MONTREAL— Paper, the leading provider of academic support, today announced a series of upgrades and additions to its best-in-class Educational Support System (ESS). The new features will be available to all 2.5 million students on the Paper platform just in time for the 2022-2023 school year.
Over the last several months, Paper worked with students and other stakeholder focus groups to understand how to improve its ESS and find better methods to engage with today’s students and their preferred ways to interact and learn.
“From the beginning, we have always relied on student and teacher feedback to help us build and improve Paper,” said Philip Cutler, Paper co-founder and CEO. “Our team is focused on constantly innovating to create a more engaging and effective platform that students will regularly use to get help with their academics and preparing for life and a career.”
The new features will help to improve student outcomes and confidence by making Paper’s ESS more engaging and accessible for all students.
Visualize Your Equations with Paper Math
Paper’s new math literacy solution, Paper Math, gamifies math by allowing students to manipulate equations through an artful interface to help break math problems down into intuitive core concepts, making the experience immersive and fun. It stimulates right-brain thinking by encouraging exploration and discovery using an interactive and engaging platform. Included in the Paper ESS at no additional cost, Paper Math helps improve math comprehension and confidence for students of all grades.
Explore Your Interests and Be Entertained with Paper Live
Bridge the gap between learning and fun with Paper Live’s daily extracurricular classes hosted live by some of the most entertaining instructors on the internet. Dive into the world of space exploration or problem solve your way out of a virtual escape room. No matter their interest or hobbies, Paper Live has a wide variety of classes suitable for any student. Free to all Paper students, these walk-in-friendly classes will make students of any age love learning. Paper Live will help to address systemic inequities by providing an entertaining, educational after-school activity at no cost to parents.
Unlimited Feedback with Paper’s New Asynchronous Review Center
Meet Paper’s Review Center, an asynchronous learning hub designed to meet the learning needs of each student. An upgrade from our previous Essay Review product, Paper users can now submit more than traditional essay assignments; lab reports, assignments, short-answer questions, and bibliographies are all accepted types of content. Students can also upload almost any creative or scientific work to Review Center, including poems, short stories, scripts, pre-lab assignments, lab reports, and research papers – anything that annotated feedback can help improve. As always, students won’t have anything written for them or be given answers—Review Center provides rapid feedback on nearly any writing assignment.
Reduce College Admissions Stress with Paper Accepted
Today’s students take many different paths after high school. The next steps in life can be stressful, even for the highest performing students. While college may not be for everyone, getting in just got easier with Paper Accepted, a new service offered to all Paper students. Paper Accepted gives students access to feedback from college admissions experts who will review their applications and personal essays. Traditionally a cost-prohibitive service for many students, Paper Accepted ensures every student has the best opportunity to get into their college of choice.
Launch your Career with Paper Hired
Available to high school students, teachers, and parents, Paper Hired is designed to help job seekers of all ages land the best position possible. Whether looking for their first work experience, landing a dream internship, or leveling up their career, Paper Hired leverages career guidance and HR experts to help the whole community feel confident when applying and interviewing for any job. Upload your resume and cover letter for feedback, or get job interview prep support from an expert. No matter where they are on their career journey, Paper Hired can help candidates secure their next job.
Protect the Health, Safety, and Wellbeing of Students
Helping students be more confident in life also includes supporting their wellbeing. Paper recently established a Department of Student Health and Safety (SHS) to ensure that every student who utilizes the platform is safe and secure. The SHS is led by experienced crisis counselors and supports partner school districts in identifying and addressing non-academic student concerns like health and wellbeing that frequently arise in school communities.
Research & Evidence Leads to ESSA Certification
In addition to these new features, Paper earned the Level IV certification for its alignment with Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) standards. This certification is a significant step toward verifying the effectiveness of the educational support Paper’s platform provides to students. Paper is working with an independent, third-party research group to run additional studies during the school year to demonstrate the platform’s impact on student outcomes.
“We are committed to highlighting Paper’s efficacy in improving student outcomes. Previously, we worked directly with districts to validate our impact and produce case studies. Today, we are engaged with Learn Platform to concretely demonstrate the improvements our students see,” said Cutler. “It is important for education companies to continue to collect and analyze data on a consistent and ongoing basis. Not only to hold ourselves accountable but to ensure we are always iterating and improving our platform for the benefit of our students and teachers.”