In this week's note, Anna Hancock, director of QED's School Funding service, share information on what's happening around the country in the arena of early childhood education. AW

There's lots of buzz around early childhood initiatives these days, and strong support in numerous states for a variety of measures from all-day kindergarten and statewide preschool programs to funds for comprehensive early childhood intervention and calls for universal pre-Kindergarten.

According to a report released last month by Washington-based Pre-K Now, over the last two years state legislatures have increased funding for pre-K programs by more than $1 billion. In FY 07, spending by 31 states and the District of Columbia increased by a total of $450 million.

The report also details legislative action in the 50 states and DC and compares budget levels from FY 06 to FY 07. Here are a few highlights. California increased funds for the State Preschool Program from $342.8 million in FY 06 to $392.8 million for FY 07 – a 29.2% increase. The focus is to expand preschool programs in low-performing schools.

In Illinois, funds for its statewide program, Preschool for All , increased 16.4%, from $243.2 million in ‘06 to $283.2 million for '07. There's another $5 million for birth to age three programs.

Nebraska's Early Childhood Education Grant Program received no increase from '06 to '07, but voters passed a constitutional amendment to create a new early childhood endowment fund, with $40 million from the state's perpetual school's fund. Arizona voters also approved a ballot measure to establish an Early Childhood Development and Health Fund for preschool children and their families. Support for child care, preschool programs, health screenings and other services comes from hefty hikes in state tobacco taxes. And in Kansas, the legislature hiked funds for pre-K by 24.8%. There's a new pre-K pilot program, designed to focus on quality – a major issue in the pre-K world, and an increase in the state's At-Risk Four-Year-Old Preschool Program.

The Tennessee legislature increased the budget for its Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten Program to $55 million in ‘07, a 57.1% increase. And next door, Kentucky's Preschool Program got a 45.5% boost to $75.1 million, targeted to serve all three- and four-year- olds with disabilities, and 4-year-olds from families at 150% of poverty. New York, legislators voted to increase funds for pre-K by 19.7% - the first increase in pre-K funding since FY 01. And in Pennsylvania, the '07 pre-K budget is projected to increase by almost 40% from its '06 level.

To spur even more state-level action, in September the National Governor's Association awarded $50,000 in leadership grants to three states – Montana, New Jersey and South Carolina – to develop best practices for comprehensive early childhood systems.

For the full report from Pre-K Now, link to: Votes Count: Legislative Action on Pre-K in FY 07

At the federal level, with a new Democratic Congress, it's possible we'll see a boost in support for early childhood beyond levels recommended in the President's '07 budget. The President calls for no increases in key programs states use to buttress their own early childhood initiatives – Title I, Head Start, state grants for early childhood professional development, and Early Reading First.

The budget also calls for elimination of the popular Even Start Family Literacy Program. With a big push from the education community, look for reinstatement of that program. And, count on a substantial lobby to increase support for special education programs that serve infants and toddlers and provide preschool grants for special needs kids.

There's also lively discussion around NCLB and how early childhood fits into its requirements. In mid-July the Commission on No Child Left Behind heard testimony from panelists on increased federal involvement in grades pre-K through 3. Recommendations included expansion of Early Reading First and initiation of an Early Math program for preschoolers, and development of quality standards for preschool programs. One panelist spoke of the need for more support to serve pre-K students with disabilities. Another voiced concerns about standardized testing in early grades, where development varies greatly – a chief concern among many early childhood professionals. There's sure to be more debate on those and other topics during next year's reauthorization of the law.

For more information on the Commission on No Child Left Behind and the full content of this summer's testimonies, link to: Early Childhood Testimony NCLB Commission

And . . . at the city level, I'd be remiss not to mention QED's hometown of Denver, where an early childhood voucher program launched from the Mayor's office passed by an 1,800-vote margin this November. The voluntary program provides vouchers to attend any licensed preschool of choice to all Denver 4-year-olds. Voucher amounts are based on two sliding scales: need and program quality. The biggest vouchers will go to those with the greatest need, who also select the highest quality preschools. Architects of the plan, funded through a sales tax increase, hope the two-pronged approach will result in an across-the-board rise in preschool quality throughout the city.

So . . . that's it for a quick look at what's happening with early childhood as we move into 2007. There's much to applaud but also much left to accomplish. More than 40 years since the launch of Head Start, whose success stories are legend, the landmark program has never been fully funded to serve all eligible children, and early childhood efforts remain a patchwork – variously funded and of uneven quality. We can do better. And it appears we're moving in the right direction. That's the good news! Happy Holidays to all!!
Anna Hancock

Lead of the Week A LEAD FOR YOU FROM QED's SCHOOL PURCHASING MONITOR
QED's School Purchasing Monitor is a subscription service that delivers daily email updates of what schools across the nation are planning to purchase -- from construction and equipment to curriculum and supplemental materials. To give you a preview of the service, each week we will publish one representative bid opportunity. For more information see www.qeddata.com/schoolfunding.htm.

WHAT: Student Information System
WHO: Capitol Region Education Council, Hartford, CT
CONTACT: Maureen Bhoj, Director of Technology Services, (860) 524-4053
DUE DATE: 01/05/2007

Feature Story ISTE Convenes Stakeholders, Local Students To Review Updated Technology Standards for Students

Washington, D.C. - The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE®) is convening a student panel and major stakeholders, including representatives from Adobe, Apple, Intel and Pearson Education, at its operations office in Eugene, Oregon, this weekend. The purpose is to solicit reactions to initial proposed updates to its widely used National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS*S).

Developed through consensus of education stakeholders in the late 1990s, ISTE¹s NETS define what students should know and be able to do with technology and are now in use in 50 U.S. states and many countries. Tim Magner, the U.S Department of Education's director of the Office of Educational Technology, has called ISTE¹s NETS the "gold standard" for the field.

Find the full story here.

K-12 Market HeadlinesPASeries Tests Aligned to Learning Goals in Growing Number of States

(Pearson Education, December 13, 2007)
Pearson Education announced today that PASeries® (Progress Assessment Series®), its award-winning formative assessment product line, is aligned to mathematics standards in a rapidly growing number of states, allowing teachers, administrators and parents to use the test results to forecast student performance on statewide assessments.
http://www.qeddata.com/myaccount/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=5569

Curriculum Advantage Announces New Classworks State Editions for Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania

(Curriculum Advantage, Inc., December 12, 2006)
(Curriculum Advantage, Inc. continues to meet the needs of educators across the country with new state editions for Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Classworks' customized state editions read the student scores from the state reports and automatically prescribe individual learning paths for each student
http://www.qeddata.com/myaccount/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=5570

Phoenix School District Expands Use of Fast ForWord® Products

(Scientific Learning, December 12, 2006)
The Phoenix Union High School District has expanded the use of Scientific Learning Corporation's Fast ForWord® neuroscience-based reading intervention to nine high schools following a one-year research project in one high school program that demonstrated encouraging results in reading achievement for English Language Learners and special-education reading students.
http://www.qeddata.com/myaccount/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=5571

Sarasota County School District to Install Interactive Whiteboard Technology in 3,300 Classrooms

(Promethean, Inc., December 12, 2006)
Sarasota County School District in Florida voted unanimously last week to implement Promethean's new "Activboard+2" in all of the district's 3,300 classrooms. This will be a mainstay in NeXt Generation Learning through the 2007 school year, and as part of an overall equity initiative in classroom technology.
http://www.qeddata.com/myaccount/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=5572

Carnegie Learning Partners with Miami-Dade County Public Schools in District Reform Initiative

(Carnegie Learning, Inc., December 11, 2006)
Miami-Dade County Public Schools has expanded implementations of Carnegie Learning's research-based Cognitive Tutor® programs as part of the District's continuing effort to improve student performance. In total, Carnegie Learning curricula is used in 51 schools throughout the county.
http://www.qeddata.com/myaccount/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=5573

Ohio Awards $110 Million Graduation Test Contract to DRC; Best in Class Vendors Selected To Implement High Quality Testing Across State

(Data Recognition Corporation, December 11, 2006)
Data Recognition Corporation (DRC), in conjunction with the American Institutes for Research (AIR), was selected by the state of Ohio to deliver a seven-year, $110 million contract for high school testing beginning in December of 2006.
http://www.qeddata.com/myaccount/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=5574

MetLife Foundation Supports NCTAF Initiative on Teamwork in Schools

(PBS, December 7, 2006)
The National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF) received a $450,000 grant from MetLife Foundation to showcase promising practices of teamwork in public schools. By developing a series of forums and video vignettes with local PBS stations, NCTAF will spotlight ways in which collaboration transforms school culture and improves student achievement.
http://www.qeddata.com/myaccount/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=5575

Plano ISD Selects SAFARI Montage WAN Manager as Their District-Wide Video-on-Demand Solution

(Library Video Company, December 7, 2006)
Library Video Company today announced that Plano Independent School District (ISD) has selected the award-winning SAFARI Montage as their video-on-demand solution for the entire school district. Plano's goal to improve visual learning in the classrooms will be achieved by using SAFARI Montage WAN Manager – the only WAN-based video-on-demand and digital media management solution for schools.
http://www.qeddata.com/myaccount/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=5576

Higher Ed Headlines

(Northcentral University, December 1, 2006)
Northcentral University announced that its enrollment has passed 4,000 Learners. This figure represents a growth rate of just over 60 percent during the first ten months of 2006. Based on a recent survey of online colleges and universities featured in U.S. News and World Report, accredited online university NCU ranked among the top ten schools in graduate-level business students at nearly 1,900 and among the top 15 in graduate-level education students.
http://www.qeddata.com/myaccount/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=5593

ShareStream Announces First TEACH Act-Compliant Digital Media Asset-Management Platform

(ShareStream, LLC, December 11, 2006)
ShareStream, LLC announced this week the creation and deployment of the first digital media asset-management platform that is compliant with the TEACH Act (Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act) and fully integrated and interoperable with higher education's IT infrastructure.
http://www.qeddata.com/myaccount/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=5577

MojoPac™ Software Gives Students Easy Advantage with Mobile Classroom

(RingCube Technologies, Inc., December 7, 2006)
San Jose State University students are using its MojoPac software to take all the resources of their classroom computer anywhere on their personal storage device. MojoPac, for the first time, enables students to turn any storage device, including iPods, USB flash or personal drives, or even cell phones, into their personal computing environment - which when plugged into the USB connection on any computer functions just as their own personal computer.
http://www.qeddata.com/myaccount/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=5578

New SearchForClasses Web Site Helps Prospective Students Make Smarter, More Informed Enrollment Decisions

(High Voltage Interactive, December 1, 2006)
SearchForClasses, High Voltage Interactive's online portal for adults exploring career advancement through higher education. is the only resource of its kind offering a comprehensive database of schools and degree programs alongside such a vast library of content and resources for evaluating career and education opportunities.
http://www.qeddata.com/myaccount/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=5579

Internet/Telecom

(National Academy of Sciences, December 12, 2006)
The Web site iWASwondering.org is a project of the National Academy of Sciences intended to showcase the accomplishments of contemporary women in science and to highlight for young people the varied and intriguing careers of some of today's most prominent scientists. The site draws from and accompanies the publication of a ten-volume series of biographies entitled Women's Adventures in Science, co-published by the Joseph Henry Press (an imprint of the National Academies Press) and Scholastic Library Publishing.
http://www.qeddata.com/myaccount/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=5580

Pearson Knowledge Technologies Research Shows Student Practice with Online Summarization Tool Improves Writing and Reading Skill

(Pearson Knowledge Technologies, December 12, 2006)
Pearson Knowledge Technologies today announced results of research revealing that the use of Summary Street, the company's automated tool to evaluate the content of students' summaries, builds student reading comprehension and writing skills. The results of the research, conducted by the University of Colorado at Boulder, are published in a white paper, “Building Student Summarization, Writing and Reading Comprehension Skills With Guided Practice and Automated Feedback.”
http://www.qeddata.com/myaccount/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=5581

Vantage Learning's IntelliMetric™ Writing Assessment Program Scores More Than 370,000 Essays for Graduate Management Admission Council

(Vantage Learning, December 12, 2006)
Vantage Learning (www.VantageLearning.com), the world's leading provider of online assessment tools, has successfully scored more than 370,000 essays in 2006 for the Analytical Writing Assessment (AWA) portion of the Graduate Management Admission Test® (GMAT®).
http://www.qeddata.com/myaccount/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=5582

Data Recognition Corporation Launches Alaska's Online Formative Assessments

(Data Recognition Corporation, December 7, 2006)
The Alaska Computerized Formative Assessment (ACFA) Program provides on-demand results of student assessments, including information about specific areas of student development and working feedback on lessons in progress. Data Recognition Corporation (DRC) along with online testing partner, Computerized Assessments and Learning, LLC (CAL) an affiliate of the University of Kansas, are pleased to be working with Alaska on this important initiative.
http://www.qeddata.com/myaccount/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=5583

School Climate Survey from CSEE Now Available Online for the First Time

(Center for Social and Emotional Education, November 27, 2006)
The Comprehensive School Climate Inventory (CSCI) is now available online to help schools measure and improve their school climate. The CSCI helps schools measure and evaluate the safety of their schools, the quality of teaching and learning, the quality of the physical environment and the quality of the relationships within the school community.
http://www.qeddata.com/myaccount/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=5584

International Headlines

(GenevaLogic, December 13, 2006)
GenevaLogic announced today that it has opened an office in Beijing, China. The new office will represent the education software company in China and other Asian countries. Founded in 1996, GenevaLogic is a privately held company whose Vision® classroom management software is used in more than 50,000 classrooms worldwide.
http://www.qeddata.com/myaccount/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=5585

InterWrite™ Continues Global Expansion with Another Multi-Million Dollar Contract for Interactive Whiteboards in Mexico

(GTCO CalComp, December 11, 2006)
GTCO CalComp, Inc. has been awarded another major multi-million dollar contract to supply interactive whiteboards to Mexico. The contract for over 11,700 InterWrite SchoolBoards will support the Mexican government's “Secundarias Project”, which provides secondary schools in the country with the equipment required to access digital resources for teaching and learning.
http://www.qeddata.com/myaccount/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=5586

Financials/Mergers/Corporate

(PLATO Learning, Inc., December 12, 2006)
PLATO Learning, Inc. announced orders for its fourth quarter ended October 31, 2006, totaling $25.7 million, compared to $33.1 million for the same period in 2005, a decline of 22%. Orders for subscription courseware products, which are the foundation of the Company's new product strategy, grew by over 160% for the quarter and nearly 200% for the year from comparable periods in 2005.
http://www.qeddata.com/myaccount/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=5587

Experiencia Raises $2.575M for National Expansion of Exchange City® and EarthWorks®

(Experiencia, Inc., December 11, 2006)
Experiencia, Inc. has completed a new financing round of $2.575 million according to Howard A. Tullman, Chairman. This financing allows Experiencia to continue the national expansion of its Immersive Learning® programs - EarthWorks® and Exchange City®. The new investment in Experiencia was led by Chicago-based venture capital firm Origin Ventures. The remaining capital was provided by private investors.
http://www.qeddata.com/myaccount/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=5588

Product Announcements
US Real-time Collaboration-Based Learning Market Reaches $2.6 Billion in 2006; New Buyers

(Ambient Insight, December 13, 2006)
Ambient Insight today announced a report on the 2006-2011 Real-time Collaboration-based Learning market. The report analyzes the demand across all the buyer segments in the US including: consumer, PreK-12, higher education, state and local government, federal government, businesses, associations, and healthcare.
http://www.qeddata.com/myaccount/ViewArticle.aspx?Id=5589

Happy end of another week, everyone. We're all counting down the shopping days and planning vacations and holidays with family and friends…and still, there is all of this work to get done! Bah, humbug! I hope you are finding time to appreciate the joys of the season…here are a few scoops for you for the week…

Brian Bright, recently with Educor Capital, has joined Liaison International as VP, Business Development. The company provides state-of-the-art information technology products and services to educational associations, accrediting agencies and institutions of higher education; works to create an environment for sharing common technologies and best practices; and contributes to the advancement of health professions education through comprehensive, innovative and collaborative IT projects. Brian has known the firm for several years and is very excited to be on their team. Send your congratulation to Brian on his new position.

District Administration has several new hires:
- Zach Miners, Assistant Editor, is a recent graduate of Fairfield University with majors in English and Mathematics, has experience with Nickelodeon Magazine, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa last spring.
- Ken Royal, Associate Editor, has two degrees from Western Connecticut State University, extensive teaching and writing experience in K-12 education, and was selected "teacher of the year" in five different schools.
- Judy Hartnett, Managing Editor, graduated from New York University in art history and archeology and has 10 years of experience as a managing editor for ConsumerReports.org and the Conde Nast Publishing Company.
Please join me in wishing Zach, Ken and Judy all the best on joining the talented DA team!

Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) has announced the selection of Matt Chapman, recently President and CEO of Centrisoft Corporation, to the position of President and Chief Executive Officer. In this role, Matt will be responsible for leading NWEA in expanding its influence in education and furthering its mission of partnering to help all kids learn. His appointment enables co-founder and Chief Academic Officer Allan Olson to focus his efforts on continuing to articulate NWEA's vision and insights regarding education on a national level. Prior to Centrisoft, Matt was Chairman and CEO of CFI ProServices, Inc. for 13 years, successfully growing the company from $2 million to over $130 million in revenue. In 1994, he was named “Technology Entrepreneur of the Year” by the Oregon Entrepreneurs Forum. He is a member of the Board of Regents of the University of Portland and is a co-founder and board member of New Avenues for Youth. Please join me in warmly congratulating Matt on his new position at NWEA!

As I close this week, I am sorry to bring you very sad and tragic news some of you have picked up regarding Seymour Papert, Professor Emeritus at Massachusetts Institute Of Technology and world-renowned pioneer of artificial intelligence. While in Vietnam for a conference, he was struck by a motorbike while crossing one of the many traffic-clogged streets near his hotel in Hanoi and is in a coma in a hospital there. He underwent brain surgery to remove a blood clot that had formed, and the last I have learned is that he is in stable but critical condition. His daughter and wife have gone to be with him, as has Nicholas Negroponte, one of his closest friends and colleagues from MIT. For as long as I have been privileged to work in this industry, I have recognized this man for his vision for and passion regarding how technology can provide new ways to learn and how computers can be used with children. I know you join me now in keeping this very special man and his family in our hearts and prayers.

I hope you enjoy your weekend, friends - we are looking forward to special get-togethers with family and friends here and basking in our sunny 70's weather! My best to each of you… Vicki, the Snoop

What's happening that you'd like to share? Do you have personal news or know about promotions or job moves? Submit contributions to bighamv@aol.com to share them with the ed tech community.

The Heller Reports/Quality Education Data News Alert

The Heller Reports/Quality Education Data News Alert is edited by Anne Wujcik, Education Analyst for Quality Education Data. If you have news or information pertinent to the industry, please contact Anne at anne@hellerreports.com. News Alert uses press releases and other news resources as sources for its contents. The material presented in each issue is not independently verified; readers are advised that press releases reflect the views of those issuing them.

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