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Inspiration Software Launches New Site License Program to Stretch School Budgets, Ensure Access to Visual Learning Software for All Students and Teachers

PORTLAND, Ore. – Aug. 17, 2009 – To ensure that all schools can offer their students and teachers access to its award-winning visual thinking and learning software, Inspiration Software®, Inc., today announced the launch of a new Site License Program. With the addition of this new purchasing option, designed to help schools and districts stretch their software budgets, even more students will return to classrooms this fall where the power of visual learning will help them build thinking skills and learn new and difficult concepts.

Inspiration Software’s Site License Program for Inspiration® and Kidspiration® was designed for schools and districts that want to provide visual thinking and learning support in every classroom. A convenient, low-cost, single, perpetual license purchase covers all student, teacher and administrator use at a school. Pricing is based on school enrollment at the time of purchase, eliminating the expense and hassle of ordering more licenses when more computers are purchased. In addition, this cost-effective site license includes Teacher Take Home privileges, so they can use the visual learning software at home for lesson planning, grading and training, as well as free online professional development materials.

Every day in classrooms around the country, students use Inspiration and Kidspiration to learn in new ways and achieve at higher levels. At a Pennsylvania high school, students are quickly learning complex concepts in science. Math scores on state benchmark tests for fourth-graders at a Virginia elementary school have doubled. And middle school students at a private school in North Carolina have discovered how history shaped their state, their country and the world.

“The three schools described above and their visual learning success stories are unique, but their teachers share a clear understanding of the power of visual learning. Their students are building strong thinking skills, quickly grasping new and complex concepts, and achieving at higher levels when visual learning supports instruction,” said Mona Westhaver, president, Inspiration Software. “We developed our new Site License Program so that schools like these and hundreds of others around the country can make the most of their investments in Inspiration and Kidspiration with a program that suits their individual needs.”

At John Tyler Elementary, part of Portsmouth Public Schools near Norfolk, Va., the fourth-grade students who reached brand-new heights in math were learning with the award-winning Kidspiration 3. Created for K-5 learners, Kidspiration develops thinking, literacy and numeracy skills using proven visual learning principles. With the new visual math tools in Kidspiration 3, students build a strong mathematical foundation for reasoning and problem-solving by using visual representations to understand math concepts.

When the John Tyler students started the last school year with an average score of just 43 percent on state math benchmark tests, their teacher Jennifer Patgorski was determined to find a way to engage them in learning so they could achieve at the levels she knew were possible. Now with math test scores in the 80s, her students are realizing the greatest level of improvement in their school.

Patgorski finds Kidspiration reaches students of every learning ability – from special education to advanced students. Even students with the most severe disabilities – those who require help from paraprofessionals to navigate the school day – are able to use Kidspiration, she said. “I put them on Kidspiration and they are able to fully participate, 100 percent, doing the exact same thing as everyone else. You can imagine how that makes them feel.”

Meanwhile, high school students in Cheryl Teaters’ biology classroom at Gateway High School in Monroeville, Pa., used Inspiration, the essential tool to visualize, think, organize and learn, to grasp difficult concepts, such as the functions of the organelles that make up a cell, by creating “cell analogy projects,” comparing the parts of a cell to another structure, such as a school, an automobile or a city. Teaters’ students constructed Inspiration “webs” – or visual maps – of a cell and the structure to which they compared it. For each organelle, students found a corresponding function in their analogous structure and created a visual representation of the connection. With Inspiration’s vast library of symbols, graphics and photos, as well as images they imported, students were able to depict virtually anything they could visualize.

Young researchers at Cathedral School in Raleigh, N.C., also used Inspiration to explore their school’s history, creating “webs” – or visual maps – to research, organize and evaluate significant events that occurred over the last 100 years. Students scoured online resources for events they found noteworthy. Using Inspiration as a brainstorming tool, the students were able to narrow down the list to the most relevant facts.

“They loved searching for facts, and it was interesting to see which events caught their attention,” said Kim Seder, the school’s director of information and educational technology. “This project gave students an overview of history in an easy way, and Inspiration was the perfect tool.”

Schools and districts, ranging in size and grade levels just like Cathedral School, John Tyler Elementary and Gateway High School, can now make the most of their budgets by choosing from Inspiration Software’s purchasing options to ensure that their students and teachers have access to the company’s visual learning tools.

For more information about Inspiration Software’s new Site License Program, call 800-877-4292 or visit www.inspiration.com/sitelicenses [1] to find a local education dealer.

About Inspiration Software, Inc.

Recognized as the leader in visual thinking and learning, Inspiration Software, Inc.’s award-winning software tools, Inspiration, Kidspiration and InspireData®, are based on proven visual learning methodologies that help students think, learn and achieve. With the powerful combination of visual learning and technology, students in grades K-12 learn to clarify thoughts, organize and analyze information, integrate new knowledge and think critically. Founded more than 25 years ago by Donald Helfgott and Mona Westhaver, the company’s visual learning software tools are used today by more than 25 million students and teachers worldwide.

For more information, press only:

Wendy Lienhart, L. Wolfe Communications, 630-920-0182, wlienhart@lwolfe.com [2]

Lisa Wolfe, L. Wolfe Communications, 773-227-1049, lwolfe@lwolfe.com [3]

©2009 Inspiration Software, Inc. All rights reserved. Inspiration Software®, Kidspiration®, InspireData® and Inspiration® are registered trademarks of Inspiration Software, Inc. All other brands are the property of their respective owners.

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