Press Central / Latest News
OnCourse Grade Book Rolled Out in One of the Nation’s Largest School Districts - Duval County Public Schools - Posted on AUG-24-2009
OnCourse Grade Book Ranked the Highest of 30 Solutions
“We evaluated 30 different grade book solutions based on the requirements of our teachers and administrators,” said Mark Preston, systems analyst for Duval County Public Schools. “OnCourse Grade Book had the highest score, meeting 97 percent of the functional requirements. The solution is easy to use, intuitive, feature-rich and easy for training users. OnCourse Grade Book will really streamline our grade gathering process – cutting costs and saving our users significant time.”
“Having Grade Book used by the teachers and administrators across 161 schools in one district is exactly what our solution was meant to do,” explained Georgia Gallicchio, chief marketing officer at OnCourse Systems. “It not only enables teachers to easily record scores and calculate grades, but it automates the progress report and report card processes and enables teachers and administrators to collaborate and effectively communicate with parents on their student’s performance. We are excited to complete the implementation for Duval County Public Schools and develop a long-term partnership to streamline their processes.”
Prior to
OnCourse Grade Book, Duval County Public Schools did not have a district-wide
solution. The grade book systems were
decided on at a school or even individual teacher level. Some used paper-based processes to record and
calculate grades and others used various electronic tools. The school district has had 40 of its schools
using OnCourse Grade Book since March 2009 and the rest of the schools will be
live for the 2009-2010 school year.
OnCourse Systems for Education Announces Significant Enhancements to its OnCourse Lesson Planner - Posted on JUL-14-2009
Washington, DC and Gibbstown, N.J. – June 29, 2009 – (National Educational Computing Conference, booth # 3154) - OnCourse Systems for Education, a provider of award-winning, web-based tools that streamline and automate educational processes for public and private school districts, today announced that it has made significant enhancements to its OnCourse Lesson Planner solution for the 2009-2010 school year.
“We have listened closely to the teachers and administrators using Lesson Planner and have added and enhanced the features that have been requested the most,” said Georgia Gallicchio, chief marketing officer at OnCourse Systems. “The new Curriculum Portal that provides school districts with a way to safely store and distribute curriculum materials has been very well received. Also, the ability to prioritize standards is new feature our users have requested.”
Offered through a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, the new enhancements are part of the annual subscription fee. SaaS provides a predictable, upfront cost and only requires an Internet connection, eliminating the need for school districts to maintain and update the software in-house. Available in August 2009, the new version of Lesson Planner offers the following new or enhanced features:
· Curriculum Portal – This optional module can be used by school districts to safely store and distribute curriculum materials. With its integrated security system, users can securely and easily grant access to curriculum documents via an intuitive user interface. It also features a built-in version control system.
· Power Standards – Administrators and Curriculum Coordinators can designate “power standards” so that teachers can focus on standards that are most important.
· Student Standards Reporting – By using Lesson Planner in conjunction with OnCourse Student Stats, reports detailing the standards taught to a particular student for a specified date range can be generated.
· Class Section Based Reporting – Teachers are able to specify what classes a particular lesson is for and run reports that detail standards taught by the class section level. Lesson Planner’s scope and sequence feature also allows teachers to select particular class sections.
· User Interface Enhancements – Teachers can now further customize the setup of their planner and take advantage of the increased speed of entering lesson plans online.
· Enhanced Calendars – The new interface for the calendars provides greater flexibility for the user in scheduling of events.
About OnCourse Systems for Education
OnCourse Systems for Education is a provider of web-based, enterprise wide k-12 technology solutions that streamline and automate educational processes for teachers and administrators in public and private school districts. OnCourse’s award-winning line of intuitive tools has been designed to enhance communication and collaboration and has resulted in high usage rates among teachers, administrators, students and parents. OnCourse Lesson Planner, a web-based tool that automates the creation, management and sharing of lesson plans, has more than 100,000 users nationwide and has received the Association of Educational Publishers’ Distinguished Achievement Award and ComputED’s Best Educational Software Awards (BESSIES). Its other online solutions include OnCourse Student Information System (SIS), OnCourse Grade Book, OnCourse Student Stats and OnCourse Discipline System, winner of Scholastic Administr@tor’s Best in Tech awards. Founded in 2002, OnCourse is headquartered in Gibbstown, N.J. For more informatioOnCourse Systems for Education Recipient of Scholastic Administr@tor’s Best in Tech Award - Posted on APR-07-2009
Gibbstown, N.J. – April 7, 2009 – OnCourse Systems for Education, a provider of award-winning, web-based tools that streamline and automate educational processes for public and private school districts, today announced that it had been awarded Scholastic Administr@tor Magazine's Best in Tech Award in 2008 for its web-based OnCourse Discipline Management System.
OnCourse's solution provides powerful tracking and automated alert features to enable schools to document, automate and communicate effectively with all educational stakeholders regarding disciplinary actions for individual students.
"The intuitiveness of the system is so that you are three clicks away from getting to exactly what you need. In a school system, that's huge," said Chris Samuels, systems administrator for Hopewell Crest School in Bridgeton, N.J. "You have people calling, and people coming in all the time, wanting to know the bus number or what class they're in. When a secretary can click a tab, do a search on a kid, and a demographic screen pops up within 15 seconds, it's just a godsend. The system has its own public portal, and when a teacher updates grades or a secretary enters discipline information, that data is available in real time."
"Receiving an award that is voted on by both knowledgeable editors and administrators that are actually in schools using the various technologies is a tremendous honor," said Georgia Gallicchio, chief marketing officer at OnCourse Systems. "Being able to more easily comply with regulations, document disciplinary incidents and communicate with students and their guardians makes discipline management and tracking much easier for teachers and administrators."
The Best in Tech products are selected by the editors of Scholastic Administr@tor from a large variety of new and compelling educational solutions. The products are then sent to a panel of district administrators for review. The winners are listed in the March/April 2009 issue of the magazine.
OnCourse Systems for Education Receives District Administration Magazine's Readers' Choice Award - Posted on MAR-03-2008
Gibbstown, N.J. - March 3, 2008 - OnCourse Systems for Education, a provider of web-based tools that streamline and automate educational processes for public and private school districts, today announced that it has been awarded District Administration Magazine’s Readers’ Choice Top 100 K12 Products for 2007-2008 in the Internet category for OnCourse Lesson Planner.
From thousands of entries, teachers and administrators selected OnCourse Lesson Planner, an innovative tool revolutionizing the way teachers and administrators create, manage and share lesson plans. Through easy-to-use online templates, teachers can more quickly and easily write, edit and collaborate on lesson plans. Principals can review and comment on the plans electronically. And teachers can map lessons to educational standards – enabling administrators to generate reports about what’s being taught, when and by whom.
"We have received a number of awards this year for our Lesson Planner tool and this recognition further validates its value for both teachers and administrators," stated Georgia Gallicchio, chief marketing director at OnCourse Systems. "We have an exceedingly high acceptance rate and are thrilled that the teachers and administrators using Lesson Planner have recognized us through their votes and that we have been awarded this honor by such a reputable magazine."
The Readers' Choice Top 100 K12 Products were reviewed by District Administration Magazine's staff and readers in a variety of categories. To calculate the winners, District Administration used an advanced star-rating system, as well as comments and suggestions from its readers.
About OnCourse Systems for Education
OnCourse Systems for Education is a full-service provider of web-based tools that streamline and automate educational processes for teachers and administrators in public and private school districts. Its flagship product, OnCourse Lesson Planner, is a web-based tool that automates the creation, management and sharing of lesson plans with more than 100,000 users nationwide. In 2007, Lesson Planner received the Association of Educational Publishers' Distinguished Achievement Award and ComputED's Best Educational Software Awards (BESSIES). OnCourse also offers other web-based solutions including its Student Information System (SIS), OnCourse Grade Book, OnCourse Student Stats and OnCourse Discipline System. Founded in 2002, OnCourse is headquartered in Gibbstown, N.J. For more information on OnCourse Systems, visit www.oncoursesystems.com.
OnCourse Systems for Education Announces Discipline System - Posted on JAN-29-2008
Gibbstown, N.J. – January 29, 2008 – OnCourse Systems for Education, a provider of web-based tools that streamline and automate educational processes for public and private school districts, today announced the OnCourse Discipline System. This new solution provides powerful tracking and automated alert features to enable schools to document, automate and communicate effectively with all educational stakeholders regarding disciplinary actions for individual students.
"This is one area in which the educational software market is lacking," said Georgia Gallicchio, chief marketing officer at OnCourse Systems. "With today's educational regulations, teachers and administrators must not only abide by certain policies and procedures, but they must also be able to document disciplinary incidents and actions and effectively communicate to students and their guardians about why, when and how these procedures were followed."
"Implementing the discipline component of OnCourse was a great move for our school," said Carolyn Broadbent, assistant principal at Pennsville Middle School in Pennsville, NJ. "We had previously been using parts of two separate discipline programs which was time consuming and inefficient. OnCourse streamlined all of our needs. It's easy to use and the OnCourse team has been helpful in adapting the program to our needs. We have saved time and money with this system and it's made discipline much easier to manage and track."
The OnCourse Discipline System is a highly customizable tool that enables staff to document, automate and communicate with all educational stakeholders. Every facet of the discipline solution can be customized to each individual school’s needs and policies. It is sold as part of OnCourse's Student Information System (SIS) or can be sold separately and integrated with other systems that lack this component.
The automation and alerts features of the OnCourse Discipline System streamline processes for teachers and administrators. A sophisticated, rules-based system can be set up to determine when staff members should be alerted as incidents are entered into the system. It can also be configured to automate the notification of guardians as a student accumulates incidents. Standard form letters are stored in the system and are distributed based upon the school’s policies. The OnCourse Discipline System also provides a number of tracking reports that can be used to report on discipline incidents for a given time period.
The OnCourse Discipline System is now available. Pricing is based on an annual subscription starting at $4.00 per student with discounts available for larger districts.
About OnCourse Systems for Education OnCourse Systems for Education is a full-service provider of web-based tools that streamline and automate educational processes for teachers and administrators in public and private school districts. Its flagship product, OnCourse Lesson Planner, is a web-based tool that automates the creation, management and sharing of lesson plans with more than 100,000 users nationwide. In 2007, Lesson Planner received the Association of Educational Publishers' Distinguished Achievement Award and ComputED's Best Educational Software Awards (BESSIES). OnCourse also offers Grade Book, a web-based tool that automates the capture, calculation and communication of student grades and OnCourse Student Stats, an online tool for streamlining the tracking and analysis of student performance. Founded in 2002, OnCourse is headquartered in Gibbstown, N.J. For more information on OnCourse Systems, visit www.oncoursesystems.com.
OnCourse Systems for Education Launches Web-based Student Information System (SIS) - Posted on NOV-12-2007
OnCourse Systems for Education announced today the launch of its OnCourse Student Information System (SIS). This new web-based solution is a suite of robust mission-critical applications designed to simplify the complex record keeping, reporting and operational processes facing school districts today.
“With the growing pressures placed on teachers and administrators by both state and federal educational standards, school districts are continually searching for new ways to improve their productivity and ultimately the quality of education they offer,” said Georgia Gallicchio, chief marketing officer at OnCourse Systems. “We have designed the OnCourse SIS by listening to our clients’ needs and understanding how they work. Our SIS incorporates comprehensive student information, integrates grade book and student performance data and supports unique analysis and reporting capabilities. It offers the similar automation, access and ease of use as our other web-based educational software tools.”
The OnCourse SIS is a complementary solution to the company’s existing web-based applications (OnCourse Lesson Planner, Grade Book and Student Stats) that are used by school districts across the country. Based on OnCourse’s success in New Jersey and the state’s strict reporting requirements, it is initially rolling out the OnCourse SIS to New Jersey. The system’s robust reporting engine, powered by Oracle™ and Crystal Reports™, enables New Jersey schools to instantly generate many of the traditionally time-consuming state reports, including the NJSMART Extract, Fall Enrollment Survey, ASSA (Application for State School Aid) and attendance reports.
“Our district has used OnCourse products starting with Lesson Planner and later adding Grade Book,” explained Mike Grelli, technology director for Greenwich Township Schools. “We saw countless presentations and demos of Student Information Systems, but once our committee met with OnCourse, the decision was unanimous. Since the implementation, the OnCourse SIS has made life easier for everyone. All of our student data is available in one system and state reporting has become as simple as an export. With no administrative overhead for our IT department and anytime anywhere access for users, OnCourse is batting 1,000 for our district.”
“After three short months with OnCourse SIS, I can attest that this was the single best decision we have made in regard to student record keeping,” stated Chris Samuels, network administrator at Hopewell Crest School. “Navigation flows so well throughout the software that the learning curve is almost non-existent. From its secure Internet platform to its point-and-click custom reports, OnCourse SIS is a complete turnkey solution that is feature rich and easy to use right out of the gate.”
The OnCourse SIS is a hosted solution which requires no servers, databases or software to maintain or install. This hosting model enables school districts to dramatically reduce up-front costs and risk by offering annual subscription pricing. In addition, the hosted model, powered by an elite Oracle database and utilizing the latest Web 2.0 technologies, enables school districts of all sizes to leverage the advanced features of this secure, scalable and cutting-edge Student Information System. Affordable and easily implemented, the OnCourse SIS migrates legacy system data quickly and easily making the transition for school staff and faculty virtually seamless.
Key components of the OnCourse SIS include:
- Student Enrollment
- Parent/Guardian and Student Relationship Management
- Web-based Grade book with Parent/Student Grade Portal
- Student Historical Grade Tracking
- Student Attendance
- Student Schedules
- Discipline Management
- Nurse and Health Screening Management
- Intuitive Custom Reporting Tools
OnCourse Featured in Northeast Arkansas Town Crier Newspaper - Posted on NOV-12-2007
OnCourse Systems for Education has been installed and will be utilized by many Manila junior and senior high school teachers. In addition to being a successful web-based tool for teachers and administrators, students and parents will be able to access information from the site at home.
Pam Chipman, high school principal, and Diane Wagner, fifth through eighth grade principal, are excited about the new system.
“We are just starting and every day we find more and more ways it can be used to help our teachers, students, and help keep parents informed,” Chipman said. “The system is being funded through grants from Perkins. We have 16 teachers in the junior and senior high school involved covering the core subjects such as science, English, math, history and most of the workforce subjects.”
The teachers are being trained in the system and will have their own teacher’s page. Parents and students can click on the pages to find out lesson plans for individual classes, a calendar of events, courses offered, homework assignments, work sheets and more.
Through the OnCourse system administrators can review lesson plans online and provide feedback to teachers quickly and easily, generate reports about what is being taught by grade level, teacher, subject, and/or standard, and use quantitative data to make more informed decisions. Teachers can create and update lesson plans in a fraction of the time required with the paper-based approach. Lessons can be mapped to educational standards and continuous access to plans will be maintained. Teachers will be able to communicate through a classroom website that is easy to create and maintain.
Parents and students will be able to enjoy online access to information.
“The program will give parents the opportunity to know what is being offered and what is being taught,” Wagner said. “We are just getting started and we are learning but I think it will enhance communication as well as increase parental awareness and involvement.”
The federal No Child Left Behind Act has created standards all schools must meet. OnCourse Systems will help with instruction and documentation. It will integrate state and federal standards, making it easy for teachers and administrators to track and analyze compliance with requirements.
Several teachers are presently online and as the training continues more will be added. Through the system, students will be able to check on homework assignments, deadlines for assignments, calendar of events and other information at home. Parents will be able to enjoy the access to important information.
Chipman encourages parents to log on to the school’s website, mps.crsc.k12.ar.us. Click on to either junior high or senior high. They will then have a choice to choose one of the teacher’s OnCourse pages for more information.
“We are just getting started with the system,” Wagner said. “It is being used successfully in school districts in over 20 states. It will be beneficial to our school. I think parents will enjoy being able to print worksheets at home and being able to review classroom curriculum.”
Online education tool provider OnCourse Systems now supports education standards for all 50 states and has integrated those standards into its Lesson Planner, Grade Book, and Student Stats offerings, according to the company. OnCourse also will instantly update those tools to conform to new and changing state standards, said Georgia Gallicchio, OnCourse's chief marketing officer. "With educational standards constantly being added and updated, it is difficult for schools to remain up to date and comply with these standards," she explained. "Now, our solutions will put these standards at the fingertips of teachers across the nation when creating their lesson plans and recording grades." Now OnCourse Lesson Planner--currently used in 150 districts in 24 states--helps teachers in all states ensure lessons adhere to standards in just a few clicks of the computer mouse. Likewise, it helps administrators generate instructional activity reports to help them make more informed decisions. OnCourse Grade Book lets teachers easily plan assignments to meet relevant educational standards and helps administrators generate standardized report cards that show how students are performing vis a vis specific state requirements.
OnCourse System offers MHS online information
OnCourse Expands Support for State Standards - Posted on AUG-23-2007
New Tool Eases Compliance for Schools with No Child Left Behind Act - Posted on JUN-20-2007
Atlanta, GA and Gibbstown, N.J. – June 25, 2007 – (NECC 2007 - Booth #3259) - OnCourse Systems for Education, a provider of web-based tools that streamline and automate educational processes for public and private school districts, today announced the launch of Student Stats™, its latest addition to the OnCourse suite of solutions for teachers and administrators. Student Stats, is an innovative solution that offers a convenient and efficient means of monitoring student performance – supporting dynamic access to and analysis of standardized testing data.
With OnCourse Student Stats, school districts can easily upload state and benchmark test results in order to quickly aggregate and disaggregate data, providing the ability to compare current and prior-year assessment data across subgroups, grade levels and schools. Student Stats can be used individually or in combination with the OnCourse Lesson Planner and/or Grade Book solutions to provide the ultimate data analysis solution, allowing educators to analyze the impact of standards-based instruction and assessment in one, robust, easy-to-use system.
“The No Child Left Behind Act has put significant accountability requirements on teachers and administrators for monitoring and addressing student performance,” said Georgia Gallicchio, chief marketing officer at OnCourse Systems for Education. “We developed Student Stats to streamline the tracking and analysis of student performance. By delivering vital assessment results in a timely manner to all educational stakeholders, including administrators, teachers, students and parents, they are more quickly, efficiently and accurately able to gauge student achievement against education standards. We have received a tremendous amount of interest in this product so far, especially in the states that have the most stringent assessment requirements.”
“We have found OnCourse to be very receptive over the last five years in meeting the needs of our school district with our implementation of OnCourse Lesson Planner,” said Dr. Joseph F. Canataro, superintendent for Deptford Township Public Schools in New Jersey. “It was this
willingness to listen and act upon our requests that led to our decision to purchase Student Stats. We are confident that OnCourse will facilitate expansion of the present capabilities of Student Stats as our district’s need for more sophisticated data analysis will undoubtedly necessitate.”
With its powerful, yet easy-to-use features, OnCourse Student Stats makes it faster and easier to track individual student, school-wide and district-wide performance against standards; easily identify at-risk students; understand training needs of teachers and generate custom reports.
Since Student Stats is part of the OnCourse platform, the application is available 24/7 from any Internet-connected computer. OnCourse’s ASP (Application Service Provider) model enables school districts to enjoy the advantages of using advanced technology solutions while avoiding the work, risk and investment typically associated with purchasing and maintaining software solutions in house.
OnCourse Lesson Planner Wins Educational Publishers’ Distinguished Achievement Awards - Posted on JUN-19-2007
Gibbstown, N.J. – June 18, 2007 – OnCourse Systems for Education, a provider of web-based tools that streamline and automate educational processes for public and private school districts, today announced that its flagship product, OnCourse Lesson Planner, received the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) Distinguished Achievement Awards (DAA) at the annual Awards Banquet & Gala, held June 12, 2007 at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington D.C. OnCourse Lesson Planner won the School/Class Management Technology Software category.
“We are extremely honored to be included with this distinguished group of award winners,” said Georgia Gallicchio, chief marketing officer at OnCourse Systems for Education. “We have a number of new products that we will be launching in the coming months and anticipate experiencing similar success to what we have had with Lesson Planner. All of our products use the same web-based platform and have the same end goal – to make the jobs of teachers and administrators easier and to help raise student test scores.”
The AEP is the national, nonprofit professional organization for educational publishers. The DAAs were designed to honor the top products within the categories of Curriculum, Periodicals and Professional Development and are evaluated on traits such as efficacy, usability and overall educational value and judged by an expert panel of educators, editors, designers and technology specialists.
OnCourse Lesson Planner is an innovative tool streamlining the way teachers and administrators create, manage and share lesson plans. Through easy-to-use online templates, teachers can more quickly and easily write, edit and collaborate on lesson plans. This web-based tool can be securely accessed and used 24/7 from school, home or from any computer connected to the Internet. Principals can review and comment on the plans electronically. And teachers can map lessons to educational standards – enabling administrators to generate reports about what’s being taught, when and by whom.
OnCourse Lesson Planner Wins Best Educational Software Award - Posted on JUN-06-2007
Gibbstown, N.J. – May 30, 2007 – OnCourse Systems for Education, a provider of web-based tools that streamline and automate educational processes for public and private school districts, today announced that its web-based Lesson Planner solution won ComputED Learning Center’s Best Educational Software Awards (BESSIE Awards) for 2007.
ComputED Learning Center, San Diego’s leading computer education resource, presented its 13th Annual BESSIE Awards for innovative, content-rich programs and websites, providing parents and teachers with a valuable guide to the best educational software and websites that foster educational excellence.
OnCourse’s Lesson Planner, a web-based solution designed to streamline the way teachers and administrators create, manage and share lesson plans, was awarded a BESSIE in the “Teacher Tools” category.
“This is our second product award for Lesson Planner in a matter of months and we are thrilled that the product is being recognized for its ease of use, feature-rich capabilities and for the productivity benefits it offers teachers and administrators,” said Georgia Gallicchio, chief marketing officer for OnCourse Systems for Education. “We are continually working to add new features to Lesson Planner to make it a tool that teachers and administrators can’t live without.”
Through Lesson Planner’s easy-to-use online templates, teachers can more quickly and easily write, edit and collaborate on lesson plans. This web-based tool can be securely accessed and used 24/7 from school, home or from any computer connected to the Internet. Principals can review and comment on the plans electronically. And teachers can map lessons to educational standards – enabling administrators to generate reports about what’s being taught, when and by whom.OnCourse Systems for Education Receives Minority Business Certification - Posted on APR-26-2007
Gibbstown, N.J. – April 26, 2007 – OnCourse Systems for Education, a provider of web-based tools that streamline and automate educational processes for public and private school districts, today announced that it has been certified as a Minority-Owned Business by the New Jersey Commerce & Economic Growth Commission.
“This is a significant accomplishment for OnCourse and will enable the public school systems to fulfill their diversity supplier requirements,” explained Guido Gallicchio, CEO at OnCourse Systems for Education. “We take great pride in being a minority business enterprise and see this certification as a win-win for both our company and our customers and prospects.”
Any business whose management and daily business operations are controlled by one or more minorities who own it, and which is at least 51 percent owned by one or more minorities is eligible to participate in this program. Guido and Diego Gallicchio, Hispanic Americans, own 51 percent of OnCourse Systems for Education.OnCourse Lesson Planner Selected as Finalist for Educational Publishers’ Distinguished Achievement Awards - Posted on APR-24-2007
Gibbstown, N.J. – April 24, 2007 – OnCourse Systems for Education, a provider of web-based tools that streamline and automate educational processes for public and private school districts, today announced that its flagship product, OnCourse Lesson Planner, has been selected as a finalist for the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) Distinguished Achievement Awards (DAA).
OnCourse Lesson Planner is an innovative tool streamlining the way teachers and administrators create, manage and share lesson plans. Through easy-to-use online templates, teachers can more quickly and easily write, edit and collaborate on lesson plans. This web-based tool can be securely accessed and used 24/7 from school, home or from any computer connected to the Internet. Principals can review and comment on the plans electronically. And teachers can map lessons to educational standards – enabling administrators to generate reports about what’s being taught, when and by whom.
“This is a tremendous honor for the OnCourse team. We have dedicated ourselves to developing a suite of tools that help teachers and administrators more easily and effectively do their jobs,” explained Georgia Gallicchio, chief marketing officer at OnCourse Systems for Education. “The AEP Distinguished Achievement Awards are well respected in the educational industry and this recognition further validates the quality and capabilities of our Lesson Planner solution.”
The AEP DAAs honor the top products within the categories of Curriculum, Periodicals and Professional Development. The DAAs are evaluated on traits such as efficacy, usability and overall educational value and judged by an expert panel of educators, editors, designers and technology specialists. Winners of these awards will be announced at the annual Awards Banquet & Gala, held June 13 at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C. For more information on the AEP and the DAA awards, visit www.aepweb.org.
OnCourse and Dover Public Schools (NJ) Featured on the New Jersey Educational Computing Cooperative Website - Posted on JAN-17-2007
A year and a half ago, teachers worked cooperatively to realign curriculum in all disciplines, K-12. As this initiative was completed Dover Board of Education supported a commitment to the use of an on-line lesson-planning program for its 240 classroom teachers: www.OnCourseSystems.com. The new program enables teachers to write daily lessons and immediately connect the aligned district curriculum and NJ Core Content Standards to their plans. Because the program is Internet based, these plans are immediately available to administration for review enabling them to respond with comments that are posted within the program and e-mailed to the individual teacher. This open dialogue helps hone daily lessons to best meet student needs. The program also allows teachers to share their plans with colleagues by simply activating an internal share feature. This is particularly helpful for grade level teams, middle school interdisciplinary coordination, and continuity of planning among the three elementary buildings across the district. Never before has sharing been so convenient and easily done. No e-mailing of plans, no downloading – instead immediate access to this week’s, last week’s, even last year’s plans. In fact, the archiving feature alone makes the program worthwhile. Teachers can search plans for up to five years to fine-tune and amend plans without having to recreate lessons every single year. The time saved is enormous. Teachers can also use the reporting feature of the program to analyze their plans and understand what standards they are regularly meeting and where there may be gaps in their plans, so that they can revise plans and assure that all standards are taught.
The program also offers teachers a personal website for parents to access. While this may appear to be nothing new – most of our e-mail packages offer this feature – this one is quite special. Without any additional effort, the program automatically post the homework from the lesson plans onto the teachers’ websites enabling the OHIO principle: Only Handle Information Once; teachers write their homework into their plans for administrators and colleagues’ reference and then it is automatically, on the given day, posted to a classroom calendar for parents and students to view. Teachers can even choose to attach any scanned worksheets for students to download. Teachers can post web links on their sites and enable a true learning partnership between home & school to flourish.
OnCourse Systems for Education Adds San Antonio Independent School District to Rapidly Growing Customer List - OnCourse Doubles Client Base in 2006 Surpassing 35,000 Lesson Planner Users - Posted on JAN-05-2007
Gibbstown, N.J. – January 8, 2007 – OnCourse Systems for Education, a provider of web-based tools that streamline and automate educational processes for public and private school districts, today announced that it has signed an agreement with San Antonio Independent School District (ISD) for more than 1,200 user licenses of its Lesson Planner solution. With the addition of San Antonio ISD and numerous other new individual schools and school districts in the second half of 2006, OnCourse Systems doubled its number of Lesson Planner users in the past year.
The San Antonio ISD will be using OnCourse Lesson Planner to streamline the way teachers and administrators create, manage and share lesson plans. Through easy-to-use online templates, teachers can more quickly and easily write, edit and collaborate on lesson plans. Principals can review and comment on the plans electronically. And teachers can map lessons to educational standards – enabling administrators to generate reports about what’s being taught, when and by whom.
OnCourse now has more than 35,000 users of its web-based Lesson Planner solution. During the second half of 2006, OnCourse signed agreements with more than 80 new school districts, some of which include:
• San Antonio ISD, San Antonio, Texas (1,230 users)
• Livingston Parish School Board in Livingston, La. (995 users)
• Township of Ocean in Oakhurst, N.J. (450 users)
• Pembertown Township in Pemberton, N.J. (additional 333 users; 515 users total)
• Putnam County School District in Cookeville, Tenn. (250 users)
• Dover Public Schools in Dover, N.J. (240 users)
• West Feliciana Parish School Board in St. Francisville, La. (235 users)
• Pointe Coupee Parish School Board in New Roads, La. (230 users)
“Our rapid growth can be directly attributed to the need for teachers and administrators to find new and better ways to ease the job of managing the classroom, including developing lesson plans and managing student grades, reducing their administrative burdens,” said Christian Contini, chief operating officer at OnCourse Systems for Education. “Additionally, with more educational standards requiring teachers and administrators to provide detailed reports on what they are teaching, both public and private schools are searching for solutions that help them ease the compliance process.”
OnCourse Systems for Education Launches OnCourse Grade Book - Posted on AUG-21-2006
New Tool Expands Web-based Suite for Teachers and Administrators
Gibbstown, N.J. – August 21, 2006 – OnCourse Systems for Education, a provider of web-based tools that streamline and automate educational processes for public and private school districts, today announced the launch of its web-based grading solution, OnCourse Grade Book. Building on its suite of tools designed for teachers and administrators, OnCourse Grade Book automates the tracking and reporting of student performance.
OnCourse has more than 30,000 users of its Lesson Planner solution and the addition of OnCourse Grade Book will automate another core educational process: managing student grades. OnCourse Grade Book allows teachers to perform basic tasks, such as recording assignments and scores and calculating grades, more quickly and efficiently than with the traditional, paper-based approach.
“Government standards, although imperative for the future of our educational system, create significant work for teachers and administrators,” said Christian Contini, chief operating officer at OnCourse Systems for Education. “OnCourse Grade Book not only automates the grading process saving teachers valuable time, but also enables teachers to map assignments to specific standards and objectives and allows schools to easily generate standards-based report cards. Our solutions are specifically designed to work the way educators work and ease their pains.”
OnCourse Grade Book is a highly flexible solution that can be implemented by a single school or an entire district. This new web-based tool automates the creation of progress reports and report cards and enables teachers and administrators to log in and securely access student performance data any time from any computer connected to the Internet. With OnCourse Grade Book, teachers, counselors and principals can easily generate real-time reports about student performance at the individual, class, grade or school level. It also allows teachers to capture, calculate and communicate grades in a fraction of the time required with a traditional grade book.
Schoolworksite.com Announces Name Change to OnCourse Systems for Education - Posted on JUL-01-2006
New Name Reflects the Company’s Expanding Product Offerings
Gibbstown, N.J. – July 17, 2006 – Schoolworksite.com, a provider of web-based tools that streamline and automate educational processes for public and private school districts, today announced that is has changed its name to OnCourse Systems for Education. This new corporate identity reflects the expansion of its product offerings beyond its flagship solution, OnCourse Lesson Planner.
“We have been successfully growing our business to more than 30,000 users of our Lesson Planner solution over the past four years,” said Christian Contini, chief operating officer at OnCourse Systems for Education. “This change is much more than just a new name. We are now broadening our scope of solutions to help improve productivity and performance for other educational processes. Our goal is to provide teachers and administrators with the tools needed to ease their jobs and keep them on course.”
OnCourse’s Lesson Planner is an innovative tool revolutionizing the way teachers and administrators create, manage and share lesson plans. Through easy-to-use online templates, teachers can more quickly and easily write, edit and collaborate on lesson plans. Principals can review and comment on the plans electronically. And teachers can map lessons to educational standards – enabling administrators to generate reports about what’s being taught, when and by whom. Delivered via an application service provider (ASP) business model, this web-based tool can be securely accessed and used at school, at home or from any computer connected to the Internet.
