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For Immediate Release
Monday, October 22, 2001
Contact:Heidi B. Perlman 781-338-3106, or Jonathan Palumbo 781-338-3105

Free on-line tutorials launched for class of 2003

Boston - The Department of Education has launched a seven-week on-line tutoring program to help all the students in the Class of 2003 succeed academically by improving their English and math skills. The Department signed a contract with the Princeton Review to provide the free on-line tutoring for students through their Homeroom.com program. The program was designed to assess and analyze student’s academic skills and improve performance in math and reading. Students will be able to access the new website from any computer with internet capability 24 hours a day for the seven-week course from October 22, through December 10. The tutorials will diagnose their math and English weaknesses and provide helpful resources, assignments, quizzes and ongoing feedback. The program uses a database of more than 120,000 multiple choice test items and 10,000 skill-specific lessons, lesson plans, activities, and additional educational resources that have all been aligned to the state standards. "We want to ensure that all students in the Class of 2003 have the tools to perform successfully in school," said Commissioner of Education David P. Driscoll. "The time has come for a solution that can leverage the power of technology and the Internet to help high school students not only pass the MCAS exams, but learn the skills necessary to help them with their education and long-term success." Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said, "For eight years, reforming our schools has been the focus of my administration. There are so many students in Boston who can achieve great success when given the opportunity. This program is an excellent way to give our students the opportunity to succeed by combining Boston’s nationally recognized efforts for providing Internet access in the schools and the resources for added MCAS support." Boston School Superintendent Dr. Thomas Payzant said, "MCAS provides an important opportunity for us to test the proficiency of our students and enables us to measure the progress of our districtwide reform effort called ‘Focus on Children.’ While we work on improving our schools, we must also provide every student in the system with support necessary for success. The Princeton Review materials will provide students one important way we can provide that support. The on-line access will provide the opportunity for students to sample questions over and over to apply what they are learning everyday." "The State of Massachusetts is taking an important step to help students," said Rob Cohen, Executive Vice President of The Princeton Review K-12 Services Division. "We look forward to working with the Massachusetts Department of Education in developing this approach to help students succeed with this exciting and valuable opportunity for students." The Department, using Virtual Education Space, will provide reports for schools on a regular basis. Teachers who choose to support the on-line tutorials will be able to use Homeroom.com to create skill-specific assessments aligned to the state standards, view student progress reports, and access instructional resources aligned to MCAS tested objectives. Parents can also play an active role in the program. They will be able to view their child’s progress and access skill-based instructional resources specifically created for use at home.



Last Updated: October 22, 2001



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