Pivot Tests New Curriculum

Pivot Charter School has been testing a new assessment and remediation curriculum over the past year, i-Ready, and there has been a lot of positive feedback on it from our parents.

i-Ready is a Math and Language Arts curriculum. It assesses the students to see what they know and do not know, and determines where there are gaps in student knowledge. The tests are adaptive as students progress through them, so the questions become easier or more difficult depending on whether they answer correctly or incorrectly. In addition, i-Ready can assess whether a student is “guessing”, based on there being not enough time spent between the question and answer. Another benefit of the program is the ability to direct lessons to students based on their gaps, so they are not spending time on skills they have already learned. “This tool gives us a clear picture of what a student’s educational needs are, so that we can appropriately tailor their lessons”, says Lindsey Vining, Systems and Accountability Coordinator for Pivot Charter School. It allows us to fill educational gaps more efficiently and effectively for students who come to us not working at grade level.“  

Thus far, parents have been quite positive about the i-Ready program. Because of the user-friendly interface, colorful characters and engaging content, the students are finding it very easy to log in and get right where they need to be, regardless of their technological skill. The lessons are fairly short and get right to the point, so they fill in gaps quickly for the students who are behind. i-Ready also monitors a student’s progress as they move through the program and gives positive reinforcement, like awarding gold coins for completing a lesson successfully. i-Ready also creates parent reports each time a student completes an assessment, so parents and teachers can see progress throughout the year, rather than just one annual test.

i-Ready does not offer instruction for high school level students. If a student is assessed at high school level for Math or Language Arts, there is not additional instruction available for them through i-Ready. That instruction will continue to be provided through the Apex curriculum. But Pivot will continue to roll out i-Ready to assess all of our students and to offer instruction where a student is not working at grade level. Pivot is excited about having another tool to help individualize instruction for their students.