Passkey Unlocks the Potential in Every Student

PassKey Unlocks the Potential in Every Student

The Key to Raising Test Scores

Table of Contents

The Key to Enhancing Student Success...... 3

The Passkey Story ...... 5

Mulvane Unified School District, Mulvane, Kansas...... 8

BoydCountySchools, Cattlettsburg, Kentucky...... 10

AltusSchools, Altus, Oklahoma...... 12

WilliamstonPublic Schools, Williamston, North Carolina...... 14

MoorePublic Schools, Moore, Oklahoma...... 16

HaleyvilleSchools, Haleyville, Alabama...... 18

Mission Trails Regional Occupational Program, Salinas, California. 20

Crowley’s RidgeTechnicalCollege, Forrest City, Arkansas………... 22

The Key to Enhancing Student Success

Providing Accountability

Accountability has become a key word in education. The landmark legislation, No Child Left Behind, holds states, school districts, individual schools, and teachers accountable for classroom results. States are implementing strong academic standards for what every child should know in reading, math, and science for elementary, middle, and high schools. Students are expected to demonstrate their mastery of requisite concepts and skills through extensive testing.

Test results will be included in annual state and district report cards the public can use to measure their schools’ performance and their state’s progress against the standards. These state and district reports will reveal the test results for every student group, including those who are economically disadvantaged; members of racial, ethnic, and language minorities; and students with disabilities. The report cards also will provide results by gender and migrant status to help identify and close the achievement gap between students of various groups.[1]

In addition to increased accountability, No Child Left Behind supports the use of effective, research-based education methods and appropriate classroom technology.

Teachers and administrators throughout the country are striving to meet the standards imposed by No Child Left Behind, but in a highly diverse society, it can be difficult to close the learning gap. The old methods don’t always work. A new millennium requires new strategies.

Glencoe/McGraw-Hill believes that all students, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic group, or ability level should have the opportunity and tools to succeed on state and federally mandated tests, and our unique PassKey program is an effective, proven method that addresses many of the concerns raised by the provisions of No Child Left Behind.

Effective, technology-based learning

Used in schools throughout the country for nearly 20 years, PassKey: A Prescriptive Learning System, is an easy-to-use, self-paced learning tool that helps a wide range of students gain proficiency in mathematics, reading, writing, science, and social studies. Hundreds of computer-based lessons span five skill levels and reading levels from 1.6 to 12.9. The lessons challenge every learner, from beginning to advanced. You can choose just the modules you need to achieve the results you want.

This report presents the stories of eight schools across the nation that have selected the PassKey program. Some schools use the program for remediation; some find it especially useful for ESL students. Some teachers choose PassKey to give at-risk or learning disabled students an additional learning strategy. Others give every student the opportunity to experience the PassKey difference. No matter how the program is implemented, the results are the same—an increase, sometimes dramatic, in test scores.

Those who have used the program are eager to share their stories. You may contact those who have been identified in each article to learn more about how they’ve used PassKey to help their students, and how you might do so as well.

The PassKey Story

The Key to Learning

Created by teachers for teachers and students

The computer-based PassKey program was developed by teachers with at least ten years’ experience in the classroom. Because of their vast experience with real students, they knew the types of questions students would ask and the types of mistakes they’d make. They knew the correct approaches to learning specific skills, and they replicated these approaches by writing the computer codes that became the PassKey program.

PassKey works because it “thinks” the way students think. It anticipates their responses and leads them to correct answers and mastery of necessary skills.

The PassKey Approach

PassKey is a prescriptive learning system. That means every lesson is skill-specific, focusing on precisely what students need to learn, not what they already know. The unique lesson structure includes a pretest, tutorial, guided practice, and post test.

The pretest identifies the student’s learning needs and prescribes which lessons are needed to meet criteria for mastery. Students work on only the lessons they need.

An easy-to-use tutorial guides students step by step through the interactive teaching sequence. Questions, with right and wrong answer feedback, are integrated throughout the tutorial.

Students strengthen their new skills in a guided practice exercise that provides feedback for both right and wrong answers; they can receive additional help anytime by clicking the HINT button.

After the post test is completed, the score is reported to both the student and teacher. If the post test confirms that the student has mastered the skill tested, he or she moves on to the next lesson.

To further delineate students’ needs, PassKey’s built-in diagnostics and electronic link to the Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE) make it easy for teachers to identify skill deficiencies and assign lessons in any or all the subject areas.

PassKey’s fully automated management system helps teachers enroll students, track their progress through each lesson and subject area, and generate reports that include detailed individual and group records. It allows instructors to customize reports, navigation, testing, and tools to meet specific teaching and learning goals.

PassKey’s Unique Benefits

Built-in correlations to national and state proficiency tests make it easy for teachers to assign the exact lessons students need for optimum test performance. PassKey effectively prepares students for success in all types of testing situations, helping improve a district’s No Child Left Behind “report card.”

Teachers spend less time on lesson administration and more time providing individualized instruction—without adding hours of preparation time to already crowded schedules. They can move from computer to computer, answering specific questions and meeting each student’s unique learning needs. Students learn more and are able to demonstrate mastery more quickly. It’s a proven way to teach a whole group of students—one at a time.

PassKey’s self-paced instruction sets the stage for success. Students can move quickly through a series of lessons or return to a lesson to reinforce the skills and concepts presented. They appreciate the immediate feedback, the practice opportunities, and the interactive nature of the instruction they receive.

In short, PassKey works. Students learn, they’re able to demonstrate subject mastery on all types of assessments, and they’re proud of their involvement in their own learning. PassKey creates a win-win-win situation for students, teachers, and school districts.

Mulvane Unified School District

Mulvane, Kansas

Comprehensive

“We’re in our second year using PassKey, and we’re very happy with it,” says Dana Vaughn, Technology Assistant with the Mulvane Schools. “From our primary school to our grade school, intermediate school, and high school, all of our 2,000 students use PassKey for various subject areas. Some students use it for only 45 minutes per day, while others may work on the lessons for as much as two hours three times a week. PassKey works well in every classroom and for students of every ability level, including our Special Education students and our Extended Learning (gifted) program.”

Vaughn is particularly happy with the self-pacing aspects of the program. “It allows students to integrate technology at the speed that’s comfortable for them. For example, one student may spend 15 minutes on a lesson, while another needs 30 minutes to master the same material. Students who’ve completed a lesson don’t have to wait for others to finish, and teachers can work with individual student concerns without holding up the whole class. That’s a good use of instructional time.”

Vaughn says the program’s diagnostics are a favorite with district teachers. “We find out exactly what the students need to know. The audio feature is a big help for beginning readers, for students who need repetition, and for those who benefit from hearing and seeing the lesson material.”

Students can’t work on PassKey all day, Vaughn says. “It can’t replace good teaching, but our teachers have found PassKey to be a great addition to their teaching styles.”

Contact information: Dana Vaughn, Technology Assistant

Mulvane Schools

430 E. Main Street

Mulvane, KS67110

(316) 777-1102

(316) 111-1103 (fax)

Boyd County Public Schools

Catlettsburg, Kentucky

Flexible

“In our summer school we have students in grades one through five who are achieving below grade level,” says Paula Burdette, teacher and computer lab administrator for the Boyd County Schools summer school session. “PassKey has so many options and lessons it meets the needs of every student, whatever the grade level.”

The 2002 summer school was a child-centered, hands-on tutoring program designed to bring elementary school students up to grade level by the next school year, Burdette says. “We used the PassKey reading lessons for our first- and second-graders and both the reading and math lessons for students in grades three through five.”

The daily summer school program was intensive. There were ten instructors for the 56 students; and the program featured small group instruction as well as opportunities to use PassKey. During a four-hour day, younger students worked on Passkey 30 minutes each day, while older students received two 20-minute sessions a day.

“Our study ran only three months, and we were pleased with the results,” Burdette says. “Using PassKey, our reading scores increased from two months to two years, and our math scores increased by nearly a year.”

Summer school will expand to two schools this year and PassKey will be included in both computer labs, Burdette says. “We use lots of different approaches, including PassKey, during the school year, but for summer school, PassKey is our choice.”

Contact information:Paula Burdette, Teacher

PonderosaElementary School

16701 Ponderosa Drive

Cattlettsburg, KY41129

(606) 928-2330

Altus Public Schools

Altus, Oklahoma

Motivating

“One of the most important things in a student’s life is getting a driver’s license” says Rebecca York, Altus Public Schools’ assistant superintendent and director of curriculum. “In the state of Oklahoma, if a student isn’t reading at grade level by the time of the eighth grade Criterion Reference Test (the Oklahoma Primary Academic Student Skills Test, he or she has to prove reading proficiency with another test that’s may be even more difficult. If the student can’t pass those tests, he or she has to wait until the age of 18 before getting a license.”

About 20 students at Altus Junior High had not passed the reading portion of the Oklahoma test and therefore would be ineligible to gain the permit for a driver’s license. “They came to the reading teachers and me to ask what they could do. We gave them the PassKey option.”

Before choosing PassKey, Altus personnel examined many software packages. “Most of them didn’t reinforce what was going on in our classrooms,” York says. “They had lots of bells and whistles, but

really weren’t all that educational. PassKey, with its correlation to the Oklahoma standards, promised more.”

The 20 students at Altus Junior High worked on the PassKey reading program approximately one to two hours per week for nine months. Prior to using PassKey, the average reading score was in the 50th percentile. To pass the test, students must score in the 70th percentile. After using PassKey, the average score of the Altus students jumped to the 75th percentile.

“PassKey helped our students prepare for any reading test they had to take to get their driver’s licenses,” York says. “It was certainly an effective way for them to raise their reading scores and achieve an important milestone.”

Contact information: Rebecca York, Assistant Superintendent

Altus Schools

219 N. Lee

Altus, OK73521

Williamston Public Schools

Williamston, North Carolina

Empowering

“Special education students come to the middle school level with gaps in their learning,” says Donnie Wallace, a special education teacher at WilliamstonMiddle School. “Our department was looking for a supplemental program that would help fill in the learning gaps and allow the students to work independently at their own pace.”

Williamston used the reading, writing, and mathematics program to prepare Wallace’s students for the end-of-grade North Carolina Test. Twenty students, ages 12-14, used the program in 45-minutes sessions three times per week for eight months.

Each of Wallace’s students requires an Individual Educational Plan, and PassKey is a complement to those plans. “We can see very quickly where a student’s learning gaps are, and PassKey helps us focus on each student’s individual needs. We can work one-to-one with each student.”

The results of the PassKey experience were gratifying. A passing score on the North Carolina test is 3. Prior to using PassKey, Wallace’s students’ average score was 1.8.

After working with PassKey for 8 months, the lowest grade was 2.8 and the highest was 3.

“The students liked it,” Wallace says. “They felt empowered by having some control over their learning. The program breaks the skills down and leads students to the right answer. Teachers can teach on the computer, helping students understand the skills they’re learning and explaining things in more detail. It’s the supplement we were looking for, and we’re going to keep using it.”

Contact information: Donnie Wallace, Teacher

WilliamstonMiddle School

600 N. Smithwick

Williamston, NC27892

(252) 792-1111

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Moore Public Schools

Moore, Oklahoma

Relevant

HighlandWestJunior High School is the only Title I junior high school in the MoorePublic School system. “Some of our students are economically disadvantaged and don’t have all the resources other students in our system enjoy,” says Deborah Kindrick, a teacher at Highland West.

PassKey was tested at Highland West after considerable study, Kindrick says. “We looked at lots of programs, but most of them seemed to be aimed at younger students. They weren’t really relevant to us. PassKey was different. For instance, if there was a dialogue between two students, the students were the right age. They looked like our students. The teachers also found it very easy to use, so we decided to give it a try.”

Originally used with underperforming students, PassKey also appealed to average and honor students, who had the opportunity to practice with the program after school. Most students used it between one and two hours a week.

“We started with the reading program, but added others as we went along. One of our purposes was to prepare students for the eighth grade Criterion Reference Test (the Oklahoma P. A. S. S.), which measures student skills in specific areas,” Kindrick says.

“We worked with 200-300 eighth grade students for only three months prior to the state test. Before we installed PassKey, Highland West was the Number 5 performing school of the five junior high schools in the district. After PassKey, we had greatly improved. Our average test score rose from 73, which was below the state average of 78, to an average score of 88. We became the Number 2 performing junior high in the district.”

Because of Highland West’s success, the other four junior high schools in the district have installed PassKey.

Contact information: Deborah Kindrick

WestHighlandJunior High School

900 N. Santa Fe

Moore, OK73160

(405) 793-3210

Haleyville Schools

Haleyville, Alabama

Versatile

“PassKey is a very effective remediation tool,” says John McCullar, Technology Director. “We used it to prepare 25 students, including ESL students and those with learning disabilities, for the Alabama High School Graduation Examination.”

The score needed to pass the state test was 477; the average score of the 25 Haleyville students prior to their PassKey experience was 325. “We used the programs in reading, language arts and math,” McCullar says, “and we had a teacher dedicated to test improvement. The students received regular instruction for a few weeks, and then they worked on PassKey.”