Rapid Resources Captures Education Award

http://www.internationallearningcorporation.com/Media/Nov13.html or http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/11/prweb1608534.htm

Rapid Resources won a 2008 Awards of Excellence from Technology & Learning magazine. Congratulations to Bill Tudor and his team for such excellent work. I have spoken to a few teachers who are using Rapid Resources and they are astounded that such a simple online resource can be so helpful to them.

Rapid Resources creates individualized learning plans for grades K-12 in math, language arts, reading and science - even for high school exit exams. Teachers can choose accelerated activities or to fill in the knowledge gaps with remediation activities. There is an integrated assessment tool that the teacher can use to quickly determine which skill a student is missing. She merely checks off boxes when a student misses a skill and then BINGO, out pops a list of activities just for that student.

I've heard of teachers sending these activities sheet home for homework with their parent. They also use them in class or can give them to classroom aides (parent volunteers in my son's school). Stop in a take a look and sign up for a 30-day trial at http://www.rapidresources.com/.

Economics Education in Wild Times

I have just interviewed an interesting professor who co-authored Economics: Choices & Concepts, a 2008 high school economics text published by McDougal Littell/Houghton Mifflin (now Holt McDougal) and co-author of Houghton Mifflin Social Studies. Dr. Mark Schug is Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin‑Milwaukee.

We talked about the current economic climate in the U.S. and abroad. He reminded me that finance education of our young people is critical these days. Not only is there great uncertainty in the world but our generation and our children's generation live in a different time. Our parents often had company pensions to sustain them through their retirement. Now it is up to each individual to prepare for their retirement years.

Given that I am in the mix right now with my own parents, his comments hit home. My father, born in the 1930's, was self-employed and did not have the best plan in place. It is a constant juggle to manage my parent's finances. I wish my father had had any personal finance resources and education available to him when he was young. Now my mother is having to learn the basics while keeping afloat.

Dr. Schug served as a Senior Fellow with the National Council on Economic Education from 2002-2005. In addition to his university teaching, he taught high school for ten years. He has written or co-authored 200 articles, books and national curriculum materials.

He would be a great interview and I invite any media who would like to talk to him to email me at jennifer @ jharrisonpr.com. I'll be happy to put you in touch.

National Drop-out Problem (WSJ article)

The Wall Street Journal published an article on Oct. 21 about the drop-out problem. I was appalled to learn that only 25% of Detroit students graduate from high school in 4 years. I don't know how many Detroit students graduate in more than 4 years (a lesson in critical reading...)but this single bit of data is scary all by itself. Here is the article link. (Email me if you would like a copy )

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122455013168452477.html (only live until 10-28)

One of my clients has a relevant story for the topic of dropout prevention...

SAM Learning is being used in many schools but one pilot this summer was with kids who were in danger of failing their HSEE. The school (in Bronx, NY) had encouraging results when kids used SAM to improve their math scores. They had more students pass their HSEE than they had in previous years. Email me if you would like to know more about the program or to get in touch with the school. The assistant principal is a charming lady and loves to talk about how well SAM Learning is working for them.

Case Study (DRAFT) - ESOL Student Assessment

We are in the final approval stages for a case study for Citrus County SD in Florida. They use Ballard & Tighe's IPT family of tests to get a read on English proficiency. What is most interesting, however, is the push for using this simple test to drive instruction.

I can't paste the link just yet but wanted to put the word out that it is coming soon. Here are snippets from the case study.

...One of the challenges all teachers face is not knowing about a student’s previous schooling. When there is a new student who speaks little or no English, then there is a substantial communication barrier that can make it impossible to know what the student already knows or can do. In keeping with the district’s focus on individualized instruction, Citrus County School District wants to give their teachers as much information about their ELL students as possible...

Johnson advises teachers to look at the item analysis that is generated with the IPT. “The IPT report
gives you an item-by-item analysis and tells you what learning level [Bloom’s taxonomy] the student is at,” says Mrs. Johnson. “It tells you the language and depth and cognitive skill that a student is drawing from.” With that amount of information, a teacher can adjust their instruction to fill in knowledge gaps and give a new student a chance to shine...

News Release - NEA's Member Benefits Corporation Selects Rapid Resources

Just out on PRWeb...

Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) October 19, 2008 -- Members of the National Education Association (NEA) (www.nea.org) now have a special opportunity to purchase Rapid Resources - a proven, easy-to-use online tool for educators to build individualized learning plans. The NEA's Member Benefits Corporation (NEA MB), in partnership with International Learning Corporation, today announced that NEA MB has secured special members-only pricing that saves over fifty (50%) percent off the annual subscription rate of Rapid Resources. NEA MB has also secured a free 30-day trial use of Rapid Resources (www.rapidresources.com/nea) to test drive this unique software product. (more)


Go to this link for the full text, graphics and a 5-minute podcast (in various formats).
http://www.prweb.com/releases/rapidresources/nea/prweb1485774.htm

Also visit my site for the release, the mp3 file and link to PR Web http://www.jharrisonpr.com/clientNews.html

Education Experts

To improve access to the education experts whom I interview and consult with, I have begun listing them at ExpertSource (a product of BusinessWire). ExpertSource requires registration and is a site for media. Anyone, however, may view the detailed bios of these same experts at my website www.jharrisonpr.com/experts. All inquiries must be directed to me but I will respond quickly. Journalists, if you are on deadline, please write "on deadline" in the subject of your email.

The following are experts I currently have available for interviews with more on the way. Feel free to send general inquiries to me for other education topics as I have access to hundreds of school districts around the country (and now in the U.K. as well!)

Dr. Audrey Heining-Boynton – Professor of Education, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Dr. Timothy Kanold – Mathematician, writer, speaker, textbook author and former superintendent

Dr. Stephen Nowicki – Dean and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education at Duke University, as well as Bass Fellow and Professor in the departments of Biology, Psychology, and Neurobiology

William (Bill) Tudor – President of International Learning Corporation, expert in individualizing instruction and K-12 educational technology

Dr. Connie Williams – Specialist in ELD (English language Development) Author, Consultant and Curriculum Developer

Dr. Sam Wineburg – Professor of Education and Professor of History (by courtesy) at Stanford University, Director of the Stanford Education History Group writer, textbook author

ELD/ELL Case Study: Assessment at Port Arthur ISD

Another case study for Ballard & Tighe, Publishers. Writers interested in speaking to the individuals quoted in this and other case studies may contact me at jennifer@jharrisonpr.com and I'll help you reach this district.


Port Arthur Independent School District (ISD) in Texas uses the IPT Assessment System from Ballard & Tighe, Publishers to accurately assess their students’ English proficiency. Limited English Proficient (LEP) students take the IPT in order for the Language Assessment Team to determine the level of English language support each student needs. Students who show a sufficient grasp of English may be ready for an English-only curriculum with no additional support. However, the district provides varying degrees of English support for students who do not show a sufficient grasp of English.

Click here for the link to the full case study: http://www.ballard-tighe.com/pdfs/ssPortArthurISD.pdf