Hawaii State Department of Education and Discovery Education Commence New Partnership Engaging Tech-Savvy Students Statewide

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:
Stephen Wakefield, Discovery Education
240-662-2893
[email protected]

Sandy Goya, Hawaii State Department of Education
808-586-3232
[email protected]

–New collaboration provides educators and students access to Discovery Education streaming Plus and Discovery Education Science, as well as expert-led professional development–

Silver Spring, Md. (April 8, 2010) – The Hawaii State Department of Education and Discovery Education recently commenced a partnership providing K-8 educators and students in 222 public schools statewide access to Discovery Education streaming Plus and Discovery Education Science. In addition, educators will receive high-quality professional development designed to help them integrate this content and other educational technologies into their instruction.

The Hawaii State Department of Education/Discovery Education partnership was introduced to educators on March 8th with a day of professional development focused on showing educators how they can easily integrate educational technologies into classroom curricula. This event, keynoted by Discovery Education’s Chief Spokesperson for Environmental Education Philippe Cousteau, kicked off a series of professional development events held at 29 sites throughout Hawaii that reached more than 870 educators.

“The Hawaii State Department of Education is committed to improving student academic achievement and building a competitive, tech-savvy, 21st Century workforce through the effective integration of digital content and the latest educational technologies into curricula,” said Daniel Hamada, Assistant Superintendent, Office of Curriculum, Instruction and Student Support, Hawaii State Department of Education. “Through our partnership with Discovery Education, our students will enjoy vivid digital content that will take them far beyond the shores of these islands. In addition, Discovery Education’s content will fuel our existing literacy initiative, supporting the development of Literate Learners across the state.”

The digital media-based learning service scientifically shown to increase academic achievement, Discovery Education streaming Plus has more than 150,000 digital learning objects, including videos, interactive activities, images, articles and more, which integrate seamlessly into any curriculum. Aligned to Hawaii Content and Performance Standards III and assessments and searchable by keyword, content area and grade level, the rich video content and other digital assets from Discovery Education engage today’s students in learning.

Discovery Education Science is an online instructional service for elementary and middle schools supporting science inquiry with content developed for and tied to state science standards. The service provides core science content through multiple learning modalities. Coupled with a real-time assessment component that measures students` progress, it recommends individualized resources that reinforce classroom instruction.

“Discovery Education is excited to partner with the Hawaii Department of Education on this initiative,” commented Alex Morrison, Vice President, Discovery Education. “The digital content and professional development we are providing state educators helps the Department meet their goal of providing a quality education to all students, and ultimately, will help improve student achievement across the state.”

Discovery Education’s effective professional development services ensure educators have ample opportunity to learn how to utilize new technologies and integrate them into classroom curricula. Discovery Education also continues to build capacity and to support educators with one of the nation’s largest professional learning communities, the Discovery Educator Network (DEN). Through the DEN, educators have access to a wide range of technology training as well as a resource library of teacher-generated materials.

“The key to translating these great digital resources into improved student achievement is equipping our classroom teachers with the training they need to maximize the tools within their curriculum, so I’m thrilled to see Hawaii educators already embracing the valuable professional development opportunities provided by Discovery Education,” added Hamada.

For more information about products and services from Discovery Education, please visit www.discoveryeducation.com or call 800-323-9084.

About Hawaii State Department of Education
The Hawaii State Department of Education is a unified statewide school system of more than 170,000 students and 250 schools with an annual operating budget of approximately $2.4 billion — the nation`s tenth largest public school system. The Department is implementing bold, ambitious, and significant reform measures to ensure that each Hawaii public school student is college- and career-ready when they graduate. Learn more at hawaiidoe.org.

About Discovery Education
Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) revolutionized television with Discovery Channel and is now transforming classrooms through Discovery Education. Powered by the number one nonfiction media company in the world, Discovery Education combines scientifically proven, standards-based digital media and a dynamic user community in order to empower teachers to improve student achievement. Already, more than half of all U.S. schools access Discovery Education digital services. Explore the future of education at www.discoveryeducation.com.

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