This school year Palm Beach County parents and teachers get a new, high-tech way to help students perform better in reading and math.
Today, the Palm Beach County school district launched “i-Ready” with a training session for hundreds of elementary teachers.
The superintendent said the system will help teachers tailor lessons to each student's individual needs.
“Allowing our brightest kids to move as fast as they can, as well as taking the time to remediate our students who are behind,” explained Dr. Robert Avossa.
i-Ready identifies a student’s strengths and weaknesses. Then it tells teachers how to personalize their lessons.
Former teacher Joshua Davidow says it's an exciting new approach.
“The ability to be able to know and have instant reports of data and individualized instruction for each student; as a classroom teacher, I wish I had something like this,” he said.
Parents like Nairobi Senft, whose son will be in second grade next year, can access i-Ready to help their kids at home. She hopes it will help her keep her son focused.
“The ones who are at a lower level feel a lot of challenges and have struggles and then they lose motivation,” she explained.
The new program will cost the district $5.6 million over the next three years. Avossa said his goal is to have 75% of third grade students reading at their grade level in five years. Currently, only 52% meet that goal.