KANMAS Supplementary Educational Support

This program is open to students who show the need for more “time on task” to better prepare for next academic school year or develop basic skills to meet the state standards. Students are placed into remediation level when their assessment results show proficiency in one or more grade levels below their supposed grade in Reading and Math. For these students to develop basic skills to meet the state standards and the demands of college preparatory work, KANMAS summer or after-school program provide opportunities for more “time on task” which has been proven to increase educational performance.

The following are the key components of the state approved Supplementary Educational Services (SES):

Alignment with School Curriculum and Pennsylvania Reading and Math Standards is ensured:

• By teaching and reinforcing the content behind the state reading and math standards using Brain Child curriculum, KANMAS hands-on-learning activities on each standard topic, and tutors certified and trained in the use of the system.
• Through KANMAS diagnostic Assessment (Brain Child Assessment tool) administered at the beginning of a tutoring period and the continuous topic-by-topic practice and reteaching by the Brain-Child Math and Reading programs, students’ competency level, estimate of performance on state tests, and tutoring need to achieve above AYP and state standards are determined.
• As a performance measure, KANMAS ensures that 80% or more of student’s participants make achievement level gains in reading and math after participating in 45 hours of math support/enrichment activities based on pre/post assessment data using Brain Child State Proficiency Test or any other state approve tools.
• Other measures to ensure alignment and effectiveness include
• Using one-on-one and small group guided instructions and hands-on activities based on the districts recommended text and curriculum to supplement instruction of the content behind each standard,
• Helping struggling students better understand the content through structured remediation and intervention activities,
• Using a combination of standard approved assessment tools to measure what students should know and able to so, and
• Working closely and sharing information with the districts’ superintendent, classroom teachers, principals and parents, and attending state conferences on the changes in the state math and reading standards.

Connection between program and school

The method and process of communication between the provider and the classroom teacher involves continuous exchange of information needed to help every party involved. These include:

• Exchanging student academic performance report by mail or email, face to face meetings to discuss student progress, and so forth. The progress report is made available to the classroom teacher every four weeks or as agreed upon.
• Through an end-of- nine-week face-to-face teacher-tutor conference or survey to review program alignment with classroom activities, test preparation, and curriculums review,
• KANMAS progress toward content coverage and teacher observed students difficulties that require supplemental assistance is assessed and understood by all stakeholders.
• Students must remain in the program until assessment testing or classroom performance certified by the teacher determines that they have remained above the academic standard for at least one nine-week period.
• Tutoring is recommended as a tool to enhance grade and content knowledge and not a last resort when failing.
• KANMAS require monthly and timely feedback report from the classroom teacher on areas that the student is having problem or need extra remediation or support.
• KANMAS deals with those areas that need more time on task, one-on-one or smaller group setting for greater attention to students’ individual problem.
• KANMAS maintains communication with the school district on its program and its alignment with the school curriculum and academic tasks.

Connection between program and home

The method of communication between the provider and home (Parents) involves the following process:

• Open house at the beginning of each term (Fall, Spring and summer) for information session on Academic support workshops, student supplementary academic programs, and KANMAS academic incentives for excellence for student tutoring need for the year;
• Monthly parent-Tutor Academic and advising session with parents of students identified by the school/classroom teacher as eligible for tutoring to provide or review current academic progress including review of grades, recommendations for strategies to improve/enhance performance, standardized SAT admissions testing, study skills and time management, setting of academic goals and action steps to achieve those goals,
• Monthly progress report on student’s progress in academic improvement, meeting the state standard and the expectation of NCLP and agreed tutoring goals, and progress toward tutoring program exit.
• The communication will update each parent of the child’s performance as well as learn from the parent other possible observed improvements in work habits and areas that are still lagging improvements and for the tutors and the educational psychologists to concentrate on.
• KANMAS also offers the following services to parents:
• Parental Involvement activities (such as seminars and workshops) to enhance a parent’s ability to monitor a child’s academic performance;
• Child Mentoring Program to help parents learning strategies for helping their children focus on their studies and possible careers of interest;
• Parents open forum to give feedback to KANMAS on how to better serve the community; and
• Parental Counseling is provided by experienced family counseling expert in dealing with challenges in dealing with learning difficulties in children, parent-tutor conference are also provided.

Assessment and Student Progress

• KANMAS uses Brain-Child Assessment tools or approved state instrument. For formative and continuous assessment, KANMAS uses in-house tools or Edusoft K-12 program to determine the impact of instruction and its tutoring strategies on the student’s learning.
• English Language Proficiency Test Stanford (ELP) is used to evaluate the listening, reading, comprehension, writing, and speaking skills of K-12 with the goal of guiding students to full participation in English language classrooms and ensuring that English language learners meet standards for comprehension and fluency.
• The diagnostic Assessments in Reading and Math are administered at the beginning of each nine-week tutoring session to provide estimate of competency level and the diagnostic information to guide instruction.
• The assessment results are then used to customize each student’s tutoring need in the content area to meet or exceed the grade/standard level performance.
• Tutors know that students are making progress within the tutoring program session by continuously monitoring the student performance within a tutoring session to allow for adjustment of tutoring strategy using in-house 10-minutes assessment/review tools at the beginning of each 60 minutes tutoring session.
• Complete summative assessment is administered at the end of the nine weeks (baseline), mid year, and end of year. Each student tutoring program is adjusted or discontinued based on the results of the above assessments.
• A tutor knows that a student is ready to exit tutoring prior to the end of the tutoring program when the summative assessment /prediction on the next PSSA shows that the student will perform at or above the proficient level.
• KANMAS maintains communication with classroom teachers through regular monthly reporting of student progress and will recommend that student perform consistently at that level for two consecutive nine-week assessments before student can exit the program.
• The student's progress is monitored for nine-weeks after the student has exited from the program and student should be allowed back into the program if progress decreases.

Evidence of Links between Research and Program Design

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) recommendations directly speak to the national problems of low Mathematics achievement levels; only about two-thirds of high school freshmen take algebra I and among students who enter the academic mathematics track (algebra I, geometry, algebra II, pre-calculus), about 50% drop out each year. Since no single system in the market effectively addresses all NCTM recommendations, Kanmas Intelligent Tutoring System (KITS) instructional materials have the following features:

• Based on a combination of the strengths of several research–based models of students’ learning principles [Paul, 2003, Renaissance Learning, 2002], computer-assisted platform, Intelligent Tutoring System developed by Corbett, Koedinger & Anderson (Corbett and Anderson, 1995), and the evidence-based K-12 academic performance improvement (API) strategies developed by Wosu et al [2007] .
• Incorporates hands-on-learning activities on each topic to enrich the four Academic Performance Improvement (API) skills - critical thinking, analytical reasoning, quantitative literacy, and problem solving skills proven to increase the average academic improvement gain of .high school students by 30%.
• Meet student’s academic needs using the student’s learning style, assessment diagnostic information, and KANMAS over 20 academic performance improvement (API) strategies to customize each student’s tutoring need in a caring one-on-one or small group environment.
• All KITS is based on the following research-based principles:
• More time for personalized instruction and practice,
• Practice of skills should be focused at each student’s appropriate ability level,
• Improvements in information feedback greatly enhance the learning process,
• Establishing personalized goals is an effective motivational strategy, and help to
• The best use of technology in education is to provide formative and diagnostic information feedback on learning to inform instruction.
• Developing and releasing only products proven by research to help educators accelerate learning.
• Universal success which presupposes that every student can learn given the appropriate tool and environment

For KITS to achieve the intended goal, Kanmas believes that :

• It takes the commitment of all stakeholders to raise a global well- rounded student for academic excellence.
• Under-achieving students must be identified and reached as early as possible and must be taught effective and lifelong learning skills
• All students must be challenged to reach their maximum potentials in a caring non-threatening small-group environment
• Understanding a child’s weaknesses, learning styles, and unique situation is paramount in maximizing the child's strengths and potentials

• Strong Evidence of Effectiveness-The effectiveness of KITS Learning Systems has been demonstrated in several school districts of two state in only two years of operation.