Cleveland Independent School District (ISD) Adopts PublicSchoolWORKS to Improve Student and Staff Safety

EmployeeSafe Suite and Student Bullying and Violence Prevention Program to improve staff safety knowledge and provide reporting tools for students

Cincinnati, OH – October 1, 2012 –PublicSchoolWORKS, a Cincinnati-based company that offers the one and only comprehensive, fully-automated risk management system available for schools, will begin a full implementation of EmployeeSafe Suite and its Student Bullying and Violence Prevention Program (SBVPP) at Cleveland ISD (Cleveland, Texas) for the 2012-2013 school year. The EmployeeSafe Suite will facilitate timely and consistent administration of staff safety training, compliance task management (drills, inspections, IAQ, etc.), accident management, MSDS compliance, hazard/near miss reporting and more. The SBVPP will help the district quickly respond to reported cases of bullying and violence by immediately notifying the correct administrators and tracking each report to resolution.

“The implementation of the PublicSchoolworks system will allow Cleveland ISD to benefit from improved staff education when dealing with key issues such as, suicide prevention and depression in students. Our students and parents will have the tools to report concerns as soon as they arise so the proper staff can be notified and take the appropriate steps to resolve the issue at hand,” said Kerry Cowart, Superintendent of Cleveland Independent School District. “This system will provide the data we need to make informed decisions concerning student safety and provide useful training to our faculty and staff.”

“The training piece is essential to ensuring that our staff is up-to-date on all topical information and that as a whole, we are creating a safer environment for staff and students. The auto notification of this system ensures that our staff will receive updates on all training deadlines and the system will only notify administrators if training has not been completed. With all of the duties our district is tasked with on a daily basis, this system gives us the ability to focus more on education and less on tracking down staff and following paper trails,” said Karin Miller, Assistant Superintendent, Special Programs. “Before PublicSchoolWORKS, we spent valuable administrative time rescheduling training for educators who were unable to attend. Now our staff can take the training when it is most convenient for them.”

The SBVPP addresses both bullying and violence concerns. The program sets a precedence letting students know that bullying is not tolerated. In addition, it provides mechanisms for anonymously reporting incidents of bullying and student violence while streamlining and automating the process for administrators to track incidents through to resolution. Administrators are automatically notified of any reports based on their school so they may react immediately.

“There is not a day that goes by that I don’t hear about a student who was the target of bullying. In tragic cases, a student chooses to end his or her life as a result of this bullying or violence. It is imperative that schools provide ways for students to report issues, anonymously if they choose, and provide interventions to stop situations before they escalate,” said Tom Strasburger, Vice President of PublicSchoolWORKS. “With the Student Bullying and Violence Prevention Program, reporting tools are available for students and educators are trained on how to best handle these issues when they arise.”

PublicSchoolWORKS’ multi-tiered “set it and forget it” programs deliver training and other online tools that strategically protect and support students, staff and school districts. For more information on how you can improve your district, contact us today at 1-877-779-6757 or at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

About PublicSchoolWORKS

Since its founding in 2000, PublicSchoolWORKS has been committed to providing top-quality, practical and cost-effective solutions to the constantly changing environmental, health and safety requirements affecting the nation's educational systems. The company has gained an exemplary reputation for the innovation and technical superiority of its comprehensive and integrated safety and compliance management systems, which combine administrative software tools and resources to dramatically reduce the time and cost required to develop, implement, and sustain safety compliance programs. For more information, visit us on the web at www.publicschoolworks.com.

Education Metatagging Project Enters Phase Two

The Learning Resource Metadata Initiative has expanded its Proof of Concept tagging project to include language arts resources

WILMINGTON, DE, October 1, 2012 – The Learning Resource Metadata Initiative (LRMI) has moved into the second phase of its proof of concept metadata tagging project, expanding its scope to tag English language arts resources, in addition to math content. The LRMI is working to make it easier to publish, discover and deliver quality educational content on the web by creating a standard tagging framework for learning resources. Through its proof of concept project, the LRMI aims to document best practices for tagging to the LRMI specification and provide support for publishers by helping them understand the “real world” application of the LRMI. To date, 616 resources have been evaluated, tagged and aligned, with plans for another 450+ resources in upcoming rounds of tagging.

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National Awareness Campaign Gives Educators Voice in Improving Online Search

Easy Access and Search for Education (EASE) project will inform implementation of new education metadata standard

WILMINGTON, DE, September 28, 2012 – Beginning in October, the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) will kick off Easy Access and Search for Education (EASE), a month-long campaign that aims to raise awareness about the negative effects of information overload on educators’ and students’ online search experiences. A national awareness campaign, EASE invites K-12 district-level administrators, principals, curriculum leaders, librarians, and classroom teachers to share their opinions and suggestions about online search. All participants will be entered for a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card. Five prizes will be awarded during each week of the program.

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Study to Explore Parents' Perceptions of Mobile Learning

Data and insights from parents of K–12 students and preschoolers into home and school use of mobile devices

Bethesda, MD—Sept. 25, 2012—As students head back to school, more of them than ever before will be using mobile devices in the classroom and at home for educational purposes. This fall, leading industry research firm Grunwald Associates LLC will conduct a research study to examine student uses, parent perceptions and family requirements for mobile learning platforms. The study will be conducted with support from AT&T and in collaboration with the Learning First Alliance, a major national education organization.

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Learning First Alliance Authors FRONTLINE's "Middle School Moment" Discussion Guide

Guide facilitates community screenings of DVD to help audiences understand the national dropout crisis and what they can do to take action

Washington, D.C. – September 24, 2012 – Hundreds of thousands of students drop out of high school each year. To address this extremely concerning issue and to offer a call to action for individuals and communities, the Learning First Alliance (LFA), a partnership of 16 leading education associations with more than 10 million members dedicated to improving student learning in America's public schools, was chosen by FRONTLINE, a production of WGBH, Boston, to author a community screening guide for their segment, Middle School Moment.

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Vernier Shares Key Findings on the Value of Probeware for Science Instruction

New white paper examines research on the use of data-collection technology in STEM classrooms

BEAVERTON, Oregon, September 12, 2012 – Vernier Software & Technology has released a free white paper, entitled “What the Research Says About the Value of Probeware for Science Instruction,” that presents research-based evidence supporting the value of probeware as part of effective science instruction. The white paper discusses the many benefits of using this technology – particularly with middle school, high school, and college level students – for data collection, analysis, and visualization of data.

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Curriculum Associates' New "Ready New York CCLS" Program Makes It Easier for Teachers to Meet Latest NYSED Changes

Educational publisher is first to create tools to comply with new state requirement

NORTH BILLERICA, Mass., September 12, 2012 – Curriculum Associates’ newest offering, Ready™ New York CCLS (Common Core Learning Standards), will include material that addresses the latest changes to the state’s 2013 mathematics tests announced in late August by the New York State Education Department (NYSED). These tests could include specific content from the previous grade’s curriculum, in addition to on-grade content. This information was accompanied by a chart assigning each CCLS to the September–April or May–June instructional period to help educators understand what content will appear on the 2013 tests and what content will appear on the following year’s tests.

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Vernier's "LabQuest 2" and "Connected Science System" Win Leading Education Awards

Data-collection device and networked collection of technology honored in the Worlddidac and eSchool Media’s Readers Choice Awards

BEAVERTON, Oregon, September 5, 2012 – Vernier Software & Technology was recently recognized as a winner for its LabQuest 2 data-collection interface by two leading awards programs – the Worlddidac Awards and the eSchool Media’s Readers Choice Awards. The Worlddidac Awards also named the Connected Science System, a networked collection of technology used with LabQuest 2, as a winner.

Read more: Vernier's "LabQuest 2" and "Connected Science System" Win Leading Education Awards

Top Early Childhood Literacy Experts Provide Recommendations for Improving Literacy Instruction Based on Research Findings

Early Childhood Literacy: The National Early Literacy Panel and Beyond book provides decision-making insight that leads to actionable teaching

BALTIMORE, MD – September 5, 2012 – The federally-funded National Early Literacy Panel (NELP) Report (January 2009) analyzed hundreds of studies published in peer-reviewed research journals in order to determine what matters in early literacy instruction. The report showed that to improve early literacy skills and outcomes in all children, administrators, curriculum developers, and early literacy specialists must work to strengthen practices and change the way literacy is addressed in early education. However the report’s findings could be deemed as too complex for practical application by literacy educators, and newer research on literacy instruction conducted since the publication of the report offers additional ways to strengthen practice and improve outcomes for all children.

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Pennsylvania Department of Education Selects Teachscape's Framework for Teaching Proficiency System

Online system trains and tests teacher evaluators statewide on accurately assessing teaching practice

SAN FRANCISCO, September 5, 2012 – The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has chosen Teachscape, the leader in delivering Web-based professional learning content, innovative technologies, and expert services to improve teaching practice, to provide a system by which to train and assess the state’s 5,350 teacher evaluators. PDE will use Teachscape’s Framework for Teaching Proficiency System, an online system to train and assess teacher evaluators, to help ensure evaluator accuracy as the state rolls out a five-year comprehensive statewide teacher evaluation system based on Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching (FFT).

Read more: Pennsylvania Department of Education Selects Teachscape's Framework for Teaching Proficiency System