Waterford Institute Breaks from Pearson to Distribute Adaptive Learning Software Directly to Schools

SALT LAKE CITY, Jan. 9, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Waterford Institute ended its partnership with education publisher and software distributor NCS Pearson, Inc. on Jan. 1, 2014. Waterford is now directly distributing its award-winning, adaptive learning software curricula and assessments to students, teachers, districts, schools and parents nationwide.

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"Pearson has been instrumental in helping us get Waterford products to a broad audience," said Dr. Benjamin Heuston, President of Waterford Institute. "But by distributing our solutions directly to school customers via the cloud, we feel like we can better serve and support schools and act more in line with our mission to make quality education accessible to all our youngest learners."

Moving from Pearson's for-profit model to Waterford's non-profit model will allow Waterford to offer schools, districts and states the best value for their budget, Heuston said. Proceeds will be reinvested into product improvements and continued educational research.

Waterford's management also views the break from Pearson as an important step toward forming long-term partnerships with customers.

"We look forward to hearing directly from our schools and teachers, which will allow us to more quickly address their needs, provide better experiences and develop more effective tools and products for them," added Mikkel Storm, Vice President of Product and Marketing for Waterford Institute.

Already, Waterford is rolling out several new product updates in 2014, including moving more than 8,000 Common-Core aligned learning activities, songs, and books to the cloud and moving to a SaaS (Software as a Service) subscription model. Waterford's web-based cloud initiative will allow for more fluid product updates and accelerated innovation by moving its curricula entirely online. Waterford's Early Learning Reading lessons as well as its Pre-K and Classroom Advantage products are currently available in the cloud. Waterford Early Learning Math and Science programs will be in the cloud summer 2014.

The new SaaS subscription model reduces the upfront financial burden on schools' technology budgets by eliminating expensive hardware, deployment, management and upkeep costs. Waterford SaaS subscriptions will also be automatically upgraded to the most current software version as soon as new or updated curriculum is available – a critically important way for schools to stay up-to-date in this unprecedented time of education reform and accountability in the face of limited resources.

"Annual subscriptions hold us even more accountable to our schools," said Jason Dance, Vice President of Sales and Services for Waterford Institute. "Year-after-year we will have to earn their business by providing great services and great products. We welcome having that personalized partnership with schools and districts."

Waterford has a full complement of remote and on-site product training, professional development, and technical support services that can be customized to fit individual school and district needs.  These services are now offered directly by Waterford.

For more information about Waterford solutions and pricing, call 877-299-7997 or email [email protected].

About Waterford
Waterford Institute is a non-profit research center that creates personalized cloud-based instruction through award-winning curriculum, content and assessment for children aged Pre-K to 3rd grade. As a non-profit, Waterford is uniquely focused on providing accessibility, equity and excellence for our youngest learners to position them for a lifetime of learning and success. For more information, visit www.waterford.org or call 801-349-2200.

SOURCE Waterford Institute