It's not often that I am accused of "misrepresenting the mission and values of" anything, yet Mr. Tim McEwen, the CEO of Study Island, did just that today.
I do not know what the missions and values of the corporate folk over on the island. I suspect that their primary mission is to make money, and I've lived in this land long enough to know not to question that--in turn, I ask Mr. McEwen not to ride some mythical high horse. He makes a fatuous accusation. I will respond with his own company's words.
Nashworld has already made a spirited defense in the comments of the last post, but there's still plenty to chew on.
And yes, I am having fun.
And yes, I am having fun.
I stand behind my words--teachers monitoring a child's time on-line is more creepy than Santa's Naughty or Nice fetish. Let us be clear--we are talking about 9 year olds.
This is from a Study Island Training Manual:
When introducing Study Island to students, be sure to communicate the data that is available to teachers on what they do. This will help hold them accountable for all they do in the program.Dana is a third grader. She can show her age without using all her fingers. She is a child. She worships her teacher. She has dry heaves at night because of your program.
Create a fake student user and record some stats under that user. Then, in class, pull up the reports that are recorded for that fake student on a projector screen. Go through the stats with the students and show them all of the stats that teachers can pull such as time spent on each topic, missed questions, etc.
By doing this, you will be demonstrating that work in Study Island is tracked and off task behavior should decrease.
Tell me how creating a fake user account to demonstrate her teacher's power differs from bullying?
It gets better. Suppose it's May, 78 degrees outside, and some slick tyke elects to blow through the test bank.
If the website senses that the child might (*gasp*) be guessing, it will automatically activate a "guessing detector" that forces the child to wait 10 seconds before allowing the child to enter an answer.
10 seconds of staring at a frozen screen. Welcome to power, little one.
Still not sold?
You can convert the questions to a game called the "Splat Game." Children must get their lady bug across the road before a car runs over it, hence the, um, splat.
Mr. McEwen, do you have any children under your roof? Do you see Dana as anything more than part of your market share?
Moreover, doing well on high stakes assessments is a by-product of content mastery gained through Study Island, not a goal in and of itself.
I'm all ears--how is Study Island more than a test bank tailored specifically to state testing?
What appeal does Study Island hold for administrators beyond a promise of improving their students' test scores?
I do not want to minimize the pressure felt by administrators today--the NCLB goal of 100% proficiency by 2014 reflects either an inexplicable grasp of math by our previous administration or a cagey attempt to cripple public education. (Maybe both?)
You are providing a service. No need to hide behind a banner of righteousness or chase after a small-time blogger with some nonsense about misrepresenting values.
Hey, I'm a retired board certified pediatrician--why not offer me a reasonable fee to endorse your product? It's a win-win.
I get a little pocket change. You get a bona fide pediatric endorsement.
And Dana? Hey, she's just a neurotic 9 year old who's going to be tested no matter what we do. We're just here to help.
Really.
It's in our mission statement.
Posts
37 comments:
For those of you reading this blog and the negative comments directed toward Study Island, I only ask one thing -- Go to our website, www.studyisland.com, and view the customer video testimonials, customer stories of success and case studies. There is a reason why Study Island is used by over 20,000 schools and 9.5mm students, and has a renewal rate of over 80% for first year customers and 90% for customers using our program for two or more years. It is fun, engaging and helps students learn.
Tim McEwen
CEO
Study Island
Dear Mr. McEwen,
No worries--this blog is a tiny island in a big, big sea. I am, however, disappointed that you did not spell out the mission and values held by the folks on Study Island.
Alas, I'll have to look for some other product to endorse.
Cheers!
Our school used Study Island for awhile on a "test case" basis. There were no significant gains in test scores, so the district abandoned it. There were, however, significant drops in the motivation to read.
You can quote that in your testimonials, Mr. McEwen.
Incidentally, the negative comments aren't directed at you. They are directed at the impersonal process of standardization and mass marketing. Call me a crazy edu-anarchist if need be.
Mr. McEwen: As a teacher I've noticed, sadly, most parents believe the line that mastering standards, memorizing factoids, and getting high grades produces an educated person. Looking around at the sad state of the world, run by valedictorians and "the top 10%", I think we need to look beyond simplistic metrics. I applaud Mr. Doyle for trying to get teachers, parents and yes, businessmen, to reevaluate the meaning of "success" and to help kids in the process.
@ bill - "a world run by valedictorians and "the top 10%"
Seriously? Where have you been the past eight years? Do you really believe that this is necessarily true? The thoughts in my head right now are making me consider both a wicked case study and the associated EdD with it.
Actually no, not that I'd likely waste an EdD on such a protracted case study. I already know far too many examples of the "top 10%" who struggle to run their own affairs.
On the other hand, I know another ton of folks (one quite intimately) who were identified by a ton of other "gifted" or otherwise "accelerated" programs for whom the almighty pursuit of GPA was just not remotely enough of a draw.
I agree- these sad metrics are the only things we are smart enough to legislate. Really- it is reflection over ideas like this one that make me think I might spend less future time chasing a doctorate... and more chasing political office.
I still harbor a tiny bit of hope that an idealist can make a difference even in a big big world.
Sean
My daughter is a gifted student and is currently having to use study island as directed by her English teacher. I sat with her through a number of tests and read aloud the examples of prose and poetry offered in the test questions. My reaction is that I have never seen such worthless drivel in my entire life.
Obviously the people at study island are too tight fisted to pay for quality content and have stuffed the exams with whatever crap they could find for free or next to nothing. Even the questions and answer choices had glaring grammatical errors. I say this because my mother was an English major and I was raised constantly being corrected on my grammar (suffering childhood but at least I have a decent mastery of the English language).
What I am seeing in study island (I am deliberately NOT capitalizing their name in case you are wondering) is nothing more than a bunch of people who chose to take the cheap and quick route to throw together a testing system that does nothing to really teach the student anything at all. If anything at all is being accomplished, it is the humiliation and frustration that the kids are feeling when they are forced to use this system as part of their grade.
McEwen states that all I need to do is to check out the endorsements on his site and see for myself just how much people are in love with his system. Selective endorsements on a website are NOT what I would consider reliable evidence of a quality site. Look at any scam site selling real estate money making programs or erectile dysfunction remedies and you will see the exact same type of endorsements. No - what you really need to do is to fire up Google and check out independent blog and opinion sites such as this one and see what the real people out there are saying.
Do your homework and you will learn . . .
I am a Study Island administrator at a charter school. This will be our 2nd year using Study Island. I am putting together a training PowerPoint for our teaching staff and that is what lead me to this blog.
I found last year that the Study Island test questions lined up well with the state standard test questions and it did really help prepare the students for end of year testing. Even though I do not believe that mastering standards, memorizing factoids, and getting high grades produces an educated person the reality is that this is the way our government has chosen to measure the success of a school. State mandated tests measure the schools ability to teach specific standards not the student’s ability to master them.
I just completed several online classes and all of the tests I took to evaluate what I learned were in the same format as Study Island questions are. Read material and answer multiple choice questions. Many high schools use web based tests or computer generated tests and of course there is always the ACT and SAT but maybe Dana's therapist could get her a exemption from these test because she gets dry heaves at night when she has to exert her brain too much.
As for poor Dana who is traumatized by the fact that the teacher may have some expectations of her is utterly ridiculous. I suppose if a child who is melting in the unbearable 78 degree weather decides to blow through a test then the program should award them with a "You tried your best award" just so her self esteem is not damaged. I just wonder what poor Dana would do if she lived in Arizona and had to take the AIMS test in April when it is 95 degrees. The bottom line is that the states require the children to take these tests and the schools are responsible for preparing the students to take the test. Study Island is just a tool to use that helps prepare these students. As for our school we will use Study Island again this year and hope that it helps to raise the score of our school overall. You would probably be surprised to know that I am very anti-government run schools and really do not like state mandated testing but I don't really have a better answer right now and my job is to help the children to master the standards so that is what I will strive to do.
Dear Anonymous #1:
I suspect that the reason the Study Island folk put out the stuff they do is because it has been selling. If school administrators with less discerning eyes will pay for what Tim McEwen sells, then what you see as "tight fisted" might be translated into "profit margin" in the books.
I don't think your words are going to find their way to the testimonials on Study Island, but I enjoyed them here.
Dear Anonymous #2:
OK, I'll bite, though I'm not convinced you're not a disgruntled student posing as a Study Island administrator.
"Even though I do not believe that mastering standards, memorizing factoids, and getting high grades produces an educated person the reality is that this is the way our government has chosen to measure the success of a school."
Leaving aside "mastering standards" (which is fine if the standards make sense), "the reality is that" you have chosen to accept money to administer a program that feeds into the insanity of high stakes testing even though you "do not believe that...produces an educated person."
OK, plenty of folks compromise their lives--the economy's in a rut, baby needs shoes, we all do what we have to do. So what do you do next? You've taken ad hominem to a new level and attack the child (ad pueri?)
"(M)aybe Dana's therapist could get her a exemption from these test because she gets dry heaves at night when she has to exert her brain too much."
Yes, that's it--she's using her brain too much. Perhaps she sees through charlatans promoting programs they do not believe in. You yourself admit that your program is not designed to educate but to get schools over the testing barriers.
Your subsequent rant against Dana I leave to stand by itself as a reflection on your critical thinking skills.
"You would probably be surprised to know that I am very anti-government run schools and really do not like state mandated testing but I don't really have a better answer right now and my job is to help the children to master the standards so that is what I will strive to do."
I'm not surprised once I parsed what "very anti-government run schools" meant (and yes, that's ad hominem, mea culpa); that you now serve as a tool pushing the Federal agenda you oppose because that is your job may help explain your attack against a 9 year old child.
We've been using Study Island at my school for about 4 years, now. We use it primarily for math. It has helped enough that it is worth renewing the license every year. Sadly, many kids had to simply attempt the same standard over and over until it all clicked. And for some, that meant upwards of 900 questions over the course of a semester. We use it as a remedial math supplement, and it does what it is supposed to do; get the kids ready for the graduation test.
So Doyle, you'd suggest rebelling against the system that mandates the passing of these tests (these tests that have little bearing on the future success and/or citizenship of a person) and telling the principal that I will not subject the kids the rote craziness of Study Island? Or are you just speaking ideally...as in "in an ideal world we'd all blah blah blah"...?
Ideally, I agree with you, but as Anonymous II stated, the reality is quite the opposite. And yes, it sucks. But when Study Island is used supplementally, there is still room and time for a teacher worth his/her salt to teach to improve character and for true, long-term knowledge.
Until we devise a better way, this is capitalism, and the need was to rote-train the kids to pass these lame tests. Study Island rose to meet this demand. Can you blame them? I just don't feel that Study Island is the bad guy, as you're making them out to be.
Dear baronsmear,
(At least you did not call yourself "anonymous." Any chance you teach in the Cleveland area?)
I will answer your questions in a moment, but first I ask that you kindly and critically read your response. You might consider re-reading my post, as well.
Your words:
"Ideally, I agree with you, but as Anonymous II stated, the reality is quite the opposite. And yes, it sucks."
If you think it "sucks," why not work to change it? And why turn it into "rebelling against the system" rhetoric when it was a straightforward post outlining issues with Study Island?
I do not speak "ideally" if by that you mean I toss words into the air merely to soothe contorted souls--I'm mortal, I do not have that kind of time.
If you mean that ultimately my goals will fail in our given culture, yes, failure is always a possibility.
Again your words:
"Until we devise a better way, this is capitalism, and the need was to rote-train the kids to pass these lame tests."
What is capitalism? Our constitution (for what it's worth these days) proscribes a form of governance, not economics. While I do think that Mr. Duncan, Mr. Gates, and more than a few other CEOs would like us to believe that public schools exist for the betterment of their corporations, that is not the history nor the charge of public schooling in the States.
Have you shared your views with your supervisor, your principal, your BOE? You might be surprised at how many others agree with you that a lot of what we're doing "sucks"--if you believe this, help fix it.
Passively accepting a system you believe is broken is sad; working to change things is not "rebelling against the system." If it were, I would not be employed by my BOE.
Why not judge it on the students? I am a student in middle school, and we use Study Island for mathematics and English. By a great majority, the students agree that Study Island is NOT a helpful tool, and is used more for the purpose of filling up a lesson plan than actually helping. We also agree that the questions are mostly cheap or free bits of stories that the test writers could get free or cheap. We all believe Study Island is an unfair system that has been put together and used inappropriately.
Personally, I think that Study Island is the worst testing program ever devised. I am a middle school student, and recently I've been forced to do at least 100 questions a week of this crap. The questions make no sense, the "games" look like they were coded in about 10 minutes and the answers are almost universally false. Has Tim McEwen ever used his companies product? If he ever had, he wouldn't be posting such drivel.He'd be out fixing it (I hope) Oh, and of the 9.5 million students, I can guarantee you that about 9.5 million of them are forced to do it.
-Wilson E.
Dear Wilson,
I hope it goes a little better for my students. We'll see. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Dear Wilson,
My response was pretty lame. Let me try that again--we'll give it a shot. Fortunately, I do not need to continue using it if it does not work for the students.
I would love to see students create their own version. I agree that the coding leaves a bit to be desired, at least at first glance. I'll know more in the next few weeks.
Mr. McEwen,
My son is tormented by your program nearly every day for math and writing. After finishing "real" homework he is then subjected to sitting in front of the computer for an hour only to become more and more frustrated with the goal of a "blue ribbon" until I, his mother, tell him to shut it off. I will no longer subject my children to something that "teaches" absolutely nothing more than "Oh yeah I remember the answer is B". I love our teachers but any teacher that use this system for teacher.....Computer programs cannot and will not replace actual instruction and you really are doing a disservice to your students.
Dear Anonymous,
Not sure he's still following this thread, but it gets visitors just about every day.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
From Jerry McCosar
August 13, 2011:
Hello, I know this blog post is old but.. I refused to let my children use the school isn't very happy about it but, I really don't care. This company won't even tell me what security measures they have in place to protect my children's information. This company (Study Island) really really fails in my book.
Not sure if you meant to be a spammer, so I took the liberty of reprinting your letter without the link.
Hello Doyle,
Thanks for keeping the post on here. I was not intending to spam. I choose to use my name, as I have nothing to hide in my post, and it had a space for URL, so I added mine. I wasn't aware that it wasn't allowed. Sorry about that!
Mr. McEwin,
My children are working with study island now - and they hate it. In every other online learning program we've worked in my children have enjoyed the challenges and been motivated to push forward and acheive more.... Sadly, your program makes my daughter cry and my son becomes physically ill when he hears from his teacher he must go into your site. My otherwise healthy, intelligent children loose it when they have to work with your pathetic program. Instead of trying to impress us with your sales figures (I could care less how many schools you con into buying your trash - it's still trash) Why don't you take a moment to sincerely read the negative reviews of your crap product and LEARN FROM THEM! Don't stand behind a product that children hate - modify the product so that it is actually helpful to students, schools and families. Until you make changes to this miserable set up I will continue to tell my friends and family to avoid your site at all risks.
Sincerely,
Elle Enlow
I cannot rate this STUDY ISLAND a NEGATIVE 10, on a scale of 1 to 10, or I would. THIS RUBBISH is getting SO BAD that I have now begun to inquire about schools for my son that do not use this educational cancer. I would hate to leave any school because of this ONE aberration, but when a 7th grader in PRE-ALGEBRA is given complex quadratic equations to SIMPLIFY that is the last straw. I am FED UP with this Shipwrecked Study Island. I have complained to STUDY ISLAND in Texas and to my son's school and NO ONE IS LISTENING! Both at field trips and on the Web, parents and students unanimously agree with me about the hideous nature of STUDY ISLAND. I dare say that MORE than a few teachers agree that this thing is to Education what war is to Paradise! Why do administrators insist on defying reason and the students' welfare by continuing to sponsor this wretched program? There MUST be a logical explanation: perhaps there is a contract that schools cannot back out of. Perhaps there are kickbacks involved. I know that realities exist and I can live with them WHEN THEY ARE OUT IN THE OPEN. Right now, it seems as though a rabid virus has gotten loose in education and no one cares.
Mauricio Escobedo
Study Island is a flawed program. If students can randomly guess answers, and if most questions are multiple choice, the students may not even be learning, but just trying to "make it quick". I completely agree with the blogger. If study island senses that the student is guessing, do not, I repeat DO NOT make the kids wait for 10 seconds! It should notify the teacher, or take away from the score, or make the kids redo the test, but REALLY? Waiting for a measly 10 seconds?
As the valedictorian of my class I cannot stress how much Study Island does NOT do. It's questions largely have no connection to what is being taught int he class room which really bothers me! I feel as if i'm "learning" this pointless material just so I won't get a zero at the end of the day. It seems my fellow students were more inclined to actually study something in a handout or in a book but now they're more likely to just bully a "smarter" kid into giving them the answers. Sorry for my poor English skills but it is not my mother tounge.
Many of you are forgetting many things when you consider study island and our current educational situation. Teachers are battling a situation where we get 1 hour of preparation for every five or six hours of teaching. China, Finland and other countries who are kicking our butts educationally have opposite ratios of classroom preparation to classroom teaching time not to mention student to teacher ratios. Yes this takes more money but every time I bring this up to administrators they acknowledge its validity, but point out we don't have that kind of situation...I'm like why not? If teachers had more time to prepare and assess their students situations, their lessons would get better. I mean really I could do much better if I could spend that kind of time preparing etc. But the public doesn't want to spend that kind of money on education. It would require mountains more money than what we spend now in order to facilitate the kind of situation u find in other countries that are whipping us. The elephant in the room no one wants to admit is there is the fact that we are doing the best we can with the funds we get....why do u think we do standardized testing? Because it is cheap citizen...lbecause it is cheap. Yes there are other issues...the fact that Chinese families generally funnel the wife and husband's energy and resources into one or maybe two kids whereas most at risk kids come from absent father families and or families with multiple kids. Also, most parents from the butt kicking countries generally expect much more from their children from their kids than we do. In educational research people are always looking for some commonality between successful student populations. Here is one for you...Finland and china kick our butts because the students and the parents know that if u fail certain tests, you get to be the trash man. In America at risk, honary students know the test won't hold them back....alternative placement....it will just get the person that is trying to make them do something they really would rather not be doing.
in trouble...sorry I meant to type the rest. Typing on my iPad is tougher,than I thought it would be.
Also...so many think American public education is individualized education.....how can it be? As a teacher, I volunteer an extra hour and fifteen minutes per day to my kids...btw I only get paid for two extra a week. Even with this, I ant provide the individualized instruction I would like....unless I divorce my wife and abandon my responsibilities as a father. Sorry ain't doing that.
Dear Latest Anonymous,
I am not convinced we are doing the best with what we have. I come from a field where putting time in at the expense of a personal life was routine, so my view may be slanted (and even unhealthy), but while many of us bust our butts to get our students what they need, a few of us don't, and it shows.
My diatribe was against Study Island--and while I agree our short-sighted view and our compulsion to test may both be, in part, a result of our lack of support for schools, this particular post was specifically directed at a business that profits at the expense of children.
Mr. McEwen obviously disagrees, and was kind enough to engage in discussiom.
If you are, indeed, a teacher, I worry about your state of mind in the classroom. While many of our children do come from difficult circumstances, I suspect our obsession with teaching to the test is doing much to make a bad situation even worse.
As far as picking up trash--and women can also work in sanitation--it's what my Grandad did when he got here from over the pond. My brother and I both spent time working on the docks of Port Newark. Working outdoors getting exercise for decent pay is highly under-rated.
If, on the other hand, you're trolling, you got me. =)
Dear Doyle,
I am sorry for the sake of whatever family you have that you are willing to sacrifice your time with them for your job. My dad was a coach. I never saw him. To this day I hate sports because I saw it taking my dad from me...moreover, I saw him spending more time with something when he shouldve been teaching and guiding me into adulthood. To illustrate, when he found out I was cutting class, he chuckled and laughed. The society that doesn't support the family is doomed to fail. Moreover, I don't know what era you grew up in but you look older. I do totally agree with you that people need to work but I believe it should be balanced with other things such as not worshipping at the altar of the almighty dollar from time to time.
As far as my time in the classroom and on the job, I spend plenty of extra time with my low kids every week. But I balance that time with the needs of my family. I won't apologize for that. I won't feel bad about that either.
The point of me saying we are doing the best we can with what we have has to do with the countries that are outperforming us. They are spending massive amounts of money in the right places and in the right ways....on improving the situation for teachers...we are the grunts...on the front lines. Those countries are letting the teachers teach...paying them for planning times and preparation instead of expecting them to make up for it at home....hiring teachers that are experts in their fields rather than hiring people who are experts in teaching methodology. Let me illustrate, my principal gives us one box of paper per semester. If you make more copies than that, you buy the paper. So after the first six weeks, the paper is on me.
Here...all we do is blame the teachers. In China and Finland teachers are respected and esteemed. In America, everyone who ever did crappy in school blames the teacher....I should know. All of my friends in high school dropped out. It wasn't because some teacher failed them. It was because they were too lazy or too busy blaming someone else for their issues. Personally, I'm really tired of all the teacher bashing. The only thing that allowed me to graduate by the skin of my teeth I might add was my dad moved me to the school where he worked which inspired me to start busting my butt as a student. It was only after some of my family issues began to be resolved did I even start thinking about school....hello maslows hierarchy of needs. All through that, I never blamed a single teacher. I blamed myself and my dads willingness to be a parent.
Yeah there are bad teachers out there. They need to find other jobs. But our system is broken...broken bad. The source of the ailment isn't teachers, though admittedly some teachers do suck. The main culprit is a society that doesnt want to get up form the xbox, tv or their own drama and improve itself. It is ruled by a mentality governed by politicians both republican and democrat who are trying to look like they are doing more when they in fact are just passing the buck...can you say unfunded mandates etc.
Until these things change, keep expecting stuff like study island which I happen to think is a decent product. But it is no substitute for a good parent....which by the way,, neither is the best teacher in the world.
With all due respect,
Israel
Dear Israel,
Ah, not a troll--and the cogent and thoughtful letter much appreciated!
I agree with much of what you said, which periperally affect my view of Study Island.
Study Island leeches off the part of education I find most odious, bad tests and tests used inappropriately. Study Island encroaches on a child's homelife. Study Island makes life easier for teachers for the wrong reasons.
I'd love to know what parts of Study Island appeal to you. I'm not looking for spurious sparring--our school dropped Study Island, so I've got no dog in this fight anymore--but I am looking to understand wat I am missing.
Thanks for writing--I enjoyed your thoughts.
Doyle,
It looks like we agree on more than I had originally realized.
I too detest the testing environment in which we live...I hear this complaint a lot from parents. But these same parents vote against tax increases and other fund raising. This won't change until the public comes down much harder on standardized testing and realizes the cause for the testing the way it is done is in fact money. But my district like so many other districts is about money first regardless how much they want to say they are about the kids first.
As far as study island, i like that it is a video game given that this is a format with which many kids are familiar. Also, it helps many kids' problems when other things don't...admittedly I do have kids that don't respond well to it but every curriculum doesn't get to every kid. Do I hate that fact that I have to "stoop" to a medium that in some waysis part of the problem?...yes and no. I think games can be used in a positive way...so this fits the bill in some ways.
I don't like how some of the questions don't seem to go quite along with some of the objectives in our state as much as I would like. I think a kid on this discussion noted that. I also don't think it should be used to replace a teacher but it is a good supplement....not a perfect one. Since it is not perfect, it is reasonably priced.
Good chatting with you.
Respectfully,
Israel
Doyle,
I was surprised to find that schools are using Study Island as an official part of the curriculum. For that, I don't blame the product as much as the schools choosing to take the shortcut.
When we were living in Michigan, our children's school provided Study Island accounts as a supplement. During the summer we found this as a very useful tool for our kids to practice concepts. When they came across a new concept, we sat with our kids and worked through the exercises together until they understood them. After that, they were able to practice their knowledge with more questions.
I consider Study Island (just like other workbooks) a tool for children to use concepts that they learn in different ways. Yes, the number of ways to use the knowledge is limited, but it's a stretch to say that nothing is learned. We are now in California, and since they do not provide Study Island accounts, we will buy one on our own. We also use other tools (Kumon, other workbooks).
Study Island,in itself, is a decent product. It sounds to me like some schools misuse the product. Yes, the SI sales people will sell any way they can to make money. It is still a choice of the school. Also, in my experience, the PTA has significant influence. Hence, the parents share some blame as well.
Regards,
Sunil
So I get that study island may not be the best option. Is there a good option for a computer lab? Thanks
I am a parent and I am homeschooling a kindergartener and a sixth grader. This is our first year at it and although I like the school we chose they are using study island. Study Island is really frustrating for me and my student. Thank god its just my sixth grader that has to do it.Its very confusing and I am not a newbie when it comes to computers. My daughter is really good at reading,writing, language arts,science and social studies but math she struggles with. She has been in public school for every grade but 6th and the math on this site is ridiculous. She hasnt even learned most of it yet and is expected to pass this? Please vote us off study island too!! I would not reccomend it to anyone.
Hi, Doyle,
I DETEST Study Island. I was so happy to run across this thread--it's good to know that I'm not just being a sourpuss.
I am schooling two of my elementary-aged sons at home through an online school. Study Island is a requirement in our school and it is used as part of their report card grades. We have had to use Study Island for the last two years.
I find Study Island completely useless as a learning tool--USELESS. For one thing, the content almost never matches what we are learning at the time. I usually have to teach a mini lesson beforehand just to enable my boys to earn their blue ribbon. So, of course, as soon as they earn the blue ribbon, they immediately forget what they just "learned".
For some of the topics, a "lesson" is provided. A few of the topics have a half-decent video lesson. However, most "lessons" consist of nothing except what I would call a fact sheet, (ex: "A noun is a person place, or thing. A proper noun names the person, place or thing.") or, even worse, nothing but flashcards which are incompatible with most topics (ex: "Is this sentence a compound, simple, or complex sentence?). Sorry, but fact sheets and flashcards ARE NOT LESSONS!!
For kids who are just learning to read, the speakers that "read" the questions and answers are very, VERY slow. Just as you are about to give up on the speakers, the computer-generated voice pipes up; nine times out of ten, it is completely unintelligible.
Pictures that are used in the questions and answers are--no joke--1980's clipart quality, so that half the time, you can't even tell what you are looking at.
I have completely given up on the Study Island games. I can get the games to load only about 25% of the time, so now we just answer questions in "test mode" every time. My kids are still young, so they are satisfied with the simple nature of the games (when and if they load), but I have a feeling the games would bore older kids out of their minds. I am a big fan of using fun games and technology to re-enforce learning, but Study Island is NOT that. It amounts to nothing but a dreaded chore--and one more reason to hate school!
The quality of the QUESTIONS THEMSELVES is terrible. Here's an example of the type of thing that pisses me off the most. My 3rd grader struggles with reading. Even short passages take a good amount of effort for him to complete. He is working on a topic called "Recounting Stories" in which the student must read a passage, then pick the best summary of the story. I haven't done an exact count, but I would guess that at least 20% of the questions have NO CLEAR ANSWER or are just plain WRONG. I am 36 years old and no dummy. If I can't figure out the answer, how is a 3rd grader supposed to do it?! He has spent over an hour reading more than THIRTY passages and still cannot pass this thing. Do you get the feeling that our time could be spent more wisely?
By the way, there is a link labeled "Comment on this question" on every question. I tried to use the link to contact Study Island to point out some of these ridiculous passages; unfortunately, only teachers may leave a comment!
For the record, I have absolutely no problem with a private company making money by providing a service or product to a school. It's normally the way most of us find the highest quality product at the best price. But in order for that to work, there has to be an alternative product AND the consumer has to be free to choose the alternative. In the case of Study Island, the students and parents, not the schools, are the true consumers; and we are not free to choose an alternative.
As much as I hate it, testing--and therefore practicing for tests--is a necessary evil. Perhaps the biggest problem with Study Island is that there is no other alternative island in sight.
Dear corporate head of Study Island,
I would like to reinforce what others are saying about your websites ablity to engage students over content material. I am the salutatorian of my class and have a 3.97 GPA. and yet I never use your program to enhance my education.
My entire school endorses Study Island and uses it constantly. they rely on it for easy grades because it is so easy to cheat an it so called "rigorous" content by getting the braniac to give them all the answers.
I was also an Oklahoma state Biology Champion last year. Whenever i tried to use study island to study, i noticed that its biology subject was strangely lacking in some certain contents. If it was supposed to reinforce my skills by being a supplement then why did it never help win such standard interscholastics tests covering easy content matter.
schools would be better off investing in teachers wo care and in-depth textbooks than waste their money on such useless programming. Its entire question bank on biology must surely number between 30 and 40 questions because i am capable of memorizing them all and scoring 100s everytime for lack of content
My children attend a virtual school that requires Study Island. I have been getting emails threatening to lock me out of the curriculum because someone isn't satisfied with their progress through Study Island. So, our school is willing to turn off our access to math, literature, science, and history if we do not spend hours on this multiple choice test drill. I am so tempted to complete Study Island for my children after they go to bed at night.
Study island is hard...And especially with the goal of the blue ribbon. My daughter would spend most of her life on one of her nodules because she has over 1000 questions and refuses to learn anything because she's frustrated with the way this program works. If anything you might as well put a reset button the students can access not just the teacher. Especially when the student has more than 100 questions, who knows how long that will take them to finish that. My daughter had to quit most of her sports and after school activities just because she was failing in studyisland. I mean are you serious? She got held back a grade just because she couldn't complete all ten modules in time because the questions kept adding up and the percentages kept decreasing every wrong question. Please...Do everyone a favor and delete this stupid useless program..because I for one won't have my own child sit and stare at the computer for most of her life. No matter how educational the program is.
Okay, So what alternative would you suggest to Study Island?
Hi,
I understand everyone's point of view but they all seem very extreme. I'm an 8th grade science teacher who has used Study Island in the past and gotten decent results. I'm using it tomorrow. One year, at the end of the study island program, one student said he'd memorized the answers after retaking the tests so many times. OK, not really the way I wanted him to learn it. However my goal that week, just days before the end of year exam, was just a content knowledge "boost." I realized that its best use for teachers is as as a formative assessment tool after a unit, throughout the year. It would provide great data about what I should reteach.
At home, kids can use it on their own or as extra credit. For kids under age 10 or 11 however, I would use this tool carefully, no more than 2 times a month at the school per subject. It just depends on what your goal is. Any tool or device can be used for good or be misused. No one tool is going to be a "magical answer." If you're using it right, it does take time on the teacher's part to learn how to use it well. I'd also like to say that American kids need to limit their screen time and go and play outside. But if its a choice between 1 extra hour a week on study island at home or playing an extra hour of a violent video game on the Xbox, Study Island wins!
I was impressed with how fast they changed their program to meet our brand new curriculum this year.
The questions are not all perfect for sure and the study Island folks should embed some kind of interactive feature. Say a student raises their hand and I go over to look and she says "both these answers look right" (this happens a lot.) I should be able to click some icon right on the student's screen, put in some kind of "teacher code" and right there be allowed to comment on that question. Ideally study island would then fix the issue within 30 days or less.
I also think they need to let the teacher choose the lexile, or reading level of the questions. Its easier for a math teacher to put an 8th grader on a 5th grade study island level if needed, but impossible for science because the objectives are not the same.
I also agree with the biology student that the science question bank is not big enough. More work to do there! But so far they've done a decent job evolving and hopefully they'll continue to do so.
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