Initial Goal of Raising Middle School Student Achievement through Online Curriculum and Professional Development

Blackboard Inc, the leading e-Education software company, announced that Columbus Public Schools, the second largest school district in the state of Ohio, has joined its growing K-12 client community.  In order to fulfill its commitment to excellence in teaching, learning and community building, Columbus Public Schools officials recently made a decision to adopt both the Blackboard Learning System™ and the Blackboard Portal System™ to support their e-Education programs.

Under the terms of the agreement, Columbus Public School’s implementation of the Blackboard® learning management platform will be further supported by Blackboard Application Service Provider Solutions.  Additionally, Blackboard will provide ongoing professional development and on-site support for Columbus Public School teachers.  This fully outsourced e-Education solution will provide Columbus Public Schools with an educator friendly environment for Web-enabling classes and academic communities.

Initial funding for the program was provided through federal Title II D “Enhancing Education through Technology” grant resources administered by Ohio SchoolNet, the state’s network for education technology.

Utilizing Blackboard technologies, Columbus Public Schools seeks to:

Provide web-enhanced curriculum and instruction to improve student achievement at the middle school level, with a particular emphasis on math, science and reading.
Deliver anytime, anywhere professional development opportunities for teachers across the district.
Provide more opportunity for parental and community involvement with their local schools.
“Blackboard provides a user-friendly interface to all of our online offerings, allowing our students and teachers to quickly become comfortable and proficient with our e-School system,” said Linda Joseph, Instructional Technology Specialist at Columbus Public Schools. “We liked the fact that Blackboard offered all of the curriculum development tools that we wanted, including assessment capabilities and other features.”

Columbus Public Schools is charged with educating approximately 64,000 students. The district employs more than 5,000 teachers, and operates 145 schools and centers offering a wide range of educational programs, including traditional schools, vocational schools, and ESL centers. 

“As more and more K-12 students and classrooms connect to the Internet, Blackboard technology provides an intuitive and effective bridge between online communities and the daily instructional process,” says Matthew Pittinsky, Blackboard’s Chairman.  “This will enable school districts like Columbus Public Schools to better address the challenge of applying technology in such a way as to have a measurable, sustainable impact on student learning and ongoing professional development for their teachers and administrators.  We are very pleased to welcome Columbus to the Blackboard K-12 community.”

About Blackboard Inc.
Blackboard Inc. was founded with a vision to transform the Internet into a powerful environment for the education experience.  Blackboard is a leading provider of e-Education solutions serving the global needs of primary and secondary schools, higher education, corporations and government agencies.  The company is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices and staff across North America, South America, Europe and Asia.  Please visit www.blackboard.com/k12 for more information on Blackboard’s support for the K-12 market.

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