Scenes from Pleasant Valley Elementary

Recognizing student accomplishment is a key to motivating future accomplishment. These two photos show how teachers at Pleasant Valley are doing just that.

And one more photo, this one showing students enjoying Stride Academy in the computer lab:

Students enjoying working on Stride Academy

Keeping Students on Tasks

We know that to keep students on task, we have to monitor what they are doing. When students know we are paying attention to what they are doing, evaluating their efforts, and presenting them with higher standards than they might settle for themselves, performance improves.

During my last visit to the school, Brad Hood shared a practice he uses. While students are working independently on Stride Academy, he runs the Class Summary Report. The trick is to set both the start and end dates to the current date. During the class, he refreshes that report to see the percent of correct answers students are getting, all on one screen. Instant feedback means instant correction.

Stride Academy Newsletter

ALABAMA NEWS - JANUARY 2015

Start Your Year with a Bang!  Welcome back to school! In these first few weeks of 2015, encourage your staff and students to share their resolutions for the New Year, and spread enthusiasm for starting off second semester with a bang! Post resolutions to a bulletin board for all to read, or share them on your school's website or Facebook page.  E.R. Dixon Elementary in Mobile, AL is building momentum early in the second semester with another school-wide Stride Academy contest. Their Thanksgiving school-wide contest was so successful, they are eager to get students back on board practicing skills while competing for the title of Top Student.Congratulations to Indonesia G. in Mrs. McDade's 5th grade class for winning Top Student over the holiday break with 259,154 Star points!  We want to hear your resolutions for 2015! Share your personal resolutions, as well as your staff and students' resolutions for the New Year by emailing cpowell@ltsed.com for a chance to be featured on our Stride Academy Facebook page! SGA Candidate Promises MORE Stride Academy!  During the recent SGA Presidential election atAlexandria Elementary in Alexandria, AL, one of the candidates shared: "If you elect me as president, I promise to work to get more Stride Academy time at school for students." Hip, hip hooray! You've got our vote!  Spotlight on Alexandria Elementary in Alexandria, AL  Alexandria Elementary students already embrace Stride Academy as one of their favorite programs to use in the computer lab, having answered over 1 million questions so far this year! Teachers love measuring students' progress through the Progress Monitoring Assessment and challenging students through the F.A.S.T. 360 Adaptive Technology.  Congratulations to these recent winners. You are Stride Academy Royalty! Weekly Royalty: Stride Academy Superstars Mrs. Lee, 2nd grade teacher at Alexandria Elementary, uses Stride Academy data to motivate students. Each week, Mrs. Lee names a "King of Answers" and "Queen of Answers" for the boy and girl with the highest number of correctly answered questions in Stride Academy. She also awards the "Master of Coins" for the student who earned the most coins during the week.  White Plains Elementary Class Celebrates  Cassidy A., winner of the Fall Writing Contest from White Plains Elementary School in Anniston, AL, enjoys celebrating with her classmates and teacher, Mrs. Brewer. Cassidy shares, "Thank you for our pizza party and for choosing me! We all loved it!"  Don't Forget: PMA Form 3 Available Now!  Progress Monitoring Assessment Form 3 is available NOW through February 14! Take advantage of this great opportunity to measure skill mastery prior to Spring Assessment.

Stride Alabama Accelerated Achievers Contest

Reminder from Early December

Enter the "Stride Alabama Accelerated Achievers" Contest! To get students on board practicing skills in preparation for ACT Aspire, we are sponsoring the "Stride Alabama Accelerated Achievers" Contest! Prizes will be awarded to the schools with top usage of Stride Academy from January 5 - April 5, 2015, plus one teacher and one principal who have effectively used Stride Academy at their school. Each category winner will receive a trophy to display at school! NEW! Teacher Impact Award NEW! Principal Impact Award Top Overall Usage - Elementary School Top Overall Usage - Middle School Top Overall Usage - High School Top Afterschool Usage- Elementary School Top Afterschool Usage- Middle School Top Afterschool Usage - High School *To level the playing field for smaller and larger schools, Stride Academy usage will be calculated by finding the average questions answered per student at each school (total questions divided by total active students).  Impact Award Guidelines: Share how a teacher/principal has effectively promoted and applied the use of Stride Academy at your school in 500 characters or less. Submissions should be sent to cpowell@ltsed.com and must include the teacher or principal's name, grade level and school name. All submissions are due by March 15, 2015. The winner for each category will be selected by a panel of Stride Academy Academic Specialists.