American Reading Company Injects Business Basics Into ACTION 100 RtI Model

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., Dec. 8, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Just as the business world relies on the reporting of key metrics to manage and forecast operations, schools and teachers are now using real-time actionable data to accelerate student reading growth in the classroom.  With American Reading Company's latest release of SchoolPace™, a web-based student data tracker, educators in cities across the country — including New York; Philadelphia; Baltimore; Washington, D.C.; Akron; Spartanburg; and San Antonio — are using key metrics to prescribe meaningful interventions for every student to become proficient in reading. SchoolPace is a key component of the company's ACTION 100 RtI solution that makes every teacher a reading expert using a formative assessment system built on the Common Core Standards.

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"I used to work in sales, where I knew if I was doing a good job because we had targets to hit," said Jennifer Fenn, a teacher at Penn's Grove Middle School in Oxford, Pennsylvania.  "I've been teaching now for two years and didn't always know if I was doing a good job until test scores came out.  Now I can see exactly where each student stands, and when I move a child from one reading level to the next, I go home that night knowing I've done a good job. Using the data tracking has really increased my sense of job satisfaction."

Designed for maximum ease of use, SchoolPace makes data part of an ongoing cycle of instructional improvement by bridging the gaps between data collection, data analysis, data reporting, and the implementation of data-driven curriculum and instruction in the classroom.  Teachers and school leaders enter data into SchoolPace that are organized and reported through several metrics.  SchoolPace users are immediately alerted when students, classrooms, schools, families, and districts meet specific milestones, or if they are falling behind.

"No one would think of running a business without daily metrics to forecast sales, inventory, or training needs," explained Jane Hileman, Founder & CEO of American Reading Company.  "Teachers need their own set of metrics to know whether their students are on target.  SchoolPace provides this data — and much more — in a highly supportive context that helps teachers inform their day-to-day instruction for each student."

About American Reading Company

American Reading Company transforms school cultures to create sustainable reading achievement through training, management, and monitoring. The company was founded in 1998 and is based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Today, more than a million students in 2,100 schools across 420 districts in 41 states participate in the company's programs, which include ACTION 100, 100 Book Challenge, Research Labs, and Summer School Express. For more information, please visit www.americanreading.com.

CONTACT: Jessica Lester (215) 884-6499 (office) or (215) 421-7536 (cell), [email protected]

SOURCE American Reading Company