Greetings Friends of Apangea;

NECC was a great conference!

After much preparation all day Sunday, we were ready to go. Monday morning Apangea Learning unveiled its new booth setup: multiple demonstration stations; a stage and microphone for presenting on a big screen and an emotionally powerful video featuring our customers.

But the biggest highlight with our new booth: we had some wonderful students from one of our clients, East Central ISD, join us at the booth.  Visitors enjoyed watching them work on the system; it provided a unique opportunity to see the product in action.

It was an incredibly busy two days – but what a great two days! Both days, we had a steady stream of visitors. It was wonderful to not only have our current customers, such as Damon Jasso from the Houston Independent School District, stop by to say hello, but to also meet so many new people.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to stop by our booth. But I want to send out a BIG thanks to our young friends from East Central ISD – you were awesome!

I hope to see everyone at TASA/TASB and T+L

~ Matthew Hausmann, Vice President ~

Greetings from the National Education Computing Conference (NECC) tradeshow floor!  NECC is the world’s largest technology education tradeshow and conference in the world and Apangea Learning is in the thick of things!  

I thought I would take some time this week to bring the show to life for everyone, not just for the handful of us here in San Antonio.  As with most of the large education conferences, Sunday is not a day of rest.  Rather, it is a day of building the booth.  What starts as a huge, messy convention center ends up as a glamorous exhibit hall after a long day and night.  It is absolute chaos:

And in the middle of this mess is the 10’ x 20’ space that we will call home for the next three days. 

After many hours, the booth is almost ready to go…just a few last preparations in the morning…and a team meeting…and then 12,000 plus people will descend onto the tradeshow floor.

Watch your for the next installment of “Live from the Tradeshow Floor”.

Best regards,

Matt

Happy National Apangea Day!

We at Apangea Learning are very excited to celebrate our first National Apangea Day!

We have asked all our Apangeans’ to show their Apangea spirit by wearing blue and green today!

What would National Apangea Day be without some fun facts about Apangea Learning?

(Current School Year)

• 924,793 – Number of math problems completed by Apangea Learning students
• 30 – Number of iPods given away
• 1,097 – Number of gift cards redeemed

Thank you for showing your Apangea spirit today! Go Blue and Green!

Happy National Apangea Day!

According to John Hopkins University Center for Summer Learning, students lose (on average) approximately 2.6 months of grade-level equivalency in mathematical computation skills over the summer months. Making matters worse, teachers spend four to six weeks reviewing what was learned in previous years once students return. To combat this summer learning loss, the Texas Parent and Teacher Association (PTA) has joined forces with Apangea Learning to provide students unlimited math tutoring over the summer months.

Apangea Learning provides students personalized, one-on-one math tutoring through its unique combination of Web-based instruction and live, online teachers. Students tutored by Apangea Learning are automatically enrolled in the company’s motivation program, which includes a rewards system for work completed, contests and random opportunities to win meaningful prizes (iPods, Nintendo DL Lites, gift cards, etc.).

Utilized by school districts throughout Texas (and the United States), Apangea Learning’s proven approach to math tutoring has helped thousands of Texan students achieve significant academic success within the classroom. 

According to Mayen Nelson of the Houston Independent School District, 21 of her 26 eighth graders passed the TAKS exam because of the Apangea Learning program.

“I passed my TAKS exam. I’m going to high school!” Powerful words that Frida, a student at Grand Prairie Independent School District, thought she would never be able to say.

Through this partnership with the Texas PTA, parents can now purchase a full summer of individualized math tutoring for $100, of which $20 will be donated back to the parents’ local PTA. Parents can enroll their children at www.apangealearning.com/TexasPTA.

“The Texas PTA is very excited about our partnership with Apangea Learning. Not only are we helping to overcome summer learning loss, but also providing our members a great and easy way to raise funds this summer,” stated Isaac Simon, Texas PTA’s Director of Marketing and Fund Development.

al·tru·ism   [al-troo-iz-uh m] –noun

1. The principle or practice of unselfish concern for or devotion to the welfare of others

It is relatively easy to motivate someone with a dangling carrot if that carrot directly benefits them. However, would that same person be as motivated if that carrot only benefited another? In the end, the answer comes down to the individual. But, we were happy to discover that as a whole, today’s students (tomorrow’s leaders) truly have an altruistic spirit about them.

During the winter holiday, Apangea Learning held a national contest to encourage students to use SmartHelp over the winter break. Unlike previous contests, this contest did not have students competing one-on-one for prizes such as iPods and Nintendo DS Lite. Instead, it had a new twist: altruism.

During this season of traditional goodwill and giving, students would now work together as a class to compete against other classes not for gadgets or pizza parties, but for the opportunity to help complete strangers. Apangea Learning would donate $1,000 to the charity of the winning class’ choice.

The participation in this contest was phenomenal.

Since that contest, Apangea Learning has held additional altruism contests that yielded equally impressive student participation.  Winners of these contests (and the charities they chose) include:

• Bill Arnold Middle School (TX): Leukemia and Lymphoma Society North Dallas Chapter
• North Kenwood/Oakland Middle Campus of the University of Chicago Charter School (IL): Chicago Coalition for the Homeless
• Southeast Local Middle School (OH): Akron Children’s Hospital 

The students altruistic spirit did not go unnoticed. Click the following links to view a few of the stories that ran as a result of the students’ efforts: 

• Hyde Park Citizen: North Kenwood-Oakland Charter School Donates Contest Proceeds to Homeless Group
• KDAF Dallas/Fort Worth -CW 33 News at Nine: Arnold Middle School Donates to Charity
• Record-Courier: Celebrating math achievements; Program raising test scores; $1,000 donated to hospital

To compete in the 21st century global economy, knowledge of and proficiency in mathematics is critical. Today’s high school graduates need to have solid mathematics skills—whether they are headed for college or directly into the workforce. The National Mathematics Advisory Panel (National Math Panel) was created in April 2006 to help ensure our nation’s future competitiveness and economic viability.

Recently, the National Mathematics Advisory Panel released its final report on best practices for the teaching and learning of mathematics (please see the above article: Focus on algebra, U.S. panel tells schools). The final report contains 45 findings and recommendations on numerous topics including instructional practices, materials, professional development and assessments.

Apangea Learning is well-positioned vis-à-vis the recommendations of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel.  SmartHelp is an excellent fit with the panel’s key recommendations. Additionally, it fully covers each of the benchmarks for the Critical Foundations of Algebra. Please click below for a detailed report on how Apangea Learning SmartHelp aligns with the National Mathematics Advisory Panel’s final report.

Click to learn more

“SmartHelp has been instrumental in helping thousands of students to not only learn and comprehend math, but also achieve academic success when taking state assessment exams. Much of our new growth this quarter can be attributed to our current customers sharing their success with other school districts. With a 100 percent renewal rate, this is a great testament to SmartHelp’s ability to serve the learning needs of all our customers.”

Louis Piconi, Apangea Learning’s CEO and Co-founder

I am happy to announce that Apangea Learning had a record-breaking first quarter for the 2008 fiscal year. The company signed 79 contracts, consisting of new customer acquisitions and current customer renewals.

Our online, supplemental math program, SmartHelp, is now being implemented in 29 states across the United States and the District of Columbia, representing a 25 percent increase in state penetration over the past three months. New customers utilizing SmartHelp include: Arlington Public Schools (VA), Augusta County School (VA), DC Public Schools (DC), Chicago Public Schools (IL), Huntsville City Schools (AL) and Pomona Unified School District (CA).

Additionally, Apangea Learning achieved a 100 percent renewal rate for its current customers whose contracts were up for renewal during the first quarter of 2008.

Our gratitude goes out to everyone who made this an amazing quarter – our current customers, our new customers and the dedicated staff at Apangea Learning.

 “Apangea Learning SmartHelp allows me to individualize math instruction for high school special needs students (grades 9-12) whose math levels range from (grades 5-10). With 15+ students in each class and no assistants, I would not be able to provide effective intervention with such a wide range of needs.” 

George Washington High School (Philadelphia School District)

Barbara Shoap, Learning Support Math Teacher

“I really like math thanks to Apangea Learning.”  ~ Apangea Learning Student

Every once in a while, something shows up in my email that makes a real impact on me.  This is one of those days.  What I like about what this student said is that it really strips away everything that we try to do as a company and boils it down to a simple, yet completely powerful statement.  So thank you, Michael, for putting a smile on my face and making my day.

~ MATT HAUSMANN, Vice President ~

Kayla graduated!

Yes, another Apangea Learning intern has completed high school and is getting ready for the next step in her life. All of us at Apangea Learning have really benefited from getting to know Kayla. She’s somehow survived the wackiness that is Apangea Learning and the insanity that is the marketing department. (OK…it’s actually a fun place and we are pretty nice but “wackiness” and “insanity” make for a better posting!)

Congratulations Kayla!

~ Matthew Hausmann, Vice President ~