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Boston – March 23-27

March 26th, 1:30-3:00 at Booth #509

e-Lective & DynEd

The A+nywhere Learning System® (A+LS™) High School Credit Recovery Bundle quickly gets students up to speed and back on track to successful grade completion and on-time graduation with an online, self-paced, interactive, and customized learning program that engages and motivates your students to succeed.

The A+LS Credit Recovery Bundle is designed for use in any educational environment — and this is why over 2,000 high schools across the country are already using it in their traditional school computer labs, before- and after-school programs, summer schools, independent study programs, and virtual schools.

Now is the perfect time to budget and implement a successful credit recovery program, so students can recover credits before the end of this school year — and prepare your district or school for upcoming summer school programs.

Why Choose A+ for Credit Recovery?

To learn more about our Credit Recovery solutions, request more information, and to enter our giveaway, please click here.

by Max Foster

Read the original article HERE

Dan Reid’s life-long dedication and commitment to youth has earned him a spot in the prestigious Arizona Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

The 64-year-old former teacher, coach and ex-Marine will be inducted during ceremonies to be held April 25 at the Phoenix BPOE Lodge.

To be considered for the hall, an ACAHF member must first nominate the coach and then a resume is submitted and evaluated by an induction committee.

Only after that extensive process are coaches chosen to join the hall, which contains the names of some of the finest coaches in Arizona sports history including Buck Hall, Bo “Bear” Whitelock, Jiggs Hardt, Emil Nasser, Tiny Putnam and others.

Former PHS wrestling coach Dennis Pirch, who was inducted into the hall of fame last year, nominated Reid for the honor.

“Coach Reid put Payson High School track on the national map,” said Pirch. “His athletes were leaders on the track and in the classroom.”

Choosing Reid to become an ACAHF member seems a no-brainer mostly because he’s long been one of the most well-regarded, successful and knowledgeable track and field coaches in Arizona.

He’s also an accomplished football coach having coached teams that won a state championship and finished as state runner-up during a five-year teaching and coaching stint at Mayer High School. There he was also once named the state’s “Coach of the Year.”

Reid also served several years as varsity defensive coordinator at Payson High School and in 1986 helped the Longhorns reach the state championship before losing 7-0 to the Snowflake Lobos.

His athletes

During his 27 years at the helm of the PHS track program, he coached some of the finest athletes to ever don Longhorn uniforms including he and his wife Donna’s two sons, Darren and Todd.

Under their father’s tutelage, Darren was a state record holder in the high jump (6 feet, 10-1/2 inches), long jump (24 feet, 1/2 inch and triple jump (49 feet, 8 inches).

Todd was a two-time state champion in the 110 hurdles, one of state’s finest 300-meter hurdlers and a Great Southwest champion.

Darren lauds his father as a coach who “escorted in an era of success and performance rarely seen in any track and field coaching resume.

“He left in his wake a program known for championships and singular individual performers.”

Among the other athletes he helped develop with his unique blend of knowledge, patience and abilities to communicate and motivate were Mark Hochstetler, Nicole Engstrom, Bo Althoff, T.J. Clifford and Ty Chilson.

In the late 1980s, Hochstetler was the finest 800-meter runner in the state, eventually earning a scholarship to Stanford University. He was also a two-time state champion in the 400 meters and a state record holder.

Engstrom, who went on to captain the University of Arizona track team after leaving Payson, was once the nation’s sixth-ranked high school javelin thrower.

Althoff, a pole-vaulter Reid took under his wing in junior high school, once cleared 16 feet, 5-1/2 inches and was ranked fourth in the nation.

Today, Althoff has followed in Reid’s shoes coaching pole vaulters at PHS.

Ryden was a state record holder in the 400 meters; Clifford one of the finest throws competitors in Arizona and Chilson a state champion in both the 100 and 200 meters.

“He was the best coach I ever had, whichever the sport — track or football,” said Chilson. “He would have been a great coach in any sport he chose.”

The development of those individuals led to Payson team success with the Longhorns winning state titles in 1987, 1988, finishing as state runners-up in 1990 and bringing home numerous region crowns.

The success of PHS teams fueled a unique interest around the state. Often overheard at coaching conventions and meets around Arizona, were whispers like, “What’s going on up there in Payson? Is there a track factory being built?”

What only Reid’s closest friends know is that he also coached for six years, Sebrina Kraiger, a Northern Arizona University graduate student who eventually became the German National Champion in the heptathlon.

“I was lucky, I had some really great athletes,” said Reid.

Pirch says, the success was linked to good athletes, but more than that, the achievements were due to great coaching and solid athletic development.

The list of the standout track and field athletes Reid developed is extensive, but not all his coaching was done at PHS.

Pacers and the early years

In 1986, he and Donna founded the Payson Pacers track club that drew members from around Arizona and eventually became the largest youth club in the state with 100-plus members.

Athletes traveled around the country to California, Washington, even New York City, competing in youth meets.

Most of the time, Dan and Donna drove the team members, in private cars, to the meets.

“It was a lot of work, but fun too,” Reid said.

Reid’s introduction to coaching occurred in the late 1960s during his first teaching assignment at an elementary school in Whiteriver.

“I had a $300 supplemental contract to coach three sports,” he said.

After leaving Whiteriver, he taught for a short period at Wilson School District in Phoenix before deciding to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Most of his friends at the time considered his decision to join foolhardy, mostly because the Vietnam conflict was heating up.

“I had no choice, I was going to get drafted,” he said.

It was in the Marines that he developed a true affinity for coaching; taking on a head battalion coaching job for military football and track teams.

Four years after enlisting, he obtained the rank of captain and eventually stepped down to take the teaching and coaching position at Mayer.

“There, I really didn’t know much, the kids became my experiment,” said Reid.

Thanks to some much-needed help from then-University of Arizona coach Willie Williams, Reid chiseled a solid foundation of coaching knowledge that he built upon over the years.

There’s more

As fine a coach as Reid was, that was not his only contribution to the profession.

He served as president of the Arizona Track Coaches Association for three years, was the president of USA Track and Field, a state meet director in 2000 and on the initial certification committee for track and field officials.

He also attended the first Soviet-American Coaching Exchange and became a certified level two jumps coach at a clinic held at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

Reid has also long been a popular clinic speaker on the Arizona Track and Field Coaches clinic circuit and has appeared at clinics for the New Mexico and Oklahoma coaches associations.

In looking back on his illustrious career, Reid is quick to thank his wife for her support.

“I know this wasn’t what she signed up for,” he said. “But she’s been very, very supportive.”

Supportive to the point of agreeing to become the PHS girls track and field coach in the late 1990s.

“She came alongside me and was great,” Reid said.

Among the accomplishments Reid loves to relish on about his wife is that while she was the Lady Longhorn head coach, she once led the team to the championship of the prestigious Chandler Invitational Classic.

Most impressive about the feat is the PHS team had only two girls score points, but when tallied it was enough to help Payson outscore 5A Mesa Red Mountain by a single point.

In retirement, Reid stays busy traveling the Southwest as an educational technical consultant for the Phoenix firm Backbone Communications.

While most believe Reid has removed himself from the coaching scene, he’s harboring a secret few know.

“Some of the kids I had in Mayer remain close friends to this day and those kids now have kids,” Reid said. “I get calls from them to get workouts for their children … I’m kind of a long-distance coach.”

Read the original article HERE

Schools across the country are combating this problem by creating credit recovery and alternative education programs.

Through the use of technology schools are making this process easier while maintaining the high level of rigor outlined by their state’s academic standards.

A credit recovery class is one in which the student took the class but did not receive credit for one reason or another. This means that the student does not need the “seat time” he or she needs only to demonstrate a mastery of the course.

Dynamic software programs allow a student to take a course assessment as a pretest to this class. This assesses all the content a student needs to master the course. The software then assigns or “prescribes” a unique lesson plan for each student based on performance on the initial “course assessment.” After the student completes their lessons, they will take a final exam for the entire course.

This process of immediate analysis and individualized curriculum prescription allows students to work solely on skill they are deficient in and have the ability to gain credit faster. This is a very powerful example of data driven instruction.

Alternative education programs are different. Students typically need the “seat time” required for high school credit. Our software has the ability and flexibility to be tailored to fit different environments allowing schools to offer multiple ways for students to gain credits.

The student works through the software at their own pace spending as much or as little time on concepts as they need. Throughout this process he or she masters objectives and moves on, again no wasted time.

These solutions give students hope and confidence for graduation and life after high school.

Backbone Communications has been helping schools increase graduation rates for over 10 years.

Contact our Utah Regional Manager for more information.

A+ Success Story: Uintah River High School Online Adult Education, Duchesne – Utah

It differs greatly from programs that allow students to earn “first time credit” in that students having already satisfied seat time requirements for a course in which they were unsuccessful can focus on earning credit based on competency of the content standards for the particular course.

Credit Recovery programs, in general, have a primary focus of helping students stay in school and graduate on time. Simply put, it is an effective and proven way to help students earn credits in courses they did not pass the first time around.

From a financial perspective, credit recovery if not managed correctly can be costly. In a traditional summer school program, the cost can skyrocket to as much as $7,500 in teacher cost alone.

Software can play a crucial role in assisting these students as well as keeping the cost at a manageable level. With the advancements in technology, diagnostic testing as well as curriculum have been unified. Students are now able to receive the skills necessary to complete a course while still retaining its rigor and integrity.

Both student and teacher win. Testing is delivered online (automatic), curriculum is delivered properly (automatic), grading is simple (automatic) and teachers can focus their attention on helping students.

Many recovery programs are out dated or slimmed down versions of the original course work. Backbone Communications along with A+ learning are dedicated to giving each student the tools necessary for success in learning.

Software is aligned to state benchmarks and standards and in continuously checked to make sure that they meet the guideline set forth by the federal government.

Backbone communications has been helping schools for over ten years by implementing software tools to help students learn and succeed.

We have every child’s best interest at heart and are dedicated to empowering each child with the power of knowledge and success.

Contact our New Mexico Regional Manager

“Are the days of brick and mortar schools over?”

In Arizona alone, it has been estimated that over 1 million students per year are taking online courses.

With budgets decreasing and individualized services harder to provide, can opening your own online school aid in keeping your teachers and students enrolled in your district?

Many districts and charter schools have the vision of opening their own online school or program to service the needs of their students who are currently taking online classes from other providers.

Unfortunately, they do not have the resources or time to create the assessments, write the content or align them to state standards. With this in mind, many school officials choose to share funding or directly pay an online courseware provider. In this process, it is difficult for the schools to ensure that the courses being provided are up to their increased level of expectations.

Over the past ten years Backbone Communications has been helping schools set up and administer online courses to meet the expectations of each individual school. With the use of the A+nyWhere Learning System schools can provide over 200 online courses are aligned to state standards.

These courses can be used for Credit Recovery, Alternative Education, State Test Prep, and Differentiated Instruction, all while including Formative & Benchmark Assessments. This model allows for schools to keep ALL of their funding and pay their teachers to administer the courses.

In turn, this will allow for teachers to keep their jobs and maintain the high academic standards of their school in an online environment.

There are many advantages to this type of online curriculum delivery model.

Download our current Arizona K-12 Online Course Catalogue

Once a school implements an alternative program including both GED and credit recovery options for their students, counselors often assist students in determining their goals, their time frame and ultimately their direction in their high school career. Either they pursue obtaining their GED or their high school diploma.

Software can play a crucial role within these alternative programs empowering students to either recover high school credits for graduation or prepare for the GED test. These students, in both categories, are often behind in both Reading and Math. These basic skill gaps are detrimental for either student and they will act as a barrier to their goal. Basic skill gaps are essential in understanding higher-level skills.

With either GED preparation or high school credit recovery, initial diagnostic testing will greatly benefit the student, teacher and counselor. The teacher and counselor will have a much better understanding of the student’s abilities and will better help guide the student. As for the student, they will have a clear understanding of the work ahead.

“Packet-making”often encompasses the curriculum for students in these “Alternative Education” programs.

Many school’s curriculum or “packets” are out dated and are more than just a slimmed down version of the original course. In these cases, programs designed to recover credits are labeled as “credit factories”; pushing out students with credits without truly verifying mastery and understanding of the skills for that course.

With the advancement of technology, diagnostic testing as well as curriculum have been unified. Students can easily receive the skills needed to complete a course while retaining its rigor and integrity. Both students and teachers win. Testing is delivered online (automatic), curriculum is delivered properly (automatic), grading is simple (automatic), and teachers can focus their attention on helping students with pertinent questions.

Technology has allowed schools to implement online delivered courseware providing administrators the confidence their students are achieving permanent gains!

Backbone Communications has been helping schools for over 10 years implementing technology and software tools to help students learn.

Contact our California Regional Managers for more information.

A+Education Investment Grant

<< Find out now >>

The February 8th deadline for School Improvement Grant submission is looming!

Partner with a proven assessment and curriculum provider to improve student outcomes in your district.

Exceptional times demand an exceptional education technology partner. For more than 29 years, The American Education Corporation has fulfilled this important role in assisting its more than 15,000 school and district partners in meeting the need to improve K-12 student performance.

In 2009, our curriculum content supported approximately 118,000 individual students who logged over 2.6 million online study hours.

We provide highly interactive comprehensive K-12 curriculum content containing embedded Flash learning objects, virtual manipulatives, as well as direct links to Encyclopædia Britannica learning resources.

An outstanding management system provides extensive reporting support for the district, the school, and the classroom. Reports include instant personal feedback for students on their progress throughout the instructional process.

Our products offer the broadest and deepest curriculum content, extensive diagnostic/prescriptive assessment tools, and full student data tracking and reporting systems in a consistent, engaging and easy-to-use interface.

When coupled with our localized sales, implementation, development and support professionals, we offer a complete school improvement solution that is unbeatable!

< READ MORE >

Provider Contact Name: Backbone Communications

Provider Contact Telephone Number: 602-614-0226

Provider Website: www.BackboneCommunications.com

Provider Email Address:  Brian@BackboneCommunications.com

DOWNLOAD: K – 12 Online Course Offerings List – ARIZONA

Whatever it Takes

Payson Center for Success High School Benefits from A+® Courseware

Read the Original Publication:

Payson, Arizona Online Learning Dropout Recovery

At Payson Center for Success High School (PCS) (Payson, Ariz.), when it comes to helping students learn and achieve, the staff motto is, “we will do whatever it takes.” For PCS’s Principal, Kathe Ketchem, that motto is more than a mere slogan—it’s a call to action. It’s one of the main reasons that the school has been a long-time user of A+nyWhere Learning System® (A+LS™) courseware program from American Education Corporation (AEC).

PCS’s results-driven environment is powered by A+LS courseware, a network-based, e-learning instruction courseware program that contains more than 5,400 lessons and over 200,000 content pages of research and objective-based, problem-solving, K-12 courseware—plus assessment, alignment, and curriculum management tools.

According to Ketchem, through the use of A+LS, student coursework is designed according to student interests, aptitude, past history, and need for individual pacing to develop and demonstrate competence in academic subjects. Upon entry, each Payson student is provided with a personal education plan, flexible scheduling, and community-based work, life, and career skills. “It doesn’t matter what level students are working at, because A+LS allows us to adjust the coursework to match the level they are on,” says Ketchem. “A+LS fosters mastery learning, which means we know the students have really learned the material in a comprehensive way.”

Promise and Vision
PCS is unique as a charter school; it is one of the few schools in Arizona to be chartered by the local school district. PCS is designed to use the Payson community as a partner in providing meaningful educational experiences for students who have not been successful in the traditional academic environment. Since first opening its doors to Payson students in 1996, PCS has lived up to its promise and vision of providing a coordinated program of core academic instruction, mastery learning, counseling, technical training, and experiential learning to ensure improvement in achievement for challenged youth.

Dropout recovery has been and continues to be the goal and targeted population for Payson Center for Success High School. The majority of PCS students are one or more years behind in credits at the time of enrollment due to at-risk factors such as chronic attendance problems, sporadic enrollment, and lack of academic performance and/or behavioral issues. Most were at-risk of failure in middle school or earlier.

PCS staff and students describe the school as “non-traditional,” offering a different educational delivery system directed at developing independent, self-directed learners in a non-lecture, computer-assisted educational environment. “Typically,” says Ketchem, “our students need a differentiated program and more time to complete the standards for courses and graduation,” says Ketchem. “Through A+LS, all courses are offered all the time, so students do not have to ‘wait’ until a course is offered. Here, personal student education plans are designed to match each student’s goals, academic needs toward graduation and career focus, as well as individual skill and ability challenges.”

For example, according to Ketchem, when students arrive at the school behind in math, A+LS is used to full effect. “Using A+LS, we can assess their math ability and then take the requisite steps to remediate it,” she says. “The tool helps us discover what skills the student has or lacks. It enables us to slow down the learning process so they have time to comprehend basic math skills. A+LS gives us the flexibility to design a class to teach basic skills. Students can take that class before they move on. The courseware helps us specify and rebuild a student’s understanding of math. The flexibility inherent in A+LS allows us to move students ‘up’ or ‘down’ as needed. The courseware challenges them. It moves them smoothly through the assessment and learning process.”

According to Ketchem, A+LS also helps PCS students develop work ethics and responsibility in respect to productive learning environments. “The courseware has helped change the students’ perspective from ‘it’s the teacher’s job to teach me,’ to ‘I am responsible for learning,’” she adds.

Recently, for example, an enterprising 19-year-old PCS student demonstrated that ‘can do’ philosophy in his quest to excel at math. Ketchem explains, “The student was determined to get a degree in biogenetics. He needed to take and master all the upper-level math classes as well as physics and chemistry. A+LS was a big component in helping him to accomplish his academic goals and meet the requirements for college entrance. His is a great success story; he received a scholarship and is now attending college.”

With such great success, it’s little wonder that PCS was recently selected as an Arizona A+ Exemplary school by the Arizona Educational Foundation. “The Foundation came to PCS and examined our programs and syllabuses. They talked to students, parents, and community partners. There is a whole list of criteria in the community that they used to measure our capabilities. In the final analysis, we were selected as one of Arizona’s top schools.”

Ketchem doesn’t hesitate to share some of the credit for the award with A+LS. “The software has played a significant role in terms of student achievement. It gives students a tremendous sense of accomplishment. Because of A+LS, we are able to provide our students with individualized instruction. A+LS gives students immediate feedback and direction, and provides them with the individual attention they need. Clearly, A+LS has played a major role in our success.”

Read the Original Publication:

Payson, Arizona Online Learning Dropout Recovery