NEW YORK, February 11, 2010 – Children’s Progress, an award-winning education company that specializes in preK-3 computer-based assessment, has successfully piloted a new parent report for its flagship formative assessment software. This report provides detailed information about a child’s performance in parent-friendly language and includes home learning activities targeted to each child’s needs.
“Decades of research have shown that parent involvement in education is not a luxury but a necessity,” said Dr. Chris Camacho, Director of Research at Children’s Progress. “The early years are extremely important. Parents need to know how their child is doing and receive feedback that they can act on to help their child succeed.”
Schools and districts across 40 states have used the Children’s Progress Academic Assessment (CPAA) to pinpoint student learning needs and provide teachers with immediate feedback to drive instruction. Initially, educators were printing teacher reports and giving them to parents. Now, the parent report is available as a “beta” feature to all Children’s Progress clients and has been tested in more than a third of client schools over the past year.
“We found through customer feedback that educators were looking for better ways to communicate with parents about student progress,” said Kevin Greaney, CEO and co-founder of Children’s Progress. “We reacted to this need by creating a parent-friendly report that provides easy-to-understand information and practical activities to try at home. Feedback about the pilot has been very positive from both teachers and parents.”
The development of the parent report was partially funded by the U.S. Department of Education through an SBIR Phase II Grant. The aim of the project was to develop ways of presenting assessment results that would be intuitive and informative for teachers and parents and that would foster cooperation among them in enhancing their children’s education. The company continues to refine this feature with the help of feedback from teachers, administrators and parents through 2010.
About Children’s Progress
Children’s Progress is a rapidly growing NYC-based educational technology firm specializing in the development and delivery of innovative, computer-based programs for young children that adapt to individual needs and help teachers immediately pinpoint how to best challenge and support each child. Children’s Progress products are intuitive and user-friendly for educators and engaging and motivational for children. The company grew out of decades of research at Columbia University and its patented software was developed in collaboration with MIT. Children’s Progress products have been used in 40 states. The company is a team of researchers, former teachers and child psychologists aiming to improve the quality of early education with smart and nimble computerized tools.
Contact
Nikkie Zanevsky
Marketing Manager
nikkie@childrensprogress.com
212.730.0905
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