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Providing Support for Reading Achievement at Home.

“I would tell another parent, if they have suspicions that their children are not doing as well in reading or having trouble with comprehension or their ability to concentrate on what they’re reading, Passport Learning would be a great benefit for them. It teaches them how to concentrate. It teaches them how to comprehend. It will improve their self-confidence just by the fact that their reading will improve, their scores will go up and they will feel like they are getting somewhere and not falling behind.”

– Homeschool Parent

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Technical Support for Academy of Reading® Home Version (v3.2)

How can I preserve the student data?

Problem:
How do I preserve the student data in the Reading Home version?

Solution:

  1. On the old PC, go to C:\ProgramFiles\PassportLearning\AcadHome\AcadData. The AcadData folder contains the student files.
  2. Burn the AcadData folder and its contents onto a CD. If you do not have a CD-RW drive, you could copy the AcadData folder onto a floppy disk or onto a jump drive.
  3. On the new PC, install the Passport Learning program.
  4. Do NOT do anything in the Parent Options behind the Parent door.
  5. Copy the AcadData folder from the burned CD, floppy disk, or jump drive into the AcadHome folder on the new PC. Allow it to overwrite the new AcadData folder.
  6. Uninstall the Passport Learning program from the old PC after you have confirmed that all is working well on the new PC.

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How do I handle the Parameter File Not Found error?

Problem:
A user tries to enter the rooms available to him in the Academy and gets the following message: “Parameter file not found.”

Solution:
Due to the new security settings on workstations that come with Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP Professional, the user logged on to that workstation does not have the proper permissions on that particular workstation.

There are two ways to solve this problem:

  1. Make the user part of the Power Users group on the local workstation.
  2. Create a share on the Temp folder (located in C:\ProgramFiles\PassportLearning\AcadRead\Temp on each client). Make sure full access is given to the Temp folder. This second solution will work for large networks where users are not allowed to log in as Power Users.

Note: An Internet filter or security software could be blocking the flow of files. If you are using Windows XP Professional SP2, the firewall could be blocking the Reading software. Go into the Windows Firewall and make Port 23166 an exception.

Note: The Home version may also have this problem or may freeze. It is a rights access issue on the PC with Windows XP Professional. The user may have to log in as Administrator instead of Power User.

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I cannot see the EXIT button

Problem:
I cannot see the Exit button on the Reading software. The screen is too big.

Solution:
Someone changed the screen resolution when AOR was still open. Close AOR and change the screen resolution to 1024 × 768 pixels.

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I get a black screen with Windows 98

Problem:
A homeschool client is running Windows 98. It opens fine and works very well in the Comprehension module. However, when he tries to do the training in the AVM or VM modules, the white screen is black where he should see the three words for matching. He can hear the sounds in the AVM module but sees nothing but black. When he tries a response by pressing a number on the numeric pad, he sees the green check mark (lucky hit).

Solution:
Sometimes with Windows 98 you can change the Audio Hardware acceleration and Graphics Hardware acceleration to None, and it solves the problem.
Black screens could be related to memory. Here are the steps to change the acceleration options.

Instructions for setting Graphics Hardware acceleration to None:

  1. Right-click on the desktop.
  2. Click on Properties.
  3. Select the Settings tab; then click the Advanced button.
  4. Select the Performance tab.
  5. Drag the Hardware acceleration slide to None.

Instructions for setting Audio Hardware acceleration to None:

  1. Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel.
  2. Double-click Multimedia.
  3. Select the Audio tab.
  4. In the Playback section click the Advanced Properties button.
  5. Select the Performance tab.
  6. Drag the Hardware acceleration slide to None.

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The pld file will not import

Problem:
In build 163 the .pld file will not import from the installation CD.

Solution:
Copy the .pld file from the CD to the root of C:\ on the hard drive and import from there. Some CD drives will not support the “read-only” access of the file when importing.

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The Reading room is blank

Problem:
I go into the Reading Room and do not see any of the assignments.

Solution:

  1. Check to be sure you made an assignment (build 2005).
  2. Close all software on the PC.
  3. Right-click on the desktop.
  4. Click on Properties for the Display properties.
  5. Select the Settings tab.
  6. Move the Screen Resolution slide to 1024 × 768 pixels.
  7. Click Apply and OK.

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The software will not install

Problem:
The software will not install.

Solution:
If the software will not install from the CD, try copying the installation file, AcadHome.exe, to the hard drive into the root of C:\. Install from there.

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The student gets the same mistakes after each training run

Problem:

A home user has AOR 3.2, Build 163, on a PC running Windows XP Home SP2. There are two problems.

  1. The date in the AOR software on the training runs for today is showing as a previous date. The date on the PC is correct.
  2. The last several runs show the same mistake for Visual Match, N.W, in one of the double vowel word sets. The same mistake, “coip,” shows when the student has made several mistakes each run that do not include this word.

Solution:
It looks like the PC’s date at one time was incorrect. The date has been corrected since that time. However, that trial will always show up as the most recent trial because the incorrect date was set in the future. Therefore, the user keeps getting the same list of errors.

Usually the workaround is to find out what the exact date is for that trial and then reset the computer date to one day earlier and have the student master the current exercise. After that exercise is mastered, reset the date to the correct date and time. The student should be able to continue working.

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Does the software work with Windows Vista?

The current version of Academy of Reading Home Version (V3.2) does not work on computers running the Windows Vista operating system.

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