District Administration - November/December 2010 - (Page 47)

DistrictAdministration 1 00 PRODUCTS TOP EBOOKS Sylvan Dell Publishing $7.95 for one-year, one-title license Sylvan Dell Publishing offers e-book versions of its 50 titles of picture books written to teach science and math to students through illustrated literature. Each e-book features auto-read and auto-ﬂip capabilities, a choice of English or Spanish text and audio, and free teacher resources. www.sylvandellpublishing.com thin- and zero-client maker Wyse Technology and the perpetual one-to-one computing initiative from CDI as having made a positive diﬀerence this year. Mergers and Acquisitions Major shifts in the education technology industry occurred in 2010, as the recession and subsequently challenging business environment prodded companies to diversify and branch out into new areas, and also provided new opportunities for corporations to acquire, merge with, or partner with other companies. SMART Technologies acquired touchscreen technology maker NextWindow in April. Blackboard acquired Saf-T-Net, maker of the AlertNow notiﬁcation system, in March, and went on to acquire collaborative software makers Elluminate and Wimba in July. e month of July also saw online learning provider K12 Inc. purchase KC Distance Learning, Scantron acquire RtI software developer Spectrum K12, and Promethean purchase assessment developer SynapticMash. Follett Software acquired student information system maker X2 Development Corporation in October, and K12 Inc. also acquired American Education Corporation in November. Time will tell what these industry shifts will mean for educators and the marketplace, but stronger, more stable corporations with ever more resources to provide for the needs of customers can only improve the quality of options available to school administrators. District Administration is proud to present its 2010 Readers’ Choice Top 100 Products in the following pages, in random order and including portions of many of the insightful comments from the hundreds of nominations we received. We hope that they provide valuable information to you as we enter 2011. 2 0 1 0 “A great resource for literature and learning that holds the attention of students and provides a great way to utilize interactive whiteboards,” Susan Bartle, library system director at the Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus (N.Y.) BOCES. EASE SYSTEM Optimum Solutions Corporation, Pricing varies The Educational Assessment Scoring Environment (EASE) System from Optimum Solutions Corporation is a newly developed on-site electronic scoring system that enables districts to score and input data from standardized tests directly into computers, streamlining state reporting and making scores immediately available to administrators. The EASE suite of seventeen applications is customizable to the needs of users and includes components such as Scoring Environment and Workﬂ ow Interface to manage every aspect of the scoring process. www.oscworld.com CENTRICITY2 Schoolwires, Contact Schoolwires for pricing Centricity2 provides tools for districts to create and manage Web sites and social media systems, integrate third-party applications, or develop software applications speciﬁc to their own needs. Additional functions enable the creation of podcasts, videocasts, online image galleries, parental notiﬁcation systems and more. www.schoolwires.com “Schoolwires has made a huge impact on student and parent communication in our district this year.” Leslie Raffelson, technology director of the Plateau (Colo.) School District RE-5. www.DistrictAdministration.com November/December 2010 47 http://www.sylvandellpublishing.com http://www.oscworld.com http://www.oscworld.com http://www.oscworld.com http://www.schoolwires.com http://www.schoolwires.com http://www.DistrictAdministration.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - November/December 2010

District Administration - November/December 2010
Contents
From the Editor
News Update
Administrator Profile
District Profile
Black Children Still Left Behind
ARRA Funds Empower Schools to Power Down
A Call for Technology Leadership
Readers Pick Top 100 Products of the Year
Going Mobile
Superintendent’s Insights
Supervisor’s Opinion
Professional Opinion
Student Counsel

District Administration - November/December 2010