Chicago Public School Students Get a Brain Boost

CHICAGO - Oct. 7, 2013 - PRLog -- Based on student growth that is far above average according to the school’s 2012 School Progress Report, Manuel Perez Elementary School in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood is a success story. One of the ways the school has found to boost student achievement is the use of BrainWare SAFARI cognitive skills development software.  Results from the school’s pilot implementation during the 2012-2013 school year showed a significant impact on the reading achievement levels of the school’s 2^nd and 3^rd Grade students who used BrainWare SAFARI for fourteen weeks.

The 3^rd Grade students who used BrainWare SAFARI exceeded their predicted growth in reading by 10 points on average.  This gain was twice the projected growth in their reading scores and 33% greater than the gains for the students who did not use BrainWare SAFARI.  89% of the students who used BrainWare SAFARI met or exceeded their projected growth compared to 76% of the students who did not use the program.  Reading performance for 3^rd Grade students was measured using the NWEA MAP test, an adaptive, grade-level assessment aligned to content areas of the state standards.

In the 2^nd Grade, all students used BrainWare SAFARI.  At the beginning of the year, 36% of the students met the expectations for reading, with 64% performing at the “Below” and “Far Below” levels on the TRC test.  At the end of the year, 68% of the 2^nd Grade students had met expectations and were reading at the “Proficient” and “Above” levels.  The TRC (Text Reading and Comprehension) test is an individually administered assessment that determines a student’s instructional reading level.

BrainWare Safari is a software tool that increases students’ capacity to learn by developing underlying cognitive skills in a comprehensive and integrated way.  In published research, users improved their cognitive ability by an average of over 4 years in 12 weeks of using the program, leading to accelerated gains in academic performance, as was experienced by the students at Manuel Perez Elementary School.

“We are absolutely committed to giving our students every possible advantage and helping them reach the highest levels of academic performance,” said Vicky Kleros, principal of Manuel Perez Elementary School.  “Helping them develop their cognitive skills clearly has played a role in the dramatic academic gains our students made last year.  I am thrilled with the data and results we have seen.”

“The gains achieved by the students at Manuel Perez are just one example of the ways Chicago Public Schools use technology to support student learning,” said Doug Van Poppel, VP of Business Development for BrainWare SAFARI.  “On behalf of the whole BrainWare SAFARI team, we congratulate all the students at Perez on their accomplishments.”

About Manuel Perez Elementary School
Manuel Perez Jr. Elementary School is located at 1241 West 19th Street in Pilsen's Lower West Side in Chicago, IL. The school serves approximately 350 students, 100% of whom are low-income.  The student population is 98% Hispanic, with 40% classified as Limited English Learners.  In 2012-2013, Manuel Perez was awarded a Level 1 rating by Chicago Public schools, the highest rating recognized by the district.  Vicky Kleros became the principal of Manuel Perez in the 2009-2010 school year.  Previously she was a teacher in the school.

About BrainWare^® SAFARI
BrainWare SAFARI develops 41 cognitive skills in a comprehensive, integrated and engaging way.  The areas of skill development are grouped into six areas:  Attention, Memory, Visual Processing, Auditory Processing, Thinking, and Sensory Integration.  BrainWare SAFARI was named one of the Top 100 Products of 2011 by District Administration Magazine, and has earned an impressive array of awards including the Software and Information Industry CODiE Award as Best Education Game or Simulation; a Parents’ Choice Award, a Teachers’ Choice for the Family Award; the Academics’ Choice Mindspring Award; a Mom’s Choice Award; a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers and the Parent Tested Parent Approved Seal of Approval. For further information, visit www.MyBrainWare.com or call 877-BRAIN-10 (877-272-4610).