DALLAS, Oct. 05, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Voyager Sopris Learning announced today it has released REWARDS Plus: Social Studies (3rd Edition), a powerful, specialized reading program for struggling readers in middle and high school. With activities to help students learn to read with proficiency and confidence, the new edition places a significantly increased focus on vocabulary, comprehension and critical thinking skills.
“This is a powerful and immediate intervention program that provides long-term results,” said Jeffrey A. Elliott, President, Voyager Sopris Learning. “Teachers love the fast-paced, engaging, direct instruction, while students are rewarded by building literacy skills in their social studies courses.”
With a focus on close reading of content area informational text, critical thinking, extended response items, and academic vocabulary in the content areas, REWARDS Plus: Social Studies offers an impactful and affordable solution that supports any core curriculum.
The program, Elliott said, is designed to be administered as a full-semester, 15-week course with 50- to 60-minute lessons delivered daily. Lessons build upon each other and assessment is interwoven to ensure mastery. Moreover, he said, the programs are easy for teachers to deliver, and offer districts and schools with flexible implementation options.
“We once believed struggling readers could not improve their literacy skills after fifth grade. Of course, this is not true,” said literacy expert Dr. Anita L. Archer, co-author of REWARDS Plus. “Growth in reading and writing can go forward in middle school and high school if the intervention is intense and focuses on the big secondary six: decoding, fluency, vocabulary, background knowledge, comprehension, and writing. This is exactly the purpose of REWARDS Plus: Social Studies.”
The program also:
- features a research-based and research-validated approach to deepen comprehension of content-area texts;
- builds on students’ progressive mastery of word-attack strategies (from earlier versions of REWARDS) and engages them in applying the strategies to authentic content-area texts; and
- helps students successfully transfer skills in fluency, comprehension, and critical thinking from ELA settings to content-area settings.
In addition to Dr. Archer, program authors are Dr. Mary Gleason and Dr. Vicky Vachon. The new edition provides a new video mini-course to guide instruction by Dr. Archer.
For more information on Voyager Sopris Learning, visit www.voyagersopris.com. For more information on REWARDS Plus: Social Studies, visit www.voyagersopris.com/info/rewards-plus/.
About Voyager Sopris Learning
Voyager Sopris Learning® is committed to partnering with school districts to meet and surpass their goals for student achievement. The suite of instructional and service solutions we provide is not only research based, but also evidence based—proven to increase student achievement and educator effectiveness. Our solutions have been fully tested in the classroom, ensuring that they are easy to implement and teacher friendly. They are innovative, both in overall instructional approach and in the strategic use of technology in blended and 100 percent online solutions, and they are supported by an unparalleled commitment to build local capacity for sustained success. With a comprehensive suite of instructional resources, we provide assessments, professional development and literacy and math instructional tools—both comprehensive intervention and supplemental—and resources to build a positive school climate. Voyager Sopris Learning is a business unit of Cambium Learning® Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABCD), based in Dallas, Texas. For more information, visit www.voyagersopris.com.
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