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Palm Springs Unified School District Invests $800,000 in Vantage Learning's MY Access!(R) Instructional Writing Program

Posted on: Tuesday, 18 March 2008, 12:00 CDT

The Palm Springs Unified School District in Southern California is investing more than $800,000 in a proven education technology program, designed to enhance learning across its curriculum. Its new contract with Vantage Learning brings an innovative online writing program called MY Access!® to thousands of elementary, middle, and high school students in the Palm Springs Unified School District over the next three years. The District plans to introduce 4,000 licenses for MY Access! at four middle schools and two elementary schools in the first year of the program implementation. In year two, the District will incorporate the program into the high school writing curriculum and will continue distributing additional licenses to classrooms in year three.

MY Access! is hailed by educators as the ideal teacher's assistant. Dr. Lori McCune, Superintendent of Palm Springs Unified School District, cited the importance of writing skills in the explanation of her investment in MY Access!. "Research by Dr. Douglas Reeves and others shows how effective the frequency of writing increases achievement across the curriculum," says McCune. "Our teachers are looking forward to seeing not only improvement in written communication, but higher levels of achievement in all subjects they cover in their classrooms."

To use MY Access!, students write an essay based on a teacher's assignment, and submit it to the Web-based system. MY Access! then analyzes over 350 semantic, syntactic, and discourse characteristics, scoring students on focus and meaning, organization, content and development, language use and style, mechanics and conventions, and overall writing proficiency. The ratings of these elements are combined into one score on a scale of one to six (or one to four, settable by the teacher), which appears on the screen in seconds.

"Writing is one of our most difficult areas to master," says Dr. McCune. "Oversized classes at the secondary level make it difficult for teachers to read a large volume of individual student work critically; MY Access! combined with effective professional practices is the solution. With the quick feedback it provides on a one-on-one basis, students reach a higher level of proficiency before they even turn anything into the teacher for review. This program is a natural extension of an educator's expertise."

Harry Barfoot, Vice President of Sales and Marketing of Vantage Learning, is pleased to see another school district making a serious investment in an online learning tool. "It's rewarding to see educators get excited about MY Access! the same way we do here at Vantage," says Barfoot. "Palm Springs Unified District has a comprehensive plan to implement the program throughout their schools and make every minute in the classroom more valuable. They clearly value the mastery of writing skills, and we are glad to help their students excel faster than ever before. Additionally, district leadership understands the value of a well-educated student whose future in our workforce, whether immediately after high school or upon college graduation, is of utmost importance and critical to our economic vitality and competitiveness."

Training and coaching is a significant factor in the successful implementation of MY Access! As such, Vantage Learning representatives plan to begin the training phase and coach teachers in the Palm Springs Unified School District over the summer months. Students will first see MY Access! in their classrooms at the start of the 2008 - 2009 school year.

About Vantage Learning

Delivering more than 193 million online test transactions last year, Vantage Learning is recognized as the leader in cost-effective, high volume, secure, scalable online assessment and instructional programs for K-12 and higher education. Leveraging technology such as artificial intelligence, natural language understanding, and Web-based learning objects, Vantage provides educators with high-quality tools and resources that motivate students to learn and that create meaningful interaction between students, parents and teachers.

Acknowledged by industry leaders as the gold standard for scoring quality, consistency, reliability, and scalability of automated essay scoring using the patented IntelliMetric® engine, Vantage Learning has received accolades ranging from the prestigious CODIE Award for best instructional technology to recognition by Eduventures as one of the eight most innovative educational technology companies.

Source: Business Wire

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