Updated 07/20/06...wl

Services Summary

Name	Apangea Learning, Inc.
Contact Information	Unit 123, #15 650 Thirteenth Street Indiana, PA 15701 www.apangealearning.com
Subject area and grades served	Math 6-12
Location of tutoring	School, online, community center, boys & girls clubs, places of religious worship
Experience with diverse populations	Students from high poverty school Minority students Special Education students Limited English Proficient students Spanish
Time when tutoring delivered	After school Weekends Summer
If tutoring is not at the student's school, is transportation provided, and if yes, is there a separate fee? (Note: Districts are not required to provide or pay for transportation)	Transportation not provided
Mode of instructional delivery	Web-based with live tutors
Length of tutoring session	60 minutes
Number of tutoring sessions per week	3 sessions per week
Student/Instructor ratio	25 to 1
Service area	Statewide

Program Description - written by Apangea learning, Inc

Smart Help for Math

Apangea Learning's web-based SmartHelp Math tutoring program offers students, teachers, parents, and administrators a unique and cost-effective means to offer effective assistance to students struggling with math achievement. SmartHelp combines Artificial Intelligence tutorial applications with human tutors for a private and effective solution. Short "reminder" lessons are delivered in a movie-like format to make learning more fun for students. SmartHelp allows students to work through math at their own pace while challenging them with problems targeted to their level of proficiency. Students continually receive "just-in-time" feedback from our tutors - whether it is the tutoring system or a human tutor so they never feel "lost". The result is a fun and effective tutorial environment for students that parents and schools can afford to offer over the long-term.

We are Research-based

SmartHelp's success comes licensing a tutoring project started by the U. S. Air Force in 1990. The long-term $9 million dollar research effort applied advanced applications of artificial intelligence to tutoring training systems. Throughout the 13 years of the project, the Tutoring system has been evaluated in 15 year-long field studies involving 40 schools and 30,000 students in 10 states. Not only is the program effective, but many of our students say it is fun to use!

How does it work?

SmartHelp gives students an initial on-line assessment that generates an individual Learning Pathway for that student. The initial assessment is followed over time with a series of on-line quizzes that offer a real-time look art each student's mathematics problem solving skills relative to the state standards.
In each math problem the student will follow a consistent seven-step problem solving process of (1) explore the problem (2) identify the goal of the problem (3) identify the values necessary to solve the problem, (4) make an equation (5) solve the equation (6) answer the question using appropriate solution value & units of measurement, and (7) write complete sentences about the mathematical process followed.
SmartHelp analyses each student's work as he/she does it to guarantee that the next problem is appropriate for that individual student's level of achievement. Each student also receives short lessons on how to answer questions for the assessment tests they are required to take.

Who are the tutors

The main tutor will always be the SmartHelp tutorial system delivered through a computer at your school, home or community center. In addition, there will always be a human tutor that will intervene when the student needs extra assistance. Our tutors are certified teachers or pre-certification teachers with validated experience in the classroom and tutoring.

Who gets reports?

Parents/guardians and the school receive computer-generated detailed reports showing student progress relative to both tested standards and problem-solving skills. Parents who can access the Internet will have authorization to access real time reports on-line at any time. Otherwise, hard copy reports are available. A Toll-free number is available 8am-7pm, M-F, for a parent, teacher, or student who has any type of questions. The final result of SmartHelp for math is successful individual instruction for students that is easy to use, research-based, transparent to administrators and parents, and cost effective to deliver.