Promethean and Channel One News Announce The Parent Connection

In a joint announcement made today at ISTE 2012, Promethean, Channel One News and the National PTA launched The Parent Connection, a new program that delivers daily Channel One News InterActiv broadcasts shown in the classroom directly to parent’s mobile phones. Representatives from San Diego Unified School District join today’s announcement and will be the first school district in the country to offer the service to parents.

“This is truly good news for parents and our entire school community. One of our objectives is to continually look for opportunities to strengthen and grow parental involvement in schools across the district. Without involvement of parents, we would not be successful and we are delighted that next year, we will be able to offer yet another avenue to strengthen the school to home connection,” said San Diego Unified School District Superintendent Bill Kowba.

“Today’s announcement is an terrific addition to our i21 initiative. Combining current events with standards aligned content will advance our efforts to helping all students build 21st Century skills,” said Darryl LaGace. “We are delighted to work with all the partners of this effort to enhance to increase parental involvement in the academic success of students.”

“Students are more successful when parents are engaged and when school-to-home communications are strong. The Parent Connection will change dinnertime conversations around the country because parents will receive the same daily news broadcast their child viewed in the classroom via a text message with an embedded URL,” explained Jim Marshall. “Boosting parent engagement is a critical intervention strategy and one that will help districts maximize return on other investments in education.”

Once enrolled with The Parent Connection, parents would receive a daily update with a video link to the Channel One News InterActiv broadcast shown in classrooms that day. Parents can also view updates in their existing district's parent portal. For districts using Promethean ActivProgress, an adaptive, personalized learning environment for students, parents can see how well their child performed on any Channel One broadcasts, their school performance, and have topics for discussion based on the broadcast content.

“Since Channel One News launched over two decades ago, we have served as a window to the world for America’s youth. The experience we provide each day to millions of young people has fostered countless formative conversations at the dinner table with parents,” commented Kent Haehl, CEO of Channel One News. “This latest innovation will power these discussions and we are extremely proud to offer this as a companion to our expanding interactive services.”

The Parent Connection will kick-off in the San Diego Unified School District in grade 3 through 12 classrooms. Over the course of the year, The National PTA will work with school districts implementing The Parent Connection to determine its overall impact it has on achievement.

“Studies continue to show that family engagement is a critical ingredient for student success,” said Betsy Landers, President, National PTA. “"We are excited to be part of today's announcement and look forward to examining how this program will help families and what, if any, impact it will have on the types of family engagement behaviors that ultimately lead to positive student outcomes such as improved student academic achievement."

Launched last year at ISTE, Channel One News InterActiv delivers daily news with embedded assessments conducted using on screen buttons and Promethean Learner Response Devices. The subscription service also includes just-in-time professional development to support teachers’ efforts to build instructional technology skills. Additional resources linked to the daily broadcasts are correlated to Common Core State Standards providing teachers’ ready-to-use interactive, digital content on a range of subjects connecting classroom learning to the real world.

An informal survey of the services reported that for 57% of teachers using C1Ni lead to an increase in their overall use of technology in the classroom. Teachers also reported that 87% of students were highly engaged and interacting with the content.

Additional information about Channel One New InterActiv can be found online at www.PrometheanPlanet.com/ChannelOne (registration required). The Parent Connection App can be downloaded for free in the education section on both Google Play (for Android) and the Apple App Store (for iPhone).