Chicago Public Schools Puts Student Information, Test Data, and Instructional Resources at Teachers' Fingertips to Improve Student Achievement

Chicago Public Schools Puts Student Information, Test Data, and Instructional Resources at Teachers' Fingertips to Improve Student Achievement

Nation's Third Largest School District Chooses SchoolNet as Instructional Management Solution

NEW YORK, Nov. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Chicago Public Schools (CPS) announced today that it will be putting the student information, test data and instructional resources needed to improve student achievement at teachers' fingertips with SchoolNet's Instructional Management Solutions (IMS). Chicago will be joining a growing number of large urban districts by using SchoolNet's open, content-neutral platform for district-wide data analysis and reporting, centralized data integration and management, comprehensive benchmark testing, standards-based curriculum management, and Web-based learning communities.

"At Chicago Public Schools, every decision we make is based on the way that it will support student achievement," said Arne Duncan, Chief Executive Officer, CPS. "When fully operational, SchoolNet's IMS will ensure that our teachers have easy access to the information and tools that they need to offer our students high quality academic programs that prepare them for success in school and life."

A national leader in school reform, CPS serves 438,000 students in more than 600 schools. The district's innovative school improvement initiatives range from the Chicago Math and Science Initiative, designed to transform the way that math and science are taught, to Renaissance 2010, a recently announced program to create 100 new schools, mostly in existing buildings, in neighborhoods where schools are under-performing. The broad range of information in SchoolNet's IMS will support all current and future CPS school improvement efforts.

The district is seeing improvement in student achievement through these initiatives. The city's Mayor, Richard M. Daley, recently announced that district students improved their reading, math and writing scores on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) this year in every grade tested, and CPS continues to close the gap with the state overall.

"SchoolNet is proud to collaborate with Chicago Public Schools as it strives to be the premier urban school system in the country," said Jonathan D. Harber, president and CEO, SchoolNet. "The district's accomplishments over the past decade are nationally recognized and we look forward to being a part of the next decade of improving teaching and learning for Chicago's children."

SchoolNet's IMS is an integral component of the district's IMPACT (Instructional Management Program and Academic Communication Tool) initiative. IMPACT is the Web-based, centralized student information management solution to be implemented throughout the district over the next two years. The new solution will create a unified repository of records and introduce new functionality including online lesson plans, standardized testing benchmarks, after-school programs, student health information and parent access.

"The goal of IMPACT is to bring all of the important information that our teachers and principals need into one accessible place," said Robert Runcie, Chief Information Officer, CPS. "SchoolNet is open and content-neutral so we can choose to use other software and technology tools with the confidence that the data will be accessible from our instructional management solution."

Over the next three years, CPS will implement SchoolNet's four primary solutions: Assess(TM), Align(TM), Outreach(TM) and Account(TM), which includes an Instructional Data Warehouse component.

Account: Through Account, administrators are directly in touch with
district data, providing a powerful way to track and generate data-
analysis reports and incorporate that data into the decision-making
across classrooms, schools, and regions.

Assess: Assess allows educators to manage the scheduling,
dissemination, administration and processing of benchmark tests.

Align: Through Align, districts deploy their standards-based curriculum
and offer teachers a dashboard to view differentiated student
performance data and to plan individualized instruction.

Outreach: Through Outreach, administrators, teachers, students and
parents share best practices, collaborate on projects, and receive
access to information on every aspect of schooling.

About Chicago Public Schools


Chicago Public Schools (http://www.cps.k12.il.us/) is the nation's third- largest school district and the second-largest employer in Illinois, with 45,000 employees. The school system operates more than 600 schools and serves more than 438,000 students.

About SchoolNet, Inc.

SchoolNet (http://www.schoolnet.com/) is the leader in Instructional Management Solutions (IMS) that enable districts to integrate, access and analyze student demographic and performance data. SchoolNet is passionate about helping administrators, educators and students achieve extraordinary results: achievement gaps narrowed, Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals met, teacher proficiency enhanced, and learning accelerated.

SchoolNet's IMS, which meet industry standards such as SIF (Schools Interoperability Framework), and GEM (Gateway to Education Materials), are used successfully by some of the largest school districts across the country.


Source: SchoolNet, Inc.

CONTACT: Janet Pinto, SchoolNet, Inc., +1-212-645-0615 ext. 281,
jpinto@schoolnet.com; or Stacey Finkel of DBC Public Relations,
+1-202-298-7600, ext. 219, stacey@dbcpr.com, for SchoolNet, Inc.

Web site: http://www.schoolnet.com/
http://www.cps.k12.il.us/


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