•Why full-time virtual schools have come under the microscope

•What President Obama’s re-election might mean for schools

•Why educators are ‘flipping’ over a revolutionary instructional model

•How Apple’s iBookstore aims to do for textbooks what its iTunes did for music

Core Curriculum Vocabulary Card apps help children learn core curriculum words in the four main curriculum areas – Language Arts, Social Studies, Math, and Science. Each application comes with four decks that mirror the content in the printed Core Curriculum Fun Decks published by Super Duper.

The apps have four entertaining learning games — Super Duper Secret Decoder, where students use an interactive secret decoder to check their answers; Answer and Ask , where players choose answers and questions in a multiple choice format; Matching, which allows students to match words and definitions; and Drag ‘n Match, where players drag cards together to make a match.

The Core Curriculum PRO version has 400 pairs of colorfully illustrated digital vocabulary and definition cards, for a total of 800 card images (100 pairs/200 cards per deck for each grade level). All questions and answers have audio to help engage non-readers, and include text for early readers. An unlimited number of children can play each game. Users can advance to the next card or player manually or automatically, and have answers read back to them. Results from each game can be emailed, printed or shared.

There is a Core Curriculum FREE version for each grade level that lets users explore how each app works. The PreK-K and Second Grade FREE apps include the Social Studies decks, while the First and Third Grade FREE apps include the Science decks. All decks come with data tracking and the option of obtaining the additional decks through in-app purchases.

Super Duper Publications creates unique, fun, high-quality educational materials for children. The Super Duper website offers a wide variety of materials for teachers, therapy professionals, and parents to use with children in a classroom, therapy setting, and at home.

Russell Sanford
Super Duper Publications
864.284.4572
rsanford@superduperinc.com

Rachael Ballard
KEH Communications
410-975-9638
Rachael@kehcomm.com

SVC had employed a legacy client-server based system from 2005 for its Student Information System along with an amalgam of interfaced solutions for financial aid, learning management and fundraising. Administrators knew, however, that the college required a better alternative to meet its growing demands for online access and the full breadth of department-level functionality.

In late 2011 it became apparent SVC’s ERP was hindering many future projects. A selection committee looked at inexpensive systems, but these provided far less functionality than required. The committee was determined to find a single-vendor, integrated solution that extended to financial aid, learning management and integrated portals. Committee members knew the most cost-effective solution would do this within a single, easy-to-use integrated ERP rather than a patchwork quilt of multi-vendor systems.

Initial search results led to a vendor with a reasonable product that lacked critical components like financial aid and LMS. As a compromise, the committee was entertaining a move forward with this system when a member of the board advised that he had an excellent experience implementing CAMS Enterprise at another local institution. As the committee looked further into CAMS Enterprise, it found not only did the system have financial aid and LMS, it also included full document management, portals and many other features that would have had to wait for future purchases as stand-alone features with the other less-robust system.

According to Southern Vermont College Chief Operating Officer and Interim President Jim Beckwith, “Our staff has given CAMS a thorough review and it is clearly a superior solution to what we had and what we had been looking at.” With full implementation planned for early 2013, SVC will have access to all the tools it needs in a single integrated ERP system.

SVC recently gained national attention for its innovative Pipelines Into Partnership program that helps deserving at-risk students from neighboring urban areas in Schenectady, Brooklyn and Yonkers, N.Y., succeed in a rural private college environment. According to a recent front-page news story in The Chronicle of Higher Education, SVC’s program features intensive group mentoring and monitoring with emphasis on student success and retention. Given SVC’s progress with its program, and generally high retention and graduation rates for at-risk students at small private colleges, The Chronicle reports the Pipeline project could become a model gaining policy-makers’ attention.

Interim President Beckwith said initiatives like the Pipeline program require close scrutiny of student data in real time, and that this need factored into SVC’s selection of CAMS Enterprise. “As a fully integrated system built around a single, secure MS SQL database, CAMS give us the reporting and analytics horsepower we need for these types of innovative programs,” Beckwith said.

CAMS Enterprise is a unique solution for higher education. Totally browser-based and designed from the ground up to leverage the Web, it is unlike older conventional systems that use the Internet as an afterthought. CAMS is fully optimized for mobile apps, so students and faculty alike can interact with their institutions around the clock from mobile devices on the go, anytime and anywhere. New enhanced user interfaces in CAMS Enterprise reflect the latest in Web 2.0 collaborative and shared applications for greater ease of use and user friendliness.

Portals look modern and institutions can save settings to personalize pages while also showing widgets, social networking and other interactive screen elements as part of their portal displays.

CAMS Enterprise requires minimal maintenance and provides information anywhere, anytime, and its complete integration yields unparalleled productivity and flexibility. IT staffing requirements are much lower than with competitive legacy products. Achieving maximum efficiency and productivity to deliver the ultimate student learning experience is of vital importance and is every institution’s goal. With CAMS Enterprise’s Business Analytics feature, they can achieve all this along with the lowest total cost of ownership and highest return on investment of any academic ERP.

“Managing the complexities of a well-rounded liberal arts college today requires an equally nimble academic ERP solution,” Three Rivers Systems Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing Jami Morshed said. “CAM Enterprise yields much-improved business performance by containing and reducing costs while standardizing and automating business processes. CAMS is a revolutionary system with the power to boost campus-wide productivity today, while preparing institutions for optimum performance tomorrow and generations to come.”

SVC is a member of the Association of Vermont Independent Colleges and affiliated with the Vermont Campus Compact, an association of colleges that include community service, hands-on learning and civic engagement as academic requirements.

About Southern Vermont College
Southern Vermont College is a private, four-year liberal arts college located on the 371-acre former Edward Everett Estate near Bennington, Vt., in the southwestern corner of the state bordering New York and Massachusetts. It has its roots in Saint Joseph College, which was established in downtown Bennington by the Sisters of Saint Joseph in 1926. In 1974, the sisters turned the college over to an independent board of trustees and the college moved to its current location on the Everett Estate. Within a few months the name was changed to Southern Vermont College, and it became a private, independent college with no religious affiliation. Southern Vermont College is a career-enhanced liberal arts college offering 17 majors. The college is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.

About CAMS Enterprise
CAMS Enterprise’s disruptive technology makes it a fundamentally different academic ERP unlike all others that were designed for the past and are incapable of operating efficiently in the modern world. CAMS Enterprise is an easy-to-use and implement, totally integrated, Web-native management system with everything in one place — admissions; student information; financial aid; student services; fiscal management with HR and payroll; fund-raising; alumni relations; document management, learning management, a full suite of portals, and more for managing the entire student life cycle. With an out-of-the-box configuration and self-service customization, CAMS Enterprise removes all barriers to success seen with conventional systems. CAMS’ affordable licensing, off-the-shelf configuration and easy implementation translate into the lowest total cost of ownership of any academic ERP while yielding the quickest and highest ROI.

About Three Rivers Systems Inc.
Three Rivers Systems Inc. is the only privately held, independent, debt-free, one-stop company focused solely on high-quality academic ERP solutions exclusively for higher education. For more than 25 years from its St. Louis headquarters, the company is keenly focused on innovation and service to its worldwide customers. Always innovating, the company invests significant revenues back into product R&D to improve existing products while developing new ones so users always get the exact functionality, industry experience and accurate project management they need. Its business model and products are designed to ensure institutional effectiveness, more-efficient business processes, student success and satisfaction.

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Products or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

Contact: Ron Kalb, Three Rivers Systems Inc., Director of Communications, 636-779-1518 (office), 702-498-8916 (cell), ronk@threerivers-cams.com http://tinyurl.com/cams-svc

Started in late 2010, OMAP studied the feasibility of using online assessments that consist entirely of constructed-response and technology-enhanced test items in two courses, grade 7 mathematics and Algebra I, and the reliability and validity of automated scoring. The results of the OMAP study were released on October 31, 2012 and are available at http://www.pacificmetrics.com/omap. They show that alternative item types including constructed-response and technology-enhanced items, delivered online and scored using CRASETM, Pacific Metrics’ automated scoring solution, are a reliable way to assess a student’s knowledge of mathematics.

Pacific Metrics and the partner states developed a computer-based, online assessment that was delivered in spring 2012 to over 9,000 students in the four states. Results were evaluated to compare the technical quality of tests consisting of constructed-response and technology-enhanced items to traditional multiple-choice assessments. The assessments allowed for automated scoring of the items and incorporated accommodations to meet the needs of English language learners and students with disabilities. The consortium of states and Pacific Metrics’ skilled assessment team worked together with a panel consisting of nationally recognized experts in mathematics education and in the education of English learners and students with disabilities. The project was discussed at the National Conference on Student Assessment in Minneapolis in June 2012 under the title “Using Technology for Better Measurement: An Evaluation of Machine-Scored Online Constructed-Response Assessments in Mathematics.”

The items were aligned to the Common Core State Standards. In addition to conventional multiple-choice items, the following item types were included:
• Graphing: allows students to draw lines or points (or both) on a grid
• Drag-and-Drop: enables students to match images to their correct counterpart or sort and order components of a response
• Constrained Response: provides students with an input tool that pops up when they click in the answer box; students can use either the tool buttons or equivalent keystrokes to enter the response
• Table Entry: enables students to use the constrained-response tool to enter responses in a table
• Free Text Entry: removes restrictions on what students can enter into the answer box; the entire keyboard is available
• Mixed: incorporates both constrained response and free text entry response in different parts of the item

“This study demonstrated that online, automatically scored constructed-response and technology-enhanced mathematics items can be administered in a variety of settings and yield reliable results,” says Dr. Phoebe Winter, OMAP Project Manager and Executive Vice President of Education Policy at Pacific Metrics. “The administration can be successfully standardized, and students with disabilities and English learners can be accommodated via online or in-person accommodations. The findings will be helpful to state departments of education and the assessment consortia as they design their next-generation assessment systems.”

For more information about the Online Mathematics Assessment Project, visit http://www.pacificmetrics.com/omap.

About Pacific Metrics
Pacific Metrics Corporation creates lasting improvements to the assessment and learning environment through the thoughtful use of technology. Headquartered in Monterey, California, Pacific Metrics provides specialized psychometric software and sophisticated online systems to state departments of education and to organizations that develop, administer, and score large-scale assessments. The company has achieved recognition for its technical work and for being a leading force in the development of innovative, customized, web-based systems. For more information, visit www.pacificmetrics.com.
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“We are both honored and excited about the nomination,” says Bridgeway Principal, Jessica Parnell. “I think it shows the total commitment we have toward our students and the quality of their education. We leave no stone unturned to get them where they want to be in life. Service is the cornerstone of Bridgeway’s philosophy.”

Bridgeway’s commitment to service goes far beyond the digital. “We believe that service starts with community and with faith,” said Parnell, who is currently leading up the provision of much needed supplies to families directly affected by the devastation of Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey. Parnell adds, “We are coming in alongside of one of our Bridgeway families who has set up a shelter and is distributing food and clothing to those in need. We feel that being part of Bridgeway means that you ARE part of a larger family. We strive to do our part, and teach our kids that giving back is the foundation of a true community.”

The Catasaqua-based company has recently broadened its borders with a new office in South Korea, and potential offices in Singapore and Western Canada on the horizon. “Our programs are custom built for any student in any situation or culture – either here or abroad,” said Parnell. “Although we began our business efforts here in Pennsylvania, we literally have no boundaries.”

The Business of the Year award finalists will be recognized and the winner in each category will be announced during a formal awards dinner on December 10, 2012 at the ArtsQuest building in Bethlehem, PA. Finalists were selected in six categories: Business of the Year (1-25 Employees), Business of the Year (26-100 Employees), Business of the Year (100+ Employees), Corporate Citizen of the Year, Emerging Business of the Year and Executive of the Year.
About Bridgeway Academy

Bridgeway Academy has been a trusted homeschooling academy since 1989, meeting the highest state and national accreditation standards possible. Bridgeway’s goal is to provide families with everything needed to give a child the best homeschool education available. Whether looking for a curriculum founded on Christian principles, or one that focuses solely on academics, Bridgeway is a proven homeschool resource that will work with families to produce a customized and affordable plan that universities are taking quite seriously.

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If you would like more information about this topic, please contact:

Contact Name: Blake Mosser
Contact Title: Director of Customer Relations
Phone Number: 610-266-9016 ext. 120
Email: blake@bridgewayacademy.com

http://www.bridgewayacademy.com

SEATTLE – Nov. 15, 2012 – Initial reports indicate that only 60 percent of eligible voters cast their ballot in last week’s presidential election. Key to growing citizen participation in elections and other activities that will maintain a strong U.S. democracy is an increased emphasis on civics education in schools. Today at the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) Conference, Pearson announced a new partnership with the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools to support the acceleration of access to high-quality civic learning, with the goal of educating young Americans about their rights and responsibilities as citizens. Pearson joins the Campaign’s coalition of more than 70 national civic learning, education, civic engagement and business groups committed to improving the quality and quantity of civic learning in American schools.

In more than 30 years of Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup polling on American attitudes on education, Americans have overwhelmingly concurred with the statement that “educating young people for responsible citizenship” should be the primary goal of our schools. Yet, there has been a decrease in civics education in U.S. schools since the 1960s, which is illustrated by student performance on civics assessments. According to “Civics 2010: The Nation’s Report Card,” more than three-quarters of high school seniors – the nation’s newest voters – and nearly 80 percent of eighth-graders scored below the proficient level.

“Our research demonstrates that civic learning is as critical to workforce preparation as strong reading and math skills,” said Ted McConnell, Executive Director, Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools. “We are excited to embark on this collaboration with Pearson that will allow us to take our work to the next level. It will help us ensure that students have access to effective, high-quality learning opportunities based on the proven practices in civic learning that our coalition of prestigious experts has identified.”

Pearson’s Luess Sampson-Lizotte said, “As our country confronts some of the most difficult challenges in its history, it is crucial that our young people understand how our democracy works and appreciate the importance of participation at the local, state and national level. Access to this high-quality civics and government education will allow students to see the critical importance of playing a role in the democratic process that keeps our country free.”

About the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools
The Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools (www.civicmissionofschools.org) is a coalition of over 70 national civic learning, education, civic engagement and business groups committed to improving the quality and quantity of civic learning in American schools. The Campaign’s goal is to increase and improve civic learning in grades K-12 by working for policies that implement the recommendations of the “Guardian of Democracy: the Civic Mission of Schools” report. This includes efforts to bring about changes in national, state and local education policy.

About Pearson
Pearson, http://www.pearsoned.com, has as its mission to work side by side with states, districts, teachers, students and parents to ensure that every child is prepared for college, career, and civic life. (NYSE: PSO).

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“We’re right in the middle of today’s digital classroom, with a product that’s sorely needed: a digital knowledge and information solution,” said Jorge Cauz, president of Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. “This new product exemplifies what Britannica is today: focused on the classroom, with innovative digital solutions that make teaching and learning easier and more successful.”

With content for all grades, Britannica School is specially designed to enable students to move to higher or lower reading levels easily and whenever necessary, helping teachers conduct individualized instruction. It works superbly on any digital device, be it a computer, smartphone or tablet. This is a benefit to schools as they use more mobile devices and students bring their own devices to school.

The product provides an extensive array of high-quality, up-to-date, texts on all subjects needed to fulfill the new Common Core state standards. It also enables teachers to build lessons around those standards. More about Britannica School is available on the Britannica Blog.

Free trials are available to schools, districts and consortiums. Interested educators can call 1-800-621-3900 or go to http://info.eb.com/products/britannica-school/ for more information.

About Britannica Digital Learning
Britannica Digital Learning (BDL) provides reliable, high-quality classroom products and solutions for educators. BDL experts produce curriculum-aligned resources for all ages from preschool to college that make creative and purposeful use of technologies widely used in schools today—such as interactive whiteboards, tablets, smart phones and learner-response devices—making it easier for teachers to teach and for students to learn. Products include Britannica School, SmartMath, Pathways: Science, and Image Quest. BDL is a division of Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. and is headquartered in Chicago.

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Contact
Tom Panelas
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
312-347-7309
tpanelas@eb.com

The new partnership will enhance Pearson’s Online Learning Exchange’s overall course offerings by adding a new set of social studies modules designed to maximize learning outcomes through student engagement. StudySync aligns to the Common Core and engages students in reading and writing across the curriculum through an extensive digital library of hundreds of texts, award-winning multimedia lessons, and proprietary online writing and peer review tools.

“This partnership is the perfect fit for both companies since we share a vision to provide educators access to high quality digital content,” said Lynda Cloud, Pearson’s senior vice president. “We recognize StudySync’s dedication to helping students develop the critical thinking skills they need to succeed in a digital world. In our Social Studies category, StudySync ranks as an important addition to the OLE learning environment.”

“Teachers and students are increasingly relying on digital learning resources in and out of the classroom,” said Robert Romano, CEO, BookheadEd Learning. “Now they can spend more time focusing on instruction instead of sorting through thousands of websites to find quality content for a given topic. The integration of OLE’s K-12 content and our high-quality social studies resources in a single platform provides immediate access to the most appropriate learning resources for teachers and students everywhere.”

An innovative, web‐delivered academic tool, StudySync offers multimedia lessons designed to increase reading, writing, critical thinking and academic collaboration. The product includes a diverse selection of texts, both fiction and nonfiction, TV-quality video lessons, and customizable writing prompts and assessment rubrics.

Using OLE, social studies teachers will now be able to create customized lessons, access eTexts, and quickly search for best-in-class content from Pearson and curated partners. StudySync’s quality materials combined with OLE’s unique set of collaboration tools and services will enable social studies teachers to interact with other educators, share experiences, offer up best practices, and engage in real-time conversations.

OLE was created with a vision to offer teachers and students an affordable single destination for finding high quality K-12 content coupled with a powerful set of personalized options and collaboration features. “Hard-working, dedicated teachers who have spent hundreds of hours on YouTube or Google hunting for reliable materials to complement their lessons will search no more,” said Cloud. “OLE is especially relevant during these tight budgetary times. Schools and districts that can’t afford new, complete instructional programs can capitalize on OLE’s low-cost offerings to fully realize the power of technology in their classrooms and enhance student learning.”

For more information about Pearson’s Online Learning Exchange™, visit: http://www.onlinelearningexchange.com. Sign up for a free 30-day trial at www.olecommunity.com/trial.

About Pearson & OLE
Pearson, the world’s leading learning company, has global reach and market leading businesses in education, business and consumer publishing (NYSE: PSO). Pearson’s Online Learning Exchange is an innovative digital learning destination that provides best-in-class K-12 content to teachers and students with a mission to better teaching and learning.

About BookheadEd Learning, LLC
BookheadEd Learning connects high school and middle school students to the great ideas of mankind through technology, multimedia, and a rich library of classic and modern texts. StudySync, its award-winning flagship product, uses web-delivered educational tools – including broadcast-quality video, digital media, mobile platforms and social networking —to help teachers inspire higher levels of students’ reading, writing, critical thinking, academic discourse and peer-to-peer collaboration. An AEC and SIIA CODiE Awards finalist, StudySync is the recipient of two BESSIE Awards and the EDDIE Award from ComputED Gazette, “Trendsetter” recognition from EdTech Digest, District Administration’s “Readers’ Choice Top 100 Products” award, and inclusion on Edudemic’s list of the Top 50 edtech tools. CEO/co-founder Robert Romano is among EdTech Digest’s “50 Fascinating Entrepreneurs.” Based in Sonoma, Calif. with an office in Cambridge, Mass., BookheadEd is comprised of educators and experts who believe “Together We’re Smarter.” To learn more about BookheadEd Learning and its StudySync educational platform, visit www.studysync.com.

Media contact/StudySync:
Ken Greenberg
Edge Communications, Inc.
323-469-3397
ken@edgecommunicationsinc.com