Schoolwires® Centricity™ Supports Student and District Success as Districts Get Back to School

STATE COLLEGE, Pa., Oct. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- As the new school season gets fully under way, districts across the nation are leveraging their Schoolwires Centricity unifying web content management platform to transform and energize their communities around school and student success.

"Many districts are leveraging the functionality within their Schoolwires Centricity websites to truly impact school and district success," said Christiane Crawford, President and Chief Executive Officer, Schoolwires. "A full-featured communications platform like Centricity helps districts build community connection and engagement, and provides them with the tools to improve teacher effectiveness and student engagement."

Some of the critical goals and initiatives supported by Centricity at school districts nationwide include:

• Increasing Student Engagement
• Improving Teacher Effectiveness
• Inspiring Parental Involvement
• Enabling Professional Learning Communities
• Maintaining Uninterrupted Flow of Communications

Increasing Student Engagement – Oxford School District

Teachers in this district are actively using the functionality within Centricity to extend the learning environment. For example, a high school teacher reports that students are scoring higher on quizzes and tests than the students last year.  The teacher attributes it to the fact that information covered in his classes last year has been available on his teacher website and students were able to review the material over the summer. Additionally, he is able to continue communications with students after school hours, or when they are absent.

Improving Teacher Effectiveness – Baltimore City Public Schools

The district uses its website to support professional growth for its employees.  There are multiple pages on the website dedicated to helping teachers improve their effectiveness in the classroom, including allowing employees to track their must-do action items, informing employees of essential news and information, informing them of professional development opportunities, and providing a forum for teachers to voice their ideas and share insights with their colleagues.

Inspiring Parental Involvement - Danville Public Schools

This district added a new section to its Centricity district site called Families First to provide support and resources to families while enhancing students' abilities to succeed in school. Some of the initiatives supported by the new Families First website include early learning and successful transition to school, academic achievement and well-being, graduation, and transition into adult life.

Enabling Professional Learning Communities - Higley Unified School District

High school teachers in this district work in teams and set up smart goals together.  These 'Professional Learning Communities' (PLCs) have created websites where they post their meeting minutes, resource material, sample assessments, and keep each other informed on what is happening in their area of expertise.  Teachers might be in more than one PLC, such as being in the high school English PLC, and also being in the senior English PLC.

Maintaining Uninterrupted Flow of Communications

In addition to supporting critical initiatives for teaching and learning, districts use their Centricity platforms for communicating routine news like extra-curricular activities as well as unexpected closings. When Tropical Storm Irene bore down on the East Coast in August, districts with Schoolwires technology kept their communities informed about school closings through postings on their district websites and by using the e-Alert application, transmitting updates instantly to an unlimited number of email addresses and mobile devices provided by registered members within a district. Some of the Schoolwires customer districts impacted by the storm include Derry Township and Harrisburg School District.

About Schoolwires, Inc.

Schoolwires is a leading provider of community-based solutions designed to accelerate K-12 district and student success. Centricity² is its unifying Web content management platform designed to help K-12 districts more deeply connect and engage with their communities in support of student, school, and district success. In addition, Centricity² helps districts unify critical technologies and resources under one technology platform, making it easier for constituents to find and access the people, information, content, and tools they need to be successful. Built upon the proven and award-winning Centricity website and community management solution used by over 1,300 school districts and educational entities, the Centricity² platform enables turn-key integration of pre-configured Schoolwires applications, including Synergy™ Digital File Sharing,  Assist™ Service Request Management, PassKey Manager™ and Nimbus™ Safe Social Learning Solution. Through its many deep and long-term district relationships, Schoolwires works with an estimated 8 million users across the nation. Schoolwires was recognized by Inc magazine as one of the Top Education Companies on the 2011 Inc 500|5000 for the fifth consecutive year.  Schoolwires, Inc. (www.schoolwires.com) is headquartered in State College, Pennsylvania, USA.

SOURCE Schoolwires, Inc.