Classroom Connect Wins Grant From the Fund for Improvement of Postsecondary Education

BRISBANE, Calif. — Classroom Connect, Inc. (www.classroom.com), the leading provider of Internet-based curriculum products and professional development programs for K-12 education, today announced its receipt of the Fund for Improvement of Postsecondary Education/Learning Anytime Anyplace Program (FIPSE/LAAP) grant as part of a partnership to develop a new online professional development community. As the commercial partner in the FIPSE/LAAP Grant, “Achieving Accountability: Standards-Based Teacher Professional Development,” Classroom Connect is responsible for the technological infrastructure, marketing and dissemination of online courses designed to help educators incorporate state and national standards in the classroom.

The 3-year, $1.4 million grant was received by Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education from the U.S. Department of Education’s Department of Postsecondary Education FIPSE/LAAP program. Fordham University has partnered with Classroom Connect, Medgar Evers College and the nonprofit professional development provider North Carolina Partnership for Excellence to develop a flexible online “Anytime, Anywhere Learning (AAL)” system and program of professional development that will give teachers practical hands-on experience in learning about and building standards-compliant programs in their own local contexts. Twenty-five teachers from District 17 in Brooklyn, N.Y. are among the first to participate.

“Within the past few years, educators have faced new legislative mandates calling for tougher student learning standards,” said Judith Hamilton, CEO of Classroom Connect. “Our Web-based systems allow ‘anytime, anywhere learning’ through access to expertise, best practices, data and guidance in implementing effective school-based professional development programs tied to national and state standards.”

The project complies with current national standards of professional development such as those released by the National Staff Development Council. Teachers will participate in the courses as part of local school-based teams and also engage in professional collaboration, dialogue and peer assessment with a national network of educators.

The end result of the grant program will include the following components:

• A customizable professional development curriculum that prepares

  teachers to create and implement programs for producing objective

  measurable gains in student achievement;

• Local leadership development for individual school improvement

  programs; and

• New technology tools, including an easy-to-use course delivery and

  management system, as well as new standards-based information and

  management tools accessible “anytime, anywhere” on the Web.

Classroom Connect’s proprietary professional development engine, Connected University, will host, manage and provide editorial services for the courses. Free resources created by the grant will be hosted on Classroom Connect’s online educator community, Connected Teacher. Classroom Connect will provide marketing and delivery of the courses, as well as assist grant partners and participating schools in assessing teacher/school readiness, curriculum administration, managing local study groups and other programs.

The first session of AALPDS will begin with 12 participating schools. It is anticipated that approximately 25 pilot schools will be participating during the 2001-2002 school year and 50 schools during the 2002-2003 school year.

About the FIPSE LAAP Grant

The Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) administers the Learning Anytime Anywhere Partnerships (LAAP) Program. LAAP supports partnerships among colleges and universities, employers, technology companies, and other relevant organizations to create postsecondary programs that deliver distance education “anytime and anywhere.” These programs are implemented on a national or regional scale and are innovative within the context of national trends in distance education. For more information, visit http://www.fordham.edu/gse/AALPDSor contact Mitchell Strear, Project Assistant Director, at 212-636-6440 or AALPDS@fordham.com.

About Classroom Connect

Classroom Connect, Inc. (www.classroom.com), develops and markets original, Web-based curriculum products and teacher professional development programs for the K-12 education community. Its partners include some of the nation’s most respected organizations, including the American Museum of Natural History, the Library of Congress and NASA. Classroom Connect has more than 175 employees in five offices nationwide, with headquarters in Brisbane, CA. For more information, visit Classroom Connect’s Web site at www.classroom.com or call 650-351-5100.