Last month’s newsletter featured a section on the Education Department’s scientifically based research standards, and some of the problems it presents. This month will discuss one company’s results in trying to overcome those issues and demonstrate the effectiveness of their product.
The Company is Merit Software, and this month PILOTed interviewed Ben Weintraub, president, on the results of a study that he sponsored.
Their website, www.meritsoftware.com, says that Merit Software offers self-paced skill building programs in reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, writing, and math.
Before beginning the newsletter, I wanted to pass on that there is a key international symposium on ICT Literacy being held in Costa Rica in August on reaching United Nations Millennium Goals. It will share best practices from around the world. A preview is being offered on May 10 over the web. I encourage you go to
www.ictliteracy.info to view more information. |
Merit used Marshall University to conduct the study, which was published in the Journal of Research on Technology in Education in the Winter 2004 to 2005 issue. You can find more about the study at
http://www.meritsoftware.com/news/jrte.html.
Ben, what was your reasoning in deciding to do a study? We had a good sense that a study would support our views of the effectiveness of our product based on a project someone had done for graduate schoolwork at about the time of NCLB getting started. The study was based on two of our products and showed that students improved standardized test results. While the study itself was flawed in that there was no randomization and no control group, it gave us encouragement that it could be done. |
