"No matter what level the teachers or the students are on, everyone can use the KnowledgeBox. It is so easy to train my teachers to program for their students. All of my teachers LOVE the 'Build a Lesson Plan' feature. Just push a button and you have all the state standards and indicators ready to hand in each week. There are so many different ways to find information. Now that we are experts, we can plan a relevant, polished, professional lesson in just a few minutes. What used to take us hours or even days to do is accomplished instantly. I especially like the fact that your staff listens. We asked for more math programs and we got them. We asked to be able to make our own links, and there it is. Your technicians are super. The rare occasions where we have had problems with our Box, have been handled quickly and most kindly — even when it was our fault. The KnowledgeBox is certainly a major part of our school. We can't imagine being without it."
"I have been using KnowledgeBox in my classroom for the past two years. I don't know how I ever taught without it. No matter what is in our curriculum, KnowledgeBox has information to supplement it. It is a terrific teaching tool."
"I have been using KnowledgeBox almost exclusively in our computer lab for the past few years with my kindergarten class. No other programs capture their interests as does yours. I am thrilled with the quality and I love being able to quickly pull up a topic when needed in my teaching. My students especially love the episodes from 'Between the Lions.' They have learned many phonics concepts through songs, such as 'When Two Vowels Go Walking.' 'Space Shapes' enabled the children to grasp the concepts of slide, flip, and turn in math. Without KnowledgeBox, I don't think that the class would have mastered this."
"The joy of having a total software package! What a delight it is to have themes and subjects to turn to for instant ideas and lesson extensions. The Internet links are such fun for the children; most have a game to motivate the learning."
"KnowledgeBox is used as a part of all our lessons on a daily basis. It has allowed language and learning disabled students another method of accessing information. I particularly enjoy the flexibility it offers to present information in a variety of ways at a variety of different levels. In addition, it has enabled our students to acquire a definite comfort level when working with computers. Now, when we come to a concept/object we don't understand or recognize, students routinely say 'Let's find it on the KnowledgeBox!'" "KnowledgeBox is VERY teacher friendly. Our teachers are now very computer savvy, but that was not always the case. Many of the older teachers had never used a computer. KnowledgeBox allowed even the most novice computer user to program for their class immediately."
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 Hyattsville Elementary SchoolPrince George's County Public Schools Hyattsville, MD Highlights
Profile
According to 2003–2004 figures, almost 75 percent of the students at Hyattsville are part of the free and reduced-price lunch program. The ethnic breakdown for Hyattsville is 45 percent African-American, 42 percent Hispanic, 9 percent Caucasian and 4 percent Asian. Hyattsville is completing their fourth year as a Title I school. The school program consists of an ESOL component that services 130 students, mostly of Hispanic origin. Hyattsville is a Beaumont Foundation Grant Winner and was selected by the Governor to be a demonstration site for the State of Maryland in conjunction with the Maryland State Department of Education, known as "The Hyattsville Wireless Community." There are 23 classroom-based teachers and nine non-classroom teachers. Three full-time ESOL teachers and one full-time parent liaison work at the school in addition to having two self-contained Special Education classes. Challenge Hyattsville Elementary has faced quite a few challenges because of low test scores. The students needed software that would model the state standards and allow the children to practice skills using the testing format. Solution To combat the challenges, Hyattsville purchased the KnowledgeBox digital learning system from Pearson Digital Learning and has been using it since 2001. Something that stood out above the competitors was that KnowledgeBox is all-inclusive. With just one program, students could practice skills from all subject areas. KnowledgeBox is used daily in the classroom, computer lab, media center, and on wireless desktops and laptops. Technology is considered a tool at Hyattsville Elementary, much like a pencil, pen, ruler, or book. All staff members of Hyattsville Elementary School have had extensive technology training. Because Hyattsville is a demonstration site for the state of Maryland, teachers have attended a multitude of staff development sessions and are thoroughly qualified in providing excellent education using technology. Technology is used in the daily classroom life at Hyattsville
such as collecting and presenting data, researching reports through
the internet, editing and publishing written compositions and developing
multi-media presentations. Beginning with the kindergarteners,
all students have training in Microsoft® Word and PowerPoint,
graphing software including Microsoft Excel, and software packages
including KnowledgeBox. Karen Stanford, Technology Coordinator at Hyattsville says, "KnowledgeBox
improves student performance by reinforcing skills taught in the
classroom, and the short movie clips are used to 'grab the
attention' of the student." KnowledgeBox: Easy for teachers, Fun for Students Stanford says that KnowledgeBox is VERY teacher friendly. "Our teachers are now very computer savvy, but that was not always the case. Many of the older teachers had never used a computer. KnowledgeBox allowed even the most novice computer user to program for their class immediately."
Karen Stanford says that sometimes, especially in Kindergarten, the first English words that the ESOL kids speak come from the KnowledgeBox. "A couple of the children called me 'Chicken Jane' (from KnowledgeBox) for about 3 months until they learned my name. They all know and love the songs. It can get really loud in the lab when they are all singing along at different places in a movie. The students are wearing headphones, the teachers are not." Results According to the 2004 Maryland Report Card, Hyattsville Elementary met all of the AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) requirements for the year.
Hyattsville Elementary students in grades three and five improved their comprehensive grade on the MSA (Maryland School Assessment) test from 2003 to the 2004 year.
Karen Stanford believes KnowledgeBox is a very effective tool
for both students and teachers at Hyattsville, and that it has
proven to be successful in helping raise test scores. "As
you can see, we just love KnowledgeBox." Contact us for additional information on how Pearson Digital Learning can help you achieve results with KnowledgeBox |
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Find
a Success Story 
Hyattsville Elementary is a K–6 comprehensive, neighborhood
school serving the Maryland greater Hyattsville community. The
school enrolls 550 students and is part of the Prince George's
County Public School District enrolling 137,000 students. 
A large number of teachers at Hyattsville
have presented at national conferences and worked with state and
national groups to develop software for elementary school teachers.
Teachers have LCD projectors and use KnowledgeBox for whole class
lessons says Stanford. "We use KnowledgeBox in the media
center for research purposes and for all the items listed under
the instructional strategies section of the Maryland State Content
Standards. KnowledgeBox is a joy to use. No matter what the topic
or curriculum need, KnowledgeBox has it. All students, K-6, ESOL,
Special Education, use KnowledgeBox. It is very easy to assign
lessons at the appropriate level for all students."
"We liked the fact that KnowledgeBox uses familiar characters
and real life situations to present information to the children.
We have a very large population of students that do not speak English.
This program can be used to individualize lessons for each child
while presenting the same general topic. We also like the research
aspect of KnowledgeBox. The students really like 'shopping' to
make their own projects," says Stanford.
