MLB Educators Vendor Notes
Burlington English
Review
BURLINGTON has proven to be a reliable product for us. With a lot of different categories to choose from, including a specific vocabulary course for baseball, the application provides a good variety of listening, reading and writing sessions, and resources for teachers (ready-to-use lesson plans, worksheets, classroom-sessions, assignments, games). Specific topics and sessions can easily be assigned to and shared with students via a direct link that you can send via WhatsApp or email. The vocabulary practice allows the student to work on weaknesses, store his ‘own words’ to train them even more often. A plus is that you can teach different players according to their needs in a very individual way and also the price of $100 per license is reasonable. If you have any questions, you can contact Stefan any time.
| Overall Rating | Teacher/Staff Approved | Student/Player Engagement | Price/Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.8 | 4.8 | 4.7 | 4.8 |
Reviewed By: Stefan Wetzel, Houston Astros
CENAPEC
Contact Information
Review
We have been very pleased with customer support. They reply quickly to emails and requests, but I also make this easier by going there directly when there is something that needs to be addressed as fast as possible. They are always willing to receive me.
There is only one complaint on our end. The quality of their online exams and practices is questionable. We check the items of the exams every now and then and find lots of spelling mistakes. Although these mistakes might not affect the scores on the exams, the mistakes that truly concern me are the items that no valid answer. I mean, there are three options, but none of them is correct based on the contents of the books our players use to get ready for the evaluations... But the system does have a “correct” answer.
It seems that their proofreading team is not doing a good job on that, so I have to review the exams and send them pictures of the errors. That does take time to be corrected because I have seen the same errors long after my feedback was sent.
Price varies depending upon total number of players enrolled.
| Overall Rating | Teacher/Staff Approved | Student/Player Engagement | Price/Value: $5,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
Reviewed By: Johan Febrillet, Kansas City Royals
DAWERE
Contact Information
Review
We have been impressed by DAWERE's accesibility to staff, their customer service and attentiveness to our players' progress and their needs and questions with the platform.
DAWERE is made up of all multiple-choice questions and evaluations/subevaluations that players must complete in order to finish their high school coursework. They are able to get a United States diploma. DAWERE also accepts photos and copies of the players' certified grades, which is very helpful as it is easy to enroll players and help them finish school.
One thing I love about DAWERE are their courses in US History and Government. These complement our acculturation efforts rather well. My only complaint is that the players cannot in any way accelerate their education. For example, I had one player who finished all of his semester's coursework within a couple of weeks of the semester beginning, but he cannot move forward until the following semester. It would be good if we could make this happen for the future, but I'm not sure what the rules are with DAWERE's ability to change this.
Their staff is great and quick to respond. Payment is easy and efficient.
| Overall Rating | Teacher/Staff Approved | Student/Player Engagement | Price/Value: $150 per player per semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.5 | 4.5 | 4 | 4 |
Reviewed By: Andrew Scarlata, Washington Nationals - (781) 686-5688
ESLlibrary.com
Contact Information
Tammy Wik
Email: [email protected]
Review
Esllibrary.com is an online resource for content in English language instruction. Lesson plans can be printed for each player, and Plus Accounts can even allow for online assessments and learning activities for many topics. Each teacher/affiliate needs one account to print materials. Cost is about $60 per affiliate level per year. Plus account pricing is negotiable with Tammy and Ben. The customer service is amazing, and online training for your staff is available as needed for no additional cost.
| Overall Rating | Teacher/Staff Approved | Student/Player Engagement | Price/Value: $360 for five affiliate sites |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.5 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
Reviewed by: Dr. Catalina (Cathy) Lara and Chris Maag, Los Angeles Dodgers
Higher Standards Academy, LLC
Contact Information
Contact Information:
Jill Long de Mercado - 574-876-5047
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.higherstandardsacademy.com
Review
Higher Standards Academy has been our English provider since 2013. They provide language instruction and culture with a focus on speaking and listening skills and baseball specific terminology. This has been very helpful for our players because while they are learning about off the field English, the on-field English/culture helps them immediately apply this to their job. Players like the speaking focus because this is always a challenge when learning a new language and HSA's unique curriculum gets our players talking, which is key to any team. With COVID, they now have a custom virtual platform that works on any device. Players can download the app from their smartphone and get involved in classes as well. This app is great!
Price varies depending upon total number of players enrolled as well as the delivery system (virtual- synchronous/asynchronous or live teaching or both).
| Overall Rating | Teacher/Staff Approved | Student/Player Engagement | Price/Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
Reviewed by: Linda Wawrzyniak, Chicago Cubs
INFOTEP
Contact Information
Kilbert Sena
Email: [email protected]
Review
Good quality, great service support. The facilitators (teachers) they use for the classes are well experienced, and they have always found a way to engage with our players in a way that enables our players to enjoy the classes. Although no payment is required, we do pay a little bit to ensure that we get quality instructors, and we want to help them with their gas money. The challenge is finding more courses that we can hold at our academy without having to go out and buy new resources for each term. INFOTEP is limited in the total number of courses that they can offer to our players if we want to host the courses at our academy.
| Overall Rating | Teacher/Staff Approved | Student/Player Engagement | Price/Value: $75 per visit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
Reviewed By: Johan Febrillet, Kansas City Royals
Rosetta Stone
Review
Rosetta Stone has proven to be a very reliable product for us. From an industry perspective, it was one of the first interactive, computer-based programs on the market and has withstood the test of time as an industry leader. Part of the reason for this is that they are constantly improving to keep up with modern technology. In addition, the program provides a lot of help with improving learner’s pronunciation through independent work (huge plus), and it is teacher user-friendly. Another perk is that the organization has excellent professional content support. The price is high, but we have found it to be worth it. Reach out to Monica if you have any further questions.
| Overall Rating | Teacher/Staff Approved | Student/Player Engagement | Price/Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.8 | 4.8 | 5 | 4.5 |