Core Skills Mastery (CSM) Approved as DL Platform

Core Skills Mastery (CSM), designed to improve core math and literacy skills, as well as develop independent learning skills and problem solving strategies, has been approved as a distance learning (DL) platform for Minnesota ABE. Sarah Rorvoick, who applied for approval of the platform, explained, “The developers of the course are specifically interested in targeting skills they deem essential for both academic and career success.” CSM is available free.

“Unlike (most) other DL platforms we are currently using, CSM is an adaptive learning system that offers individualized instructions based upon a student’s needs,” she said. “The course is divided up into 34 Core Skills (ex: Reading a Ruler, Averaging and Prediction, Multistep Problems, etc.), and then further divided into a Skills Tree (ex: Reading a Ruler: Fractions, Fractions of an Inch, and Reducing Even Fractions).”

When a student begins a Core Skill section, they are asked a series of questions related to the topics in the Core Skill content area. Based upon how a student performs, s/he will work on all, part, or none of the content. Some students may immediately test out of a Core Skill section by answering series of questions correctly, while others will complete various lessons and problems until they have mastered the content. As students work on a Core Skill, they will receive academic support specific to their performance and learning style.

Because CSM uses dynamically matched resources specific to learner need, actual time online should be reported (there is an automatic timeout after 20 minutes of inactivity when students are using the program), with the addition of 15 minutes per student hour on-task to account for interaction with teacher(s) offline.

CSM is recommended for students with TABE Math 3.0+ and TABE Reading 6.0+ scores.

See an overview screencast >>