New York State Teacher Center Picks School Town To Deploy Professor Garfield And SAS Curriculum Pathways

School Town’s blended learning platform empowers teachers, engages students

NORTHBROOK, IL – July 1, 2010 – New York State had an abundance of outstanding educational content and curriculum, but needed an organized and engaging way to deliver it to students. “We have so much valuable content, but it’s like a library after an earthquake,” says Stan Silverman, Director of Technology Based Learning Systems at the New York Institute of Technology, the leading site for testing new educational technology products in New York. “Our challenge has been organizing that content and deploying it to schools, teachers and students.”

Silverman and other educational leaders in New York were looking for a way to deliver the content that would focus on students and be easy for teachers to master. The New York State Teacher Center Program Office found School Town’s award winning, blended learning platform a perfect fit. Teacher Centers throughout the state work with more than 685 public school districts and more than 1,000 non-public and charter schools to support quality teaching and student achievement.

“Our partnership with School Town cleans up the library,” says Silverman. “It makes it possible to give our students that great content in a safe and manageable way.”

The initial rollout to New York schools includes School Town’s platform, which will deliver SAS Curriculum Pathways and Professor Garfield Internet safety curriculum to 88 New York school districts. Both SAS Curriculum Pathways and Professor Garfield are available at no cost to U.S. educators.

“We’re starting with SAS and Professor Garfield on School Town, but plan to deploy additional content as we go,” says Silverman. “We also will bring School Town into more schools. New York students will benefit measurably from it.”

How It Works
New York teachers log in to School Town to create assignments and send them out to the students in their digital classroom. Students log in and open the assignments, which include direct links to relevant lessons from SAS and Professor Garfield. They complete the assignments and submit them to the teacher, all within School Town.

“We’re excited to partner with the New York State Teacher Center and these great content providers,” says School Town CEO Mike Kritzman. “New York has a terrific vision. Students are online every day and we’re proud to be helping the state meet students where they live.” School Town is a 2010 AEP Distinguished Achievement Award winner, named the best Social Media solution in education for grades 9-12. EdNET also chose School Town as one of two best new educational software companies.

Bob Levy, Director of the Professor Garfield Foundation, says, “Our content is all about kids; everything we do is student-focused. School Town is extremely kid-friendly and is the ideal platform for Professor Garfield’s lessons.”

“SAS Curriculum Pathways on School Town is an ideal partnership,” says Colleen Jenkins, education industry strategist at SAS. “It combines our award winning content and School Town’s structured environment that encourages interaction.”

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For more information about SAS Curriculum Pathways, visit www.sascurriculumpathways.com.

For more information about Professor Garfield, visit www.professorgarfield.org.

About School Town

School Town is a blended learning environment that connects teachers, students, and parents. The flexible platform adds value in many ways by offering:

• Professional development communities for teachers
• Digital classrooms to engage students in learning outside of the physical classroom
• Home connections so parents can be involved in their child’s education

School Town teachers easily create digital classrooms to deliver any curriculum, personalize learning, and unify resources with secure Web 2.0 tools for student collaboration. School Town helps educators move the needle on student achievement and build strong home-school connections. For more information call, click or email 877-755-8696, www.SchoolTown.net, or info@SchoolTown.net.

Media Contact
Cathy Kedjidjian, (847) 846-9855, cathy@schooltown.net.