The NEA Academy Partners with PBS TeacherLine^® to Provide
the NEA’s 3.2 Million Members Best in the Field
Online Professional Development Opportunities

Gaithersburg, Md. (May 28, 2009) – The National Education Association (NEA) Academy has partnered with PBS TeacherLine^®, a premier provider of online professional development for preK-12 educators, to supply programs and curriculum through the Academy to the NEA’s 3.2 million members. The partnership reinforces NEA’s mission to increase the professional learning services offered to members.

“The NEA Academy was founded to meet the needs of teachers and education support professionals by providing effective, efficient, and economical professional development courses from leading providers, like PBS TeacherLine,” said Mark Stevens, vice president of professional & web solutions for NEA Member Benefits. “This agreement signals our commitment to bringing the best professional development opportunities – at a discount – to our members.”

To ensure classes provide superior professional learning opportunities, every course is prescreened against a set of quality standards that were developed by NEA members in consultation with the National Staff Development Council. In addition, before a course offering is included in the Academy, it must be recommended by a Quality Review Board consisting of NEA members and state staff. This peer-review process ensures members receive the highest quality courses.

“Teachers love to learn, but time and budget constraints often hinder their ability to pursue the professional development support they seek,” said Melinda George, senior director of PBS TeacherLine. “Our partnership with NEA offers a diverse range of teachers a trusted source for high-quality, graduate-level professional development courses that are convenient and affordable.”

Through the collaboration with PBS TeacherLine, the NEA Academy provides members with courses to help them efficiently strengthen their daily classroom and instructional practices. Teachers will also be able to earn continuing education units, professional development points, and graduate credits for course completion. This collaboration affords teachers the opportunity to take part in the following courses right now:

Curriculum Mapping I, which fine-tunes the scope and sequence of the curriculum that students encounter through their 13 years of schooling;
Teaching Reading in the Content Areas, which offers a variety of formats that enhances online learning communities and helps teachers incorporate research-based reading strategies in the content areas and into specific content lessons; and
Using Multimedia to Develop Understanding, which develops skills in using multimedia that promote student learning and high-level thinking skills.

In addition to PBS TeacherLine, the NEA Academy has developed agreements with CE Credits Online, I CAN Learn, KDS, Inc. – Knowledge Delivery Systems, Professional Learning Board and Virtual High School Global Consortium to extend a wide range of professional development opportunities to members.

About the NEA Academy & NEA Member Benefits

The National Education Association is the nation's largest professional employee organization, representing 3.2 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators and students preparing to become teachers. The NEA Academy is the professional learning group developed to support educators with the highest quality online programs and is dedicated to meeting the professional needs of teachers and education support professionals.

NEA MB is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the NEA charged with bringing additional value to Association membership by providing financial products and solutions tailored for NEA members and their families.

Contacts

For NEA
Albert Lang
202-585-0243
alang at eluminategroup dot com

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