Vantage Learning Engaging Learners From Various Perspectives

by Dustin Bass

original article from

Vantage Learning has been in the education technology field since 1998 creating adaptive learning tools with a focus on increasing teacher-student engagement. The idea behind the company’s products, which are created by teachers for teachers, is to personalize education for each student.

“We design our technology to continue the learning process, instead of interrupting it,” Koren Rife of Vantage Learning said. “In that, we are also interested in helping students master skills, instead of just moving through the motions. One way in which we do this is by reducing the lag time between assessment and remediation and making sure each student has the knowledge and skills needed for success.”

She said the edtech tools help teachers recognize a student’s weaknesses and enables them to know their specific classrooms’ needs and be more effective in their instruction. The company is also able to adjust and customize the platforms to a client’s needs.

According to Rife, the company is currently working with the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters to deliver interpreting exams to healthcare interpreters, which are the first successful oral exams interpreting exam via computer-based testing.

“It’s not just our platforms that adapt to our users,” she said. “One thing that sets us apart from our competitors is our knowledge and experience that allows us to continually be ahead of the curve. Our adaptability to meet our customers’ needs is consistent across all of our business units.”

She said Vantage Learning is broken up into three components consisting of the iSEEK Supercruncher™, Student Progress Monitoring System®(SPMS), and MY Access!® called the Vantage Accountability Solution (VAS) which provides districts and schools with measurable assessments and a management system to monitor school objectives, teacher efficacy and student progress.

iSEEK Supercruncher™ links and analyzes data sources to answer complex, multi-conditional questions. It can also pool information from the other platforms within the VAS and combine it with the school and district information. The web-based adaptive learning platform, SPMS, uses testing to evaluate a student’s skill level from the K-12 level into higher education.

“It can be used to perform summative assessments, but the true gift of SPMS is its ability to manage the formative process and distinguish what a student knows– or doesn’t know– down to the objective level,” Rife said. “Once an assessment is completed, it delivers a personalized adaptive learning plan to provide the best intervention prescription for immediate remediation.”

The third platform, MY Access!®, is an instructional writing and assessment tool to help students become better writers by giving feedback to the student and the teacher. She said this platform is currently being used by millions of students in thousands of classrooms across the country. Within this platform is the IntelliMetric, which is a tool used for writing assessments in the writing portions of the GMAT, LSAT, and the MCAT.

Vantage Learning also offers a testing platform called College Success™ from McCann Associates, an affiliated operating company. This platform assesses the knowledge base of incoming college students or exiting high school students. It is currently being used by Virginia’s 23 community colleges and is used in Florida’s Postsecondary Education Readiness Test.

Rife said the company has approximately 100 higher education institutions using their products and owns nearly 40 patents in linguistics and natural language searches which are used in more than half a billion systems each day.

“If you’ve had to ask a question of your tax software, you’ve probably used our technology,” she said. “If you’ve used the grammar or spelling check on your smartphone or PC, you’ve probably used our technology. Sharing developmental resources across multiple platforms for a variety of end-users allows us to individualize programs for unique customer requirements, ensuring they meet their unique goals and objectives.”