Cincinnati (July 12, 2010) – The New Mexico Public Education Department announced today that netTrekker, a leader in the delivery of digital K-12 educational content, is one of the key partners in the Building Blocks Project to improve students’ literacy skills. The Department kicked off the Building Blocks Project at the New Mexico Summer Institute in Santa Fe.

The Educational Technology Bureau of the New Mexico Public Education Department is working with 14 Local Educational Agencies (LEA's) in the Building Blocks Project to study the effect of a technology-infused, data-driven process to improve student performance in reading and language arts. The Building Blocks Project instructional model is a set of research-based strategies integrating technology and best teaching practices to create a learning community where teachers and students explore and create knowledge together using a variety of resources. Teachers facilitate learning through the use of essential questions on issues that matter to students to stimulate thinking, build curiosity, create connections, and generate long-lasting knowledge.

A grant through the Enhancing Education Through Technology program under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides schools participating in the Building Blocks Project with the funds to implement the instructional model. Components of the program include technology to support 1-to-1 computing, professional development, and formative assessment. netTrekker, the leading educational search tool, will be a critical part of the program, providing educators with engaging digital content and resources to personalize instruction and create 21st century learning experiences for all students.

“netTrekker will provide the LEA's with a tool that supports best practices and fosters technology integration into daily classroom instruction,” said Andrew Rendon, Educational Technology Bureau Chief of the New Mexico Public Education Department. “The educators participating in the project can easily and safely access relevant educational resources through netTrekker that will help drive teacher effectiveness in the classroom, along with improved student achievement.”

The Building Blocks Project targets students in grades 1-8, with a particular focus on School Improvement 1 campuses. A majority of students in these school systems are English Language Learners or from low-income households.

netTrekker offers more than 300,000 safe, educator-reviewed digital resources that are aligned to standards and span the entire school curriculum. With Universal Design for Learning and a variety of unique features designed to support personalized instruction, netTrekker enables teachers to support every student's individual needs and help them succeed. These features include Read Aloud support for struggling learners and special needs students, customized content for English Language Learners, a dictionary/translation Hot Key, and My Portfolio, which allows teachers to bookmark, organize and share resources, as well as assign them to students for project-based learning.

”We are proud to be a part of the state’s effort to use technology as a foundation for building places of learning in which teachers and students work together, construct meaning, and achieve at higher levels,” said netTrekker CEO Randy Wilhelm.

Training and implementation for the Building Blocks Project began at the New Mexico Summer Institute, and will continue throughout the 2010-11 school year.

More Information

To learn more about netTrekker, visit www.netTrekker.com or phone 877-517-1125.

About netTrekker

netTrekker is a leader in the delivery of digital K-12 educational content. The company is dedicated to enhancing the education of today’s youth with highly effective technologies that deliver the rich educational value of the Internet to every child in a safe, relevant, easy-to-use format. netTrekker is the leading educational search tool and was first to market with a standards-based solution utilizing the services of Academic Benchmarks (www.AcademicBenchmarks.com), the premier provider of comprehensive standards-based K-12 educational databases, alignment tools, and integration products. Peers, educators and parents have honored netTrekker more than 25 times for its contribution to education. Founded in 1999 by Robert Reinders, the company serves millions of students and thousands of schools around the world.

Contacts

netTrekker
Laura Hannah
Marketing Manager
513-731-4090
lhannah at netTrekker dot com
www.netTrekker.com

New Mexico Public Education Department Building Blocks Project
Andrew Rendon
Bureau Chief
Educational Technology Bureau
505-827-6572
andrew.rendon at state.nm dot us
www.ped.state.nm.us/EdTech

C. Blohm & Associates, Inc.
Kristen Plemon
608-839-9805
kristen at cblohm dot com
www.cblohm.com

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