ISTE 2011 – AB in Philadephia

Academic Benchmarks will have a team attending the 2011 ISTE in Philadelphia June 26 through June 29. If you are interested in scheduling time with us, please contact us at blog (at) academicbenchmarks (.) com.

Plans for Learning Resource Framework Announced

A new initiative, funded by the Gates and Hewlett Foundations, was announced this week while Academic Benchmarks was at the AEP Content in Context conference in Washington, DC.

The Learning Resource Framework aims to develop ways to improve educator, parent, or student search results for content. The work is being coordinated by Creative Commons and AEP with the participation of several Academic Benchmarks clients, including: BetterLesson, Curriki, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill Education, Pearson, Promethean, Scholastic, and SMART.

Academic Benchmarks has enabled the industry to connect resources consistently through the application of the widely adopted AB standards-related metadata. We are excited to see the development of additional methods by which educators and providers can describe resources. We look forward to contributing to and integrating an expanding set of adopted metadata attributes for the industry.

See the AEP/Creative Commons press release and a related June 7 EdWeek article for more.

Pearson to Acquire SchoolNet

Excerpt from April 26 Press Release found on PearsonEd.com

Brings together proven systems to personalize learning and improve teacher effectiveness

New York, April 26, 2011 — Pearson, the world’s leading learning company, is announcing today the acquisition of Schoolnet, a fast-growing and innovative education technology company that aligns assessment, curriculum and other services to help individualize instruction and improve teacher effectiveness.

Schoolnet now serves more than 5 million US preK-12 students through partnerships with districts and states, supporting about one-third of America’s largest urban cities.

Pearson will acquire Schoolnet for $230m in cash. Read More…

Common Curriculum Conversations Continue

In follow up to our client email last week, it seems appropriate to share today’s article “‘Curriculum’ Definition Raise Red Flags” from Catherine Gewertz of Education Week. The debate will undoubtedly have impact the education industry.

A brief excerpt and a link to the full article is below:

“Calls for shared curriculum for the common standards have triggered renewed debates about who decides what students learn, and even about varied meanings of the word “curriculum,” adding layers of complexity to the job of translating the broad learning goals into classroom teaching…But the calls for “shared” or “common” curricula have sparked particularly heated conversations. Scholars, bloggers, and activists are exchanging fire about whether shared curriculum means lessons dictated from afar. They’re worrying that the public could lose a voice in shaping what children learn, and asking whether the federal government is overstepping by funding curriculum development.”

For the article in its entirety, click here.

AB to Attend FETC 2011

Academic Benchmarks looks forward to FETC 2011 in sunny Orlando, Florida February 1 – 3. If you are interested in scheduling time to speak with us while at the conference, please contact blog (at) academicbenchmarks (dot) com.

AB welcomes new member to management team

Academic Benchmarks is pleased to announce the arrival of Bill Walsh as the Director of Professional Services. For the past six years, Bill has served as Senior Manager at EdGate Correlation Services. In his new role, Bill will guide the delivery and expansion of Academic Benchmarks services to address the market’s need to connect educational resources to standards and other taxonomies.

“I’m very excited about contributing to the continued success of Academic Benchmarks,” Bill says, “and to join a company clearly poised for growth.”

Bill has more than 20 years of experience and a proven track record of success in the field of education publishing with leading companies such as Kendall/Hunt Publishing, Apex Learning, and Boxer Learning.

“We have always respected Bill’s work and his approach to the market. Our clients will benefit from his energy and strong understanding of the challenges facing the industry,” states Matt Doherty, President of Academic Benchmarks.

We look forward to an exciting 2011 and wish you a prosperous and successful year.

AB to Attend EdNET 2010

Academic Benchmarks looks forward to meeting with our education market leading clients in Boston at the end of September for EdNET 2010. This year’s conference proves to have stimulating discussion as some of the major players in the Common Core State Standards Initiative, National Ed Tech Plan, Race to the Top are in attendance.

Please reach out to blog at academicbenchmarks dot com to set up a meeting.

Reminder: Scheduled System Downtime Sunday, 8/22/10

Reminder that starting at 8am EDT on Sunday, 8/22, both of the Academic Benchmarks websites (AcademicBenchmarks.com and AcademicBenchmarks.org) will be unavailable for a period of approximately 12 hours.  Users will not have access to the AB Alignment System or the AB Standards Registry while the system is down.

During this time, AB will be performing a database upgrade which will allow us to continue to grow and expand.  This is a planned service and has been scheduled to help minimize the impact to our clients and any pending alignment projects.

Should you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please contact the AB Support Team.

Planned System Downtime Scheduled for Sunday, 8/22/10

Starting Sunday, 8/22, at 8am EDT, both of the Academic Benchmarks websites (AcademicBenchmarks.com and AcademicBenchmarks.org) will be unavailable for a period of approximately 12 hours.  Users will not have access to the AB Alignment System or the AB Standards Registry while the system is down.

During this time, AB will be performing a database upgrade which will allow us to continue to grow and expand.  This is a planned service and has been scheduled to help minimize the impact to our clients and any pending alignment projects.

Should you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please contact AB Support at ABSupport@academicbenchmarks.com.

Common Core Surpasses Majority Mark

Momentum for the Common Core State Standards continues to grow, as detailed in this NY Times article. The article previews the Fordham Foundation’s 2010 State of State Standards report, which was released this week and finds that the Common Core ELA standards are more rigorous than 37 states and the Math standards are more rigorous than 39 states.

Meanwhile, states continue to respond to the standards. As July closes, nearly thirty states have officially adopted the ELA and Mathematics standards, including closely-watched Massachusetts, and states like California and Colorado have signaled intentions to adopt. Because the standards provides a boost for Race To The Top applicants who adopt by August 2nd, expect to see more states adding their names to the list in the next week to ten days.

As the NY Times article notes, however, there are myriad questions surrounding the path from adoption to implementation. In response, Academic Benchmarks continues to monitor these adoption and implementation efforts. For more information, please contact us at commoncore at academicbenchmarks dot com.