Watch: Dr. Corinne Williams, Assistant Superintendent with Bremen Community High School District 228, talks about the two main reasons her district has prioritized getting more students using Paper.
CASE STUDY
Illinois’ Bremen Community High School District 228 supports Teachers and Students with Paper
The dilemma
When it came time to return to the classroom in the fall of ‘21, Bremen Community High School District 228 administrators faced a difficult situation. They needed to find new ways to support students–many of whom had fallen behind during the remote-learning era–while at the same time dealing with staff shortages and teacher burnout.
“We wanted a product that was going to be able to not only support teachers… we wanted students to feel like they could go whenever they needed support.”
Solution
Bremen 228 implemented Paper to provide students with 24/7, on-demand tutoring and writing review. In the past three school years, Paper usage has proved popular with teachers and with students of all achievement levels and backgrounds. Now an integral part of Bremen 228’s academic offerings, Paper supports teachers, boosts grades, and gives students the support they need to succeed.
“One of the reasons why we feel strongly about getting more students to be these habitual users is because we’ve seen a positive impact, and so we know the results are happening.”
Rollout
Bremen 228 leadership has taken an intentional, strategic approach to implementing Paper. By taking advantage of the support offered by Paper–including professional development, lesson plans, tutorials, and more–the district has made a continuous push to educate teachers on the benefits of the educational support system. Along with this effort, district and school leaders have taken the time to celebrate student usage with pizza, ice cream, and other prizes. The result? Usage has grown by leaps and bounds across all the district’s high schools, with more and more students and teachers using Paper each year.
“All the teachers are here for the same thing, student success, making that genuine connection. I think that if we can educate teachers on how Paper can help do that and make our students more successful … and once we start celebrating that aspect of it… I think that ultimately grows it.”
In Action
Paper usage at Bremen reflects the district’s diverse student population, with English language learners, SPED students, and students taking AP courses all taking advantage of free tutoring and writing review on a regular basis. On top of that, many students participate in after-school activities or have part-time jobs. Paper allows students to get the support they need when they need it, whether that’s during the school day or at 11 o’clock at night.
“We have kids in our foundational self-contained SPED courses utilizing it, to kids who are in that full class load of AP courses … We definitely have a wide range of ability levels, backgrounds, and interests that are utilizing paper.”
Impact
An impact study done in 2023 showed a significant boost among students using Paper for ELA, with students who used Live Help or Review Center scoring significantly higher on mid-year assessments than their peers. As for Math, there has been a significant drop in the fail rate for the district’s introductory math course, which leadership attributes in large part to students using Paper.
Aside from the numbers, leadership at Bremen 228 says that the biggest impact is in how Paper gets students to think and advocate for themselves, creating confident, lifelong learners.
“We increased our repeat users from 8% to 16%, which I thought was fantastic.”