With the Help of VitalSource^TM Digital Curriculum Solution, Maryland School District Boosts Teachers’ Effectiveness

During the 2005-2006 school year, Charles County Public Schools in Maryland launched a pilot program to improve teacher effectiveness through the use of technology. The initiative was to tackle a key challenge: the time and energy required of the K-12 instructor to sort through the long list of resources that make up the average course curriculum.

Textbooks, lesson plans, state and local guidelines are only a few examples of the materials K-12 teachers must refer to in preparation for a class. There are also worksheets, handouts, quizzes, tests and all the other resources generated by instructors to be used in the classroom.  

Rather than expending so much time both in and out of school making sense of and aggregating information from a multitude of books, booklets, guidebooks and binders, administrators wanted teachers to focus on better ways to engage with students. More time to answer questions, to devise creative strategies for teaching content, administrators believed, would translate into better student performance.

Biology teachers across the county recorded a 10% increase in test scores since the VitalSource-powered custom digital curriculum was implemented. Local, State and National Government faculty have, in turn, reported a 14% increase in scores.

“The ease with which I can vary the types of lessons has increased student interest.”

-Charles County Teacher

VitalSource’s flagship technology, Bookshelf, provided Charles County Public Schools with a robust digital repository for all curriculum-related content. Charles County Public Schools found in VitalSource^TM a versatile partner willing to collaborate with teachers in order to build a tailored solution; one that truly addressed their needs. Intuitive information indexing combined with advanced search features made it easier than ever for K-12 teachers to take content to new levels.

For example, a Local, State and National Government instructor preparing to teach a typical content unit now has access, from a single dashboard on his laptop, to The Declaration of Independence, a document analysis worksheet, C-Span in the Classroom, and more. He may use an LCD unit to project this content on a standard whiteboard. In addition, the teacher may draw the class’s attention to the most salient portions of a primary document, for instance, using VitalSource^TM Bookshelf’s virtual highlighters.

The results from this pioneering initiative speak for themselves. Biology teachers across the county recorded a 14% increase in test scores since the VitalSource-powered custom digital curriculum was implemented. Local, State and National Government faculty have, in turn, reported a 18% increase in scores. The greatest improvement, to date, has been recorded by Charles County’s Algebra I teachers: Students’ scores jumped an astounding 27% in the first year the technology was introduced.

Several local faculty have contributed to the development of the program implemented in Charles County. Over the past two years, this pioneering initiative has been improved and expanded to include additional subject areas and participants.

Meanwhile, VitalSource’s nimble, user-centric approach to technology has been recognized by administrators and teachers alike as having played a key part in the success of Charles County’s program. In addition, the company’s ability to effectively negotiate the access to textbooks with leading publishing houses has contributed to establish VitalSource^TM as a highly valued and trusted partner to the school system.