Newest Success Maker Program Captivates ‘Techno’ Students In Their Learning

Posted on October 29, 2009

In this age of Ipods, Facebook, emailing and texting, engaging today’s “techno” students in learning is critical to their success. Introducing South Colonie’s latest gadget — the newest version of Success Maker.

Success Maker is a computer software program which provides individualized, self-paced instruction for each student in reading and math. With the touch of a mouse in the computer lab, students become visual learners as they improve their reading and math skills by manipulating images, cartoon figures, shapes, charts, graphs, pictures, words and more. Audio sounds played over headphones add to the effect.

"It certainly has captivated our children," said Jack Adams, South Colonie Director of Information Technology. "These students are today’s 'digital natives.' They are computer savvy to say the least. With this newest software, they enjoy learning to the point that they take it and run with it. Every day they are ready to explore."

When it comes to Computer Assisted Instruction, South Colonie has been ahead of most districts, introducing this type of technology to its students back in the early 1980’s. But this 21st century version of CAI — the newest Success Maker — is so dynamic and user-friendly it has captured the excitement of today’s learners like no other program. It was introduced at Lisha Kill and Sand Creek Middle Schools last spring when the program’s parent company — Pearson Education, Inc. — began pilot testing it in the district. The company provided the two schools with 30 free licenses each, saving the district about $72,000. This year, the new Success Maker has become an integral part of instruction in grades 5-8.

One of the key educational components of the new Success Maker is its built-in tracking software. After a student completes a series of questions in reading or math, Success Maker places that student at the appropriate learning level based on performance.

After this initial placement, the Management System tracks a student’s progress and automatically provides the level of instruction appropriate to that student’s needs, offering additional practice sessions in areas where performance is weak. Because each student proceeds at his or her own pace, this allows the student to take on greater academic challenges while building new skills, knowledge and strategies.

Success Maker takes the guess work out of teaching. On any given day, teachers call pull up reports that show what each child worked on during a class and how he or she performed. If weaknesses are detected, teachers work one-on-one with the child to correct the problem.