Vantage Learning Launches MY Access!® College Edition™ to Improve Writing Skills for Incoming Freshman

As freshman hit the books this fall, Vantage Learning's new MY Access! College Edition provides the tools to start college with success

On the heels of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2007 Writing Assessment report indicating that while progress is being made, only 24 percent of 12th grade students nationally are at proficient levels or above, Vantage Learning, the world's leading provider of online instructional writing tools has announced the release of MY Access!® College Edition™, designed to enhance and improve the writing skills of students who are preparing to enter college.

MY Access! College Edition is grounded with the same research-based automated essay scoring and instructional technology currently being used by more than one million K-12 students nationwide, as well as students in college and graduate programs.

"Overall, American students' writing skills are deteriorating," said Will Fitzhugh, the founder of The Concord Review (www.tcr.org), the only quarterly journal in the world to recognize and publish exemplary history essays by high school students. "In a recent survey of college professors, a large majority said they thought most high school graduates came to college with limited writing skills. Why should students, who jump all the required hurdles, in Massachusetts, Texas and California (and elsewhere) to be awarded a high school diploma in a graduation ceremony, find, when they enter the college to which they have been accepted and for which they believe themselves to have been academically prepared, that 37 or 46 percent or more of them, are judged not capable of college-level work and must enroll in remedial courses in order to (again) earn a place in college?"

According to John Fallon, Vice President of Vantage Learning, "MY Access! College Edition is a natural extension of the award-winning MY Access! School Edition, which is currently revolutionizing the way writing is taught in thousands of K-12 schools across the country. We are committed to enhancing the education of students at all levels; and the recent reports of students entering college without the necessary writing skills are alarming. We sought to create the best and most powerful tool for incoming freshman to be the best writers they can be as they come on campus this fall. When The New York Times recently reported that only one in four high school seniors are proficient writers, we knew we had the ability to help these students."

This new version of MY Access! features Vantage Learning's patented IntelliMetric® automated essay scoring engine-the same artificial intelligence used in MY Access! classroom versions and the first automated essay scoring technology to reach human level scoring accuracy. This proven technology gives users instant feedback on grammar, focus and meaning, organization, content and development, language use and style, and their overall writing proficiency.

• MY Access! College Edition provides the following features:
  • Instant and targeted feedback designed to identify areas of improvement;
  • The ability to continually write and revise to improve writing skills and build student confidence;
  • A completely Web-based platform, accessible anywhere users have a computer and an Internet connection-at home, school, or the library.
  • Self-paced and interactive lessons focused on college-level tasks guide users through the writing process: planning, organizing, drafting, revising, and editing.

To learn more about MY Access! College Edition, please visit http://www.vantagelearning.com/home/products/macollege

Institutions wishing to inquire about bulk purchases may visit the above address or the site of Vantage Learning's partners, McCann Associates at www.mccanntesting.com.

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.