NEW YORK, Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- With the Obama administration's commitment to ensuring the highest college graduation rates in the world by 2020, the need for cutting-edge learning tools that enhance student achievement has never been greater. McGraw-Hill Higher Education, a premier provider of teaching and learning solutions for the post-secondary and higher education markets, and ALEKS Corporation, a leader in the creation of Web-based artificially intelligent educational software, are addressing that need with an expanded array of enhanced course products for Basic Math, Pre-Algebra, Beginning Algebra, and Intermediate Algebra. These course products contain many new topics which allow for better curriculum and textbook coverage to help students achieve dramatic learning outcomes, while saving instructor time.

ALEKS acts much like a skilled human tutor, delivering precise assessments of students' math knowledge, guiding them in the selection of appropriate new study material, and recording their progress toward mastery of course goals.

College and university case studies have shown that ALEKS has increased pass rates by more than 20 percent versus traditional online homework systems, and by more than 30 percent compared to using a text alone. "This is the fifth year we have used ALEKS for all remedial mathematics courses. I have been very pleased with its ability to determine the gaps in student learning and provide students with an efficient way to fill in their missing knowledge," notes Julie McQueen, instructor of mathematics at Abilene Christian University in Texas. "Seventy-four percent of all students who used ALEKS in their course passed during the first semester, and almost half of these students finished the course early. The pass rates are much better than what we experienced in a traditional course," she adds.

"Student retention will increase even more in developmental math courses that utilize ALEKS. At the same time, course management will be simplified for instructors," said Kurt Strand, president of McGraw-Hill Higher Education's Science Engineering and Math group. "It is critical to McGraw-Hill Higher Education that we continually enhance the learning solutions that customize instruction to each student's needs and abilities. These tailor-made solutions empower students to achieve academic success."

"User feedback and learning results are critical to our success, so we assess every aspect of the ALEKS experience, understand how instructors and students use the program, and make improvements based on what we learn," said Wil Lampros, president of ALEKS Corporation. "As a result, we have added approximately 150 new topics to our developmental math course products in order to provide better curriculum and textbook coverage."

The expanded Basic Math, Pre-Algebra, Beginning Algebra, and Intermediate Algebra course products are available for immediate use through McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

About McGraw-Hill Higher Education

McGraw-Hill Higher Education is a premier provider of teaching and learning solutions for the post-secondary and higher education markets - preparing students worldwide to meet the increasing challenges of the 21st century knowledge economy. It is a division of McGraw-Hill Education, a leading global provider of instructional, assessment and reference solutions that empower professionals and students of all ages. McGraw-Hill Education has offices in 33 countries and publishes in more than 65 languages. Additional information is available at http://www.mhhe.com/.

About ALEKS Corporation

ALEKS Corporation is a leader in the creation of Web-based artificially intelligent educational software. ALEKS assessment and learning technologies were originally developed by a team of cognitive scientists, mathematicians, and software engineers at the University of California, Irvine, with major funding from the National Science Foundation. ALEKS is founded on groundbreaking research in mathematical cognitive science known as Knowledge Space Theory. Through adaptive questioning, ALEKS accurately assesses a student's knowledge state, and then delivers targeted instruction on the topics a student is most ready to learn.

ALEKS has been used by millions of students in more than 50 academic subjects ranging from Basic Math to Precalculus at thousands of institutions throughout the world. For additional information, visit http://www.aleks.com.

SOURCE McGraw-Hill Higher Education