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For Immediate Release
Voyager Expanded Learning Announces Addition to
Passport Reading Journeys Secondary Intervention Program
Dallas, August 29, 2006−Voyager Expanded Learning®, a leading provider of reading and math solutions, announced today the launch of Passport Reading Journeys™: Beginnings, the newest addition to the company's secondary reading intervention program, Passport Reading Journeys. With Beginnings, Voyager can now provide districts across the country with a total reading intervention solution for all struggling secondary readers.
Passport Reading Journeys: Beginnings is designed to meet the complex and varied needs of secondary students reading three to four years below grade level. The program identifies students who struggle with reading, intervenes with targeted instruction and monitors student progress until intervention is no longer needed.
The Passport Reading Journeys program meets the nine instructional components outlined in the Carnegie Corporation report, Reading Next: A Vision for Action and Research in Middle and High School Literacy, by Gina Biancarosa and Dr. Catherine Snow and published by the Alliance for Excellent Education.
Passport Reading Journeys: Beginnings curriculum incorporates the same rich literature focused on science and social studies topics as Passport Reading Journeys, as well as action-packed video segments and Web-based software to engage students in reading. Instruction is incorporated in a flexible, 45-60 minute routine of whole-group and small-group instruction, and independent and partnered reading that can be adapted to accommodate class size and technology resources.
"The Passport Reading Journeys program provides struggling adolescent readers the tools they need to meet the academic demands of different content areas and high-stakes testing," said Dr. Jeri Nowakowski, executive vice president of product development, research and marketing for Voyager Expanded Learning. "With the addition of Passport Reading Journeys: Beginnings, Voyager gives more secondary students who struggle with reading additional opportunities to achieve success."
Districts across the country implementing Passport Reading Journeys have already seen significant gains in secondary student performance. After 26 weeks in the program, national results show sixth- and seventh-grade students more than doubled fluency rates. Sixth-graders gained an average gain of 105.18 Lexiles and seventh-graders gained an average of 136.05 Lexiles. Eighth grade students gained more than quadruple the targeted growth rate with the average with 241.33 Lexiles and ninth grade students gained more than five times the targeted growth rate with an average of 141.22 Lexiles.
According to MetaMetrics' Lexile® Framework, Lexile is a measure intended to match readers with the appropriate reading level text. Students in grades six through 12 reading below the 50th percentile in their grade level are expected to gain one to two Lexiles per week. All grade levels enrolled in Passport Reading Journeys either met or exceeded expected Lexile gains.
Ninth grade students enrolled in Passport Reading Journeys at W. T. White High School in Dallas, Texas, gained two grade levels in one academic year as measured by the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, a norm-referenced test that measures vocabulary and comprehension. And, the number of students passing TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) after participating in Passport Reading Journeys almost doubled, with 83 percent of students passing the state assessment. Before Passport Reading Journeys, only 45 percent of ninth-grade students passed the TAKS.
Students enrolled in Beginnings travel through a series of 15 reading "Expeditions" covering such topics as 911 Medical Emergencies, People in Sports and Unusual Animals. The variety of topics keeps students engaged in learning while encouraging them to discover the power of reading for pleasure as well as for information.
Each two-week expedition includes action-packed video segments on DVDs, hosted by teens that provide support for the instruction. Students also participate in Web-based Strategic Online Learning Opportunities® (SOLO®) designed to build vocabulary and comprehension skills and improve reading fluency with Lexile®-leveled passages. SOLO is also the gateway to leveled online audio books. Students can select text from the award-winning fiction and non-fiction Lexile-leveled magazines and books in the Passport Reading Journeys: Beginnings Library.
Teachers regularly monitor student progress through four built-in benchmark assessments that ensure students show continual improvement: Reading Benchmark Assessment powered by the Lexile Framework® for Reading, Reading Connected Text Benchmark Assessments, Comprehension and Vocabulary Assessments and SOLO Progress Reports. Teachers enter assessment information into VPORT®, Voyager's performance management system, at which point they can access instant reports illustrating each student's learning growth and proving guidance to adjusting instructional plans, if needed. District administrators can also view real-time data at the student, classroom, school or district level to inform decision-making.
Through their ongoing partnership with Voyager Expanded Learning, teachers receive year-long service and support with a plan customized to meet district needs. Teachers also receive their own training kit with video tutorials and continued support offered via phone, email and the Voyager Web site.
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 Los Angeles, resulting in dramatically improved student performance. Voyager Expanded Learning, Inc. is part of ProQuest Education, a business segment 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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