Wisconsin Virtual School Selects eClassroom to Power Statewide Program
DENVER – June 21, 2004 – eClassroom(SM), the K-12 division of eCollege(SM) [Nasdaq: ECLG], today announced it has been selected to power the Wisconsin Virtual School (WVS), a statewide online program serving students in approximately 90 school districts across Wisconsin. WVS, which is beginning its fifth year, is transferring its online program to the eClassroom platform for the fall term starting in August.
According to Jerry Fiene, who leads the Cooperative Educational Service Agency #9 (CESA), the organization supporting WVS, “Our program has doubled in size each year, and given this rapid growth, we needed a complete solution that could provide greater efficiencies and scalability. Not only does eClassroom provide the administrative support we need to manage our continued growth without having to staff up internally, it also has the partnerships in place to help us further advance our program to meet the evolving needs of our students.”
Dawn Nordine, director of WVS added, “Our teachers have also been very impressed with the eClassroom solution. According to their feedback, the platform is more user friendly, and provides increased functionality and flexibility in terms of content options, communication tools and course structure.”
WVS has taken the necessary measures to ensure that courses meet state and national standards. WVS uses Wisconsin certified teachers, specifically trained to meet rigorous Internet-based teaching standards. WVS courses range from core curriculum such as English, science, mathematics and social studies, to success-enhancing courses such as study skills and career planning, to electives such as foreign languages, technology and business. WVS also plans to expand its program this fall to include middle school courses, as well as AP courses and other non-AP courses offered through Aventa Learning.
WVS enables districts to stretch their resources and enhance their existing curriculum to provide students in their districts with more opportunities. Among the various benefits, WVS’ online offerings allow students to make up credits, alleviate schedule conflicts, take courses at an accelerated pace, explore subjects that might not be available because of district offerings or homebound status, study abroad, and address special education needs.
“WVS has established a strong online program, providing high-quality, interactive and engaging opportunities for students to achieve their academic goals,” said Oakleigh Thorne, chairman and CEO of eCollege. “We look forward to supporting its efforts to reach even more students across Wisconsin.”
About WVS
Wisconsin Virtual School (WVS) partners with school districts throughout the state to offer online education to middle and high school students. With WVS, districts can offer online options to their students with minimal cost and time. Districts retain control of key policy decisions and the enrollment. WVS helps districts define their policies for online learning. The WVS high-quality, interactive courses meet Wisconsin’s state standards as well as national standards. For more information, please visit http://www.wisconsinvirtualschool.org.
About eClassroom
eClassroom, the K-12 division of eCollege [Nasdaq: ECLG], supports school districts and state departments of education in providing complete virtual schools. The eClassroom solution consists of the five key components to create and support virtual school success, including planning, course creation and delivery, teacher development, administrator support and student support. Customers include the Kentucky Virtual High School; Illinois Virtual High School; and Gwinnett County Public Schools, the largest school district in Georgia. For more information, please visit http://www.eClassroom.com.
This news release contains statements that are not historical in nature and that may be characterized as “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the securities laws. Examples of these forward-looking statements include statements about: our customer’s plans to expand course offerings and to utilize our services and products in connection therewith; the expected results, adequacy and functionality of our products and services to support our customer’s online programs and the growth, expansion and timing thereof; and any other statements that are not historical facts. You can identify such statements when you see words such as “will,” expect,” “plan,” “believe” and similar expressions. These statements are based on management’s current expectations and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks. Actual results may differ materially. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from estimates or projections contained in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: competition in the highly competitive online learning market; the possibility of failures of our network infrastructure and computer systems; our dependence on our customers and third parties to market online programs; the impact of laws and regulations affecting education and the Internet; and such other factors as are discussed in our most recent Form 10-Q Quarterly Report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which you are encouraged to review in connection with this release. We believe that these forward-looking statements are reasonable; however, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which are based on current expectations and speak only as of the date of this release. We are not obligated to publicly release any revisions to forward-looking statements to reflect events after the date of this release.
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