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TestPrepFUN is the only Connecticut-based company with online games that blend teaching and test practice in a seamless, kid-friendly environment specifically designed to help the state's educators close the Achievement Gap and lead all students toward mastery of the basic skills tested by the CMT.
TestPrepFUN started in a bilingual after-school program in New Haven, where, for two years, Annabelle Howard worked on raising the scores of a group she met as 4th graders, all of whom had scored Below Basic in their first CMT. Annabelle knew, from her teaching experience in her native Great Britain, in France, and in New York City, that she needed to motivate the students to work hard, she needed to reward achievement, and she had to be systematic about getting results. She created an online educational gaming system with live statewide scoreboards, weekly prizes, and data reports. The 4th graders in the New Haven after-school program all went up to Proficient. In 5th grade, two of these same students went to Goal and one to Advanced. Within a year of launching The Official CMT League there were 17,000 Connecticut students enrolled.
The mission is to bring all Connecticut students toward mastery of the basic skills tested by the CMT, which is one of the oldest and most respected longitudinal data efforts in American education. The Official CMT League is already reaching more than 6 percent of students in grades 2-8 with our help and our FUN approach to this challenge. We have presented at Connecticut's only statewide math conference (ATOMIC) three years in a row. An East Haven principal co-presented and showed her very positive data in 2008. Last October, we presented at the CASL Technology Conference in Hartford with a 5th grade teacher from Manchester who showed that these games had allowed her entire class to reach Goal for the first time in her career as a math teacher.
Connecticut businesses, including People's United Bank, Quassy Amusement Park, World Wrestling Entertainment, A New World Laser Tag in Middletown, and others, have donated prizes that motivate students and teachers. We've had spa treatments and a laptop donated to reward teachers. Children win T-shirts, laser tag passes, dog tags, and U.S. Savings Bonds to help them begin saving for their higher education. One classroom recently won a visit from a mobile video arcade from Games2U that will come to their school's playground for an hour with today's large-scale video games.
To contact us, please e-mail Annabelle at annabellehoward@testprepfun.com |
The Official CMT League
is a vast practice field for self-coaching, not another set of practice tests rewards volume of practice, not necessarily "high IQ" ... all students can improve allows all students to play at all grade levels, making self-remediation and self-acceleration easy ... just like the computer game environments kids love! is the only online basic skills system built exclusively for Connecticut and the CMT enriches students' cultural literacy and knowledge of their own state by including Connecticut references in both its math and reading content is very affordable offers professional development centered around data coaching, to help CT educators become more proactive with their use of data rewards kids and teachers with real prizes provided by TestPrepFUN and by Connecticut prize sponsors such as People's United Bank, Quassy Amusement Park, World Wrestling Entertainment, and more features SIMPLE, useful data reports was built by an experienced teacher, for teachers and kids is determined to make the achievement gap a thing of the past, and to make fun an essential part of learning would love to hear from you today with any questions you might have |
Annabelle Howard, the creator of The Official CMT League, is a British-born educator who has developed original products both independently (including Classic Theatre for Schools) and on behalf of some of the most respected organizations in American education, including Scholastic, Weekly Reader, Benchmark Education, Glencoe, and Sundance. Annabelle lives in Madison, Connecticut.