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For Immediate Release
Voyager Programs Help Luling Independent
School District
Reduce Spedial Ed Referrals and Improve TAKS scores.
Luling, Texas, April 24, 2006 – Luling Independent School District (LISD) reduced the proportion of special education referrals in kindergarten through third grade this school year by 66 percent since implementing Voyager Passport™, a reading intervention system created by Voyager Expanded Learning®.
Through the Reading First grant, Luling implemented several Voyager programs,-Voyager Passport, Extended Day and TimeWarp® Plus-for kindergarten through third grade in the district's three elementary schools. Using funding from the Texas Intensive Reading Initiative, the district also adopted Voyager Passport for fourth and fifth grades.
The district sought out the Voyager programs in fall 2005 to achieve two goals: 1) begin a defined, formal reading intervention program in the district; and 2) increase student proficiency and reduce referrals to special education.
"I think that the Voyager curriculum and our use of it as a means of intervention has given us options we didn't have before," says Debora Ribble, first and second grade district reading coach.
Teachers also like Voyager's online performance management system, VPORT®, because it allows them to monitor student progress, modify instruction and review reports at both the student and classroom level.
"Now we feel more secure and have the data to back us up," says Kimberly Navejar, second and third grade district reading coach.
Results of the 2006 Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test show students' test scores significantly improved as a result of the district's reading intervention initiative. (During the 2004-2005 school year, before the district implemented Voyager, the pass rate actually declined in the third grade.) In 2005, 73 percent of third-grade students passed the TAKS, whereas this year, 82 percent of third-graders achieved a passing score.
"The teachers were very excited to get their results and they really believe in Voyager Passport," says Navejar.
About Voyager Expanded Learning
Voyager Expanded Learning provides core, intervention and supplemental reading programs, as well as math intervention and ongoing professional development programs for school districts throughout the United States. Founded in 1994, Voyager has delivered extended-time reading and basic skills intervention programs as well as large-scale reading programs to more than 900 school districts in cities such as Dallas, Phoenix, New York, Philadelphia and the District of Columbia, resulting in dramatically improved student performance. Partnership and collaborations with the Discovery Channel enable Voyager to provide timely and powerful curricula for the American classroom. Voyager Expanded Learning, Inc. is a business unit of ProQuest Company based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. For more information, please visit www.voyagerlearning.com or call 1-888-399-1995 .
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