• What’s New – At-Risk Students Make Long Term Gains
• Customer Feedback – Paragraph Punch
• Articles Wanted – Educators' eZine
• Grants for U.S. Educators

Consultants at Marshall University Graduate College led a scientifically based research study in Calhoun County, West Virginia. Merit commissioned the Marshall consultants to conduct control vs. treatment group research. The purpose was to evaluate the effectiveness of Merit programs used by 6th-8th grade students, for two consecutive years.

Evidence shows that the lowest 25% of treatment group students made greater gains on West Virginia reading and writing tests than students not using Merit software. Long term gains for the lowest 25% of treatment group students also transferred into gains on West Virginia social studies, science and math tests.

This is among the first scientific studies to demonstrate continuous gains when teaching with computer-assisted instruction.

To learn more about the study, go to: http://www.meritsoftware.com/merit_calhoun_update.pdf

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"We’ve had very good feedback on the software and we use it as a springboard for our English classes. We use the software in both our wireless and PC computer labs,” states an educator at Armstrong Middle School in Starkville, Mississippi, about Merit Software’s Paragraph Punch.

Paragraph Punch was one of the programs utilized for the Marshall/Calhoun study. The software helps students to master paragraph writing through step-by-step prompts. Students learn to develop, focus, and organize their work, as well as to edit and to revise.

For a complete software description or to try the downloadable evaluation version, go to: http://www.meritsoftware.com/software/paragraph_punch

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TechLEARNING.com, the web site of Technology and Learning Magazine, is currently seeking articles for its Educators' eZine. Teachers and parents, media specialists and technology coordinators, program leaders and staff developers, are all invited to submit.

Articles might focus on experiences with using Merit or other educational software. The Educators' eZine, which is published online monthly, has a national readership of tens of thousands.

Get into cyberprint, at: http://www.techlearning.com/content/speak/articles/write.html

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The Braitmayer Foundation offers grants for curricular or reform initiatives to schools and institutions working with the K-12 population. Proposals may support the integration and implementation of software as part of an overall project. Grants are worth up to $35,000; the next deadline is June 1.

For further information, go to: http://www.braitmayerfoundation.org/guid.htm

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