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Academy Star Students 2008We recently held the 2nd Annual AutoSkill Academy Star Student Awards. Thanks to everyone who submitted nominations. It's very rewarding to hear about your students' enthusiasm and dedication, as well as their gains in reading and math. This year we had 60 Academy Star Students from the U.S. and Canada. Below are some of the nominations that were submitted for the 2008 Academy Star Student Awards. Read about the students' success with Academy of READING, Academy of MATH, both Academy of READING and Academy of MATH, or Academy of READING and SpanishTutor:
Academy of READINGI'd like to nominate a student who raised his reading level by four grades. The number of levels of improvement, however, is not the reason for his nomination. All the students using the Academy of READING are over-aged ninth graders at very high risk to drop-out. Many of them can withdraw with permission when they arrive; some can sign-out on just his or her signature. Also, many of our students are quite capable of achieving on grade levels, but have lost the interest and desire to succeed. That desire, too often, is manifested in behavioral issues. His pre-test, I am sure, was less than indicative of his real ability. He only completed 47 of 83 lessons and his hours of Time on Task were not that high. While he is hardly the ideal student in those regards, early in the year he began to display reliability in completing lessons, focusing on his work for longer periods of time, and improving his measured results. Conversations with his teachers revealed these same improved behaviors and habits in other classes. Today, he is one of our most successful students, and a much more pleasant person to be around. READ MORE... Submitted by: Don Kozuck, Instructor, The Academy for Career Excellence, SC * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I am nominating my third period Academy of READING class for an Academy Star. I know that you can only submit one nomination per class, but my third period is extra special and they all deserve to be recognized. My third period class is a Life Skills class. My five girls come into my classroom everyday with a smile and positive attitude. Reading is only one of the many struggles they encounter outside of academics everyday, and it just amazes me what hard work and dedication they show in the Academy of READING. The girls get so excited when they master a lesson and the dragon congratulates them, curious to see what is behind the hidden puzzle squares (and then showing everyone in the room.) They are dedicated to learning and improving their reading skills even when something is hard and the task may seem never ending, and finally they're optimistic that they will master a lesson and get past that particular weakness. My girls are all Academy of READING Stars! Submitted by: Sonja Kubinec, Reading Specialist, Independence Middle School, Bethel Park School District, PA * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I would like to nominate two very deserving students for the Academy Star Award. The first is a 5th grade Academy of READING student. He successfully completed the program. In addition, he passed the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) in reading. He is a second language student who has worked very hard to accomplish both these goals. The second is a 3rd grade student who also participated in the Academy of READING. Not only did she pass her Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills in reading, but her score was high enough to earn her the recognition of "Commended." As her language arts teacher, I have observed significant growth in her reading skills. Submitted by: Sharon Prisbylla, 3rd Grade/Title I Language Arts Teacher, Salyers Elementary School, Spring ISD, TX * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I have an 8th grader named Roxane Colon Sanchez who has made tremendous progress this year. She moved here from Puerto Rico at the beginning of this school year with basically no English skills. However, her positive attitude and hard work has turned her into a class leader and she recently finished all of her skills in the Academy of READING, already taken the post-test and has progressed to the next level. She is very deserving to be my "Academy Star". She has completed in one year what has taken many of my beginners two years to complete. Submitted by: Cheryl Edwards, ESL Teacher/Department Chair, Claughton Middle School, Spring ISD, TX (Permission granted to use student's name by her proud parents.) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * This student began the Academy of READING in October 2006. She often struggled many days and felt frustrated when skills were not mastered. During the past several months she has found the training exercises challenging but not frustrating. We are all so proud of her progress. She completed her training program the end of April 2008. After 35 hours of training Ivy is a very proud and competent reader. Submitted by: Maribeth Williams, Facilitator, Vance Chapman Public School, Thunder Bay, ON * * * * * * * * * * * * * * We would like to nominate a second grader for our Academy Star. This student really struggled with reading at the beginning of the year and was also very despondent about being pulled out for Reading Intervention. He is now reading on grade level and is more confident about other areas of his academics. We are very proud of him! Submitted by: Mary L Karnick, Assistant Principal, Beneke Elementary School, Spring ISD, TX * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I would like to nominate one of my 2nd grade Academy of READING students. We implemented AutoSkill as our intervention program in January, so it was new to me and the students. This student struggled with all the visual matches. I was ready to give up because I didn't know how to help him. It didn't seem like anything I did or said helped. Finally, I resorted to dropping his criteria to the bare minimum for all Visual Matches just to allow him a better opportunity to move past these skills. I talked to him about what I was doing and let him know that he shouldn't find the Visual Match as difficult to pass with the new criteria. Well, with the dropped criteria he began passing the Visual Match skills. And slowly I brought his criteria level up, all the while letting him know that I was doing this and showing him his improvement each time. I was excited for him and he was so excited about his successes. In less than a month's time I was able to bring his criteria back up to recommended mastery criteria! It is amazing! He is so proud and I have to say that I am extremely proud of him also! He is my Academy Star! Submitted by: Melissa Koppenhaver, Meeme LEADS Elementary Charter School, WI * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I have two students that came to class every day and the program helps both of them raise their State test scores. They come to the Academy on their scheduled time. One of the students finished all her objectives last school year. They are both in the 3rd grade and deserve to be labeled Outstanding Students. Submitted by: Fawnah White, Twin Buttes Elementary School, Halliday, ND
Academy of MATHI want to nominate one of my shining Academy of MATH stars. My entire class was below grade level in September 2007, some as much as two grade levels behind. This student tested at 2.5 and is now working at the 6th grade level. Words can't fully describe the change in his self-esteem, attitude and enthusiasm now for math, a class he dreaded for the most part. I have been very excited to see almost the entire class rise to the 5th grade math level. Submitted by: Lisa Goglio-Zarczynski, 5th Grade Teacher, 21st Century Preparatory School, Racine, WI Ms. Goglio-Zarczynski was awarded Teacher of the Year 2008 by the Racine Area Manufacturers & Commerce. Congratulations from the staff at AutoSkill! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I would like to nominate a student who is fairly new to the program (started March 20, 2008.) He is a special education 4th grader and scored a below basic score of 2.7 . He is making up for lost time by diligently working through the Academy of MATH. In a short time span he has completed 22% of his program at 100% mastery. He comes into the computer lab on time (if not early) and gets right down to work. He is completely walking himself through his program. Submitted by: Karen Rudat, Shiocton School, WI * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I am delighted to nominate a fantastic third grader for the Academy Star Student Award for Academy of MATH. This student has made such ground shaking advances in his math skills while attending Title 1 Math Club. On the pre-test Math Placement Test given on November 26, 2007 he was Below Basic level (1.7). On a post-test, taken on April 30, 2008, he earned an Advanced performance level (4.6). This student demonstrated an increase of 2.9 levels. What wonderful growth in just 7 hours and 37 minutes of Academy Time on Task. We meet daily from 9:45-10:10 during the school day for 25 minutes. During this time we use Academy of MATH and reinforce the classroom math skills/assignments. Read the rest of the nomination... Submitted by: Mrs. Nancy Zak, Title 1 Specialist, Wildwood Park Elementary School, Puyallup, WA * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I would like to nominate a student from 2nd grade (class A3) for an Academy Star. This student came every morning before school to do math. He progressed two entire levels from one all the way through level two. His math has improved greatly in the classroom. This student is very eager to work and loves math. He is truly deserving of the Academy Star award. Submitted by: Rhea Barnes, Math Tutor, Sacajawea Elementary School, Great Falls, MT * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I want to nominate my student for her hard work and great progress in the Academy of MATH. She tries her best every time she logs in. She understands how to navigate through the program independently and knows when she needs assistance and asks for help. She loves printing out her certificates and she hangs them in the room for all of the students to see. I think she should receive a certificate because she rarely gets the recognition she deserves for her effort. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I would like to nominate my third grade student who has been the most successful using Academy of MATH. He started at Level 3 and by the end of March, had reached Level 4. He struggles with reading the math problems, however, using the audible reading prompts offered by the Academy of MATH, he was able to be successful. This student has worked incredibly hard to achieve this goal. I know recognition of his achievement would only serve to spur him on to continue working hard. Submitted by: Paula Piecyk, Hirsch Elementary School, Spring ISD, TX
Academy of READING and Academy of MATHWe have many outstanding students in Academy of READING and Academy of MATH here at The first is a fourth grader. She has done a fantastic job in both Academy of READING and Academy of MATH. She has been in the program since we began using AutoSkill. She has completed programs in both reading and math each year. This student is the kind teachers love. She is a hard worker, stays focused and only asks for help when really needed. She always gives us her best effort. We could always rely on her to help the younger students with logging on and getting into Academy. She was a real pleasure to have in class. She'll be in Middle School next year and we will miss her. In the 2006-2007 summer school program we had a 1st grade boy who was in Academy of READING and Academy of MATH. He started out slowly but when he caught on he really began to enjoy it. Shortly before the 2007 -2008 school year began I ran in to his mother at the grocery store. When I asked how her son was doing she said that he was very anxious for school to start so he could come back and work on the Academy. Well, he has done a fantastic job. He has completed two training streams in math and one in reading! He, also, is a student that is self-motivated. When he comes into the lab he sits down at a computer, logs on and gets straight to work. It is a pleasure to have him in the class. Submitted by: Cindy James, AutoSkill Coordinator, Wright City Elementary School, MO * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I would like to nominate a fifth grader for Academy of READING and Academy of MATH. In the fall she was placed into the Academy of READING and went from a pre-test score of basic (5.0) on October 2, 2007 to a post-test score of proficient (6.0) by the end of January 2008. Having met her goals we took her out of the Academy of READING at which time she ASKED if she could come to the Academy of MATH. She scored a basic (4.6) on her pre-test. In three months she has finished 52% of her program with 93% mastery. She is a hard worker and goes about her skills with gusto. Submitted by: Karen Rudat, Shiocton School, WI * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I have a student that has been in both the Academy of READING and Academy of MATH all year. As she has progressed through the year, her confidence in herself has grown tremendously. She is in a program at Lakeview Middle School called “Chance to Advance.” This is a drop out prevention program. This student went from 6th grade to 8th grade and has grown from being a student who was in constant trouble and not caring about her grades to a wonderful student who is rarely in trouble and really challenging herself to get good grades. A great part of this is due to the Academy programs. As she worked her way through the programs, she saw that she was capable of so much more than she thought. Submitted by: Christie Wheaton, Chance to Advance, Lakeview Middle School, Greenville, SC
Academy of READING and SpanishTutorI would like to nominate a fifth grader who was new to our district and has only been using the Academy of READING since January 15, 2008. He is an ELL student which creates many challenges for him but through the SpanishTutor he has really soared to high heights. His pre-test was below basic (0.0). He is now 25% of the way through his program and has mastered 83% of the skills. Submitted by: Karen Rudat, Shiocton School, WI
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