In early June, we announced our new Schools Solutions, which we developed to provide schools and districts with standards-based early education programs proven to help teachers differentiate instruction and accelerate learning while helping students achieve mastery. We also announced the launch of our innovative My Math Academy, the School Division’s first product, which our curriculum and production teams spent six years of development, iteration, and testing. My Math Academy is a research-proven, personalized, adaptive math program for pre-k through second grade. Multiple randomized control trials have shown that students using My Math Academy for as little as 45 minutes a week over a twelve-week period experience significant learning gains, and the children have increased engagement, interest, and confidence in learning math.

In mid-July, we shared that two Age of Learning teams behind the successful launch and ongoing development of My Math Academy published chapters in the academic journal Adaptive Instructional Systems. Design and Evaluation and were to present their work at the HCI International 2021 Conference.

In late July, the head of our Schools Division and a senior researcher on our Learning Science team were featured presenters at the #NYCSchoolsTech Summit 2021, where they shared the truly amazing results we had already seen while rolling out My Math Academy in school district pilot programs nationwide prior to its public launch. Their presentation: Results Count, My Math Academy Delivers! A PreK-2 Game-based Approach that Tripled Math Gains for Early Learners, focused primarily on the truly amazing results achieved in our pilot program in the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District (HCISD) in Texas.

This pilot program was also the focus of a Government Technology magazine website article: My Math Academy Improving Early Childhood Math Skills. The article reported that after offering our My Math Academy: Classroom Edition product to more than 900 largely economically disadvantaged pre-K students in the district, math skills more than doubled for 4-year-old pre-K students and tripled for 3-year-olds. The average pre-K student aged 4 is now at mid-kindergarten level, while the average pre-K student aged 3 is approaching kindergarten-level math skills. You can watch a HCISD school district board meeting discussing the unprecedented impact of My Math Academy on children’s skills and achievement (start at 8:50 for a quicker watch).

This past week, My Math Academy received another honor, winning the Awards of Excellence from Tech & Learning, which named our adaptive early math program one of 2021’s Best Tools for Back to School. Tech & Learning’s Awards of Excellence have long recognized innovation in the edtech industry, and its latest iteration, The Best Tools for Back to School, celebrates the most impressive products and solutions that support the work of teachers, students, and parents as they prepare for the new 2021-22 school year. Tech & Learning’s panel of advisors evaluated My Math Academy on ease of use, value, versatility, and (most importantly) the product’s ability to solve a problem.

Tech & Learning Group Publisher Christine Weiser framed it this way: “As we head into another uncertain year in education, technology will continue to be one of the key drivers for innovation. Our judges chose the winning products recognized here for their versatility, compatibility, value, and ability to help schools solve challenges and support continuous instruction. Congratulations to all of our winners.”

In addition to this latest award, My Math Academy has already achieved an impressive list of certifications: Stemworks Design Principles and Rubrics for Effective STEM Programs, Digital Promise Certification for Research-Based Design, Digital Promise Certification for Research-Based Design and Learner Variability, and the kidSAFE Seal Program’s COPPA Certified seal of approval.

Click here to learn more about My Math Academy, or schedule a product demo.

The post My Math Academy: Classroom Edition Wins Tech & Learning Award of Excellence, Named One of 2021’s Best Tools for Back to School first appeared on Age of Learning.

But it’s our latest pilot program that’s been generating an exceptional amount of excitement and interest. More than 900 largely economically disadvantaged pre-K students in the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District in Texas, started using My Math Academy in the fall. As recently reported on the Government Technology magazine website, “math skills more than doubled for 4-year-old pre-K students and tripled for 3-year-olds. The average pre-K student aged 4 is now at mid-kindergarten level, while the average pre-K student aged 3 is approaching kindergarten-level math skills.”

According to Carmen Alvarez, Director, HCISD Early Childhood, for the school district, My Math Academy, which includes a robust teacher dashboard, is giving teachers unparalleled insights into the learning needs of each individual student: “It’s kind of like being a great doctor,” she said. “A great doctor is going to look at the data before they go see a patient, and that’s exactly what the teachers are doing.” She also noted that the program allows students to learn at their own pace and “gives teachers more flexibility to move away from a one-size-fits-all approach to instruction.”

Read the full article on GovTech.com…

The post GovTech.com Spotlights Amazing Success of My Math Academy in Texas School District first appeared on Age of Learning.

The list below includes some of the early academic indicators of kindergarten readiness. It’s by no means comprehensive, but it will provide you with an understanding of what will be expected of your child as well as offer tips to help you prepare him or her for a successful transition to kindergarten.

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child listens to and understands stories.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Begin to read board books to your child as an infant.
• Read the complete story first, for enjoyment, without interruptions.
• During additional readings, ask questions about the story, and encourage your child to ask questions.
• Let your child turn pages, showing that he or she knows it’s a story.
• Gradually introduce longer books that require more patience and focus.

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child can retell stories that have been read to him or her
or tell original stories.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Have your child reread a familiar book and try to retell it.
• Read nursery rhymes together, and encourage your child retell them.
• Provide puppets or flannel board cutouts that your child can use in retelling the stories.

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child can find matching objects.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Have your child practice matching objects, such as:
  • socks from the laundry,
  • pencils or pens,
  • earrings, and
  • food cans in the pantry.

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child can sort objects by their attributes: color, shape,
size, and function, such as things that roll and things he
or she can write with.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Once your child can match objects, encourage him or her to practice sorting them into categories like these:
  • Color: Find all the blue shirts, silver coins, and red blocks.
  • Size: Put big bath towels in one stack and small face towels in another.
  • Shape: Find all the round objects in the room.

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child can identify words that rhyme.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Talk about how some words rhyme: that is, the last part of the words sounds the same.
• Have your child find the rhyming words in nursery rhymes; for example,
  • Jill and hill rhyme in Jack and Jill;
  • Humpty and Dumpty rhyme in Humpty Dumpty; and
  • dock and clock rhyme in Hickory Dickory Dock.
• Play rhyming word games, such as “I know a word that rhymes with house. . . . It is a little animal. . . . It is a . . . mouse!”

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child can identify patterns.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Point out patterns as you go about your day, such as patterns in clothing,
  in plants along a street, and in books you read.
• Play pattern-guessing games by arranging objects in a pattern
  (for example, two red, one blue; two red, one blue), and ask your
  child to identify the pattern.

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child can name colors.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Discuss the names of the colors; show how some colors can be made by combining other colors (For example, red and white makes pink.).
• Read books about colors, such as The Color Kittens by Margaret Wise Brown and A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni.
• Use watercolors to paint, and ask your child to mix colors and name them.
• Ask your child to name the colors around him or her, such as in his or her room, on his or her clothes, and in the crayon box.

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child can identify some letters and numbers.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Help your child start to distinguish letters in simple words that he or she often sees written. Begin with the letters in his or her name.
• Point out numbers on everything, such as on money, clocks, signs, phones, and the TV remote.

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child begins to understand that letters stand for the sounds
he or she hears in words.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Talk about sounds for some of the letters in your child’s name, in books, and in other words that he or she often sees during the day.
• Write your child’s name and other simple words on a piece of paper or a dry-erase board to show how letters form words.
• Use magnetic letters on a refrigerator to make real and nonsense words, and sound them out with your child.

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child recognizes some signs.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Ask your child to “read” words seen during his or her daily routine, such as stop on the stop sign, walk at a crosswalk, gas at a gas station, and the names of favorite stores or restaurants.

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child begins to recognize some sight words.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Have your child point out words, such as the, a, an, and, I, me, is, was, are, go, and stop, that he or she sees often as you read books together.
• Write sight words on index cards, and play word games, such as a memory matching game, with your child.

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child begins to “write” by scribbling; drawing; or imitating letters, numbers, forms, or shapes.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Give your child paper and writing tools in a shoebox that he or she can use to begin to write, draw, or create shapes.
• Give your child a paintbrush and a bowl of water to “paint” on the sidewalk or driveway. (Talk about evaporation as his or her creations disappear.)

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child understands how numbers are used.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Show your child how numbers are used in everyday life, such as:
  • to count items;
  • to keep track of money, distance, weight, and length; and
  • to measure amounts used in cooking.

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child can count to 20.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Look for opportunities to count items out loud for and with your child, such as:
  • setting the table,
  • sorting clothes,
  • measuring ingredients, and
  • organizing toys.
• Encourage and help your child to count objects he or she sees during the day, such as:
  • stairs,
  • cups of water, and
  • streetlights

Kindergarten-Readiness Indicator:

Your child understands how some words are opposites: up and down, big and little, tall and short, quiet and loud, as well as light and heavy.

WHAT FAMILIES CAN DO

• Point out examples of opposites that you see.
• Play an opposite-guessing game: “The opposite of day is . . . night!”

Remember, while kindergarten-readiness skills are important and will contribute to a strong foundation for future academic success, the activities that lead up to kindergarten readiness should be enjoyable for your child. Make them fun family times and part of your daily routine so that your child begins to view learning as a positive and natural experience.

The post Kindergarten Readiness: Academic Indicators first appeared on Age of Learning.