Six Study Island Features that Educators Can't Live Without

As Study Island users will agree, there are so many things to love about this program. Offering customizable practice to support your formative assessment strategies and standards-based preparation to ensure success on state assessments and beyond, Study Island hits all the key features educators look for in an online learning solution. In this blog post, we are highlighting some favorite Study Island features and showing how educators who love them are using them in their classrooms.

1. Group Sessions

The Group Sessions feature isn’t new, but the past year in education has given the tool a whole new meaning. With many schools transitioning to virtual or hybrid learning environments, the Group Sessions tool enables teachers to add stimulating collaborative practice and enhance teacher-led instruction, both virtually and in person, using real-time student data. Group Sessions can be used in the classroom in a variety of ways, including for formative assessments, as bell ringers or exit tickets, and in preparation for end-of-year summative tests.

Educator Katie G. uses Group Sessions almost every day, and when asked to share her experience with the tool, she had wonderful things to say:

"My kids LOVE the game-based Group Sessions! I use them in both whole-group and small-group RTI settings. I think the nicknames are so fun—and no need to worry about self-created "inappropriate" names. I like that I can self-pace the reading of the question, but they can each answer independently. And, above all else, I love how Study Island gives me standards-based practice available instantaneously every day!"

2. Built Tests

Using the Study Island Test Builder tool, educators can create, customize, and distribute standards-based tests throughout the program. Whether creating a short formative assessment, giving a unit test, or benchmarking students, teachers can use this tool to design a customized test by pulling questions from Study Island’s large bank of multiple-choice and technology-enhanced item types. These tests can also be used in a live Group Session in which the entire class can respond to and discuss questions together. 

Educators at Walton Middle School of Walton County School District in DeFuniak Springs, Florida, use the Test Builder tool in Study Island to create formative assessments for additional practice in the classroom. The school has seen a 5 percent increase in its students’ science scores in just one year of using Study Island. Take a look at Walton County School District’s Study Island implementation and successes.

3. Standards Alignment

Edmentum is dedicated to keeping Study Island tightly aligned to each state's standards. Our learning design team is continuously refining the topics and items in Study Island as standards evolve. The associated standards for every Study Island topic are always easily accessible, whether viewing content through content search, making an assignment, or reviewing results. And, the standards map provides easy access to all of the Study Island topics and associated standards in one convenient place to provide easy access for planning.

When Woodrow Wilson Elementary School in Denton, Texas, was looking for an online educational program, educators were most concerned about alignment to the Texas state standards, the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (or TEKS). The school’s hope was to find a program with more targeted practice in math, reading, and science. Study Island was able to provide that, and the program helped 94 percent of Wilson Elementary's ELL students meet standards in English language arts. Read more about Woodrow Wilson Elementary School’s Study Island implementation.

4. Content Search & Topic Tree

With the content search page, assigning content to your students can now be done through simple filters. Just choose your grade and subject, and select the activities you want to assign. With this tool, we also introduced highly requested features: the ability to assign lessons and flash cards and to organize all content into a fixed sequence that requires students to engage in meaningful instruction before moving ahead to practice.

Similar to the content search tool is the tried-and-true Study Island topic tree. If you’ve been relying on the topic tree to navigate Study Island topics, give the content search a try! This refreshed approach to sorting through standards and content and building assignments gives you greater flexibility to design impactful lessons for your students.

Beauregard Parish School Board (BPSB) in DeRidder, Louisiana, needed curricula that could help its nontraditional students and ensure that they are learning and meeting state standards mastery. Because Study Island’s topic tree has such a large bank of topics to choose from, it’s easy for educators to find specific concepts to focus on with individual students.

"If [teachers] see that there's a problem with their kids comprehending something like character development, voice, or tone, those topics are easy to find in Study Island because it's laid out so they can go to that specific topic and just have stories that deal with those particular types of questions," explained Dana Daughety, instructional computer specialist at BPSB. Take a closer look at Beauregard Parish School Board’s Study Island implementation.

5. Teacher Dashboard, Edmentum Sensei

The data-visualization dashboard in Study Island, known as Sensei, gathers and sorts student data for educators by subject, topic, and standard. Through the charts, graphs, and visual cues that Sensei provides, teachers can easily see what their students know and areas in which students are struggling so that they can make faster, more informed instructional decisions.

Educators at Christa McAuliffe Middle School in Boynton Beach, Florida, saw the value of being able to access reporting. Sensei gave these teachers an easy way to monitor their students and personalize their lessons in just a few clicks. The school increased state assessment scores from 61 percent proficient to 74 percent. Read more about Christa McAuliffe Middle School’s Study Island implementation.

6. Game Mode

Who doesn’t love a little break of fun during practice time? Study Island's game mode allows students to play a quick game whenever they answer questions correctly. This keeps students motivated and engaged while they are working through a topic.

Wrightstown Middle School in Wrightstown, Wisconsin, uses Study Island for the special education environment at the school. Aside from continuous practice to build knowledge and skills, game mode has helped keep the special education student population engaged and motivated to continue working. Dive more into Wrightstown Middle School’s success with Study Island.

If you don’t currently have Study Island, but want to experience these features hands-on, sign up for a free trial today!