Press Release - June 28, 2004
Vantage Learning Partners With Texas Schools To Help Improve Student Achievement In the Core Subject Of Writing
Vantage Learning's MY Access!™ to be used by Technology Immersion Pilot (TIP) grant recipient districts to develop effective writing skills
Newtown, PA, June 28, 2004 - Vantage Learning (www.vantagelearning.com) today announced that the award-winning MY Access! instructional writing program was selected as one of the packages for use in Texas schools as part of the TIP program.TIP is a federally funded grant program that leverages the state technology immersion pilot authorized by Texas Senate Bill 396 of the 78th Texas Legislature. The primary goal of the program is to increase student achievement by providing each student with a wireless mobile computing device and other innovative technologies to test the effectiveness of technology immersion in increasing student achievement.
"Vantage is delighted to participate in this exciting program," said Harry Barfoot, Vice President of Sales and Marketing. "We will serve about 1800 students directly in three districts using the web-based MY Access! instructional writing program. We have strong evidence from districts using MY Access! of improvement in writing scores. We look forward to helping the administrators, teachers, and students in support of this wonderful initiative as well as measuring the impact of technology on student achievement in Texas."
As a core component to the overall grant solution, Vantage Learning's MY Access! is a web-based writing environment that rapidly scores essays with accuracy and consistency greater than human expert scorers and provides immediate diagnostic feedback to engage students and motivate them to write more and improve their composition skills. The latest version includes customization features that allow teachers to add their own writing prompts and tailor the teaching and learning environments to the specific needs of their students. Administrators can view student writing in a new graphic reporting engine, identifying specific weak and strong skills, by domain. The highly prescriptive feedback and support used to develop student writing skills are cornerstones in achieving adequate yearly progress (AYP) in writing.
MY Access! is based on Vantage Learning's IntelliMetric® engine, which uses a rich blend of artificial intelligence (AI) and the digitization of human expertise to accurately assess a student's competency and progress in subjects ranging from reading and writing, to science and social studies. IntelliMetric is capable of scoring essays with feedback in over 20 languages, highly beneficial for English Language Learners (ELL) students. For example, those students whose native language is Spanish and who are learning to write in English, will be able to receive feedback in their native language to help them better understand their weaknesses and improve their English writing skills.
In addition, all 13 TIP grant recipient districts will be utilizing the Texas Math Diagnostic System (TMDS). TMDS, also developed by Vantage Learning, is a web-based mathematics diagnostic and assessment system made available to all Texas public schools through the Texas Education Agency and the Governor's Math Initiative. TMDS allows educators to administer their own math assessments to students online or to download them for paper-based administration. Online diagnostic assessments are graded and assessed immediately via the Internet.
"Given the culturally and economically diverse communities that this grant will serve, both MY Access! and TMDS offer the promise to enhance the learning for all students," commented Harry Barfoot. "Cross-district best practices can be shared among teachers and administrators, and students will benefit from being immersed in these technologies. We are excited about this opportunity. It is our fundamental belief that we can make a difference in the lives of these students and help them be productive citizens in the future."
About Vantage Learning
Vantage Learning, an affiliate of Vantage Laboratories and the leading provider of online assessment and automated essay scoring, developed IntelliMetric® (www.vantagelearning.com) to meet the needs of business, education, and government agencies needing a comprehensive Internet-based test authoring, delivery, scoring and reporting platform. IntelliMetric administers and scores responses to open-ended questions over the Internet using advanced artificial intelligence technology. An individual can enter a response to a question posed, submit the response, and receive an immediate score with feedback within seconds.
Eduventures recently selected Vantage Learning as one of the eight most innovative educational technology companies. MY Access! earned a 2003 District Administration Top 100 Award, was included in Technology and Learning Magazine's Top 10 Smart Technologies for Schools, and is a Codie Awards finalist 2 years in a row. Vantage Learning provides services in all 50 states including Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia, Oregon, and Texas and provides services to educational leaders such as The College Board, ACT, Harcourt Assessment, Inc., CTB/McGraw Hill and Thomson Learning, and industry giants such as Microsoft, Apple Computer, AOL, and Sun Microsystems.