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Study Island Adds Common Core Benchmarking

• By Tim Sohn
• 02/15/12

Archipelago Learning has added a Common Core benchmarking program and other new features to Study Island, which provides self-paced supplemental online lessons aligned to individual state standards for K-12 classes.

The Common Core benchmarking program is designed to assess the math and reading skills of students in grades 3-5 at any point throughout the year. This tool provides four options for benchmarking tests and real-time diagnostic reports.

Each Study Island program includes pre- and post-tests, questions, answers, explanations, and lessons specific to state requirements. Questions are chosen randomly to avoid the possibility of cheating and students have the option of using a standard testing format or interactive games. Teachers and administrators can evaluate students' strengths and weaknesses with real-time reports. Study Island provides three mode options for instructors: test mode, which provides the option of multiple choice or short answer format; game mode, which allows teachers to limit access; and printable worksheet, which lets teachers select which topics they want to include for substitute plans, homework, make-up work, reviews, tests, tutorials, and transparencies.

Other new features of Study Island include:

• Interactive virtual science labs, age appropriate for middle and high school, which let students simulate science experiments;
• Embedded videos from Khan Academy, with lessons and examples for students and support for parents;
• The ability for students to access educational games via mobile device; and
• A district dashboard that allows administrators to centrally track results from Study Island. A weekly report is also available, which shows district statistics by number of questions answered, school, subject, and grade level.

For more information, visit studyisland.com.