EdPlace is launching a free ‘digital catch-up’ assessments to help parents and educators identify learning gaps in line with the National Curriculum, as children return to school following period of school closures.

The service will define areas of strength and weakness for different age groups. This will provide a measurable and comparable picture of the child’s current academic level following this prolonged period of home learning.

The catch-up assessments are for every year group (Year 1 – GCSE) across the core subjects; English, maths and science. They will initially be available without charge (the user will need to create a free EdPlace account)

Once the student has completed the assessment, a full report will be available to download, providing parents and educators the option to share the results with their child’s teacher, tutor or parent if the assessment is being undertaken within an educational establishment.

The ‘catch-up assessments’ have been designed to be dynamic. The questions therefore change every time the student logs in. This means that a child can return to the assessment later in the academic year, for example, at half-term to see the progress they have made since commencing school.

EdPlace will also provide starter activities, linked to the child’s year group level to start improving upon the student’s weaknesses and help bridge the learning gap. A free user can access up to 5 activities a month. Paid subscriptions have unlimited access to all activities and assessments in addition to exam-board aligned 11+ and GCSE Practice Papers.

A VITAL SUPPORT DURING SCHOOL CLOSURES:

A YouGov poll published during the UK Coronavirus lockdown showed two thirds of parents felt they struggled to maintain discipline and motivation during home-schooling activities.

EdPlace has been created to provide engaging, measurable and hyper relevant support to children and parents when studying at home.

From the onset of the UK lockdown EdPlace committed to making its tools available to every parent and child that requires it. It did this by opening up activities on the website for parents to use without an account.

EdPlace also extended an offer to schools to open free accounts for up to 100 students during the closure period and created a guide prepared by leading education practioners on distance learning. These answered the key questions on what to teach, how to structure at home lessons, where to find resources and how to create fun, engaging and measurable activities for children as they learn from home.

EdPlace has seen a significant increase in the number of parents and users utilising its technology to augment school activity. The company’s user base has grown 1104% yoy.

EdPlace started in 2012 and has since then become a vital resource. EdPlace’s user base comprises both children in mainstream education requiring additional home learning support and home-schoolers.

MEASURABLE OUTCOMES:

EdPlace’s own research suggests that its digital home learning tools can help students increase academic performance by 53% over expected progress / attainment over the academic year.

Independent analysis of its users commissioned by EdPlace between October 2018 and September 2019 (the last academic school year) comprises data from more than 500,000 individual activities taken through the platform.

In English, children using EdPlace materials accelerate their attainment by 47% above the normal level of progress expected as children progress though the school year. In maths, progress was accelerated by 42% and in science they advanced 74% versus normal performance.

An overall progress figure of 53% in core subjects (english, mathematics and science) has been calculated using a weighted average of improvement over the three core subjects.

LIFELONG LEARNING IN THE HOME:

EdPlace is built with the mission to help millions of students learn and revise in a smart way for exam success and beyond. It helps all students from Year 1, through 11+, SATs and GCSEs with practice papers that are aligned with the questions presented by leading exam boards.

EdPlace’s platform provides a measurable and engaging answer to increasing pressure for parents to supplement school activity in the home. Both private tutors and parents find it an invaluable tool to engage children in home learning versus more traditional measures. For families with limited incomes and those with limited access to tuition it provides a highly effective alternative to private tuition

EdPlace is a National Curriculum aligned platform. This means children are able to practice skills that will directly accelerate progress through educational Key Stages and exams. It also provides important and measurable visibility for parents and educators to identify gaps and areas for improvement.

EdPlace has drawn teachers and figures in education to create hyper-relevant resources for parents and children to support in the their academic journey.  The platform provides an engaging format that is designed to inspire confidence in students and create a lifelong legacy of learning in the home.

The platform monitors progress through its ‘learn, practice and test’ methodology. Children are able to apply their newly acquired knowledge through 1000s of english, maths and science questions that range from Year 1 to GCSE. This significantly builds confidence ahead of examinations.

Built-in measurability and incentive are a key component. Parents can track progress using a dashboard and personlaise rewards through badges and specific rewards that mirror the progress and reward structures that draw so many children to online gaming.