SchoolCity to Exhibit at 2008 CETPA Nov. 18-21, (BOOTH #708)


The California-based educational software provider announced today they will be demonstrating their California-specific data solution called SChoolPlan™ at the annual California Educational Technology Professionals Association (CETPA) conference later this fall. SChoolPlan™ is a comprehensive data solution developed in partnership with the Santa Clara County Office of Education customized for California Educators. CETPA is the largest educational technology conference in California and will be held at the Sacramento Convention Center from November 18th through November 21st, 2008.


SchoolCity Inc. Releases Free State Accountability Reporting Tool to California Educators


Mountain View, CA: SchoolCity Inc., a Silicon Valley-based K-12 technology firm announced the release of their 2008 version of California SchoolCharts™ for all public schools, districts and county offices of education in the state. They also announced that access to this tool would be free of charge for California educators until December 31, 2008.

In addition to nine years of historical data, the newest version of SchoolCharts™ includes the recently released California STAR, CELDT, and CAHSEE state assessments, Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and Academic Performance Index (API) results for the 2007-2008 school year.

The timing of this release meets the California Department of Education's embargo requirements for educational data. It also is just in time for educators to use as they begin the school year.

"With our Principals and students coming back, this is perfect timing for us to use our '08 assessment results in order to plan for '09", said San Jose Unified School District's Director of Continuous Improvement Programs, Marcy Lauck. "SchoolCharts gives us this information during this critical timeframe allowing us to compare results with other schools, the district and the state", continues Lauck.

SchoolCharts™ was initially developed in 2006 by SchoolCity Inc. along with a California County Office of Education to help educators quickly view their status and facilitate required planning and reporting activities. However, the ease of use and with more than 200 instant charts available it has become a favorite of Principals and Administrators as a way to communicate with parents and the community.

SchoolCity's CEO, Vaseem Anjum states, "Our goal in building SchoolCharts was to simply help educators use data to inform instruction and make effective decisions", he continued "Providing SchoolCharts at no cost until December 31 is our way of putting our money where our mouth is".

A free California SchoolCharts™ account can be setup at http://stars11.sccoe.org/schoolcharts/Login.aspx.

About SchoolCity Inc.
Headquartered in Mountain View, CA, SchoolCity Inc. (www.schoolcity.com) is a leading provider of educational software products & services to K-12 public and charter schools. SchoolCity's comprehensive product line includes school improvement planning, curriculum management, assessment, analysis and reporting solutions. SchoolCity's client base includes hundreds of schools, districts and service agencies across the United States.

Click here for details.


SchoolCity to Exhibit in Microsoft Booth #5208 at NECC


June 2008, SchoolCity has been selected by Microsoft to exhibit in their booth (#5208) at the 29th Annual National Educational Computing Conference (NECC). NECC is back in San Antonio and is being held from June 29th through July 2nd http://center.uoregon.edu/ISTE/NECC2008/. SchoolCity along with 4 other Microsoft partners will be featured in the Partner Pavilion and also presenting their solutions in the Microsoft Theater.

Click here for details.

 

SchoolCity Develops Planning tool with Dr. Victoria Bernhardt


June 2008, SchoolCity Inc. and Education for the Future (EFF), an educational consulting non-profit announced the release of a new web-based school improvement planning tool to the K-12 education market. The tool called SchoolPortfolio™ is scheduled to be released in June 2008 and is based on the work of Dr. Victoria Bernhardt. The product will be used by schools and districts attending her summer training institutes across the country and then available for general purchase. SchoolPortfolio™ was built using Microsoft's .NET framework and is currently an ASP solution.

 

SchoolCity Helps State DOE with Assessment Scoring


May 2008, Washington State's Department of Education recently found they had a challenge with scoring some of their state assessments. They realized their current scoring process for the WASL (Washington Assessment for Student Learning) would not return scores for a certain sub group of students in time for graduation day.

To help, they reached out to their Education Service District #113 (an Education Service Agency) in Olympia Washington. ESD#113 reviewed the problem and called in SchoolCity, a Silicon Valley-based K-12 software company. SchoolCity and ESD#113 worked feverishly to design a solution in time.

Within a short time, a complete process to score, scan and return results had been designed and tested by the software company's engineers. Score sheets started rolling in and SchoolCity's system scanned and returned the results within 24 to 48 hours, way ahead of estimates. SchoolCity's staff was very proud to work on this project and pleased that it allowed proficient students to attend their graduation ceremonies on time.

 

SchoolCity Presents at National Finance Conference


April 2008, Doreen O'Donovan of SchoolCity, Inc. and Ashlyn Aiko Nelson of Stanford University presented some ground breaking research at the American School Finance Association 2008 Conference in Denver, Colorado. The topic of the presentation was, "Examining Variation in Categorical Funding Expenditures for California Schools".

This presentation highlighted a study recently done by researchers at Stanford University combining for the first time, budget/financial expenditures with student achievement data on a large scale. SchoolCity provided the financial data from more than 60 district clients in California through its partnership with the Santa Clara County Office of Education.

SchoolCity continues to work on this project to ultimately bring a method of determining Return on Investment (ROI) for educational programs and services.


SchoolCity Inc. and Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE) Jointly Release SchoolCharts™, a graphical program to analyze assessment and accountability data for all California schools, districts and counties


MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA September 25 2006. In response to the growing need for analysis and assessment tools in K-12 school systems across the state, SchoolCity Inc. and Santa Clara County Office of Education today announced the release of SchoolCharts™ on September 25th 2006. SchoolCharts™ allows County offices, Districts, and School sites to access historical and current year's data for API, AYP and CST, released by the California Department of Education.

API, AYP and CST data is currently available on the CDE site but has limited analytical capability. SchoolCity has warehoused data over three years (2004, 2005 and 2006) and brought it together in a graphical and tabular format for analysis at different levels using SchoolCharts™, a web based program.

Districts and Schools will be able to view assessment results of CST and compare how their school performed with their County and State. Schools will be able to view their data over multiple years and determine if progress is being made. Schools can also view data for each grade level by subject and by demographics and sub group including socio-economical, English Learner and by Disability.

The data is hosted and maintained at the Santa Clara County Office of Education site. Charts may be exported to PDF and printed. Tables may be exported to Microsoft Excel for further analysis. SchoolCharts™ is available to all County, District and School personnel for a 15 day free trial and thereafter a small fee per school site will be charged for on-going use. For existing SChoolPlan subscribers, the service will be provided at no additional cost (SChoolPlan is an integrated planning and reporting application available through SCCOE).

"SchoolCity is a pioneer in the area of Data Analysis and Reporting for California Schools and is dedicated towards helping educators make better decisions inside and outside of classrooms. SchoolCharts™ is a value added and natural extension to our existing enterprise level curriculum and assessment solutions", says Vaseem Anjum, President and CEO of SchoolCity Inc.

Dr. Dale Russell, Director of Standards and Assessment for the Santa Clara County Office of Education comments, "Data is the power behind information; it becomes useful when provided in a context for understanding. Charts portray data in a way that permits a data user to have a visual reference and clarify interpretation". Dr. Russell adds, "We are excited to add this valuable tool and make it available through SCCOE's SChoolPlan. Charts are analogous to a musician using notes to produce a song; data can now be presented visually to promote common understanding".


Student level data is not available through SchoolCharts™, however Santa Clara's SChoolPlan program has other data products that do provide analysis of student data. Interested schools or districts should contact SchoolCity Inc. or the Santa Clara County Office to enroll in their innovative SChoolPlan program.


SchoolCity Delivers Reporting Tool to NY City Department of Education


September 2007, Through a partnership with Harcourt Education, SchoolCity Inc. designed and delivered a web-based reporting tool to support Harcourt's English Learner Assessment contract with the New York City Department of Education. This solution is expected to report assessment results on more than 90,000 English Language Learners in New York City. The tool was built using Microsoft's .NET framework.


SchoolCity Partners with Education for the Future


July 2007, SchoolCity Inc. and Education for the Future (EFF) announced a strategic partnership. Both entities will work together to develop web-based solutions based on the work of Dr. Victoria Bernhardt, EFF's Executive Director.

Education for the Future is a not-for-profit initiative located on the California State University, Chico campus. EFF works with schools, districts, educational service agencies and State Departments of Education on systemic change and comprehensive data analyses that lead to increased student learning. Dr. Victoria Bernhardt, EFF's Executive Director is a recognized expert and national leader in school improvement planning and data analysis for K-12.