Freckle Now, Not 5 years ago

How I Use It

I am an English Language Devlopment teacher and work mostly with Long Term English Learners (LTELs). My students were born here, some speak their home language, but most do not. However, because they cannot pass the English proficiency exam they remain labeled as English Learners. In California, they must pass the English Language Proficiency Assessment of California (ELPAC) and must also pass the STAR Reading screener which works with Freckles to determine starting points for developing the reading skills they require to pass the STAR. The data tells me that they are improving their reading skills. They are writing far better than when we first started which is a bonus effect created by improving their reading skills. Perhaps 5 years ago, the program was not efficient, but today, it is the best software available. There is so much it can do, and what I like most of all is that it is not designed to put them in front of a screen to keep them busy. You, the teacher, must decide based on the data it is giving you what you want to teach and how you want to teach it and use Freckle to back up your lesson through practice and or assessment. If your students are struggling through a particular skill practice, it will flag those students and tell where they are struggling. It can group students with like issues so you can do small group instruction. That is just one example of the many ways it can facilitate gathering data on your students progress. Freckles is not going to do the teaching for you, it is a tool you use to make YOUR teaching more effective. I wish that the outdated post was not the first one to come up when you search for Freckle in this forum.