TALENT DEVELOPMENT
Businesswire | May 11, 2023
PowerSchool ,the leading provider of cloud-based software for K-12 education in North America, announced the Puerto Rico Department of Education (PRDE) has selected PowerSchool Student Information System (SIS), as part of a tailored suite of solutions that also includes Ecollect Forms, as a critical component of PRDE’s efforts to modernize their legacy SIS across the entire territory.
“The incorporation of platforms such as PowerSchool will be a great step forward for our Department of Education,” said Eliezer Ramos Parés, Puerto Rico Secretary of Education. “It will be an efficient way to have visibility into issues related to our schools and the performance of our students. At the same time, it brings us closer to the school communities, giving parents and guardians access to data that will be of benefit to helping their children in matters related to school performance. It is a very helpful investment in public education.”
Through the implementation of PowerSchool SIS, PowerSchool will support PRDE with a solution that addresses their immediate needs, including scheduling, attendance, compliance reporting, data management, registration, grade management, and more.
PRDE’s adoption of the PowerSchool SIS is a key example of how districts, territories and states are utilizing available Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) and Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) funds to provide their students with the robust support needed to address opportunity and achievement gaps exacerbated by the global pandemic.
This new functionality will provide PRDE with more reliable and accurate information to gain a full picture of their students. PowerSchool and PRDE are striving to have implementation completed for the 2023/24 school year.
“We are proud to provide a modern and secure SIS solution for the Puerto Rico Department of Education that will play a critical role in the digital transformation of their K-12 infrastructure,” said Hardeep Gulati, CEO of PowerSchool. “We are confident that this implementation will meaningfully impact the educators and over 250,000 students in Puerto Rico.”
About PowerSchool
PowerSchool is the leading provider of cloud-based software for K-12 education in North America. Its mission is to power the education ecosystem with unified technology that helps educators and students realize their full potential, in their way. PowerSchool connects students, teachers, administrators, and parents, with the shared goal of improving student outcomes. From the office to the classroom to the home, it helps schools and districts efficiently manage state reporting and related compliance, special education, finance, human resources, talent, registration, attendance, funding, learning, instruction, grading, assessments and analytics in one unified platform. PowerSchool supports over 50 million students globally and more than 15,000 customers, including more than 90 of the top 100 districts by student enrollment in the United States, and sells solutions in more than 90 countries.
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EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY
PRnewswire | March 23, 2023
Procare Solutions is pleased to offer a new way for child care centers to bolster their educational offerings by including integrated assessments within Procare's classroom management capability.
With the release of Vine Assessments™, Procare Solutions has become the only provider of child care management software to offer integrated proprietary early childhood assessments for children from birth to 5 years old at no additional cost.
Vine Assessments is an integrated framework that gives early childhood educators and staff a way to clearly articulate the growth and development of children in their care. It includes clear and easy childhood assessments that align with all 50 state standards and provides developmental continuums with 21 goals that apply to children from birth to age 5 as they prepare for kindergarten.
"When early childhood educators can provide a robust assessment to their children and families, it elevates the learning and development of the children in their care and helps transform their businesses into true early childhood education programs," said Jon Pollock, chief product officer of Procare Solutions.
With 91% agreement rate among child care professionals, Vine Assessments are easy to use and understand.
Child care centers are leading providers of early childhood education and are at the forefront of addressing delays to help young learners recover from setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Children born during the pandemic are scoring lower on average on tests of gross motor, fine motor, social and problem-solving skills compared with those born before COVID-19, studies have shown.
In addition to learning delays, many of these children are talking, walking and interacting later and less frequently.
"Children need age-appropriate assessments well before entering kindergarten, as well as assessments that teachers of all experience levels can conduct accurately and without additional stress during their already busy days," said JoAnn Kintzel, CEO of Procare Solutions. "We are continually looking for ways to help centers foster the growth of children in their care, which is something Vine Assessments can help achieve."
"The list of 21 goals is a solid list that providers will find familiar and useful. The numbering system is very intuitive and helpful for navigating the instrument," said Dr. Kristen Burmester, director of administration and operations of the early childhood education program at the University of California at Berkeley.
Teachers using Procare will be able to tie their lessons and observations directly to the appropriate Vine Assessment indicator from the web-based software and Procare child care mobile app.
The simplicity of the Vine Assessments for teachers is what won over Melissa L. Hood, director of early childhood education at the Calvert School in Baltimore.
Her center uses Vine Assessments for all 150 kids at their two centers.
"Assessments provided by the state were too cumbersome and more suited to elementary school-aged children," she said. "They sometimes were 15 pages long and too difficult for parents to decipher."
A childhood assessment conducted through Vine Assessments offered a better alternative.
"It's to the point, it's accurate, it relates to age-appropriateness," she said. "Our teachers like Vine Assessments much better than the state-provided assessments."
About Procare Solutions
For more than 30 years, Procare Solutions has been the leading provider of child care management software, family engagement, integrated payment processing, technology and services. Procare is used by two out of three child care businesses that use child care management software. The company supports more than 37,000 child care centers, preschools, daycares, after school programs, camps and related facilities with comprehensive software that has the power to manage every aspect of their business, enrich classroom and family interactions, and automate the payment process. Procare offers web-based, on-premises and cloud-hosting solutions and supports customers of all sizes from single-center operations to complex multinational enterprises.
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CONTINUING EDUCATION
PRnewswire | April 20, 2023
Interplay Learning, the leading provider of online and virtual reality training for the essential skilled trades, announces a partnership with the Temperature Control Institute (TCI), a unique state-of-the-art skilled trades education program helping underemployed youth prepare for careers in the skilled trades.
TCI offers six-month certification courses in HVAC and commercial refrigeration. All students graduate with at least one job-ready certification, such as EPA 608, OSHA 10 and NATE, and use Interplay's training to help prepare for their exams. Graduates are qualified for entry-level employment, offering employers in Memphis, Tennessee and Southaven, Mississippi skilled and job-ready talent. Qualifying students may also receive free tuition through state funding.
"Interplay Learning is like having another instructor," said Edward York, TCI Director. "We get more effective learning done in less time, and we're also seeing less wear and tear on our equipment. That's going to allow us to grow faster, so we can help even more young people acquire essential skills that enable them to turn their lives around."
Interplay Learning's immersive virtual-reality simulations and robust catalog of technical content enhance TCI's classroom engagement and hands-on training programs. The platform includes expert-led video-based training, knowledge checks, and hands-on 3D simulations to help technicians rapidly develop on-the-job skills and practice troubleshooting in a risk-free, familiar environment. The on-demand courses offer game-like training that provides flexibility so students can practice anytime, according to their learning style, using a tablet, computer, or virtual reality headset.
TCI is currently enrolling students at its Southhaven, Mississippi, location conveniently located near Memphis, Tennessee. TCI plans to increase its class size as it expands to a new facility in Memphis later this year and add additional training programs for plumbing, electrical, and building maintenance.
"Our mission is to help institutions build better training, better careers, and better lives," said Doug Donovan, founder and CEO of Interplay Learning. "Temperature Control Institute is a shining example of how simulation-based technology can engage and support the next-generation skilled workforce more effectively. We're proud to partner with TCI to support the young, underemployed community in Memphis with an innovative strategy that addresses the skilled labor shortage."
Interplay Learning builds better training, better careers, and better lives for its customers and their employees. Its award-winning online and virtual reality training for the essential skilled trades, including HVAC, plumbing, electrical, solar, multifamily maintenance, and facilities maintenance workforces, is scalable and more effective than traditional training methods. By leveraging immersive learning technology, Interplay's customers can train and practice hands-on learning from a desktop, phone, tablet, or in virtual reality, resulting in a highly trained employee who is job-ready in weeks, not years.
About Interplay Learning
Austin-based Interplay Learning offers scalable and effective training for the essential skilled trades that helps business leaders, educators and their teams build better companies, better careers and better lives. Interplay Learning's immersive online and VR training platform for HVAC, plumbing, electrical, solar, hospitality, multifamily maintenance and facilities maintenance workforces includes expert-led video courses, hands-on 3D simulations, knowledge checks and custom learning paths to upskill advanced technicians and help new technicians be job-ready in weeks, not years.
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