Newsworthy developments (we think so) that might be of interest to you. Westport, CT October 4, 2006: ComFit Learning Systems of Westport, CT, announced today that its Internet-based language arts program, CommunicationFitness (www.comfit.com), is among an elite group of education technology products that have been chosen as winners in the prestigious Technology & Learning magazine 2006 Award of Excellence competition.
Now in its 24th year, the Technology & Learning Award of Excellence program honors education technology products that break new ground and demonstrate clear superiority over similar products. This year’s winners were chosen by a group of 32 educator-judges, who based their evaluations on a variety of factors, including quality, effectiveness, ease of use, and the creative use of technology in school environments. Other 2006 Award of Excellence winners include Apple Computer, Microsoft, Scholastic, and Adobe Systems.
“We're obviously thrilled that all the hard work we've been doing over the past several years to help language arts teachers and tutors strengthen the writing and speaking skills of their students has been officially recognized by the most knowledgeable education technology experts in the world," said Barry Tarshis, the founder and CEO of ComFit Learning Systems and the creator of CommunicationFitness. “The Internet is becoming an increasingly powerful force in education today, and programs like the Award of Excellence not only make it easier for schools to make better-informed education technology choices, they also keep the pressure on all of us in the education technology business to strive for and maintain the highest standards of excellence.”
CommunicationFitness is the technological centerpiece of a highly individualized “fitness-center” learning model whose primary mission is to help language arts teachers and tutors overcome the two main challenges in language arts instruction today: (1) motivating students to master the basic skills that underlie the ability to write and speak English clearly and effectively; and (2) making it easier and less time-consuming for instructors and tutors to identify and effectively address the language-related skill gaps that are severely undermining the academic progress and standardized test performances of millions of middle school and high school students throughout the United States.
The program accomplishes this mission through a seamless and constantly evolving combination of drill-down diagnostics; interactive, self-directed mini-lessons; and instructor-friendly learning management tools that measurably enhance the ability of teachers and tutors to create (and document the day-to-day progress of) learning strategies keyed to the differentiated needs of individual students.
“The results over the past 20 years from virtually every standardized test that measures writing proficiency make it abundantly clear,” says Tarshis, “that the traditional lecture-style, one-size-fits-all teaching model is out of sync with not only the learning needs of individual students but also with the way most kids today want to learn. Technology, in and of itself, isn’t the solution. But when technology is integrated intelligently with traditional best-practice teaching methods, it can make a dramatic difference in how motivated students are to learn, how much they learn, and how quickly they learn it.”
New ComFit Learning Systems Programs Encourage Student Involvement Through Publication
Westport, CT May 18, 2006: Thanks to a recently introduced enhancement to our resources, student writers in classes using CommunicationFitness have a new incentive for investing the time and care it takes to write top-level essays: having their essays "published" on the Internet.
This new enhancement, known as the Web Showcase, consists of two components. The first component enables teachers to identify high-quality student essays and have these essays appear on a special section of the school's own edition of the website.
The second element is a monthly essay contest that will work as follows: Out of all the essays published on school-specific websites, our panel of judges will select four essays for "honorable mentions" and one entry as the "Grand Prize" winner of the month. All the essays chosen will be published in our monthly online magazine. Grand Prize winners will receive a $25 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble, and there will be an additional prize awarded for what teachers around the country consider the "best" essay of the year.
Essays will be judged on the following criteria: (1) well-developed and logical content; (2) strong presence of a distinct writer's voice; (3) vivid and precise use of language; (4) fluency and flow; (5) the proper and effective use of Standard Written English conventions.
For more information on this new program, call Laura Webber, Curriculum Coordinator at 1-866-266-3481 or email at lwebber@comfit.com.
We hope teachers will take this opportunity to get students involved in our showcase and contest. In addition to giving teachers an opportunity to highlight promising students' efforts and talents, the showcase and contest can provide all students with the extra motivation and sense of an overall audience they perhaps need. We hope our Web Showcase and monthly essay contest can become an integral and important part of our subscribers' overall writing programs.
ComFit Learning Systems Launches Online Writing Boot Camp for Students and Business Professionals
Westport, CT May 17, 2006: ComFit Learning Systems, a Connecticut-based education company that specializes in Internet-supported instructional resources, announced today the launch of a writing skills program that for the first time combines online personal training with the Internet-supported learning resources of the company’s widely used website, CommunicationFitness (www.comfit.com).
The new program, known as the CommunicationFitness Online Writing Boot Camp, has been expressly designed for students and business professionals who recognize the need to strengthen their writing skills but are unable to address this need through conventional improvement options, such as seminars, courses, or private tutoring. The launch of this program comes in the wake of recent studies showing that only a small percentage of high school graduates (about six percent, according to college instructors who took part in a recent survey published by The Chronicle of Higher Education) are well prepared for the rigors of college-level writing.
"There is a large and growing need in both education and business today for the seamless combination of improvement strategies and the delivery model we’ve put together in this new program," says Barry Tarshis, the founder and CEO of ComFit Learning Systems. "And one of the main reasons, unfortunately, is time. Because of curriculum demands and class-load pressures, not even the most dedicated English teachers in the top Fairfield County schools are able to provide their students with the level of differentiated instruction student writers dearly need —especially when it comes to students who aren’t that motivated to begin with or haven’t as yet mastered basic concepts they were supposed to have learned in middle school."
Tarshis acknowledges that students and business professionals seeking outside help with their writing skills have a multitude of options today, but he maintains that most of these options—including the most expensive private tutoring—do not provide the entire range of what recent research has shown to be the most critical elements of effective writing instruction: individualized improvement paths, guided practice, frequent opportunities to write, timely feedback, and ongoing assessment.
What makes the Online Writing Boot Camp different and much more in tune with the learning preferences of Internet-savvy young people, he says, is its highly individualized, "fitness-center" learning model. "In contrast to happens in the typical class or seminar," Tarshis says, "we don’t shoehorn everyone into the same one-size-fits-all curriculum. What we do instead is to map out improvement paths that are keyed to each individual's learning needs, goals, and workout time availability. Participants develop new skills and hone existing skills in two ways: (1) through weekly, self-paced 'workouts' that are targeted to specific skill gaps; and (2) through weekly writing assignments that generate personalized, improvement-oriented feedback. And because the program is Internet-based, it doesn’t impose the same scheduling and travel constraints as conventional courses or tutoring sessions, and it provides immediate feedback. Students can 'work out' at any time of the day or night, and they can keep track of their own progress."
Based in Westport, CT, ComFit Learning Systems was founded in 2001. Since then it has developed and implemented Internet-supported skill building initiatives in more than 125 middle schools, high schools, colleges, academic support groups, and business organizations throughout the United States. The company’s licensing partners and member institutions include McGraw-Hill, the University of Missouri School of Journalism, the U.S. Army, the Bridgeport Board of Education, the Pascack Valley School District, and Darien High School.
ComFit Learning Systems CEO to Speak at Major Academic
Support Conference in Washington, DC
WESTPORT, CT, March 29, 2006: ComFit Learning Systems a Westport-based learning technology company, announced today that its CEO and founder, Barry Tarshis, has been asked to be a featured presenter at this year's National Council for Community and Educational Partnership's GEAR UP Conference, which will take place the last week of July in Washington, DC.
Mr. Tarshis will be sharing the podium with Ruth Garth, the Acting Director of GEAR UP, Bridgeport Board of Education, a federally-funded program whose mission is to increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education. Their presentation -- entitled "Launching Successful Instructional Technology Initiatives in GEAR UP Classrooms” -- will focus on the CommunicationFitness language arts initiative launched last year at Central High School in Bridgeport, with the help of an SBC Foundation Technology grant. It will provide conference attendees with a "blueprint" of what needs to happen in a school in order for an instructional technology initiative to make a meaningful difference in student academic performance.
"It's an open secret in education today," says Mr. Tarshis, "that very few schools have reaped any significant academic benefit from the huge investments that have gone into technology over the past ten years. And the main reason is that very few schools have figured out how to effectively integrate technology into the one-size-fits-all teaching model that has changed very little over the past century. What we have learned at Central High School, and in many of the other schools we have been working with throughout the country, is that regardless of how innovative or powerful a technology-supported learning initiative might be, you can't simply 'add it' to whatever system or structure is already in place. You need to make changes in the basic learning model. And you need the combined support of the community, the administration, and the faculty."
ComFit Learning Systems Launches New Grant Program
Westport, CT, March 10, 2006: ComFit Learning Systems, LLC announced today the launching of a new program that will award in-kind and cash grants of up to $4000 to grades 6-12 language arts teachers seeking to improve learning outcomes through the innovative use of Internet-based instructional technology.
Each in-kind grant will cover all CommunicationFitness subscription and training costs for one year and will provide unlimited access to CommunicationFitness to as many as 200 students. Additional cash grants will be awarded to teachers conducting action research while using CommunicationFitness. The key requirements for the grant program are as follows:
- A technological infrastructure that can support Internet-supported instruction;
- A curriculum plan that provides students with no less than one hour a week of individualized, computer-based skill-building;
- A structured measurement and reporting protocol that will track improvement levels throughout the duration of the grant.
Teachers interested in applying for one of these grants should write a letter or send an email that includes the following information:
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Grade level(s) of students who will be taking part in the program;
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Brief description of student demographics and academic needs;
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Brief description of how CommunicationFitness will be integrated into the curriculum;
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Full contact information.
All correspondence should be directed to Laura Webber, Curriculum Coordinator, ComFit Learning Systems, 38 Post Rd. W., Westport, CT 06880 or emailed to lwebber@comfit.com. Please call (866) 266-3481 with questions.
The deadline is August 15, 2006.
Note. Please visit www.comfit.com to take a Test Drive of the site before applying.
Laura Webber Joins ComFit Learning Systems as National Curriculum Coordinator
Westport, CT, March 3, 2006: ComFit Learning Systems announced today that Laura Webber has joined the company as National Curriculum Coordinator.
A member of the English faculty at Ridgefield High School for the past six years and previously at Wooster School for four years, Ms. Webber served as English Teacher/Technology Coordinator for the Ridgefield Interdisciplinary Technology initiative, a program for ninth-graders that integrated technology into an interdisciplinary, project-based, and highly differentiated curriculum.
In her new position, she will be working closely with language arts teachers seeking to produce better learning outcomes in their classrooms by integrating Internet-supported diagnostic and skill-building resources with best-practice teaching methods.
“Laura’s ten years of classroom experience, along with her expertise in instructional technology and her passion for educational excellence, makes her ideally suited for the commitment we have to help schools and academic support groups use instructional technology more creatively and intelligently,” says Barry Tarshis, the founder and CEO of ComFit Learning Systems and the creator of the company’s flagship program CommunicationFitness. “She will be playing a key role in the emphasis we’ve begun to place on professional development.”
Ms. Webber holds an M.A. in English Language and Literature from The University of Michigan and has undertaken Ph.D. studies in Arts and Humanities Education at New York University.
ComFit Learning Systems Joins Forces with McGraw-Hill in Major Higher-Education Writing Skills Initiative
Westport, CT, May 11, 2005: ComFit Learning Systems has joined forces with publishing giant McGraw-Hill in a major initiative aimed at strengthening the writing skills of college and career school students throughout the United States.
The centerpiece of this initiative is a privately branded version of CommunicationFitness, which focuses exclusively and in an unusually dynamic way on writing and speaking skills. The version will be known as McGraw-Hill’s Writer’s Workout, and McGraw-Hill will be marketing it on a subscription basis to colleges, community colleges, and career schools as both a supplement to its textbooks and as a stand-alone skill-building resource.
"Striking up a partnership with a company that has been a world leader in education for more than 125 years is an exciting milestone for our company on a number of levels," said Barry Tarshis, the president and founder of ComFit Learning Systems and the creator of CommunicationFitness. "This alliance will dramatically expand the number of instructors and students who can benefit from the resources we’ve developed and will continue to develop. And McGraw Hill’s decision to incorporate our software and content into its product line makes a strong statement about the increasingly important role that technology can play in improving the quality and effectiveness of writing instruction in general."
ComFit Learning Systems Completes eArmyU PReP Project for the U.S. Army
Westport, CT, November 10, 2005: ComFit Learning Systems announced today the completion of eArmyU PReP, an online assessment and skill-building that the U.S. Army will now be using as a screening tool in its eArmyU distance learning program.
To complete this project, which ComFit Learning Systems carried out as a subcontractor for Booz Allen Hamilton, ComFit Learning Systems assembled an elite team of cognitive learning specialists, psychometricians, and instructional technology experts. The program is built around the same drill-down technology and learning model that supports Comfit.com.
GEAR UP for Stronger Writing Skills is Launched at Central High School in Bridgeport
Working in partnership with GEAR UP Bridgeport Board of Public Education and through a grant provided by The SBC Foundation, ComFit Learning Systems is now conducting a dynamic new after-school academic enrichment program at Central High School, in Bridgeport, CT. The program is called "Gearing Up for Stronger Writing Skills" and is built around a mastery model that draws its inspiration from athletics and the arts. The emphasis, in other words, is on guided practice and individualized feedback, with students given the opportunity to shore up--at their own pace--the language skill gaps that are undermining each student's academic progress. The content is a highly focused and structured blend of instruction, tutoring, and interactive technology.
"Zoning In on the SAT" Set For Release in Late November
Our newly developed SAT preparation program, "Zoning in on the SAT," is now available to high schools, academic enrichment programs, and individuals seeking new and dynamic ways to bolster their SAT-prep initiatives. The program focuses on two key sections of the "new" SAT: Critical Reading and Writing; it differs from conventional SAT-prep resources in several key ways, the most important of which is the program's learning model. More than simply providing students with the opportunity to assess their skills and to take practice tests, "Zoning in on the SAT" provides students with multiple and engaging opportunities to shore up their language-related skill gaps.
If you would like to talk to someone at ComFit Learning about the skill-building needs that are priorities for you or your organization, call us toll free at 1-866-266-3481, or click here to send an email.