Compare FastBridge with us
In schools, FastBridge screens students and monitors progress in reading, math, and social-emotional behavior. We find your child's level and then teach them every school day from there.
Screening for risk or teaching every day
FastBridge, from Renaissance, is an assessment system used in 15,000 schools. It combines curriculum-based measures and computer-adaptive tests in reading and math from Pre-K through Grade 12, plus social-emotional behavior from Kindergarten through Grade 12. Schools use it for universal screening, dyslexia risk screening, and progress monitoring to decide which students need additional instruction.
FastBridge flags who needs help, and our placement leads directly into lessons.
Where your child starts
FastBridge helps a school identify students who may need further support. Its dyslexia-risk screening is one part of that work, alongside the achievement and progress measures the school uses.
To start your child where they actually are, we write a placement test for each subject. It has 25 questions, or 12 for younger learners, and it adapts as your child answers.
From every answer, we estimate where your child is solid but not yet finished, and that's where they start. Each subject is placed on its own, so your child might begin in the middle of fourth-grade math and the beginning of fifth-grade reading. In grades 3 to 12, a child who prefers paper can print the free placement test, then upload a photo of the answer sheet for grading.
What a school day looks like
FastBridge handles screening and progress monitoring within the school's day. Regular lessons happen through the school's curriculum, with its teachers using assessment results to decide what support comes next.
Our Parent Dashboard lays out today's lessons by subject. You can build the week around your family's hours and print it for the fridge.
Interactive articles weave in your child's interests, with images and videos made for them. Reading checks confirm understanding, then your child applies the idea in a project, such as optimizing lap times for F1 or working out a rocket’s fuel load.
When your child gets stuck
FastBridge identifies students who may need extra support through its measures. The school's teachers and instructional programs provide that support, rather than the assessment system becoming the child's daily teacher.
Our Always-On Mentor sits beside every reading and project, so help is there the moment your child needs it.
The mentor also steps in on its own when your child seems stuck, explains the idea another way, and can make it visual by drawing on its board. In a reading check or a project, it guides your child's thinking without giving the answer away.
Learning to keep a notebook
From Grade 3, our readings offer an optional Notebook guide to help your child organize their learning. It encourages lesson headings and unit labels, and the printable guide offers tips for taking notes in their own words rather than copying the article.
The guide encourages your child to note where they struggled and how they got past it. One tip is to star a useful takeaway, then gather those takeaways into a review page. When your child scans and uploads their notebook pages, we help them remember those ideas and shape practice problems around the places they struggled.
Who grades the work
FastBridge scores its screening and progress-monitoring measures. The school uses the results to follow a student's development over time, alongside the assignments and grading in its regular teaching program.
We grade everything your child submits as soon as they submit it, so grading never lands on you. When your child gets something wrong, we help them work through it, and projects come back with feedback so they can revise them.
Records, state paperwork, and the transcript
At TheHomeschoolingCompany, your child's school record builds as they work: daily check-ins log attendance, and everything they finish is saved automatically. Attendance logs and learning summaries are ready to export, and we draft the documents your state asks for from that same record, including portfolios with real work samples.
Our high school transcript builds from completed work, with courses, letter grades, credits, and GPA calculated for you.
Moving from FastBridge to us
School in a Box includes up to 12 subjects, from the core to custom electives on anything your child is curious about. Single Subject covers one course, if you would rather start there.
Start the 14-day trial and choose School in a Box or Single Subject.
Pick your child's subjects, including any topics they have been asking to learn more about.
Your child takes a placement in each subject, and their whole curriculum is built around them.
Other questions
- Can placement be repeated during the year?
- Yes. Your child can retake placement in one subject while their other courses carry on, and completed work stays saved.
- Can a child who is still learning to read use it?
- Yes. Kindergarten through Grade 2 is spoken, so your child listens to each lesson and answers out loud, with an adult nearby rather than teaching.
- Can brothers and sisters each have their own path?
- Yes. You manage siblings from one account, with their work kept separate.
- Can we use ESA funds?
- We are approved in Arizona, Alabama, New Hampshire, and Utah. Program rules apply.
Your child's curriculum. Your family's time.
Follow the learning need with daily lessons and feedback on what your child understands.
$149/month per child after the trial.