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Forsyth County Schools Announces Partnership for Instructional Framework Development

• By Leila Meyer
• 12/04/12

Forsyth County Schools in Georgia has launched a five-year public/private partnership with the digital learning platform developer, itslearning, to develop Forsyth's instructional framework, Engage Me PLEASE (Personalized Learning Accelerates Standards-Based Education).

According to information from the district and itslearning, Engage Me PLEASE is an instructional framework that proposes to connect the data silos that are often created by student information, assessment, and learning management systems. The integrated system will provide standards-based learner plans for each student in a cloud-based platform and customized portals to give students, teachers, parents, and administrators real-time access to information.

The district and itslearning are also developing an online Community of Practice (CoP) that will serve as a professional learning network for teachers and administrators.

The projects will be funded through a 2010 Investing in Innovation Fund (i3) grant, worth $4.7 million over five years, that the district received from the United States Department of Education. Forsyth County Schools is one of 49 recipients of the i3 grants and was chosen from a pool of more than 1,700 applicants.

Forsyth chose to partner with itslearning because of the company's "commitment to innovation and deep understanding of the pedagogy behind the technology," said Bailey Mitchell, CIO of Forsyth County Schools, in a prepared statement. Another reason why the district chose itslearning is because the company recognized the district's contribution to the project.

According to itslearning, school districts use the company's cloud-based platform "to create, deliver, and manage a wide variety of digital resources to support best practices," including blended learning, flipped classrooms, personalized learning, and professional learning communities.

The school district is also partnering with the University of Georgia to complete the project.

Forsyth County Schools is located in Cumming, Georgia, and serves more than 39,000 students in 36 schools.