Learning Plans on Demand - Official Launch

This news release was issued on Monday, February 9, 2009 via BusinessWire.

STUART, Florida – February 9, 2009 – Few students are exactly “on grade level” and in fact, most are either above or behind their current grade level by a significant amount. Up until now, teachers had little help to remedy this problem and instead had to rely on stacks of textbooks, folders filled with lessons and scores of disconnected resources to build individual learning plans. Now that daunting task is being made easier with a new product called Learning Plans on Demand™ ( http://www.learningplansondemand.com/ ) (more)

See Learning Plans on Demand at the ASCD Conference in booth 1046.

Donner Summit Public Utility District

I have a new client as of a few weeks ago. The Donner Summit Public Utility District needs some assistance with public outreach and building relationships with their constituency. The district provides water treatment and wastewater treatment for an area in the Sierra Nevada mountains (including one of my favorite ski resorts, Sugar Bowl). We are reworking their website to follow a standard navigation structure. I'll be helping to open up two-way communication between the district and the general public; this is critical in today's climate.

Wastewater treatment (in California in particular) is a onerous process not only from the difficulty in treating the waste properly but in adhering to the requirements of the California Regional Water Quality Control Board which issues permits for wastewater treatment plants. Most of us, myself included, agree that regulation is important to protect the environment and human/animal health. In fact, nearly everyone associated with this industry that I have met has a full commitment to doing the right thing. It is just a bit of a challenge for the plants to keep up with strict discharge requirements while not breaking the back of the rate payers who absorb the costs.

Thankfully, good research and the efforts of bright people and companies has created exciting treatment options to help treatment plants comply. The sticking points are time and money.

In any event, I am excited to work with another utility district that is doing their best to provide service while maintaining healthy waterways and watersheds. A little money from the government certainly would help...

SAM Learning, U.K. News Releases

Two news releases from SAM Learning, U.K. issued at the FETC last week.

White Paper Examines Effectiveness of High School Exit Exam Prep Program (link to posting on BusinessWire) 1/23/09
White paper available upon request.

British Import Helps Florida Students Prepare for High School Exit Exams (link to posting on BusinessWire) 1/22/09
Interviews with Orange County Public Schools upon request.

Both releases are also available on my website http://www.jharrisonpr.com/clientNews.html or find my contact information there as well.

SAM Learning at FETC

I will be accompanying SAM Learning U.K.--which offers a fabulous High School Exit Exam prep program--at the Florida Educational Technology Conference next week. At FETC, we will discuss how well the pilot installations have gone during the last 12 months. Since we will be in Florida, we'll also talk about our pilot with Orange County School District (OCPS).

Please join us for a reception in the Lucerne Room at the Westin Imagine Hotel on Friday, January 23 from 2:00 to 4:00. Special guests from the OCPS will talk about how quickly the program was implemented and how well it is being received by students and teachers alike. Usage among the students is soaring and the district seems encouraged by the response.

If you can't make the reception, stop in and visit us at our booth #743 during the trade show hours. I can also schedule briefings with David Jaffa, president of SAM Learning. Send your request to jennifer @ jharrisonpr.com.

We will also reveal 3 options for our new product name. Watch the company's website for your chance to vote on options or check this blog for a link to the site.

Learning Plans on Demand - The Royal Treatment

Ken Royal of Scholastic Administrator magazine wrote a nice post on his excellent blog, The Royal Treatment, about my client's product: Learning Plans on Demand.
http://blogs.scholastic.com/royaltreatment/2008/12/learning-plans.html
I've always enjoyed Ken's articles and since he started blogging, first at DA mag and now with Scholastic Administrator, I am having more chance to interact with him. You'll find he has a nice way of bringing his long teaching history into his product reviews--very helpful to all of us!

Historical notes -- Learning Plans on Demand is the next generation of Rapid Resources (additional posts about RR can be found in this blog.) LPOD includes all the great tools from Rapid Resources but then adds reporting and analysis tools that make it valuable as a district-wide resource.

Healthy Auburn Waters - Stormwater Article

We are engaged in a public awareness about what citizens can do to protect Auburn waterways. The Auburn Journal ran an article on December 21. http://tinyurl.com/7nzzjb (This is the abbreviated link).

WSJ Article - Marketing in a Web 2.0 World

I have to admit that I am a Wall Street Journal junkie! Today they confirmed that my manic devotion to their journalistic quality is valid. A special section on marketing includes a great article: The Secrets of Marketing in a Web 2.0 World. If you haven't read it, be sure to save it from the recycle bin. Here is the link (it will only be valid for seven days):

http://online.wsj.com/wsjgate?subURI=%2Farticle%2FSB122884677205091919-email.html&nonsubURI=%2Farticle_email%2FSB122884677205091919-lMyQjAxMDI4MjE4NTgxNDU2Wj.html