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Company description::
³ON BOARD WITH EDUCATALYST²
Award Winning Quaker Valley School District Eagerly Adopts EduCatalyst Teacher Professional Development Program
DATELINE: HINGHAM, MA, NOVEMBER 7, 2003...Launched at the National Educational Computing Conference this summer, the EduCatalyst program has been adopted by the nationally recognized Quaker Valley, PA School District, one of the first districts in the nation to employ EduCatalyst¹s unique teacher professional development program.
Based in Hingham, MA, EduCatalyst provides teachers and educational administrators with a technology-based decision support system that enhances, improves and tracks the continuous professional development of teachers. The goal of the EduCatalyst program is to enable all involved, from teachers and administrators to school districts, to effectively use technology in building strategies that lead to educational excellence and improved student achievement.
A Snapshot of America
The Quaker Valley PA School District, located in Sewickley, PA, provides a thriving, demographically diverse environment in which to test the EduCatalyst system. Notes Joseph Marrone, the Director of Administrative Services for Quaker Valley, the district covers 24 square miles and encompasses 11 different municipalities including farming communities, rust belt towns, and all-American suburbs as well as wealthy enclaves.
All of the district¹s schools are Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence, having won the most prestigious education award in the country, The Blue Ribbon, which distinguishes schools for excellence in leadership, teaching, curriculum, student achievement, parent involvement and community support.
Professional development is an important component of the program in this high achieving school district where the EduCatalyst program will be utilized by the district¹s 160 teachers who provide instruction for about 2000 students.
District Objectives
Quaker Valley reviewed multiple professional development products before choosing the EduCatalyst system. The district was looking for a professional development product that provided a cohesive plan for supervision and evaluation, particularly in terms of the assimilation of technology, with the ability to track the results of the district¹s extensive professional development program.
Another objective was the ability to track goals, correlating benchmarks with the system of assessment. Particularly since the advent of the No Child Left Behind legislation, the implementation of state standards measured by statewide assessments, known in Pennsylvania as the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, has become a critical component of determining a district¹s performance and it¹s ability to deliver quality education.
The EduCatalyst Choice
Marrone indicated that the reasoning behind Quaker Valley¹s choice of the EduCatalyst system was twofold: ³EduCatalyst provided the right pedagogy supported by the right technology behind it.²
The distinguished reputation and work of Kyle Peck, PhD, EduCatalyst¹s Chief Education Officer, attracted the notice of the Quaker Valley district since EduCatalyst¹s tools evolved from a series of research and development projects conducted at Penn State University under Peck¹s leadership.
Marrone noted that the components of the system are clearly articulated and substantive from both the educational and instructive viewpoint, as well as from the technological perspective. The opportunity to have input into the further development of the EduCatalyst system, as one of the first to sign on, also appealed to the district.
³Once teachers saw the EduCatalyst product, they were so eager to try it that we ran a training program early in September, much sooner than we originally anticipated since the EduCatalyst program fits what we need to do now,² remarked Marrone.
About EduCatalyst
EduCatalyst provides research-based professional development and decision support tools for educators. Offering a suite of scientifically proven computer-based tools and ³advisors², EduCatalyst offers professional development as an Application Services Provider (ASP). Through decision support and productivity tools for educators and ASP technology in a simple to use format, EduCatalyst provides a web-enabled tool that helps teachers make better decisions, obtain information, structure workable plans, communicate, collaborate, analyze, assess and develop professionally.
The Role of EduCatalyst
The EduCatalyst system allows teachers and their leaders to build strategies that lead to educational excellence -- strategies to improve student achievement and meet the demanding challenges of the No Child Left Behind Initiative.
EduCatalyst is changing the way teachers develop as professionals after they leave college and are on the job. Their set of ³anywhere, anytime, at your own pace development tools² has been well received by teachers and administrators alike, and teachers, students, school systems, parents, and the communities in which they live and work are the ultimate beneficiaries.
EduCatalyst was created to extend and disseminate the work of ³The AECT Project², a three-year ³catalyst² project funded by the U.S. Department of Education¹s ³Preparing Tomorrow¹s Teacher to Use Technology² (PT3) program. The AECT Project combined the expertise, talents and creativity of contributors from Penn State University, The University of Georgia, Florida State University and Austin Peay State University as well as the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) and the Agency for Instructional Technology (AIT). EduCatalyst¹s tools evolved from a series of research and development projects conducted at Penn State University under the leadership of Kyle Peck, PhD.
EduCatalyst¹s main office is located at 16R North Street in Hingham, MA, 02043. To learn more about EduCatalyst, visit their website at www.educatalyst.com http://www.educatalyst.com , email info@educatalyst.com, or contact (781) 740-7267.
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