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Pearson Digital Learning Announces Waterford National Best Practice Site Winners Three Schools Honored for Innovative Implementations and Proven Results with Waterford Early Reading Program™ and Waterford Early Math & Science™ Scottsdale, Ariz. – Nov. 3, 2004 – Pearson Digital Learning today announced the selection of three National Best Practice Sites for the Waterford Early Reading Program™ and Waterford Early Math & Science™, adaptive computer-based instruction developed by the nonprofit Waterford Institute. The honor is awarded annually to schools that effectively implement the Waterford courseware, teacher guides, student books, and take-home materials; demonstrate strong long-term parental involvement; implement a clear evaluation plan; show measurable results; and present an innovative and replicable implementation. The 2004 National Best Practice Site winners are Moore Haven Elementary in Moore Haven, Fla.; Crescent Elementary in Pittsburg, Pa.; and Toth Elementary in Perrysburg, Ohio. They were selected from the more than 13,000 Waterford installations around the country. “These schools met the highest standard with quality research, implementation, and results," said Wendy Johnson, Waterford product marketing manager for Pearson Digital Learning. “They clearly demonstrate effective curriculum integration, high quality instruction, a strong evaluation design, measurable impact on student achievement, and strong parental involvement and administrative support. Each has created an innovative and proven best practice model that is worthy of national dissemination." As a 2004 Waterford National Best Practice Site winner, each school will receive a banner, a plaque, a trip to the Waterford Best Practices Conference, and the opportunity to share their success story in a one-hour session at the conference. The Waterford Best Practices Conference will be held Feb. 15-17, 2005 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Moore Haven Elementary Moore Haven Elementary assessed trends in reading achievement on the grade three Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) after students used Waterford from kindergarten through second grade. These treatment FCAT scores were compared to historical control scores where students did not have Waterford. The results showed strong positive growth for those third grade students that had access to Waterford, with a 30-point scale score jump in the reading section of the FCAT. Based on the success in the FCAT scores, Moore Haven added Waterford Early Math & Science at the kindergarten level for the 2003-04 school year. Crescent Elementary An inner city Title I school, Crescent Elementary enrolls 251 students in grades K-5 and has a mobility rate of more than 35 percent. Ninety-nine percent of the student population is African-American and more than 85 percent of students qualify for free or reduced price meals. Crescent Elementary was one of the first schools to implement the Waterford Early Reading Program in 1998 and today uses the program every day. As a result of Crescent’s success with the program, Pittsburgh Public Schools placed Waterford computers in classrooms across the district. Crescent Elementary evaluated first grade test scores on the DIBELS and TerraNova assessments from a treatment class that used Waterford and a control class that used another reading program. On DIBELS, the treatment class had a 23 percent larger increase in phoneme segmentation proficiency, and a 71 percent larger increase in oral fluency than the control class. On TerraNova year-end test scores, the treatment group has a 31.5-point lead over the control class. Based on these scores, the class piloting the other reading program decided to go back to using Waterford. Toth Elementary Toth Elementary is a “First Year Implementation Best Practice Site" for Waterford. Toth Elementary’s kindergarten participates in a pilot program called the Perrysburg Digital Academy, an innovative full-day kindergarten program in which students use both the Waterford Early Reading Program and Waterford Early Math & Science every day. Students and teachers both have had positive results with the program, including improved reading and math skills and an absence of behavior problems in the classroom. Unexpectedly, seven special needs students also had positive results, meeting kindergarten mastery skill level after using Waterford. Toth Elementary tracked student progress with Dial-R, an Ohio diagnostic kindergarten readiness test, for those using Waterford in the Digital Academy and compared scores to those attending traditional kindergarten in the same school. For the treatment group, the Dial-R identified three students to be “at-risk" with potential learning disabilities. At year-end, these three students caught up and were on track with the rest of the class. The control group had seven students who pre-tested at “instructional level" and then post-tested as “needing further assessment or intervention," indicating they lost ground in their reading skills. About the Waterford Early Reading Program and Waterford Early Math & Science Pearson Digital Learning’s distinguished partner, the nonprofit Waterford Institute, developed the Waterford Early Reading Program and Waterford Early Math & Science. The Waterford Early Reading Program is a comprehensive early reading curriculum designed to help children learn to read through the use of state-of-the-art technology. Based on 10 years of research, the program contains three levels for emergent, beginning, and fluent readers, combining to provide 225 hours of individualized reading instruction. The Waterford Early Reading Program is used in more than 13,000 sites serving 350,000 students. Released in 2004, Waterford Early Math & Science fosters hands-on exploration and inquiry-based learning, giving students a solid foundation in basic math skills and science content as well as creative problem solving. Mirroring the proven approach of the Waterford Early Reading Program, Waterford Early Math & Science offers three levels of full year computer-based curriculum aligned to state and national curriculum standards for early learners. About Pearson Digital Learning Working side by side with educators for over 40 years, Pearson Digital Learning is the leader in proven, comprehensive technologies for preK-12 education. Our mission is to provide innovative, research-based digital learning solutions that elevate the art and science of teaching, and inspire children to reach their greatest potential. Reaching more than 20 million students annually, our products include: the SuccessMaker® Enterprise and NovaNET® educational courseware; and the KnowledgeBox® digital learning system. Pearson Digital Learning is also the exclusive distributor for the Waterford Early Reading Program™ and Waterford Early Math & Science™, adaptive computer-based instruction developed by the Waterford Institute. Pearson Digital Learning is part of Pearson Education (NYSE: PSO), the world’s leading integrated education company. More information can be found at: http://www.PearsonDigital.com/. Contact: |
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