Contact: Dawn Haley

dawn@fablevision.com

FableVision, Inc.

44 Pleasant St.

Watertown, MA 02472

617-926-1231 ext. 125

Immediate Release

High-Tech Help Comes to Rescue in High-Stakes Testing

Educational Researchers Launch Proven Approach

to Student Test-Taking Success on "BrainCogs™" CD-ROM

 

BOSTON, MA- Educational researchers at the Research Institute for Learning & Development and FableVision, an award-winning educational media and technology developer, announced the release of the new "BrainCogs" educational CD-ROM. Based on over ten years of research on strategic learning and instruction, the musical and animated CD-ROM has already been acclaimed by educators as a "critical coaching tool in an era of high-stakes testing." The CD-ROM, which is designed to be an interactive coach for learning & studying, has been created and published by FableVision, which distributes the CD-ROM nationally.

The PC/Mac CD-ROM, containing approximately ten hours of animation and activities, helps students develop a personalized plan to enhance the five cognitive processes (a.k.a. "brain cogs") involved in preparing for and taking tests. Thirteen creative strategies are presented that give students a variety of ways to support those "cogs" -- and students receive a personalized plan after completing the CD which highlights the strategies that work best for them. FableVision President and Founder Peter Reynolds remarks, "High-stakes standardized testing is one way to measure student success, but "BrainCogs" is designed to reach those students who not only don't fit that measure, but are many times adversely affected by the process."

Featuring a "cognitively challenged" band of musicians whose members serve as tour guides throughout the program, the CD-ROM develops a story-based context for the learning as well as a parallel track of curriculum-based material. As educator Christine Lorenz at St. Matthew's School in Pacific Palisades, California observes, "The BrainCogs approach is a huge help for students and teachers -- it gives us the badly needed help on tailoring the learning experience to each child." Lorenz adds, "And it frees teachers up to do what we love doing . . . inspiring real discovery."

Director of Assessment & Research at Lexington-based Research Institute of Learning & Development Dr. Lynn Meltzer shares, "Our entire staff was thrilled to collaborate with FableVision -- they've taken our research with learning-challenged students to a new level and are making it possible to share it with the millions of students we can't personally reach." Dr. Meltzer is also a member of Tufts University's Department of Child Study.

"We are determined to help the challenged learners who face debilitating stress and failure in the face of constant testing." co-founder of Research ILD Dr. Bethany Roditi asserts. Dr. Roditi adds, "This CD-ROM allows students to explore strategies that make sense to them and develop a personalized plan for success."

Funding for the "BrainCogs" CD-ROM came from the U.S. Department of Education, the D.O.E. STAR schools grant and MassInteraction. Bill Norris, Director of Program Development at MassInteraction, the quasi-public authority of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, was impressed by the project, "As a teacher for many years I know that there are many students who will simply fail without intervention and BrainCogs uses media, storytelling and technology in a powerful new way to address that challenge." With MassInteraction's support, thousands of STAR schools' students across the nation have already received the BrainCogs CD-ROM.

FableVision Studios leverages a wide range of traditional and new media platforms to help children learn and teachers teach. With a national reputation for producing award-winning learning applications and professional development tools/media for broadcasters, K-12 and museums, FableVision is planning major expansion of its educational publishing operations over the next several years.

Research ILD is a highly esteemed international organization of psychologists and educators dedicated to empowering students to "learn how to learn."

More information about the CD-ROM can be obtained at http://www.braincogs.com.