Education center donates software to member districts
North Oxford, MA March 5, 2012. The French River Education Center (FREC), a private, non-profit 501(c) 3 education, training, and support agency located in North Oxford, is making a three (3) year, $180,000 commitment to purchase teacher evaluation software from Clear Pond Technologies, Inc., Needham, MA, for member school districts that will facilitate the implementation of the new Massachusetts standards for teacher evaluation as adopted by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). This software, TeachPoint (goteachpoint.com), makes it possible to create custom teacher evaluation forms that administrators can use to construct rubrics based on standard practices in the classroom that are consistent with the DESE model. When used with an Apple IPad application, the process is fully mobile allowing administrators to record anywhere without WiFi or 3G.
The Center has twenty-one (21) member school districts in Worcester County.
The Dudley-Charlton Regional School District, a member of FREC since 1983, will be one of the end users of TeachPoint. “The ultimate goal is effective teaching in every classroom, every day, every year,” said superintendent Sean Gilrein. “The best way to reach that goal is to give a new set of tools to the person with the best access to classrooms and the greatest opportunity to orchestrate improvements in teaching: the principal. TeachPoint makes the evaluation system immediate, meaningful, time sensitive, and efficient. We are grateful to French River for this donation as well as the many other opportunities they provide.”
According to FREC director, Michael H. Fields, approval by the Center’s Board of Directors to purchase TeachPoint is in keeping with French River’s mission statement to assist member districts in the delivery of educational services. “We are pleased to be able to offer this service to our member school districts,”said Fields, “and it will be in addition to the $50,000 annual commitment we currently have in place to purchase an automated call notification service for interested district users.”
French River contracts with The Center for Educational Leadership and Technology (CELT), headquartered in Marlborough, MA, for their INTEGRITY CallOne automated calling service designed for school administrators to keep in touch with parents and the community. Used to announce school cancellations, the system also facilitates, among other things, parent contact during emergency situations.
Established in 1978 and incorporated in 1984, French River Education Center, governed by a nine (9) member Board of Directors, offers professional development programs for district teachers, counselors, and administrators; coordinates a volume buying program for member school districts to drive the unit price down on a myriad of school related items, including # 2 fuel oil; conducts computer training programs in Microsoft Office; and is contracted by school districts to provide speech therapy, physical therapy, and occupational therapy to area special needs students.
The twenty-one (21) members of the Center are: Abbey Kelly Foster Regional Charter School; Auburn Public Schools; Bay Path Regional Vocational Technical High School; Blackstone-Millville Regional Schools; Douglas Public Schools; Dudley-Charlton Regional Schools; Gardner Public Schools; Grafton Public Schools; Leicester Public Schools; Millbury Public Schools; Narragansett Regional Schools; Northborough-Southborough/Algonquin Regional Schools; Oxford Public Schools; Quabbin Regional Schools; Quaboag Regional Schools; Southbridge Public Schools; Spencer-East Brookfield Public Schools; Sutton Public Schools; Webster Public Schools; Southern Worcester County Educational Collaborative; and Tantasqua Regional/Union 61 Schools.
With the purchase of TeachPoint, French River Education Center has now donated in excess of $650,000 in cash, software, and equipment to member school districts since 2005.