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For Immediate Release
Voyager Expanded Learning Launches
Passport Reading Journeys
New Reading Intervention Program Uses Print, Web and DVD Technology
To Reach Struggling Middle and High School Students
DALLAS, December 21, 2005 – Voyager Expanded Learning® announced today the launch of its newest reading intervention program, Passport Reading Journeys™. The program incorporates rich literature focused on science and social studies topics, as well as action-packed video segments and Web-based software to engage adolescents in reading. The design of Passport Reading Journeys 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 incorporates each of these recommended elements in a flexible, 45-50 minute routine of whole-group and small-group instruction that can be adapted to accommodate class size and technology resources.
“Passport Reading Journeys is a complete program that gives 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.
Targeted to teens, Passport Reading Journeys identifies students who struggle with reading, intervenes with targeted instruction, and monitors student progress until intervention is no longer needed. The program was specifically designed to help the nearly eight million middle and high school struggling readers across the country achieve reading success.
Students enrolled in Passport Reading Journeys travel through a series of 15 reading “expeditions” relating to science and social studies, such as forensics, space exploration, and health and fitness. 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 DVD, flexible small-group instruction and independent practice opportunities. In addition, students participate in Web-based activities designed to build vocabulary and comprehension skills and improve their reading fluency through SOLO® (Strategic Online Learning Opportunities®). Students may also select additional reading materials from the Passport Reading Journeys Library, which includes award-winning fiction and non-fiction magazines, high-interest, age appropriate leveled books and an electronic book cart that features a variety of online audio books.
Teachers can monitor student progress through benchmark assessments using Voyager’s data management system, VPORT®. Four teacher-administered built-in assessments ensure students show continual improvement: Lexile® Reading Benchmarks, DIBELS™ equivalent measures, a comprehension and vocabulary assessment, and a SOLO progress report. Teachers can then access instant reports that illustrate each student’s learning growth and adjust their instructional plan, if needed. District administrators can also view real-time data at the student, classroom, school, or district level to inform decision-making.
Several well-known researchers served as members of the Passport Reading Journeys design team, including: Colleen Klein Reutebuch, University of Texas, Jade Hjelm, University of Texas, Jeanne Wanzek, Ph.D., University of Texas and Susan De La Paz, Ph.D., Santa Clara University.
Teachers receive year-long service and support from Voyager through an ongoing partnership that includes comprehensive professional development through launch training, a training kit with video tutorials and support via phone, email and the Voyager Website.
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 1,000 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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