Why does it take so long to get standardized test results back?

And why does that hurt students?

Geoffrey Canada asks this question in his riveting TED talk.  Here's his question.  iMentorCorps has an answer!

iMentorCorps allows students to take short tests to see where extra focus and study are needed.  These tests help students (and their teachers and parents) gauge progress.

Results are always instantaneous. 

The Wall Street Journal on adding fractions. Why are we interested?

From the Wall Street Journal on October 2, 2013.  Read the whole article, but here are a few highlights.

Many students cruise along just fine in math until fourth grade or so. Then, they hit a wall— fractions.

The wall is about to get taller. With mastery of the topic seen as a crucial stepping stone to progressing in math, federal standards are stepping up emphasis on fractions starting in third grade. National tests show nearly half of eighth-graders aren't able to put three fractions in order by size. 

The key is lines and not pies.  Robert Bennin, our iMentorCorps resident math guru, hit on this a few months ago.  He and the team prepared the video below.  Don't worry about the 'iMentorCorps Confidential' title at the beginning.  We're working on a new series of videos, so you're getting a sneak peek into some of our latest work.

The Wall Street Journal article noticed this as well.

Ryan Spence, a technology-integration specialist for Propel Schools, a charter-school operator based in Pittsburgh, says fourth-graders can learn the basics quickly by playing a computer game with number lines, Battleship Numberline...

Lines, not pies.  Sound simple?  It helps students better grasp the important concept of fractions.

Let us know what you think of our approach.

Review materials for September 2013

Algebra CAHSEE Math Review Topics

Geometry CAHSEE Math Review Topics 1

Number Sense CAHSEE Math Review Topics

Statistics CAHSEE Math Review Topics

Our new website is live!

Check out the new iMentorCorps.com, and let us know what you think!

We're proud of it and thank our design team in Germany for putting together a fantastic public site.

If you're an iMentorCorps user, you can get in to see your progress, take practice tests, and watch help videos by clicking the Log In button in the upper right of the page.

"The only way you improve is to tell the truth. And sometimes that is a brutal truth."

The quote in the title is from the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan.

We tweeted out this story from the Wall Street Journal.  They're sticklers about their paywall, so you can read the PDF of the full article here.

New York state students' math and reading scores on standardized exams plunged this year, which federal and state officials said could be a harbinger of results in dozens of states moving to tougher tests tied to new curriculum standards.

 People who have seen the results, which will be released today, say

just under 30% of students in New York City were proficient in math and 26% in reading.

This is because of changes to testing methodology, according to

New York City Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott: "I just want to be very clear to the parents, though; it doesn't mean that your child is doing any worse; it just means your child is now being measured to a higher standard."

At iMentorCorps we've built and rolled out our cloud-based system to help students improve their CAHSEE (California High School Exit Exam) results.

One of our goals as we expand coverage is to include more exams in our coverage universe.  iMentorCorps shows students, teachers, parents, and administrators--using bite-sized online practice tests--where extra focus and study are needed to improve test results.  We track each student individually.  Students, mentors, and teachers can use our practice tests and full explanations (in text and video) for every single question to help students master the knowledge and skills they need to improve their test results.

School systems are strapped for resources and money.

iMentorCorps is alway free to use.

Want more information?  Contact us.  Click the link in the navigation bar above.

Do you like our new look?

Thanks to our German division (okay, we don't have a German division) but thanks to our iMentorCorps-women and men in Munich, we have a new look.

It's nicer, cleaner, and shows our social media traffic right on the sidebar.

Thank you Kristina and Rio!

100% of iMentorCorps Students Recommend Us to Next Year's Class!

The results of our 2013 iMentorCorps student survey just came in.

As in the previous year, we surveyed students in the Berkeley High Bridge program who had prepped for the CAHSEE using iMentorCorps about their experience with the program. We're pleased to report that iMentorCorps is getting strong feedback again this year. Some highlights:

• 100% of students said next year's Bridge Sophomores should also take iMentorCorps classes.
• 85% reported that iMentorCorps made them less nervous about the CAHSEE.
• 69% said iMentorCorps helped them score higher on the CAHSEE (The rest weren't sure.).

The presentation of survey results can also be found on our White Papers tab and on Prezi.

We surveyed students about their experience with iMentorCorps

Check out the results.  You can find more reports in the "White Papers" tab above.

Students using iMentorCorps to prep for CAHSEE (California High School Exit Exam)

Results are coming soon!

So, how does iMentorCorps work to help students improve their CAHSEE scores?

Our handy (only two pages!) white paper explains.  For more of our reports, click the "White Papers" tab on the nav bar above.

And stay tuned--we have exciting news about our latest classes and their CAHSEE results!