1. By: Rachel Ana Reding and Mitch Steckbauer Teachingfor theFuture

2.  The Waterford Institute was created by Dr. Dustin Heuston with the goal to provide both academic excellence and equity to all children through the new awakening power of technology. Millions of children across the country in kindergarten through second grade are benefiting from Waterford's online software for reading, math, and science. The Waterford School was also founded nearly 30 years ago and it is there where the almost 1,000 preschool through high school students serve as the proving ground for Waterford's new educational innovations. Click Here for waterford.org

3.  Scalability: Waterford technology offers an individualized educational experience for any student in any setting. The students mastering of key skills is ensured by the courseware.  Individualized and Equitable Instruction: Their software constantly monitors each students mastery of skills and adapts to meet individual needs.  Student Engagement: Waterford employs exciting graphics, music and game-like components to keep students actively learning throughout the sessions.  Low Cost: They ensure every child the same benefits. Waterford offers individualized, research-based instruction at a much lower cost than incurred by traditional reforms.

4. UPSTART (Utah Preparing Students Today for A Rewarding Tomorrow) – UPSTART is the base for the four year old learning programs, as seen below. By extending benefits of individualized interactive learning, UPSTART provides participants with a revolutionary support organization designed to be proactive and interactive as it initiates ongoing dialog with the families. Camp Consonant – This multi-sensory reading intervention program is a more personalized web- based product which provides animated, web-centric, cost-efficient software tutoring designed to help children with reading difficulties, such as dyslexia. Rusty and Rosy Learn with Me –This interactive learning software provides instruction each child needs by monitoring children’s progress and adapting to each child’s skill level. Children learn basic reading skills through engaging stories, and gain confidence in their learning successes. Click here Click Here

5.  Waterford Early Learning is a comprehensive, computer-based curriculum which includes two components 1. Waterford Early Reading Program™ - phonemic awareness, phonics, text comprehension, vocabulary, print concepts, readiness skills, writing, oral fluency 2. Waterford Early Math and Science Program™ - numbers and operation, geometry, algebra, measurement, data analysis, earth, life, physical science, scientific method  These programs assume the students have no background knowledge so that they can zero in on where the student needs help. Click the links to watch

6.  Classroom Advantage™ is an instructional tool for students from Pre-K to 2 nd grade, ideal for interactive white boards (such as SMART Boards™).  Aligned to the Common Core State Standards, Classroom Advantage offers a research-based reading and language arts curriculum of unparalleled depth for whole-classroom or small-group lessons, actively helping more than 1 million children around the globe every day.  Over 4800 digital learning activities (songs, books, lessons, games, etc.)  Complementary with Waterford Early Learning, Classroom Advantages’ extensive curriculum covers phonetic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, text comprehension, fluency, writing and school readiness. These learning strategies have been proven in over 30 independent studies and not only aid Pre-K to 2 nd graders, but are ideal for Special Education students. Click Here

7.  Pre-K Reading™ is an online reading program designed for preschool students to be used 15 minutes a day, 2-3 days a week.  It is a comprehensive, adaptive online reading program designed to prepare students for the skills necessary in kindergarten: Letter recognitionPrint conventions Letter soundsReading and readiness skills ComprehensionPhonological awareness skills Vocabulary While providing each student with a unique learning path to demonstrate mastery of skills, the software adapts to each students’ needs; for both gifted students and struggling ones alike. Click Here

8.  Waterford Institute is a non-profit research center founded in 1976 with the goal of providing high-quality educational models, programs, and software to a variety of schools and districts of varying size, location, and socioeconomic status.  Waterfords’ software and teaching techniques have consistently established impressive results, both within and between studies. Many of the Waterford assisted classrooms outperformed the comparison-group classes in most the examined assessment measures.  Below are links to additional studies: