Last spring we went on a hunt.

COVID hit everyone by surprise, especially educators. We went from in-person learning to virtual learning in a day’s time. My district was not ready for virtual learning. Especially our most specialized special education students and classrooms. We kept thinking… our students need hands-on learning…. how on earth will we make virtual learning successful? What if this continues into fall? What can we do to help our students?

These were our questions as we went on a hunt for online interventions that would be appropriate and effective for our students. Myself and fellow special educators went looking for the ever elusive online curriculum that would meet our students’ needs. We were already using Edmark Reading as one of the many interventions offered to students. We found that Edmark offered an online version. After some research and demos of online lessons we asked for it to be purchased for the 2020-2021 year. It has changed our life! It’s amazing!!! Today I’m going to give you an overview of Edmark Reading Online.

To learn the basics about Edmark, checkout my blog post here. If you’ve never used Edmark, start there. If you are already using Edmark and want to know about the online version, keep reading along!

Word Recognition

Every lesson focuses on a sight word just like the physical version. The sequence of words is exactly the same, so you can intermix the physical version with the online version. Students are assessed as they go, and incorrect answers are recorded and can be viewed under reporting. 

Post Tests

Students still take post-tests, just like they would with the paper version of the curriculum. To do so, students are given a word, they read it aloud, then the teacher hits Y for correct and N for incorrect. The data then is complied into a report that is downloadable and shareable to parents. 

Stories & Take Away Readers

Both stories and take away readers are part of the online curriculum. Students are given comprehension questions after each story to answer. Right now there is no way to record student answers are right or wrong. Data is not taken on this section, rather, just like the paper version, I copy the questions and take a comprehension score. I’ve found some of the questions are slightly different, but all questions I’ve encountered so far are WH questions and would provide great data for WH question goals@

Comprehension

Picture match and phrase match both still exist in Edmark Online. Students drag pictures to phrases for phrase match, and match phrases to pictures in picture match. Student responses are recorded and viewable for teachers under reports. The software gives all of the directions, so students can work independently!

Teacher Dashboard

The teacher dashboard looks like this. From here you can assign students different lessons and parts of the lessons. Edmark Spelling is included in the licensing. Each teacher creates their own class and can assign each student individualized assignments and lessons depending where they are. Resources include the list of sight words, the sign language for each word, and the teacher’s guide and mastery test instructions. 

Reporting

Teachers can run different types of reports to view student progress. The most helpful I’ve found is a student’s progress report. This will tell you how the student performed on each task. If the task was a completion task (like stories or take-at-home readers) then the task is blue to indicate the item was completed. Reviewing the scores daily help you know when to move students to the next lesson and if students have mastery over a set of sight words. 

It’s a Game Changer

I can assign my students who are remote learning a virtual assignment. I can do it over a zoom lesson with them or have them do it independently at home (I’ll be sharing some live Edmark Online lessons on instagram today!)  Once they have completed the assignment for the day, I can review the scores and talk to the child/parent about what they did well and what they need to improve on. My remote students have had huge success with Edmark Reading Online and I couldn’t be happier with the implementation in the classroom.