Change Education with Edmentum: Study Island

Last month, Andy Frost, VP of Product Management for Edmentum, kicked off a new blog series highlighting Edmentum’s comprehensive product portfolio.  Mark Caulfield, Group Product Manager of Assessment Products and Elementary Curriculum at Edmentum, will continue this series by introducing Edmentum’s test preparation and standards mastery product, Study Island.

How is the 21^st century classroom being redefined?  Take a peek at Study Island for one answer. Every school day between 5 and 10 million students from more than 20,000 schools log on to the Study Island website and answer more than a billion Study Island questions.  I have worked in the assessment field for more than twenty years and from a testing point of view, these numbers are mind boggling.

I am fairly new to Edmentum, so trying to understand why Study Island is so widely used has been a high priority in my first 4 months.  The fact that it is one of the most, if not the most, tightly aligned K-12 standards (including every state and Common Core standard) product available on the web is a strong attribute, but every other test preparation product claims the same feature. The fact that Study Island was one of the first web-based products available (since 2000) helps to explain these numbers, but still doesn’t explain it completely. I found three reasons why Study Island maintains such high student usage on a daily basis.

• First, it is affordable—teachers, principals, and district administrators can afford to try it and they do. 
• Second, it is highly engaging—students use it and keep on using it. 
• Third, it improves student test scores. Why?  Because students use it, teachers can see where students have gaps and assign practice to help.
• And, if I can add a fourth attribute, I have never been involved with a customer service group that is more dedicated to helping each educator that calls or emails for assistance. Study Island customers get a live person to resolve their issue on the first call.

In the end, why Study Island is used by so many students in so many schools is simple.  Schools can afford to try it, students use it, it improves test scores, and if there are any questions or issues Study Island’s customer service group is eager to help.

Study Island is one of Edmentum’s award winning 21^st Century products, available only online and used in more classrooms than any other test preparation product.