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The State Education Department (SED) today announced the selection of four vendors to provide products and services to implement an Education Data Portal (EDP) that will provide teachers with access to an array of high-quality educational materials and teaching tools. The EDP will bring these resources together into one site that can be enhanced with additional local school and district data and instructional materials that support improvements in teaching and learning.

"The Education Data Portal is an integral element of the Regents reform agenda and was an essential component of New York’s Race to the Top application," said Education Commissioner John B. King, Jr. "Teachers, parents and administrators will have a timely gauge of student achievement and access to standards-aligned curriculum resources.Ìý Instruction can be tailored to meet students’ individual needs. Educators and parents will have better data and instructional resources, and that means more students will graduate from high school ready for college and careers."

The EDP will help educators, students, and their families improve student outcomes by:

• Providing tools to accurately monitor academic progress and other indicators, such as attendance.
• Providing access to curriculum and instructional resources aligned with standards, including curriculum modules and teacher practice videos.
• Bringing all of these resources together on one site that can be enriched with additional local school and district data and curriculum resources to support data driven improvement to practice.

The contracts announced today will be funded by SED’s $50 million Race to the Top (RTTT) data system award. Three of the four new contracts were awarded to eScholar, Pearson/Schoolnet and ConnectEDU (in partnership with CaseNEX’s DataCation) to provide "dashboard solutions," or software applications that give educators, students and families timely and relevant data that support instruction and student learning. School districts will select the dashboard that meets their local needs.Ìý The fourth contract was awarded to Public Consulting Group (PCG) to provide "content management and system services."Ìý PCG will provide the overall project management, training, and other services necessary to develop, test, implement, and support the EDP.Ìý As subcontractors of PCG, IBM will develop EDP’s single sign-on portal technology and Wireless Generation will enhance the capabilities of EngageNY.org and the EDP to provide educators with targeted and relevant curriculum resources.Ìý SED will forward the four vendor contracts to the Office of the State Comptroller for its approval.

In addition to the new contracts, SED will leverage other assets needed for a cost-effective and sustainable implementation of the EDP. SED will utilize New York’s existing Student Information Repository System; SED’s Federated Identity Management System; EngageNY.org (a public website that provides curricular, video, and other content); and the shared infrastructure and other services provided by the Shared Learning Collaborative (SLC – a not-for-profit, state-led effort created to help states, districts, schools and teachers more easily and effectively personalize education for students through open and non-proprietary standards and services).

New York is one of five states – along with Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, and North Carolina – participating in Phase I of the SLC in 2012.Ìý Four more states – Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky and Louisiana – will join Phase II in 2013.Ìý The SLC initiative is guided by participating states and informed by input from a panel of expert advisors.