National Contest Offers Schools $300,000 in Technology

Source for Learning Co-sponsors With Learning First Alliance

RESTON, Va., May 31, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- School districts across America are struggling with reduced budgets—but now a nationwide contest will reduce the burden for one of those districts.

The Dream School Challenge, co-sponsored by The Source for Learning (SFL), provides an opportunity for one school and its district to win up to $300,000 in educational technology resources.

SFL and its TeachersFirst.com service partnered with Lifetime TV's "The Balancing Act" and six members of the Learning First Alliance to present the contest. The winner will be the school and district receiving the most votes online.

The contest voting runs through June, 2012. Schools can be nominated through an entry form, available here. Schools and districts that want to win can urge students, teachers, and parents to vote and, if they wish, to complete an optional brief essay.

The $300,000 prize includes computer equipment, school furniture, educational software, and a TeachersFirst OK2Ask® live, online professional development session for the winning school and district.

The Dream School Challenge was launched with a one-hour special on the Balancing Act program. Candace Hackett Shively, SFL's Director of K-12 Initiatives, appeared in a segment with Don Knesek, President of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), discussing ways parents and teachers can work together to help students use technology effectively.

Other Learning First Alliance participants in the Dream School Challenge include the National Association of Elementary School Principals, The National Association of Secondary School Principals, The Association for Middle Level Education, The American Association of School Administrators, The National School Boards Association, and the International Society for Technology in Education.

Steve Gorski, The Source for Learning's President and CEO, said, "SFL is well aware of the financial challenges schools face. That's why we make TeachersFirst's resources available without charge. We're also developing content—such as the new TeachersFirst section "Help! I lost my library/media specialist"—to give teachers support that might previously have been provided by school staff who have been cut due to reduced budgets. The Dream School Challenge is one more way to reaffirm SFL's commitment to teachers."

The Source for Learning, Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation supporting enhanced learning through technology. Among the services created by SFL are teachersfirst.com, preschoolfirst.com, teachersandfamilies.com, growuplearning.com, and sflmedia.com, which provides educational video clips with links to related resources from TeachersFirst.

SOURCE The Source for Learning