ODYSSEYWARE

Almost every parent thinks his child is gifted. I know I do. I bore my friends with stories of how my three-year-old corrects his dad’s pronunciation of dinosaur names and how he knows all the names of the months. Let’s face it. Kids are brilliant, and they know how to find the soft spots in our hearts.

As responsible parents, we also want our children to have all the opportunities to succeed academically and beyond. This has led to a new trend for toddlers. If you have the money, you can enroll your child in test prep and tutoring for four-year-olds.

The New York Times recently ran an article investigating this hot trend. With the fierce competition for acceptance into gifted programs, many parents have turned to programs that will give their kids an advantage over other pre-kindergarten students.

According to the article, Bige Doruk opened Bright Kids NYC in 2009 to help kids prepare:

She runs a two-month ‘boot camp’ for the gifted test in the fall that includes eight one-on-one 45-minute sessions and two test-prep books for $1,075.

The demand, Doruk says, continues to increase.

As a parent, I understand the urge to give my (brilliant) kid every opportunity that money can buy, I have to ask myself if the test is actually evaluating how gifted a child actually is. Instead, it seems we’re testing knowledge which, in my book, is a totally different game. Perhaps we’re testing how much money parents are willing to spend to get their children into a good school, leaving those without the means in an inequitable situation.

At ODYSSEYWARE, we believe that every student should be given every advantage necessary to compete and excel academically. With customizable online curriculum that can accommodate the learning styles of gifted students as well as those at-risk, students can begin at the appropriate place, and accelerate through the courses at a pace that works for them. This levels the playing field for many kids who haven’t had all the advantages but want to succeed.

Early learning is important for kids. The learning gap seems to widen every day as wealth, not ability, determines what is “gifted.” In addition, when children become test scores instead of living, breathing, brilliant, and curious little learners, we are passing over some of the best and the brightest, and this costs our entire society.

Do you remember dial-up? Close your eyes and think back to a time when a high-pitched whine signaled that your phone line was trying to connect your computer to AOL or Netscape. Often, the result was a busy signal. This was frustrating to hordes of excited explorers who were at the very brink of the digital revolution. If you remember that, you probably remember getting “knocked off” too. Patience was a requirement if you were to stick with this Internet thing. (You don’t remember? Take my word for it; you wouldn’t have liked it.) Read more »

Tuesday morning I left for work in a mad rush. Feeling the effects of a long holiday weekend in Chicago, I was experiencing guilty mom syndrome. My heart said that my not-quite-three year old son should stay home today. He was as road weary as a kid can be and wanted no part of getting up at six, getting dressed, and heading off to preschool. Actually, I think I needed a day to recover. Do sore muscles from sleeping in a too-hard bed, riding in a too-small car, and cramming five days of visiting into a too-short weekend qualify as “sick”? Read more »

Students at Newberg  High School are spending at least part of their summer online. While many are gaming or logged onto social networks, others are recovering credits with ODYSSEYWARE.

Recognized by U.S. News and World Report as one of America’s Best High Schools, Newberg received a bronze medal for providing a good education across the entire student body and preparing students for postsecondary opportunities. Read more »

Dedicated to providing the most efficient and effective eLearning solutions to public and charter schools today, ODYSSEYWARE is pleased to announce a full slate of practical enhancements to our technology-driven online curriculum.

1. Both teachers and administrators now have the ability to activate or inactivate students with a new batching feature.

2. Users can now delete custom courses and assignments. Read more »

What does it take to be the best? When it comes to high schools, Newsweek has decided that it all comes down to one thing: the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or Cambridge tests given at a school each year divided by the number of graduating seniors. One point should be noted: the scores of students taking these tests don’t matter. Read more »

Starting in 2009, a new law took effect in South Dakota requiring high school students to stay in school until age 18. Not the only state to follow the trend of raising the legal age to drop out, South Dakota educators are asking themselves how they can get students back and offer them the sort of program that will not only allow them to get a diploma, but make it realistic and practical. 

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With the renewal of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) looming, Barack Obama and company have been trying to address one of the biggest and most talked about drawbacks in the current version of the law. It seems that everyone agrees that No Child Left Behind (NCLB) places too much emphasis on students’ test scores in core disciplines while ignoring other needs necessary for real learning to take place. Read more »

In an address to more than 400 educators in Peoria last week, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan noted that cuts to education programs and spending less time in school are the opposite of what students need. According to Duncan, “None of this is moving the country in the right direction.”

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Students seeking success in the classroom this year will have an extra incentive to achieve higher results. President Obama has announced that he will give public high schools the chance to compete to have him speak at their graduation ceremonies. To do so, schools need to prove that they are moving toward the goals of achieving higher graduation rates with higher scores for its students. From Yahoo News:

‘Public schools that encourage systemic reform and embrace effective approaches to teaching and learning help prepare America’s students to graduate ready for college and a career,’ Obama said in a video announcing the competition, called The Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge.

Good luck to schools as they prepare for this honor! Although the details have yet to be announced, schools will be expected to make significant gains in their yearly progress and submit an application to the President, explaining why their school would be a good fit for his commencement speech. This is a very innovative and interesting incentive for schools this year!