Daniel Hand High School – Madison, CT
Hi Chip,
Great to hear from you! The AP exam went off with much success, we couldn’t believe how much easier it was than prior years!
We are thankful to you guys for giving us this peace of mind.
As you know, I am always happy to speak of my experiences with both SANS and your competitor. You can feel free to share my contact info with other schools.
Kristin Mancini
Old Saybrook High School – Old Saybrook, CT
Hi,
Here is information as to why Old Saybrook went with Sony and left Sanako.
Last year, we were told that money was available to upgrade the language lab. At that point in time, we went through a pretty intensive vetting process, where we welcomed in both Sony and Sanako. We wanted both vendors to show us our options. After seeing what our options were, we strongly felt that Sony had the better product and support/training to go along with it.
We really were intrigued by the Sony Virtuoso system, that we could have computers and a language lab all in one. Since we have a beautiful space for this, we moved in this direction. It was very important for us to have sufficient, helpful, and meaningful training. We were promised this, and we have received this. We all feel incredibly comfortable in the Sony lab. Originally we had envisioned keeping the Sanako lab up and running as it as our primary lab, while we were trained on Sony (first year, being this year). We have all been using the Sony lab exclusively since September. The Sony lab is reliable, user friendly; there is an abundance of activities and resources to be used with it. We are most pleased with our decision.
Amy Claffey, World Language Teacher, Spanish
Staples High School – Westport, CT
Chip,
Maria asked me to follow up with you regarding the AP exams in the language lab. The new Oral Exam Mode from CTS is fantastic, it simplifies the process and is a huge improvement over the previous method. I didn’t just use if for the recordings, but also for the audio stimuli. Before beginning the exam, I had the students log-in, launch Soloist and enter their AP numbers. In that way, when the first section with audio stimuli came up, they just put their headphones on and were ready to listen
Susan McCarthy
Newtown High School – Newtown, CT
Hello!
It’s Liz at Newtown High School. We have gone through our first marking period with the language lab and love it! Thanks!
We were wondering if there is the possibility of a second training? As in, more tools we can use, more in depth practice, or anything else that you feel has been handy. We just love it and can’t wait to learn anything else you can teach us.
Thank you!
L Ward
Glastonbury Public Schools – Glastonbury, CT
Glastonbury is fortunate to have three fully digital multimedia labs , grade 6, grades 7-8, and grades 9-12, which are in daily use by students as well as teacher professional development. Classes are assigned to the labs on a rotating basis and teachers take full advantage of the random pairing feature in order to give students opportunities for authentic communication. These labs are also used for departmental assessments as well as level appropriate external testing.
Chip Howe provides regular professional development tailored to the staff at each building and comes annually for update training.
The IT support at Chester Technical, Justin Rice, is quick to respond to our needs. Owner Doug Rice is in regular communication with us and listens to our needs and requests and responds in a timely manner.
R Oleksak, Director of Foreign Languages/ELL
Greenwich High School – Greenwich, CT
This year was our first year using Virtuoso Lab to test AP students. The support we received from Chip Howe and his team alleviated any stress. Knowing they were there to provide assistance with any unexpected technical difficulties was invaluable. This was not the case in the past with another company. The equipment in the lab worked seamlessly. It allowed for a better testing environment.
Viviana Conner, Coordinator of World Languages, K-12
Conard and Hall High Schools – West Hartford, CT
Without a glitch!!! Thank you for Justin as he builds the confidence and sets the tone
every year!!
See you at COLT if not before…..I am retiring this June but will be staying in touch with the
organizations!
Have enjoyed working with you over the years…they have been many!!!
Lucy Cartland, West Hartford Public Schools
Ridgefield Public Schools – Ridgefield, CT
Hi Chip!
All went well. We are thinking about next year and would like CTS to come in and do a refresher as I will have a few new teachers in the department. Can we arrange that for the start of the school year?
Lisa Djonbalic
Canton High School – Canton, MA
Hi Chip,
Great to hear from you. I hope that you are well. It is quite busy here!
I think that everything went fine with the AP exam administration. Dan, who had administered the exams in the past, changed schools, so another colleague and I administered the exams. We familiarized ourselves with the process by watching your archived webinar and some notes that I had taken. Super helpful! We could not have done it without you. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that we did it all correctly!
Heidi Olson, World Language Department Coordinator
Guilford High School – Guilford, CT
Hi Doug,
We finished the AP Spanish exam and the students were all recorded without a problem. The test administrators are in the process of burning the files to CD right now but everything worked well.
Thank you for the support last week. It made a difference.
Sharon Jakubson, Guilford Public Schools
*Guilford High School has a SANS Virtuoso/Brevi language lab. It consists of laptops, wireless connections and a cart!
