Messmer Catholic Schools Adopts PowerSchool® - Fronter® Edition
Upgrading student information system to foster communication and collaboration.
Rancho Cordova, CA (Vocus) June 19, 2010 —
Pearson, the global leader in educational technology, announced today a partnership with Messmer Catholic Schools in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that will extend Messmer’s existing classroom tools and technologies to engage students and drive achievement. Messmer will be piloting PowerSchool® - Fronter® Edition, a new offering that partners the leaders in student information systems and learning platforms to foster communication and collaboration throughout the Messmer school system.
Created in Norway in 1998, Fronter is the leading K-12 learning platform in Europe, used by more than 8 million children and adults in 10,000 schools. Pearson acquired Fronter in 2009 and has begun integrating Fronter with Pearson’s existing technology portfolio.
By combining Fronter’s communication and intuitive learning tools with Pearson’s PowerSchool, the market-leading, web-based student information system, PowerSchool – Fronter Edition offers a powerful platform to engage students and bring today’s web tools into the classroom.
Messmer has been using PowerSchool for eight years to keep records of student and family contacts, immunizations, discipline, and grades online at a secure Internet site that only authorized administrators, teachers, parents, and students can see. By upgrading to PowerSchool – Fronter Edition, Messmer will extend classroom activities beyond the walls of the school and will make collaboration among parents, teachers, and students as routine as the final exam.
“Our kids are very connected these days,” said Mike Bartels, Director of Technology. “By taking our classrooms online and providing tools like PowerSchool – Fronter Edition, we expect the students to become more engaged, and we’ll see better performance.”
In June, six administrators will begin training on PowerSchool – Fronter Edition, which will prepare the staff to create a virtual learning environment accessible at any time from any Internet connection. Bartels anticipates having PowerSchool-Fronter Edition up and running for Messmer’s 1,500-students this fall.
With PowerSchool – Fronter Edition, teachers can organize students into a virtual room representing their physical classroom. Teachers can use the system to post history assignments, articles on the battle of Waterloo, even interactive games and videos in that virtual room for the class.
Students log in to PowerSchool – Fronter Edition, go to the virtual classroom and access the information. They can do their schoolwork online and post it to an electronic drop box when they are finished. Discussion threads, voting features, and other functions bring today’s web tools into the virtual classroom, engaging students in the online environment to which they are accustomed.
PowerSchool – Fronter is customizable to learners of all levels. “Even students just learning to read will be able to see pictures of their classmates and click on a picture to record an audio message or draw a picture,” Bartels said. “That’s a wonderful tool for them to be able to communicate with their classmates.”
Teachers and other staff are already planning ways to use PowerSchool – Fronter Edition. “With the ability to create unlimited rooms, the librarians want to put their book clubs into this online format,” Bartels said.
“PowerSchool – Fronter Edition provides a complete, flexible toolset that fosters communication and collaboration among students, teachers, and parents,” stated Paul Fletcher, president of the School Systems group of Pearson. “We look forward to partnering with Messmer and other districts to bring the power of today’s interactive web tools to the classroom to personalize learning and drive student achievement.”
For more information about PowerSchool – Fronter Edition, please visit http://www. PearsonSchoolSystems. com.
About Pearson
Pearson (NYSE:PSO), the global leader in education services, education technology and school solutions, provides innovative print and digital education materials for preK through college, student information systems and learning management systems, teacher professional development, career certification programs, and testing and assessment products that set the standard for the industry. Pearson's other primary businesses include the Financial Times Group and the Penguin Group. For more information, go to http://www. pearsoned. com.
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