Maryland HSA Prep Boosted with New Walch Course

More than 10,000 8th- and 9th-grade students are starting the school year using Walch Education's Maryland Algebra/Data Analysis program, which you can learn more about at http://www.walch.com/news/Maine%20and%20Maryland%20collaborate%20on%20math%20program.pdf.

We developed this program in partnership with Prince George's County, but it's already creating quite a buzz elsewhere in Maryland. What makes the MD ADA so special? Not only is it ideal for helping kids get ready for the HSAs and MSAs, it also gives teachers a wide range of instructional methods to choose from, in dealing with (we are told) a wide range of learning styles and abilities.

The MD ADA comes as two teacher binders, which are completey reproducible, plus a hardbound student book. Total cost is as low as $45/student -- and that's for a full-year course.

Getting graphic about organizers

We recently came across a very useful paper written by the good people at CAST, the Center for Applied Special Technology: www.cast.org/publications/ncac/ncac_go.html

The topic is graphic organizers, those ways of displaying information or data visually and creatively. Sometimes they're called "knowledge maps," sometimes they're referred to as diagrams, but however you name them, they're incredibly useful in working with a diverse group of students, especially those who learn visually. The paper is a great overview of some of the basic forms of graphic organizers, what distinguishes them from each other, and how they are applied.

Walch, of course, has a number of books focusing on graphic organizers within disciplines. Here, for instance, is our title on Graphic Organizers for Geometry.

Florida rule heralds more summer school

The Miami Herald from Tuesday, July 8th, has an intriguing story about a new law in Florida: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/story/596955.html.

The law, enacted two years back, requires middle school students in the Sunshine State to pass their core subjects before moving on to ninth grade, high school. That means that thousands and thousands of Florida middle schoolers who were previously "passed through" to high school will now be required to take summer school classes or in some other way raise their grades to an acceptable level.

It's clear that the trend towards tougher state standards is not going to rest at the high-school level. More and more, we're seeing states formalize their learning expectations in middle schools, too. That's a major reason why we've been developing targeted programs for that age group: http://www.walch.com/search.php?query=florida&per_page=

Walch Education has inked a deal with the St. Croix School District of the U.S. Virgin Islands. We'll be developing and providing customized versions of our award-winning Academic Support Programs (ASPs). The material is being developed for approximately 700 special education students in the St. Croix district. We're creating four distinct ASPS, one each for Junior High and High School Mathematics and English Language Arts.

Each ASP will be developed according to NCTM and NCTE standards and correlated to the Virgin Islands’ Academic Content Standards. The ASPs will also include implementation guides keyed to the basal series being used in various classrooms.

Walch Education’s ASP series has been widely used in both national, standards-based versions and state-specific versions in Maryland, Florida, and Georgia. The national Algebra and English Language Arts versions were recently given Distinguished Achievement Awards “For Excellence in Educational Publishing” at the annual meeting of the Association of Educational Publishers.

To Tutor: In-house or not?

Interesting article in last Friday's Washington Post about how schools in Virginia, Maryland and elsewhere are finding that hiring outside tutors to work with their struggling students doessn't necessarily lead to better test scores. The headline is "Mandated Tutoring Not Helping Md., Va. Scores," and you can read the full article at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/12/AR2008061203681.html

The issue in a nutshell: NCLB requires certain schools to provide tutors to struggling students. But after all the time and expense of hiring and bringing those outside firms up to speed, the results are often negligible.

That emerging story is certainly contributing to the success of our customized Academic Support Program ("ASP") materials. Because the ASPs can be tailored to individual district needs, they also make sense in an in-school tutoring context. Rather than paying outside resources that may or may not hit the target, districts can use the ASPs as a comprehensive program for teacher-tutors.

That's what we're especially good at: developing customized materials that zero in on a particular district's particular needs. And then creating the materials, printing them quickly on our in-house digital presses, and delivering them with customized professional development. Sometimes the materials are new from the ground up, sometimes they're more of a tweak on the established state standards, or what the district next door has already developed. But however we work with a district, we're able to offer a level of attention and detail they simply can't find from traditional publishers.

And that includes materials that work for tutors, too.

3 for 3 ain't bad!

Our Director of Education, Susan Graham, just returned from Washington, D.C., site last week of the annual conference of the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP). This, our industry group, gives out annual awards for the "best of the best" published materials for schools. They're known as "Distinguished Achievement Awards."

We jokingly told Susan before she left that she shouldn't "return without any metal." Well, she didn't disappoint. Walch Education had three books nominated in three separate categories -- and we won for each of our entries! They are:

1) Our Academic Support Program (ASP) for Mathematics (in the category of Curriculum Packages for Mathematics, grades 9-12) http://www.walch.com/product/2157

2) Building Math (in the category of Currriculum Packages for Mathematics, grades 6-8) http://www.walch.com/product/2137

3) Our Academic Support Program for English Language Arts (in the category of Curriculum Packages for Reading & Language Instruction, grades 9-12) http://www.walch.com/product/2106

No, it may not be quite the same as receiving an Oscar or Tony, but it nevertheless makes us awfully proud. These are materials we created in close consultation with educators, they have been extremely successful in the field -- and now we have the kudos of our professional peers, as well.

Susan tells us there were photos taken in Washington, with her holding the three awards...we'll find those and post them, too.

AEP Distinguished Achievement Awards

3 of our titles have been nominated for the annual "Distinguished Achievement Awards" issued by the Association of Educational Publishers (http://www.aepweb.org/). The titles include our Algebra Academic Support Program, Building Math (created in alliance with Boston's Museum of Science) and Academic Support Program for English Language Arts. The actual awards are given out at the AEP's annual event, in Washington, D.C. in early June.