Case Studies

 

Here's what teachers told Professor Bill about

Focus Question #1
What kind of students benefit the most?
Teachers had some strong ideas on this one.

Focus Question #2
What are the benefits to the teacher?
Teachers were very open with Professor Bill.

Focus Question #3
Do students perform better or exceed expectations on state exams?
The results were emphatic.

Focus Question #1
What kind of students benefit the most?


The overall reaction was that ALL students may benefit! WHY? Because assignments can be tailored to fit the learning needs of all students. Assignments provide basic, intermediate and advanced level questions.

The KEY Points Teachers Made:
High level achievers and remedial students

“My higher level kids love it because they really care about passing and the average students use it just to get better.”

“The higher achievers who don’t guess at the question and care about finding the right answer will see the best benefits.”

“The remediation students who take the time to look at the solution and self-correct will benefit.”

“Any student who uses this tool does better.”

“The individuals that get the most out of it are the students who sometimes fall a little bit behind the rest of the class. These students often benefit from going on this website and practicing questions, and going through vocabulary words and definitions. I think these students also put the most time into these assignments and really get the total package out of this learning tool.”

“While all students benefit, the average students gain the most.”

High end achievers can move at a pace that doesn’t bore them, while struggling students don’t feel rushed or overwhelmed by getting ‘left behind’ because the pace of the rest of the students is too quick for them.”


ESL Students Benefit

An educator explored Castle Learning’s benefit for her English as a Second Language (ESL) students. “The ones who benefit most are those with weak English skills. By practicing Regents questions, they bring their reading level closer to where the State expects them to be. Over time, students ‘get a feel’ for what the question is asking…a difficult skill for many of them.”

Parents Getting Involved

“While high achievers (benefit), as well as those in need of remediation that have parents who require they practice using the website.”

Other educators remarked that “Students who ignore the work or don’t put the effort in will struggle and (the site) provides a way for parents and teachers to visibly check the amount of effort a student puts into a course. If students create their own assignments, it tells me they are trying to succeed.”

Focus Question #2
What are the benefits to the teacher?


Map a Plan for Improving Student Performance

“I like Castle Learning Online because of the instant feedback provided on screen and the [performance] reports that are available.”

“I can view [individual] student weaknesses, as well as trends of weakness for an entire class, allowing me to self-check my own effectiveness. Also gives students exposure to the (state test) wording, where they get experience with vocabulary and difficult grammatical construction. [Students] can assess for themselves how much more studying they need to do.”

“It allows me to instantly (in less than 24 hours) see if students understand the lesson.”
Castle Learning Online can offer “extra assessments for the marking period” and they can “monitor their progress” by the assignments they give the students. “It provides an alternate assessment mode” and is a “great preparation for exams.”

“I compare classes by class and by individual analysis,” they have a “good way of finding out what topics I need to review in class before state tests,” or “I can assess the areas that need to be re-taught or reviewed.”

“I can quickly and easily tell which students are having troubles with a topic.”

“It is a nice way to have students review a variety of topics.”

“I can learn what is working and what isn’t with regards to how I present material.”

“The greatest benefit is students are getting plenty of practice and they get immediate feedback from wrong answers.”

This product “saves time in creating assignments and tests,” as well as “saves time grading and getting feedback.”


Involving Parents

"Parents use the program as reinforcement. They thought it was great that their child was using [Castle Learning Online] at home.”

Teachers observed that parents can also access the Castle Learning Online site with their children and remarked that "parents like that they can access their child’s work online and check on their grades, progress, strengths and weaknesses, and to see if they are keeping up with their work.

Another teacher said parents tell her that “they like to check the status of student's work from home.”

A Chemistry teacher sends a letter to parents explaining that “I utilize this program for homework assignments given throughout the year,” When he sends his letter he lets parents know that “to use this, your child will need to access the program online at home. If your child does not have a computer and Internet service at home, please let me know.” and after four years, he has had no parent approach him for an alternative assignment.


Review Strategy and Saving Time

With a goal toward higher levels of achievement, one educator suggested that “remedial ‘lab’ students can drill short concepts to steer themselves toward mastery.”

One teacher reported that students “use the questions that they got wrong to determine if we need to review an overall concept.”

About selecting questions from an existing database, “I like being able to choose questions I like. It saves me time with grading and I can see who has and has not completed an assignment.”

Recognizing that students are currently tech-savvy, an educator said “This is a great way for students to review content before exams because they enjoy working on the computer,” while another said that it “allows students to study for a test, rather than looking at their notes.”

“It saves time and gives a bank of questions in the format that the students need to be familiar with.”

“A great review resource before every unit test” and students “look forward to completing assignments.”

Busy teachers say Castle Learning Online “saves time” plus it “reinforces the materials being taught.”

A math educator remarked that “it saves time in creating tests, quizzes and assignments”…and where students can “access questions and see solutions to them.”

This teacher’s view was paralleled by another who said that “students get another place to use for help when they don’t understand something. Students don’t always have to come to me.”


The GREENER Experience in Learning

In a “greener” society Castle Learning Online “saves a lot of paper.”

Another teacher elaborated by saying “it saves paper, assignments are quick and easy to set up, students can work on it at home and in the classroom, and I can scramble the questions to encourage independent work.”


Easy to Set Up and Mirror Lesson Plans

The features of Castle Learning Online were a subject of a teacher who said it provides “topic review at the click of a button and it allows the students to get hints and vocabulary related to the topic”

This teacher added that they “[don’t have] to correct the assignment myself” and it gave them “an insight into individual and class misconceptions” about what was being taught.

A teacher, who works with Integrated Math students, as well as AI (Academic Intervention) Students, emphasized how Castle Learning Online can be used as a “pretest for the students to see what they need extra help in.”

Focus Question #3
Do students perform better or exceed expectations on state exams?


Prof. Bill received some straight forward answers to this question. While the study does not provide raw data, teachers supplied some anecdotal feedback when thinking about turning around weaknesses in students. Here is what teachers said --

The “Emphatic” Response

“Yes!” was the overwhelming response to this question. “Without a doubt they do better. My mastery level [of my students] went up.”

By looking at the results of tests, “I can see who ‘gets it’ (i.e. the content of a course as judged by results on tests) and who does not” and another simply said “Absolutely!” with regard to whether students perform better or exceed expectations. Summarized by another teacher, “My students absolutely perform better using Castle Learning Online.”

In an effort to predict how students will do on end-of-course finals, a teacher concluded that “it often gives me a sense of how my students will fair on the upcoming test, as well as what part of the unit they seem to be struggling with the most.”

A middle school teacher thought students generally “did not perform well on state ELA, Science or Math exams,” but “my students performed markedly better than the other students in the school and no other teacher uses Castle Learning even close to the extent that I do”

“I usually see a distinct improvement in student performance as the year progresses. They gain confidence in their abilities as they begin to understand the strategies to use in answering questions.”

Comparing performance in September and June, a teacher said “Early in the year the class average will be in the 60s and by year’s end, that score is usually in the upper 80s to low 90s.”


Not Raw Data, but Teachers Supplied a Clear Message

Are students exceeding expectations? “Yes, I absolutely believe this. Most students who complete the review assignments and flash card review score well,” and “There are no surprises in the question style when they sit down to take the exam” and it “helps them perform better overall,” with another saying that “Practice in math is essential,” and “if they take the time to do the additional practice, they benefit.”

A 4th grade teacher who likes the flashcard feature, stated “For most of my students, the geometry grades increased a bit when using the Castle Learning Online website. I think it is due to the colorful graphics in the questions” and added she liked “the variety of questioning there is.” She drew the conclusion that Castle Learning Online “benefits so many students because the students are able to take their time and go back to an assignment, as well as see the instant feedback of whether or not they answered the questions correctly, they seem to want to do better and are impressed with themselves when they do well.”

A teacher found his students trying even harder explaining, “Once students know I have my eye on them, they begin to take their time and answer questions to the best of their ability.” This same teacher remarked, “In my 4th grade class, we use Castle Learning Online to do reinforcement activities and to discuss test-taking strategies. Students always enjoy using computers, so it helps to ‘bring in’ some reluctant participants.”

“My wife and I both teach 5th grade and we absolutely depend on Castle Learning Online to prepare the students for all the state tests, the DBQ, the ELA and the math.” We also use the program to reinforce math and ELA skills.” The teacher concluded that Castle Learning Online is an “excellent program.”

An elementary 4th grade teacher focused on specific skills, in various subjects she teaches, by explaining that “their Math has improved in the problem solving areas,” and that their “awareness of Social Studies and Science ‘concepts’ seems stronger.”

Before formalized curriculum measurements, teachers focused on day-to-day experiences. A 4th grade teacher noted students need a ‘comfort level’ and want feel good about how well they’ll do! “I feel that having the flashcards is a great way to increase student knowledge of the content areas. It is a different way for the students to learn, especially at this level,” adding “They feel that using the computer is fun and don’t realize that they are learning at the same time.”

A Chemistry teacher, of three classes, said he sees a 95% passing rate in the course. This teacher was adamant when he said that “this course is packed in and requires a constant change of content each day.” Results are instantaneous versus a paper grading procedure he used to use, so that “by the next day, the instant feedback allows” him to “focus on a 20 minute review as compared with a five minute DO NOW!”

A high school teacher of geometry, advanced algebra and trigonometry explained that they gave assignments as optional before a test and concluded that “Normally students who worked on the assignments are performing better than if they didn’t spend the time on it.”

A high school teacher of Chemistry and Applied Physical Science remarked that “There is a correlation between students who do the Castle Learning Online assignments and the students that do well on tests. Students say that they find the assignments helpful and efficient.”

Students “perform better” because they “become familiar with the questioning” format found on exams and the website is a “dose of reality for them to see the level of questioning they will face.”

One teacher believes that “any student who uses this tool, does better,” while another explained that “it helps throughout the year, not only on state assessments, but definitely in preparing for (state) exams.”

Many teachers echoed the point that “my Regents numbers are generally good, due in no small part to Castle Learning Online.

A math educator looked at scores over a 3-year period saying “My NYS Math Assessment scores have increased over the past 3-years,” where “two years ago, the passing rate was 64% for 28 Special Education kids,” but last year “the passing rate moved up to 71% of the 28 Special Education kids.”

---

Now that you've read what others have said, it's your turn!

ProfBill@CastleLearning.com