Can Anyone Out There Hear Me?

Posted by David Parish, Ph.D., CEO Calypso Systems
Tuesday December 22nd, 2009 | 2 Comments

Throughout my adult life I’ve heard others talk with enthusiasm about their good fortune at having stumbled across “low hanging fruit”.  A metaphor (or is it a simile) almost always used in a business context, I’ve listened with envy and a bit of skepticism to stories of cash and profits effortlessly realized by those lucky enough to find themselves in the right time, at the right place, with the right product.  Part of the challenge, of course, is recognizing the opportunity for what it is when it lands in front of you.   Something that’s not always as easy as it sounds.

Here’s a tip.  Education leaders are staring directly at some seriously good and awfully low fruit, but often don’t seem to see it for what it is.

What if you had access to a device that improved test scores, reduced special education referrals, had a positive impact on teacher health and led to fewer classroom behavioral problems?  Even better, what if this mystical device required no change in your approach to curriculum or assessment, and required virtually no investment in professional development?  While we’re at it, let’s make it affordable.

Impossible?  Fantasy?  Put your Low Hanging Fruit glasses on.  The fact is, the device exists and is slowly making its way into districts and across states, though not nearly fast enough by my reckoning.  Most importantly, far too many doubts remain and it’s time to put them to rest once and for all.

Wireless classroom voice amplification delivers on all promises.  Full disclosure - I’m obviously biased since my company manufactures just such a system.  So don’t take it from me.  The volume of independent research that supports the effectiveness of sound reinforcement is overwhelming, starting with MAARS Project, the Mainstream Amplifications Resource Room Study that began in 1979 and continued in various forms through 1994.  Slice and dice the results any way you want and add in the dozens of subsequent classroom amplification research projects.  They all point to the same conclusion.  If you’re serious about improving learning outcomes and can invest in only one classroom technology, voice amplification is the answer.  Did you know, for example, that:

• 70% of all special education students fail a moderate hearing loss test?
• The 14% of all school age children fail a moderate hearing loss test are 10x more likely to repeat a grade than those who pass the test
• A district in WI showed a 40% reduction in special education referrals over a 2-year period after introducing classroom voice amplification
• Teachers using voice amplification have fewer sick days

 Think about it.  A direct link between technology and improved learning outcomes that’s affordable, sustainable and measureable.  Yet it’s still flying “under the radar”.  I’d say it’s time to get loud!