenport School District had already been using the Academy of MATH for two years when they added the Academy of READING in 2004. Originally a program they used for only the special education students, Davenport North found the Academy of READING and the Academy of MATH so helpful that their administration began using it with students of all abilities, in all three high schools (Central, West & North).
  • Janesville School District, Janesville, WI
    Identifying struggling students is rarely a problem for educators — most have at least a mental list of kids who are unfortunately falling behind. Identifying what the best course of action for those students is where the challenge is often found. For the School District of Janesville, that prescribed action included the intervention solutions Academy of READING® and Academy of MATH®.
  • LEARN Charter School, Chicago, IL
    Courtney Francis, Head of LEARN Charter School, knows that education builds upon a strong foundation in reading and math skills, but she wasn’t convinced that technology could be the instrument to aid in strengthening those skills. The literacy intervention software programs Academy of READING and Academy of MATH made her a believer.
  • Sebeka School District, Sebeka, MN
    Like many schools across Minnesota, educators at the Sebeka School District were faced with an important decision — how best to utilize funds available from the Minnesota Microsoft settlement. Many software intervention solutions were investigated and considered. Based on first-year results, Superintendent Dave Fjeldheim is certainly convinced they made the correct decision in adding Academy of READING® and Academy of MATH® to their curriculum.
  • St. Ferdinand Parish, Chicago, IL
    Chicago-based school principal Dr. Lucine Mastalerz knew that her dedicated teaching staff would need to see results first before embracing any technology-based solution. She implemented a progressive strategy that eased the Academy of MATH into the curriculum. She began a pilot program working with a resource teacher and 25 grade 4 math students.
  • Washington Middle School, Springfield, IL
     A short assessment led to a decision to test the Academy of READING and Academy of MATH with 76 students in the winter semester. The pilot results for Washington Middle School were compelling with some students achieving gains of 2.0 levels in a three month period.
  • Freedom Elementary School, Lima, OH
    In 2004, Freedom Elementary adopted the Ohio Integrated Systems Model for Academic and Behavior Supports (OISM), a comprehensive school-wide prevention and intervention model that provides support systems which address both academic and behavioral needs of all students. Any school adopting OISM scrutinizes student performance data on a regular basis to guide decisions related to any potential intervention.
  • Brownsville Area School District, Brownsville, PA
    In 2003 all five Brownsville Area schools failed to meet the minimum standards established by the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) and all schools fell into the red and required 'school improvement'. "The PSSA forced us to look at how we were instructing our students. We needed to formulate very clear goals and forge a long term plan that would help us to level the playing field," says Dr. Harry Miale, Assistant to the Superintendent.
  • Blackman Middle School, Murfreesboro, TN
    BMS decided to implement a pilot program called Across the Road in the summer of 2003. Approximately 50 to 60 students from grades 6 to 8 participated in the initial pilot with borderline grade 8 students being a priority. BMS decided to use Academy of READING and Academy of MATH as the literacy intervention solution of choice.
  • Claughton Middle School, Houston, TX
    Two years ago, despite many progressive student support initiatives, Claughton's TELPAS score dipped to a bare pass at 53%. After researching various alternative intervention methods Delic Loyde, Principal of Claughton Middle School, quickly settled on Academy of READING and Academy of MATH.
  • Kamiakin High School, Kennewick, WA
    Named after Kamiakin, a chief of the Yakama Tribe in the 1800s, Kamiakin High School has earned a solid reputation for being one of the top public high schools in southeastern Washington. Until 2003 the Kamiakin Math Department had been putting struggling math students in an "extended integrated" math class. (

Explode The Code Online has been used by thousands of struggling readers. Studies indicate that students who used Explode The Code Online every day for 20 minutes for at least 10 weeks gained reading proficiency at a rate of at least three times that of students from the same schools who did not use the program. (Results are based on statistically significant Chi-Square test analyses of student performance on the California Standards Test in 2004-05 and 2005-06 from three schools in the Ravenswood City School District.)*

Results have been dramatic for English Language Learners. Among Explode The Code Online users, the percentage of English Language Learners who performed at the far below basic and below basic levels decreased by 37.5%. There was no change in the performance among English Language Learners from the same schools who did not use the software.

*Explode The Code Online was used in a Supplementary Education Service (SES) setting.

Customer Comprehensive Implementation Report (Effectiveness Overview) (C.C.I.R.)


More results from Ravenswood City School District (San Mateo County, CA). 2006-07 Academic Outcomes Summary Graphs for the:
More results from San Mateo-Foster City School District (San Mateo County, CA). 2006-07 Academic Outcomes Summary Graphs for the:

Customer Implementation Report (Effectiveness Overview) (C.I.R.)

  • Alton Community Unit School District No. 11, IL
    In the Fall of 2003, the Alton Community Unit School District began implementing S.P.I.R.E.® as a prevention-intervention literacy program for K–2 students in the Students with Disabilities subgroup. Over the next two years S.P.I.R.E. was extended to Students with Disabilities in grades 3–8, in addition to the Early Childhood and Mentally Impaired programs. Data from the 2006 ISAT shows that the Students with Disabilities subgroup has made significant gains in reading. As a result of these gains, three schools made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in 2006.