Sibling Group Holdings, Inc. (SIBE) Subsidiary Par
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Earlier today, Sibling Group Holdings reported that its subsidiary Urban Planet Mobile™ (“UPM”) will be implementing its web-based writing practice tool, Writing Planet™, through a partnership with Integrative Counseling Services Limited to work with Lok Sin Tong Schools in Hong Kong, China.
Lok Sin Tong, a non-profit organization running 14 schools with total enrollments of more than 9,000, will use the technology of Writing Planet for several schools. This initiative’s purpose is to help students better prepare for the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE) final exam, which is an exam taken by all college-bound high school seniors. According today’s release, emphasis on the English portion of the HKDSE exam has led to increased performance requirements among students indicating growing importance of English skills in that part of the world.
“There is a growing emphasis in the HKDSE on English language proficiency, and in particular competencies-based skills such as reading and writing,” stated Peppina Tse, Vice President of Integrative Counselling Services Limited. “Improving writing skills can be the most difficult task. It has been proven that more writing practice with immediate feedback using programs such as Writing Planet can lead to improved scores.”
The need for Writing Planet comes down to the issue of capacity and student management. Lok Sin Tong secondary schools programs require students to write numerous compositions per semester, each of which require careful grading and feedback from the teacher. This amount of grading is a full load for teachers, who are looking for innovative ways to help students get more opportunities to practice and improve.
“Last year we implemented online reading assessment technology at Lok Sin Tong Yu Kan Hing Secondary School and Lok Sin Tong Young Ko Hsiao Lin Secondary School, Lok Sin Tong Ku Chiu Man Secondary School and Lok Sin Tong Leung Chik Wai Memorial School. The results were so promising that we have now implemented the technology system-wide,” commented Jackson Mak, an Education Consultant for Lok Sin Tong Young Ko Hsiao Lin Secondary School. “We see Writing Planet as addressing a similar need to support our teachers in writing instruction. Teachers need powerful tools to enhance their own instruction and teaching, and Writing Planet addresses these needs.”
“We are thrilled to be working with Lok Sin Tong Schools to help students improve their writing skills and prepare for the HKDSE,” added Brian Oliver Smith, Co-founder of Urban Planet Mobile and CEO of Sibling Group. “Working with institutional partners who are willing to take a creative approach to improving the level of teaching and learning through innovative online tools is what makes the work we do exciting.”
Writing Planet is currently used by English language learners in the United States and throughout the world in over a dozen countries. In 2013, Writing Planet scored over 700,000 written works through the Writing Planet platform. Writing Planet is powered by the essay-scoring technology, Project Essay Grade™ (PEG), and is the only online writing assessment tool to be nominated for the prestigious CODiE award for best ELL solution.
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