Summer intervention with results

What do you get when you add an award winning scientifically-based formative assessment, (PASeries Reading!) + lexile score on your individual student reports + reading interests? Answer = reading achievement success!

Keep the momentum of learning for your students by encouraging participation in summer reading programs. If you report the Lexile score on your state summative assessments, apply your student's interests' through reading and watch your child's reading comprehension and achievement increase.

To view a study of the Lexile score and interest in reading level to improve student reading achievement, Stop Summer Academic Loss: An Education Policy Priority by Malbert Smith, III, Ph.D., President, and Dee Brewer, States and Studies Project Manager, MetaMetrics, Inc.

PASeries Reading wins BESSIE

Announced today via the business wire that our own PASeries® Reading is the winner of a 2007 Best Educational Software "(BESSIE)" Award. PASeries Reading was honored as best language arts product in the "Early Elementary" category.

Just a reminder of what PASeries Reading does: uses the industry-standard scientific Lexile Framework® for Reading. Lexiles® provide a common scale for matching reader ability and text difficulty, allowing easy monitoring of student progress. The reading formative assessments include screener, progress and diagnostic tests, focusing on overall ability as well as specific skills in reading.

International Reading Association’s National Convention

Going to IRA next week in Toronto? Be sure to visit the Pearson Assessments booth (booth 1500) to learn all about PASeries Reading and its use of Lexiles to aid in student improvement.

IRA is a great venue for us to launch our new suite of PASereis Reading diagnostic tests that we completed last week. I will be on hand to answer any questions you may have about the PASeries Reading program, so be sure to stop by.

Don’t forget you passport, and enjoy the convention.

Reading diagnostic tests completed

The PASeries team has now completed production of the Reading Diagnostic tests. 56 new diagnostic tests are now available to PASeries Reading users at no additional charge. The tests cover Lexile levels 100-1000 and allow for in-depth investigation in the following areas:

Elementary School Comprehension 1

Elementary School Comprehension 2

Elementary School Vocabulary and Phonics

Elementary School Literary Analysis

Middle School Comprehension 1

Middle School Comprehension 2

Middle School Vocabulary

Middle School Literary Analysis

The new diagnostics cover a multitude of specific skill areas such as: Figurative Language and Other Literary Devices; Homophones, Homographs, and Multiple-meaning Words; Main Ideas and Supporting Details; Literary Techniques; and many more.

A new Reading Diagnostic Teacher’s Guide is also available in the Reading Resouces area of the Resource Library that fully details the skill areas covered.

Have any suggestions for improving PASeries? Send them to PASeries@ pearson.com. The new Reading Diagnostic tests are the direct result of customer feedback.