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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Texthelp Systems Media Contact:
Christina Nawn/c.nawn@texthelp.com
Pearson Media Contact:
Adam Gaber/adam.gaber@pearson.com
Students Improve Writing, Reading Skills With Pearson's WriteToLearn Supported by SpeechStream From Texthelp
WOBURN, Mass., and BOULDER, Colo. - Aug. 19, 2009 - Pearson's
award-winning Web-based learning tool, WriteToLearn™, featuring
Texthelp System's embedded reading support technology, SpeechStream, is
enabling students around the country to personalize their online
learning environment and improve their reading comprehension and overall
writing skills.
With WriteToLearn, students practice essay writing and summarization
skills, and their efforts are measured by Pearson's state-of-the-art
Knowledge Analysis Technologies™ (KAT) engine. The KAT engine is a
unique, automated assessment technology that evaluates the meaning of
text by examining whole passages, not just grammatical correctness or
spelling. WriteToLearn provides feedback on six traits of writing -
ideas, organization, conventions, sentence fluency, word choice and
voice - and allows students and teachers to focus on each of these
important dimensions of writing.
Using SpeechStream's text-to-speech capabilities, WriteToLearn meets a
wide variety of learner needs for a diverse group of students, including
support for programs for Title I, Response to Intervention, learning
disabled, English language learners and at-risk learners. With
SpeechStream, students can have online content read aloud with
highlighting. The dictionary and spot word translation ability in
WriteToLearn 5.0 enables students to instantly retrieve the dictionary
definition or Spanish translation of words in a reading passage.
"Today's schools are under pressure to improve the quality of
student writing to meet important assessment goals as well as
21st-century guidelines for success in the workplace," said Mark
McCusker, CEO, Texthelp Systems Inc. "Texthelp provides a
customizable set of literacy and language support tools with Web 2.0
capability that mirrors the personalized coaching teachers provide to
students in a one-to-one learning environment."
Research shows that students can improve their writing ability through
the use of online reading and language support tools. Text-to-speech
with synchronous highlighting has been shown to elevate reading levels
by two years and to improve reading comprehension by up to 40 percent
for struggling readersi. In addition, a recent study by
Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Wash., shows that students
using these language support tools write nearly twice as much as
students without the tools and demonstrate significant improvements in
composition and organization.ii
Using Texthelp accessibility software embedded in WriteToLearn, students
with learning disabilities have ready access to text-to-speech output
and phonetically mapped writing support tools. "Some of my students
will stumble over larger vocabulary words," said Debbie Craven,
special education teacher at Troutman Middle School in Troutman, N.C.
With the text-to-speech output from WriteToLearn, they can put on their
headsets and click on the words to hear them read aloud. "They
appreciate having the resource at their fingertips, rather than having
to ask for help in pronouncing and defining words," she explained.
In addition, English language learners find text-to-speech output
beneficial, she said. "I have a Spanish-speaking student who
listened to the text in a WriteToLearn summarizing exercise in English
so he could better understand what he was reading. It's a great
tool."
"Educators today are faced with the challenge of helping students
with a wide variety of abilities and backgrounds develop the strong
writing and reading comprehension skills that they will need to be
successful in school, higher education and in life," said Lynn
Streeter, president of the Knowledge Technologies group of Pearson,
developer of WriteToLearn. "Through our collaboration with
Texthelp, WriteToLearn helps schools reach their diverse student
populations with a powerful tool for developing a clear understanding of
language, learning how to comprehend the meaning of words and building
strong communication skills."
About Pearson
Pearson (NYSE: PSO), the global leader in education and education
technology, reaches and engages today's digital natives with effective
and personalized learning, as well as dedicated professional development
for their teachers. This commitment is demonstrated in the company's
investment in innovative print and digital education materials for preK
through professional learning, student information systems and learning
management systems, teacher development, career certification programs,
and testing and assessment products that set the standard for the
industry. The company's respected brands include Scott Foresman,
Prentice Hall, Addison Wesley, Benjamin Cummings, the Stanford
Achievement Test series, the Wechsler family of assessments, SuccessNet, MyLabs,
PowerSchool, SuccessMaker and many others. Pearson's comprehensive
offerings help inform targeted instruction and intervention so that
success is within reach of every student at every level of education.
Pearson's commitment to education for all is supported by the global
charitable giving initiatives of the Pearson Foundation. Pearson's other
primary businesses include the Financial Times Group and the Penguin
Group. For more information, go to
www.pearson.com.
About Texthelp
Texthelp Systems Inc., based in Woburn, Mass., and Antrim, Northern
Ireland, is an educational software company specializing in the design
of literacy support and assistive technology to help individuals improve
their reading and writing abilities. The company has developed a range
of award-winning software products, including Read&Write GOLD,
Lexiflow and SpeechStream, which are marketed worldwide to individuals,
schools, higher educational institutions and publishers. For more
information, visit www.texthelp.com.
iJournal of Special Education Technology. Alissa A. Lange,
Queen's University, Belfast, U.K., February 2006. "Assistive
software tools for secondary-level students with literacy
difficulties."
ii2005-2007 Washington State Technology for Learning
Disabilities Grant Project - Evaluation Report, prepared for the
Special Education Technology Center at Central Washington University by
RMC Research Corporation, Portland, Ore., July 2007.
http://www.cwu.edu/~setc/tld/pdf/TLD_Report_2005-2007.pdf.
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