Pearson to work with Colorado in massive effort to turn around underperforming schools

Top-to-bottom help for schools at crucial sessions February 8-9

Denver, February 7, 2010 – The massive effort to turn around underperforming schools in Colorado jumps into high gear Monday as leaders of Pearson K-12 Solutions, working through the state Department of Education, hold crucial talks with schools across the state that need help.

Colorado picked Pearson K-12 Solutions on January 22 as a comprehensive school improvement partner to help turn around its underperforming schools. The work begins with all-day face-to-face sessions in Denver Monday and Tuesday between Pearson K-12 Solutions leaders and school officials from across the state.

Scott Drossos, President of Pearson’s K-12 Solutions division, will be in Denver February 8 and 9 with a team of experts for the critically important summit with school leaders. Drossos praised the Colorado Department of Education for its bold leadership in confronting the issues.

“Colorado has many wonderful schools, but it has some schools that have not been able to be successful. Commissioner of Education Dwight Jones and the leadership of the Colorado Department of Education believe strongly that every child can learn and every child deserves to be in a strong, high performing school. For that reason, Colorado is taking the big, bold step of reaching out to other education leaders across the country to ask for extra help for schools that have great communities and wonderful kids but are struggling to help children learn,” Drossos said.

A division of Pearson, the world’s leading education services and technology company, Pearson K-12 Solutions works with states and school districts to create innovative new models and custom solutions and help turn around underperforming schools.

Colorado Commissioner of Education Jones said “Pearson K-12 Solutions has qualified in all five categories for school turnaround identified by the state: Academics, Learning Environment, Operations, Leadership, and Planning. Colorado recognizes Pearson’s strength in providing school solutions and its commitment to transforming education.”

Pearson officials Monday and Tuesday at the Holiday Inn Select on Colorado Boulevard in Denver will hold individual meetings with school leaders who need help, talking face-to-face about specific problem areas in schools and how Pearson can support the schools. Pearson’s plan includes embedding experts from the company in schools to work with educators to make sweeping improvements.

Drossos said “Our research-based School Turnaround Education Partnership (STEP) model helps schools make fundamental changes and sustain improvements for the long term.” He added, “We have the opportunity to draw from Pearson’s vast research base and proven resources to create a customized plan for Colorado’s schools.”

Pearson’s plan includes a combination of core elements that have helped improve low-performing schools for years, including Pearson’s Learning Team’s model, now in 220 schools across the country, which has consistently demonstrated gains in student achievement as well as improvements in school culture and distributed leadership.

Drossos said Pearson’s K-12 Solutions School Turnaround Education Partnership (STEP), which will be at the core of the summit with school leaders in Denver Monday and Tuesday, includes these change 10 elements to help schools:

Systematically Plan for School Improvement
Develop Instructional Leadership
Create Collaborative Education Partnerships
Emphasize School Culture
Embed Achievement Support
Align Curriculum
Optimize Conditions for Teaching & Learning
Foster Knowledge Driven Decision-making
Utilize Technology for Learning
Evaluate for Continuous Improvement

Pearson and Colorado have a long history together. More than 600 Pearson employees and their families live in Colorado. Pearson has worked with schools and teachers for more than a hundred years and is the world’s largest educational services provider. Most teachers in Colorado – and across the country – worked with Pearson programs during their studies in college.

“In fact, this is something of a homecoming for us,” Drossos said as the team prepares for the important work ahead in Denver next week. “Pearson is very much a Colorado company – our eCollege offices right here in Denver are the world’s leading research and development centers for electronic learning and technology innovation. And in Boulder, our Pearson Knowledge Technologies business is leading the development of new automated text and voice based assessment solutions for schools that are part of the digital revolution going on in schools. Our Pearson representatives are talking to teachers, principals, curriculum directors and superintendents in Colorado every single day. We love Colorado and care about what happens to the children of Colorado because they’re our children too.”

The embedded Pearson team at schools will stay on the ground working “until the job is done,” Drossos said. “As the largest educational services company in the world, we have staying power – we will stay right there in the classrooms working with the teachers.”

“Let’s get to work,” Drossos said. “Commissioner Jones called this ‘urgent work’ and he’s absolutely right. Commissioner Jones and the leadership of school districts all around the state deserve tremendous praise for saying schools need help and they’re going to get it.”

About Pearson

Pearson (NYSE:PSO), the global leader in education, teacher training, education technology and school solutions, provides innovative print and digital education materials for preK through college, student information systems and learning management systems, teacher professional development, career certification programs, and testing and assessment products that set the standard for the industry.