Home

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

Recent Awards & Accomplishments

Technical Support for Academy of Reading® Home Version (version 5.4)

Will the 5.4 Academy Suite work on Vista?

The school and home versions of 5.4 are certified for Vista Business and Vista Ultimate. Therefore, the software should be compatible with Vista Home Premium. However, we cannot provide a guarantee because Operating System configurations vary from one computer to another.

» back to top

Will the 5.4 Academy Suite work on Windows XP?

Yes. Windows XP must have Service Pack 2.

» back to top

What are the hardware specifications for an installation on a single home computer?

Operating System Windows 2000 Pro SP4
Windows XP Pro SP2
Windows 2003
Windows 2000 Server SP4		 Vista
CPU 1.8 GHz 2.8 GHz
Memory 1 GB 1 GB (2 GB preferred)
Disk Space 4 GB 4 GB
Video Super VGA (64 MB) Super VGA (128 MB)
Sound On-board On-board
Browser Software Internet Explorer 6 SP1
Internet Explorer 7
Netscape 7.1 or 8.x
Firefox 1.5 or later
Opera 9.1 of later

Adobe Flash 8 or 9
JavaScript, cookies, and pop-ups enabled

» back to top

Can I use the home version 5.4 of the Academy of Reading on a home network?

Yes, if you observe the network hardware specifications below for the Windows server and clients.

These requirements are for the Windows server:

  Windows 2003
Win 2000 Server SP4		 XP Pro
Windows 2000 Pro SP4		 Vista Business
Vista Ultimate
CPU 1.8 GHz+ 1.8 GHz+ 2.8 GHz+
Memory 1 GB 1 GB 2 GB
Disk Space 20 GB (40 GB
Recommended)		 10 GB (20 GB
Recommended)		 20 GB (40 GB
Recommended)
Video Super VGA (64 MB
Recommended)		 Super VGA (64 MB
Recommended)		 Super VGA (128 MB
Recommended)
Sound On-board On-board On-board
Network
100 Mbps or greater
(Only if the program will be used on a home network)

These requirements are for the client computers:

  Windows Vista (Home Premium, Vista Ultimate, Vista Business) XP Pro
Windows 2000 Pro SP4		 MAC 10.3, 10.4
CPU Minimum/Recommended 800 MHz/1.8 GHz 450 MHz/800 GHz 500 MHz/800 MHz
Memory 512 MB/1 GB
128 MB/512 MB
Disk Space
Based on your browser cache setting
Video 128 MB/128 MB
Super VGA /64 MB
Sound
On-board
Headphones (full ear cover recommended)
Browser Software
Internet Explorer 6.0 (SP1)
Internet Explorer 7.0
Netscape 7.1 or later
Firefox 1.5 or later
Opera 9.1 or later*
Netscape 7.1,
or 7.2
Firefox 1.5 or
later
Safari 1.3 (OS
10.3 only)
Safari 2.0 (OS
10.4 or later)
Adobe Flash 8 or 9
JavaScript, cookies, and pop-ups must be enabled in all browsers.
Network
10Mbps LAN adapter (or greater)
Requires TCP/IP networking connection to the Server Station.

 

» back to top

How long may I use the home version 5.4 of the Academy of Reading?

The software is bought once.  There is no yearly subscription.

» back to top

How is the software activated?

An encrypted file will be sent to you via email attachment that will activate the software once it is downloaded and imported into the software. 

» back to top

What training modules are included in the Academy of Reading?

The first three modules are named in the order of training preference.

  1. Visual Match—This module develops scanning weaknesses using silent reading.  The software automatically assigns this module first.
  2. Auditory-Visual Match—This module helps the student who has difficulty matching what he hears with what he sees in print. The student should use headphones when training in this module.
  3. Comprehension Paragraphs—Each paragraph is one of the nine stories in each of ten levels. There are questions representing various levels of thinking skills after each paragraph.  High school and adult students have senior-level paragraphs compared with the younger students’ junior-level paragraphs.
  4. Phonemic Awareness—This optional module can be used before Visual Match, if the student is having difficulty
  5. Letter-Sound Match—This optional module is assigned by the software only if the student is having difficulty mastering in another module.

» back to top

The font or text size appearing in the browser is too small. How can I adjust the size?

To make the font or text size larger you must set the Text Size parameter in your Web browser to be larger.

Perform the following steps to increase your Web browser's Text Size:

If using Internet Explorer (IE6):

  1. Open your Web browser.
  2. Select View from the menu.
  3. From the drop down, select Text Size.
  4. Set the Text Size to one of the following: Medium, Larger, Largest. The default is Medium and this size should be adequate for most users.

If using Internet Explorer (IE7):

  1. Open your Web browser
  2. Select Page from the menu
  3. From the drop down, select Text Size.
  4. Set the Text Size to one of the following:  Medium, Larger, Largest.  The default or Medium should be adequate for most users.

If using Netscape:

  1. Open your Web browser.
  2. Select View from the menu.
  3. From the drop down, select Text Zoom.
  4. Set the Text Zoom to 100% (Original Size).

If using Firefox:

  1. Open your Web browser
  2. Select View from the menu
  3. From the drop down, select Text Size.
  4. Select Increase or Decrease.

» back to top

Why do I have a white screen at login?

A white screen at login typically indicates that you have Pop-up
blocking enabled.  A quick test is to hold the 'Ctrl' key down when you
click the Login button.  This temporarily bypasses Pop-up blocking.  If
this works, you should be able to either disable Pop-up blocking in your
browser, or allow only Pop-ups from the Academy.  Other add-ons such
as Google and Yahoo may also have Pop-up blockers and you will need
to refer to their documentation to disable.

Another possible cause for failure to launch at login is not having Flash
Player installed on your computer.  We require Flash to operate the
animation in the programs.  Go to the Flash Player folder on the installation
CD to find the file for Flash Player installation.  Or, copy the following link
into your browser address to download and install the Flash player from the
Internet.

http://www.adobe.com/support/flashplayer/downloads.html

More information about pop-up windows:

The Academy software requires the use of pop-up windows. Pop-up blocking software needs to be disabled in order to access these functions. The Academy only uses pop-ups for these necessary functions and will never be used for advertisements or re-directs to other sites. The following guide will help the Academy users disable the pop-up blocker for the web browsers that the software supports.

After disabling the built in browser blocker, there may be additional pop-up blockers installed on your system that will need to be disabled as well. These blockers include the Google toolbar, Yahoo, Symantec, AT&T, Comcast, AOL, EarthLink or other ISP and third-party programs. Consult the vendor’s documentation for help with those products. Additional help for browser pop-up blocker issues is available in the browser’s help guide.

Quick Test for pop-up:

  1. Hold down the Ctrl key when user logs in.  If you get a popup, the popup is blocking something
  2. Test to see if your popup blocker is working.  Go to www.popuptest.com

Resolution:
PC - Internet Explorer 6

  1. Click on the Tools menu
  2. Select Pop-up Blocker
  3. Select Pop-up Blocker Settings
  4. In the section marked Allowed Sites enter the IP address, computer name or URL of the Academy server (http://127.0.0.1/academy).
  5. Click Add
  6. Click Close

PC- Internet Explorer 7

  1. Click on the Tools menu
  2. Select Pop-up Blocker
  3. Select Pop-up Blocker Settings
  4. In the section marked Allowed Sites enter IP address, computer name or URL of the Academy server
  5. Click Add
  6. Click Close

PC - Firefox 1.5

  1. Click on the Tools menu
  2. Select Options
  3. Click on the Content tab
  4. In the section marked Allowed Sites enter IP address, computer name or URL of the Academy server
  5. Click Allow
  6. Click Close

PC - FireFox 2.0

  1. Click on the Tools menu
  2. Select Options
  3. Click on the Content tab
  4. Click on the Pop-up Blocker Exceptions button
  5. In the section marked Address of web site enter IP address, computer name or URL of the Academy server
  6. Click Allow
  7. Click Close

Mac - FireFox 2

  1. Click on the FireFox menu
  2. Select Preferences
  3. Click on the Content tab
  4. Click on the Pop-up Blocker Exceptions button
  5. In the section marked Address of web site enter IP address, computer name or URL of the Academy server
  6. Click Allow
  7. Close the preferences window

Mac - Safari*

  1. Click on the Safari menu
  2. Select Preferences
  3. Select Security
  4. Uncheck Block pop-up windows
  5. Close the preferences window

NOTE: MAC - Safari *This process disables pop up blocking for all sites. When finished using Academy it is recommended that users go back to the menu again to re-enable the pop-up blocker while using other sites.

» back to top

Are there any mistakes in the Comprehension stories?

Yes, there is one that we know.  The story, “Healthy Heart” in Level 3 of the senior story collection has a wrong answer.  To get the corrected file, email support@passportlearning.com to request your corrected file. The instructions to copy it into the program are below.

  1. Download the attached file from your email to a place on the hard drive of your computer where you can locate it later.
  2. Copy the downloaded file, “CTS3_TRAIN.xml” to the following location: 
    C:\PassportLearning\Academy\Data\content\server\Reading\comp\category\senior
  3. Copy the file into the “senior” folder.  Click yes to overwrite the bad file.

» back to top