In the District of Columbia, where improving test scores is a mantra, AutoSkill is up and running in 1 in 4 schools. But Mr. Brown insists that this choice is not a blind flight into technology. D.C. negotiated much more extensive training and monitoring than was initially proposed. And standardized testing done last week will be used to see if kids using AutoSkill made bigger gains than those that did not. Kaplan for kids In Los Angeles, Kaplan Learning Services is working in 25 of the city's 100 lowest-performing schools.
All schools are under a mandate to improve.
For every 40 hours of instruction that students have received from our program, they have grown on average one grade equivalent. We have the luxury of taking the kids doing the least well and serving them - the kids that can be overlooked in a classroom. But it may not be a wise investment in professional development. At George Washington High School in New York, ninth-grader Pablo Polanco gets help after school from program teacher Mark Davis. Principals and teachers aren't the only ones looking for a way through the new products and choices in education.