California's Palm Springs Unified School District is investing more than $800,000 in Vantage Learning's MY Access!, an online writing program that it plans to implement throughout the district over the next three years.
"Research shows how effectively [more frequent] writing increases achievement across the curriculum," said Superintendent Lori McCune. "Our teachers are looking forward to seeing not only improvement in written communication, but higher levels of achievement in all subjects they cover in their classrooms."
To use MY Access!, students write an essay based on a teacher's assignment and submit it to the web-based system. MY Access! analyzes more than 350 semantic, syntactic, and discourse characteristics, scoring students on focus and meaning, organization, content and development, language use and style, mechanics and conventions, and overall writing proficiency. The ratings of these elements are combined into one score on a scale of one to six (or one to four, as determined by the teacher), which appears on the screen.
"Writing is one of our most difficult areas to master," said McCune. "Oversized classes at the secondary level make it difficult for teachers to read a large volume of individual student work critically; [we feel] MY Access!, combined with effective professional practices, is the solution."
She added: "With the quick feedback it provides on a one-on-one basis, students reach a higher level of proficiency before they even turn anything in to the teacher for review. This program is a natural extension of an educator's expertise."




