Mission
Waterford Institute™ is a nonprofit research center dedicated to providing every child with the finest education, through the development of high-quality educational models, programs, and software.
Core Concepts
The average elementary class today allows each student less than two minutes of individual instruction per day—instruction that is critical to academic achievement. While most reformers recognize the need for more individual instruction, few look beyond teachers and tutors as a source. Waterford, in contrast, employs technology to both scale and elevate the art and science of teaching and this unique combination of technology and educational content has made Waterford a leader in the field of comprehensive educational software.
- Scalability: Most education improvement models depend on teacher training and implementation, student preparation, and other outside factors that may impede a timely implementation and program replication. Waterford Institute technology offers an individualized educational experience that can be successfully implemented for any student in any setting; the courseware ensures that every student masters key skills.
- Individualized and Equitable Instruction: The courseware constantly monitors each student’s mastery of skills and adapts instruction to meet individual needs.
- Student Engagement: Waterford technology employs exciting graphics, music, and game-like components to keep students actively learning during their entire computer session.
- Low Cost: Waterford technology offers research-based individualized instruction at a relatively low cost. The Waterford Early Reading ProgramTM costs approximately $300 per student, whereas implementing traditional reforms (which require new materials, extensive training, tutors, and follow-up) often cost between $1,000 and $8,000 per student.
Identifying the Achievement Gap and the Solution
An important concept at Waterford is combining technology and education to battle the achievement gap. Research over the past two decades has shown that students experiencing learning difficulties need help at a much earlier age than previously thought. It also has shown that without early intervention, an achievement gap develops between at-risk and average students, and the gap increases exponentially during the early years of education.
When intervention is delayed, at-risk students face tremendous obstacles to academic success, and their rate of learning must increase up to four times that of the average student, just to reach the same achievement level. When an intervention is delayed until the third or fourth grade, it may take four to six times the resources needed to yield the same results as intervention begun in earlier grades.
Waterford believes the solution is early intervention with the right tools. Waterford programs provide a solid foundation for preschool, kindergarten, and grade-school students. Whereas traditional instruction can only target the approximate needs of the average student, computer-based courseware imparts highly specified curricula that is thorough and rigorous but is also adapted to each student’s learning needs. Waterford programs ensure mastery of core concepts by individualizing instruction to meet the needs of each student. By intervening early and using the combined strengths of technology, teachers, families and students all working together, Waterford ensures that each student, regardless of primary language or beginning level of literacy, is prepared for success.
