Portland Public Schools to improve student learning with high-tech interactive whiteboards
CALGARY, Alberta --- October 15, 2008 --- SMART Technologies announces that Portland Public Schools in Maine is installing SMART Board™ interactive whiteboards in classrooms throughout the district. Over the next few years, approximately 450 classrooms will be outfitted with these 21st-century teaching and learning tools, and more than 6,000 students will benefit from using them. District officials cited SMART’s proven reputation as the global leader in the interactive whiteboard product category, superior product quality, ease of use, training services and technical support as reasons for choosing SMART. All SMART Board interactive whiteboards will be shipped with award-winning SMART Notebook software, the world’s most widely used interactive whiteboard software. Within SMART Notebook software and through the SMART website, teachers will also have access to thousands of resources designed by teachers, for teachers. These resources, all free of charge, include SMART Notebook lesson activities, Adobe® Flash® objects, video, still images and a wide variety of additional online resources.
During the 2007–2008 school year, Portland Public Schools and the City of Portland acknowledged an urgent need for classroom technology. To address the problem, the two administrations entered a unique agreement through which the city agreed to fund technology purchases for the school district. They resolved to exclusively purchase SMART Board interactive whiteboards. The first round of interactive whiteboards will be installed this fall in 35 classrooms. A new elementary school will be fully equipped, and Portland Adult Education and the Multilingual and Multicultural Center will also receive the products. The district has set aside funds for professional development so select Portland Public Schools staff can become SMART certified trainers. They can then serve as a professional resource for other teachers and colleagues. In conjunction with this product installation, SMART has started a New England SMART Users’ Forum in the forum section of SMART Exchange, a place where all users of SMART products in the district can go to discuss product use and sharing materials with teachers based in Maine or anywhere else in the world. More information about SMART products and services can be found at www2.smarttech.com/st/en-us/products.
“We opted for the district to standardize on SMART Board interactive whiteboards because SMART offers quality, collaborative products and the professional development tools that are necessary to use the interactive whiteboards effectively in the classroom,“ says Thomas Lafavore, Portland Public Schools’ director of educational planning. “We even allocated funds for our some of our educators to become SMART certified trainers, to ensure all teachers receive proper training.”
“The administrators and teachers at Portland Public Schools recognize that technology in the classroom is vital to the learning process for today’s students,” says Nancy Knowlton, SMART’s CEO. “With SMART products in the classroom, students across all grades and subjects can build the skills needed to succeed in our knowledge-based, technology-enabled society.”
About Portland Public Schools
Maine's largest and most diverse school district dedicates itself to ensuring that all students are learning for their future. Portland Public Schools educates 7,100 students in kindergarten through twelfth grade, and about 4,500 adult learners. Facilities range from a one-room schoolhouse on an island in Casco Bay to the nation's second-oldest public high school and a state-of-the-art elementary school on the downtown peninsula. The district offers a challenging academic curriculum and a rich array of educational choices, including expeditionary learning, vocational training and a thriving adult education program.
