Web technology reports students’ reading progress
BY GREGG L. PARKER
“I’m not sure how well Chris can read.” “I wonder how Ashley is doing on quizzes after her reading assignments?”
To answer these and other questions, parents of elementary school students in Madison City Schools can use online technology to understand their children’s reading habits.
“Parents can sign up for Renaissance Home Connect,” Dr. Daphne Jah said. She is principal at West Madison Elementary School. “All Madison elementary schools have used it for about three years since we changed to Web-based learning.”
The service is available for students in grades K-6.
Renaissance Home Connect provides a way of monitoring and encouraging reading practice for a child. Research confirms that parental involvement in a child’s education is a strong predictor of student achievement (madisoncity.k12.al.us).
A similar software package, Accelerated Reader, was used previously.
“We’re just a little more high tech with Renaissance than Accelerated Reader,” Jah said. “With the new Web page, we’re able to record more information than we could in the past.”
When a child takes a reading test, parents can receive an email message. “It’s a great way to keep informed,” Jah said. Parents can determine the tests that the child has taken and the resulting scores.
Before Renaissance was available, “Each school had to purchase tests that were on the server,” Jah said. “With Renaissance, teachers have access to many tests.”
Parents can access the Renaissance site with a link on each school’s home page in the “Media Center for Renaissance Home” section. Teachers can provide user name and password, if a student does not remember login information.
This page shows progress on goals, the last quiz that the student completed and books on the reading list. Details at the Renaissance site quickly show a student’s level of accuracy, the points needed to make an individual goal and the average book level for their testing.
In addition, parents can see a list of books that the child has read.
For more information, visit Renlearn.com.
