How Summit International School in the UAE Utilizes Exact Path to Support Growth and Attainment with NWEA MAP Skills

Summit International School in the United Arab Emirates has been using Exact Path for two years to support their teaching and learning. The school has seen impressive results in terms of growth and attainment, and the learning paths within the product were a perfect match for the school. This is echoed in the school’s mission statement; this statement is, “The mission of Summit International School is to create a happy and safe environment that cultivates individualized learning paths through active learning and reflective teaching.”

 

Why Summit International School chose Exact Path

The school serves a large student population where every student is an English language learner. With a large ELL student population and a UAE requirement of using NWEA MAP, Summit International School began searching for a product to support these learners and this new prerequisite. Exact Path quickly became the perfect solution.

Lee Dabagia, Principal at the school, has commented that they were looking for a product that would enable personalized learning linked to MAP. Lee says,

“Other programs couldn’t give us the level of personalization that we were looking for to support our students.”

Lee’s comment on “personalization” also links with the school’s vision: “To be a school that provides every student individualized learning, growth opportunities, and the confidence and creativity to climb higher every day.” Exact Path allows the school to fully personalize learning and address any gaps right at the core.

There were other reasons for implementing Exact Path, however. The school found Exact Path gave teachers insight into their students’ progress, and it also gave them another precise data source that they needed. Alongside these benefits, it could also support test endurance, for which the school was requiring support.

It’s also worth highlighting the impact the product has had on ELL students at the school. Lee comments on this,

“We recognized our students might be the only English speaker at home. The interface has visual cues and icons the students can easily follow. Exact Path offers grade appropriate instructions for auditory and visual learners. This ensures the students can use it without a teacher or parent. They can use Exact Path any time of day, anywhere they want, individually. After two years, we are watching our Grades 2 and 3 students translate for their parents during student-led conferences.”

Using Exact Path in school and at home

Initially, Summit International School used Exact Path with students between the grades of 2 to 8. This year, they have begun using it throughout grades 1 to 9. Students at the school have been receptive to Exact Path; this has been increasingly more so since they started receiving rewards for their work.

Furthermore, the school uses Exact Path as a support for teachers; they deliver the content, and then Exact Path helps students address any gaps. This usage aligns with the school’s ambition to always provide educator support. Lee says, “We do not want Exact Path to be a teacherless experience.”

Recently, there has been a shift at the school in terms of Exact Path usage volume after introducing student rewards for the number of skills completed within the product. With this method, the school hopes to improve student growth even further.

Exact Path is already helping with this, as Ian Power, teacher and Exact Path coach at the school, has said:

“Exact Path is influencing the improvement of students’ MAP skills.”

As this shift has only been implemented, the school has also been rewarding students for their time spent on Exact Path. Impressively, the school celebrated 129 students using Exact Path at home for more than 400 minutes over the summer holidays. This was when students were not required to do any learning and clearly shows the impact Exact Path is having on students’ engagement.

Exact Path helps students exceed grade level too, which was one of the school’s goals. Lee mentions:

“Exact Path, for sure, has helped us get closer to that goal of helping students who are exceeding grade level.”

 

Success with Exact Path

Indeed, Summit International School has used Exact Path exceptionally well. They can see visual improvements in reports from utilizing the many tools and features available. The product has also helped with home and distance learning, as Samar Barakeh, Director of Assessment and Student Services, says:

“It is year-round, and we can offer kids that option to learn. Exact Path also helps with distance learning, especially after the closures and learning loss.”

Also, Exact Path is supporting the school with its latest developments and ways of learning exceptionally well. This is because some students are learning via a fully online or hybrid learning model. Lee, the Principal at the school, echoes this and has commented on the impact Exact Path has had:

“Exact Path is becoming a way of life for us.”

We hosted a webinar with Summit International School, where they explained more about their story and how they implemented Exact Path. You can watch the webinar here.