[Study Island 2020 Questions Contest] Winner Spotlight

Earlier this year, from February 9 to March 28, Edmentum challenged Study Island students across the nation to answer as many questions correctly as possible and maintain a 60-percent passing rate or higher. We are thrilled to announce that our expectations were highly exceeded with over 1,400 schools and 350,000 students participating! We want to take a moment to honor the winners, as well as highlight insight from the dedicated educators who work diligently each day to motivate their students to practice their skills in Study Island.

Here are a few stats from the contest:

• A total of 959,682 practice hours spent within Study Island
• A total of 2,314,704 Blue Ribbons achieved overall
• A total of 43,882,066 questions answered correctly

The Winners

Three School Winners: The top elementary, middle, and high schools with the highest number of Study Island questions answered correctly per active student and an overall average of 60 percent correct or more each received a school trophy, a $250 pizza party, and $250 for school supplies.

Elementary School

Forrest W. Hunt Elementary School, Rutherford County School District, North Carolina

Middle School

West Mifflin Area Middle School, West Mifflin Area School District, Pennsylvania

High School

Rutherford Early College High School, Rutherford County School District, North Carolina

Six Student Winners: The student with the most questions answered correctly with an overall average of 60 percent correct or higher for each grade span (K–5, 6–8, and 9–12) received a $100 Target gift card. The second-place student for each grade span each received a $50 Target gift card.

Elementary School Students

1. Carlson Kurt P. (Florida) 10,707 questions answered correctly
2. Akshay M. (New Jersey) 8,166 questions answered correctly

Middle School Students

1. Aiden C. (Pennsylvania) 18,266 questions answered correctly
2. Richard T. (Texas) 14,233 questions answered correctly

High School Students

1. Christopher M. (North Carolina) 6,141 questions answered correctly
2. Maria M. (Texas) 3,529 questions answered correctly

Check Out the Leaderboard to See Who Made the Top 10!

Insights from Study Island Educators

We asked teachers from a few of the top-performing schools for tips on encouraging their students while using the program and found out some of the creative ways they motivate student success with Study Island. See what they had to share:

North Pitt High School (1st Place High School Student)

 “I teach the high school autism class, and Christopher [the 1st place high school student] is in my class. He is amazing on Study Island . . . but he especially likes the math. Even if it is free choice time and he can choose anything, he freely chooses Study Island. So, I was really excited to learn that Christopher is being recognized for his great work.

I teach students in the severe/profound autism class at North Pitt High School in Bethel, North Carolina. The students have academic abilities that vary from 24 months to 5th grade in math and reading. Study Island offers academic activities for all the students who have math and reading skills. So, in the classroom, Study Island makes it possible for students to be able to work on the computer at the same time but each on his/her ‘academic ability’ grade level.

“With the [COVID-19] pandemic, I have been giving the students daily assignments on Study Island as part of their ‘study at home’ instruction. Christopher is ‘right at home’ with the assignments. I can virtually monitor the assignments and offer assistance to the students through the Zoom or phone instructional times.

“[Study Island] has been a great addition to my academic instruction over the past three years that I have been teaching at North Pitt High School.” – Mrs. Cumberworth, Autism Teacher, North Pitt High School

Rutherford Early College High School (Winning High School)

“Students use [Study Island] for both in-class time and at-home time for further practice. In class, each day, I have hundreds of teachable moments, as I can circulate in the classroom and answer specific questions for each student, facilitating and teaching the individual items with which the student is struggling. We spend about 20 minutes working in class on each lesson, and I know that the questions are aligned to our state and national standards. Study Island allows me to have daily assessment and to create data-driven instruction with immediate application and practice. Showing both the students' highest and cumulative scores, Study Island also allows the students to see their progress over time. Our school uses Study Island for everything from science to English to ACT/SAT prep, and we have yet to find any other program that does so much so well.” – Mrs. Lambert, English Teacher, Rutherford Early College High School

West Mifflin Area School District (Winning Middle School & 1st Place Middle School Student)

“Over the past eight years, we have come up with countless free rewards and run numerous class competitions that help to motivate our students… We take a lot pride in getting the most out of our students.

Our students do around one million math problems every year on Study Island and have even won two national Study Island competitions (2015 and 2020). We’ve actually had students come back years later and ask if we are still doing our Study Island contests. As culminating activities, we have allowed students to tape our principals to the wall and even throw pie in our faces. Through the use of daily progress feedback and consistent rewards (which are brainstormed by the students and teachers), Study Island has become part of our 6th grade culture. We are extremely proud of the work our students have done over the years and are thrilled that this year’s group has been crowned champions.” – Mr. Tratai, Teacher, West Mifflin Area Middle School

West Bay Elementary (1st Place Elementary Student)

“Study Island has been such an incredible resource to use for my 5th grade science classes! In and out of the classroom, my students have used assigned practice sessions and the standards-mastery programs for test prep, review, and enrichment. I like that I have input on how and what the students are practicing. I ran my own little contests in the classroom and love that students could work on it at home if that is what they chose to do with their time. For the recent remote learning, I have made sure to manually arrange for students to watch the lesson first before accessing the questions. I have also used the printable feature to print packets for the students that are not practicing digitally. Several other grade levels and teachers have begun utilizing Study Island and love it as well. By far, our favorite feature to use on Study Island is the Group Session. The students enjoy choosing their own avatar and are super competitive when it comes to the top three spots and landing on the podium. Our next step is to try doing a Group Session via Zoom and screen share this week! I know my students miss it and will really enjoy connecting with their peers again!” – Mrs. Jersey, 5th Grade Science Teacher, West Bay Elementary

South Texas ISD Medical Professions (2nd Place High School Student)

“Beginning this fall semester, our district's leadership required greater accountability toward teaching and learning in the classroom. Though they offered several learning management systems from which teachers could choose, I chose the Study Island system to supplement my English courses, mostly because of the rigorous material within the system and its variety of reports. 

“What has proved most useful in the Study Island system are the grade-level assignments within each module that helped students move from lower levels of deficiency to greater levels of mastery. I particularly liked how the system helped students understand literary concepts by scaffolding levels of difficulty. When students retook failed assignments, the system retested them with new examples; this prevented them from memorizing answers. In effect, the system required students to think about each problem anew by preventing ways of subverting the system.

“Most important, though, were the variety of reports the system offered to assist with data-driven instruction. These reports have proven invaluable toward differentiating instruction for students that were struggling with understanding literary concepts. I've used the individual assignment features to help students get more practice on concepts all year, and I've seen remarkable improvements with each student. On several occasions, I've even used these reports to show parents how their child is progressing.

“I plan to tailor more of my assignments around each of the learning modules to use it as my primary formative and summative assessment systems. There is so much available in the system that I am sure I will commit to using it more often in the future.” – Mr. Keating, Teacher, South Texas ISD Medical Professions

Congratulations again to all our winners! Looking for ideas for using Study Island to get your students ready for state assessments without teaching to the test? Check out the Built-In Test Prep with Study Island webinar.