NEWS RELEASE
Contact:
Kati Elliott/Kathleen Pomorski
KEH Communications
410-975-9638
KNOWLEDGE ADVENTURE CREATES NEW PROGRAM FOR
COMBATING ”LANGUAGE GAP” EPIDEMIC
Torrance, Calif. – June 25, 2007 – According to the Harper Index, 14–year–olds in 1999
knew about 15,000 fewer words than 14–year–olds in 1950. This lack of vocabulary can
cripple students’ progress in all academic areas. Knowledge Adventure®, a developer
and publisher of award-winning educational software for the home and classroom, has
launched the new research-based solution; Knowledge Adventure® Academy –
Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension program to help schools close this
”language gap” using vocabulary building activities and guided reading comprehension.
According to Tony Bordon, Senior Vice President for Knowledge Adventure, ”Some
students enter school knowing 3,000 – 4,000 words fewer than their peers. After the
fourth grade, that vocabulary gap is the greatest obstacle to reading comprehension.
Incidentally, the general decline in math and science scores begins at the same grade
level, so some of those kids may be struggling to understand their textbooks.”
Knowledge Adventure Academy – Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension contains a
Learning Zones Placement Test that places individual students at the level where they
will learn and retain new words most rapidly. The software also provides 2,400 explicitly
leveled vocabulary words that build background knowledge and contribute to improved
reading comprehension. These ”Core Literacy” vocabulary words are reinforced with
high-quality audio pronunciations of all words and definitions.
The software’s TargetScores! Motivation & Mastery system encourages repetition via an
activity–based Visual Learning Path that helps students achieve mastery and long–term
retention. Students participate in vocabulary activities promoting word to definition
understanding, words in context and definition to word comprehension. Teachers are
able to print out the vocabulary words and passages to practice fluency, vocabulary and
comprehension.
Once students have mastered the vocabulary activities, the program moves them into
the reading comprehension section featuring a Vocabulary–Based Reading Selector that
uses students’ vocabulary performance to guide them to reading passages at the
appropriate level of difficulty. The TargetScores! Motivation and Mastery System also
aids comprehension by its encouragement of repeated reading. In addition, the program
guides students with contextual hints on reading strategies such as main idea, facts,
inference and sequencing.
”We felt that this guided reading comprehension component was essential to reading
success,” said Bordon. ”Practice at the correct level of difficulty is the other missing
element in developing mastery, fluency, and comfort with academic texts.”
In addition to building students’ vocabulary and reading fluency, Knowledge Adventure
Academy – Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension encourages good reading habits
with features such as an Active Reading Window that helps break the habit of
backtracking by training students to read passages in ”chunks” rather than word by word
and by constantly moving the eye forward.
Additionally, guided reading passages introduce new concepts in a systematic manner.
Each passage is authentic and appealing and reinforces any acquired vocabulary.
The passages cover a broad variety of nonfiction topics and are customized and leveled
so even struggling students can experience reading success and become motivated to
keep working on their skills.
System Requirements and Pricing
Knowledge Adventure Academy – Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension runs on
Windows XP 2000 or 2003 as well as Macintosh OS X 10.4 systems. The software sells
for $6,250 for a building license, for up to 500 students.
About Knowledge Adventure
For more than 20 years, children’s software pioneer Knowledge Adventure® has set the standard in creating premium educational products for use in both the classroom and the home. With award-winning brands including JumpStart®, Reading Blaster® and Math Blaster® found in one of every five American classrooms, Knowledge Adventure understands the needs of teachers and provides educators with the supplemental, content-rich materials needed to meet and exceed today’s education standards. Teacher tested and trusted, Knowledge Adventure software has helped millions of students build and strengthen essential learning skills. A subsidiary of Knowledge Holdings, Inc., the company is based in Los Angeles. For more information, please visit
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