THE Journal — Special Needs Students
San Diego USD Cogitates on Cognitive Tutor
San Diego Unified School District in California is hoping to bump student performance in math with the help of a research-based multimedia math curriculum called Cognitive Tutor Bridge to Algebra. The district spent $177,000 on licenses to bring the algebra readiness curriculum to students in 11 of its middle schools.
(10/3/2007)
DJI Releases Writing Intervention
Don Johnston Inc. (DJI) has expanded its lineup of Solo literacy tools with the release of Solo Writing Coach, an instructional framework targeting struggling learners in grades 3 through 12. Writing Coach is a component of the Solo Literacy Suite, a technology-based reading and writing scaffolding system.
(10/2/2007)
MIND Games: Institute Releases Algebra Intervention
The MIND Research Institute has released supplemental courseware aimed at improving success rates in Algebra I classes. Dubbed ST Math: Algebra Readiness Supplemental, the new title expands MIND's math offerings into the middle school level, building upon the elementary school-focused, foundational math skills-oriented Algebra Readiness.
(10/1/2007)
Idaho State Ed Board Deploys Reading Intervention
The Idaho State Board of Education will use Reading Prep and Fast ForWord to Reading 1-5 from Scientific Learning's Fast ForWord to Learning Series, a software package designed for reading intervention. The state had already given the software a road test. In a study conducted during the 2005-2006 school year, 282 students from Idaho's Pocatello/Chubbuck School District 25 used Fast ForWord software.
(9/26/2007)
Computer Tools Come to Special Education Curricula
AbleNet and SoftTouch have formed a partnership to deliver computer and literacy tools to students with moderate to severe cognitive and physical disabilities. The partnership is designed to build on two of AbleNet's special ed curricula: Star Reporter and MEville to WEville.
(9/5/2007)
PBS To Roll Out PreK Literacy Tools This Fall
PBS Kids is launching two new literacy programs for preschool beginning in early September--Super WHY! and WordWorld--as part of its Ready To Learn initiative for kids aged 2 to 8. The goal of the initiative, aimed especially toward students from low-income families, is to provide the tools young learners will need to acquire reading skills.
(8/31/2007)
Ed Tech Companies Launch Beginning Reading Program
The Weekly Reader Publishing group and school technology provider HareBrain have partnered to launch the Learn to Read: Beginning Reading Program, which provides students in preschool through first grade with reading kits, including HareBrain's WhisperPhone line of devices designed to help students read.
(8/21/2007)
Georgia Expands Program for Students at Risk
Four districts in Georgia are gearing up to deploy Ombudsman Educational Services for the fall. OES, from Educational Services of America, is a program designed for students who have been expelled, who have behavioral problems, or who are otherwise deemed right for alternative education. It's targeted toward middle- and high-school students.
(8/20/2007)
Texas District Implements Plato Online Curriculum
El Paso Independent School District will implement an online intervention curriculum from Plato Learning, a developer of K-12 and adult education e-learning solutions. The new content will provide online credit recovery and state test remediation courses to 15 secondary schools in the district, with plans for additional implementation in the future.
(8/15/2007)
AbleNet Launches 3 Special Ed Curricula
Curriculum developer AbleNet has launched a new service called AbleNet Student Achievement Program, a suite that includes curricula, assistive technologies, and professional development for special education.
(8/9/2007)
McGraw-Hill Rolls Out K-6 ELL Program
Macmillan/McGraw-Hill, a unit of the McGraw-Hill School Solutions Group, has released a new program for English language learners in grades K through 6: Treasure Chest, a research-based language and literacy curriculum that combines interactive activities with traditional teaching tools.
(8/9/2007)
Pennsylvania DOE Nabs $6.4MM Grant for Special Ed
The Pennsylvania Department of Education has received a five-year grant totaling about $6.4 million to help fund training and retention efforts for teachers and staff supporting special education.
(7/31/2007)
Eduspark To Deliver ELL Content via Internet
Eduspark this month signed a deal with multimedia delivery provider BroadRamp to provide its content for English language learners (ELL) over the Internet. Eduspark provides dual-language immersive education programs for K-8 and previously delivered its content through instructional DVDs. With the new deal, most of the company's content will also come through the Internet.
(7/26/2007)
SRI Tackles Special Ed for WWC
Research firm SRI International said it's working on a project to "synthesize research and provide practice guidelines to inform and improve special education reform efforts for the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC)...." WWC is a project overseen by the United States Department of Education. RI is a subcontractor on the project, working with Mathematica Policy Research, which is presently operating under a $50.3 million contract with DOE to expand WWC.
(7/23/2007)
ESL Social Network/Portal Debuts
English as a second language (ESL) startup AppleESL.com (Hollywood, CA) has unveiled a new ESL Web portal of the same name, which provides teachers and students with online and downloadable tools, materials, activity templates, lesson plans, and audio and video files.
(6/28/2007)
SLC Launches Reading Progress Indicator
Scientific Learning Corp. (SLC) has debuted Reading Progress Indicator for the company's Fast ForWord line of reading intervention tools. Reading Progress Indicator is designed to measure students' reading progress when using Fast ForWord. It was developed by assessment provider Bookette Software Co.
(6/19/2007)
Missouri To Launch Virtual Schools
Connections Academy, a virtual education company, recently announced that it has been selected by Missouri's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to provide Missouri's Virtual Instruction Program's (MoVIP) first K-5 virtual school, expected to open in 2007. The secondary education (grades 6-12) virtual school will be provided by Northwest Missouri State University. Both virtual campuses are intended to provide tuition-free education for more than 4,000 students in the state.
(5/18/2007)
Schools Help Struggling Readers with Soliloquy
Over the last month, two schools and one district have reported improvements in student achievement in reading resulting from a reading program based around speech recognition technology, Soliloquy Reading Assistant from Soliloquy Learning.
(5/17/2007)
WriteToLearn 3.0 Serves Up Writing, Reading Evaluation
Boulder, CO-based Pearson Knowledge Technologies has unveiled WriteToLearn 3.0, the latest update to its writing development and reading comprehension tool, which now gives students expanded feedback on their essays and helps teachers target students with reading passages geared for their individual abilities.
(4/25/2007)
Horace Mann School Receives $100,000 Donations
Boston Public's Horace Mann School for the deaf and hard of hearing will receive $100,000 of donated technology from 13 different companies participating at AIIM and On Demand Conferences & Expos. Donations will include a variety of equipment and software.
(4/23/2007)
South Australian DOE Hooks Up with Saba
The South Australian Department of Education & Children's Services (DECS) has deployed Saba Centra Live to enhance distance learning in the region.
(3/29/2007)
Alta Vista Improves Fluency with Speech Recognition
Alta Vista Elementary School in Haines City, FL has implemented Soliloquy Learning's Soliloquy Reading Assistant (SRA) to help with literacy among its large population of ELL students.
(3/22/2007)
Apex Debuts Summer Curricula
Digital curriculum developer Apex Learning has launched new curriculum solutions for schools that need to implement new summer school programs or improve existing ones.
(3/19/2007)
LAES Improves Fluency with Soliloquy
Lake Alfred Elementary School (LAES) in Florida has implemented Soliloquy Reading Assistant (SRA) from Soliloquy Learning to help improve reading fluency for the special needs students in its Exceptional Student Education (ESE) program.
(3/12/2007)
Lamar County Deploys Reading Intervention
The Lamar County School District in Mississippi has deployed Scientific Learning Corp.'s reading intervention, Fast ForWord. Fast ForWord is a family of digital learning tools designed to develop "the neurocognitive skills required to read and learn effectively." It's targeted toward students who are characterized as struggling learners.
(3/7/2007)
