A Presentation forA Presentation for

Yonkers Public SchoolsYonkers Public Schools

January 9, 2002

K-12 Communication Technology Goals

“We’re interested in expanding email to students but we are worried about safety and don’t want to manage that many accounts”

“We want to improve the school-to-home connection”

“Our teachers want to put lesson plans and homework online and parents want to see what is going on in class”

“We want to make our Web presence easy to create and update”

“We want to provide accessible file storage for our students, but don’t want to manage it and we’re worried about viruses.”

“Our technical staff is completely overburdened”

What is eChalk?

And how will it help Yonkers meet our Connected Classroom goals?

eChalk isthe most advanced, least expensive . . .

Web-based communication network

designed specifically for K-12 schools

eChalk is the leading provider of Web-based intranets for K-12 schools and districts.

We provide each school with its own private, secure, affordable, easy-to-use, advertising-free intranet.

The service includes:

Schools and districts use eChalk to improve communication between staff members, between teachers and students, and between the school, parents and the local community.

eChalk’s service is delivered entirely over the Internet, leveraging schools’ existing technology infrastructure, reducing the burden on school technical staff and reducing the cost of delivering email to the school community. Because eChalk is run on 100% Dell servers and is located at a tier one hosting center, the service is extremely reliable, with over 99.9% uptime over the past 12 months.

• Student safe email• School directory• Online classrooms• Web-based file storage

• Online school calendar• Web publishing tools• Ongoing dedicated support

Reading

Writing

Arithmetic

Computers

Internet Access

Communication Network

Fundamentals

Education Technology

eChalk

Communicate, Collaborate, Connect!

eChalk enables every member of the Yonkers school community to communicate, collaborate and connect using any computer anywhere with Internet access.

Teachers connect & collaborate with other teachers

Students connect with teachers one-on-one

Parents connect with students and teachers

Staff connects easily with teachers and parents

Connect the District office with all schoolsand the schools with each other!

Yonkers will use eChalk to tie together all of its 40 schools with email, Web-publishing, online classrooms and file storage

Utilize Existing Technology

eChalk leverages the investment Yonkers has already made in computers and Internet connectivity

Improve Academic AchievementImprove Academic Achievement

eChalk’s email and other tools enhance communication skills, connect the school to the home, improve use of teacher time, and ultimately increase academic achievement

SOURCE: Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations, University of California, Irvine, from the Teaching, Learning, and Computing, 1998 Survey, "Snapshot #8." ttp://www.crito.uci.edu/TLC/FINDINGS/snapshot8/

eChalk enables Yonkers to provide the necessary privacy and security in the school environment

• Schools and districts have the ability to password-protect any content added to the eChalk system.

• A “Report misuse” button is available on every screen for users to immediately alert the site administrator to inappropriate use of the system.

• Publishing tools are controlled by the site administrator so only appropriate material appears on the school or district Web page.

• which is customizable by user type.

• All user data and content is owned by the school and district; eChalk offers no advertising on its system and is precluded by contract from disclosing user information to third parties.

• eChalk’s network infrastructure includes firewalls, “DMZs,” SSL encryption, redundant (RAID) file storage, and daily tape backup to protect content and user information.

Privacy & SecurityPrivacy & Security

eChalk will continue to support Yonkers’ use of the service

eChalk support: a voice on the end of the line

eChalk consultants for each client

Continued research with educators to improve the product

of the eChalk System include:

A public homepage and a private online learning community Email accounts for students, teachers, and administrators File and bookmark storage, file sharing, school and district directories, & important school links and resources The ability to create personalized Web pages Customized online classrooms and instructional plans

The “Public Page” allows each school to publish events, school Web pages,

announcements, faculty Web pages, an acceptable use policy, directions to the school,

etc.

The “Public Page” allows each school to publish events, school Web pages,

announcements, faculty Web pages, an acceptable use policy, directions to the school,

etc.

The “Public Page” allows each school to publish events, school Web pages,

announcements, faculty Web pages, an acceptable use policy, directions to the school,

etc.

The “Public Page” allows each school to publish events, school Web pages,

announcements, faculty Web pages, an acceptable use policy, directions to the school,

etc.

Private Accounts enable faculty and students to email, store and share files and bookmarks, find other users on the school directory, publish Web pages, and access their

online classrooms

Private Accounts enable faculty and students to email, store and share files and bookmarks, find other users on the school directory, publish Web pages, and access their

online classrooms

The “Class Page” enables teachers to organize and publish assignments, class events, tests and quizzes, and class resources

The “Class Page” enables teachers to organize and publish assignments, class events, tests and quizzes, and class resources

eChalk works!

School districts currently using eChalk in their schools include:

Yonkers Public Schools School 22

Museum Middle School Mark Twain Middle School Saunders High School

Englewood Public Schools, Englewood, NJ

NYC BOE CSD 6, New York, NY

NYC BOE CSD 2, New York, NY

Dover Public Schools, Dover, NJ

Elk Lake School District, Dimock, PA

eChalk is E-rate eligible and therefore very affordable for Yonkers

Yonkers Public Schools Cost Model

Total Cost of Ownership For Year One $ 334,000

- E-rate Funding * (Estimated 88% of Total Cost) - $ 279,224 _____________________________________ __________

Total Cost to Yonkers $ 54,776

Yonkers will only pay an estimated 12%

of the Total Cost of Ownership! *

•Estimates based upon calculations of Yonkers’ FCC E-rate eligibility, as determined by the % of students in Yonkers Public School District eligible for the federal free lunch program

Communicate. Collaborate. Communicate. Collaborate. Connect.Connect.

with

eChalk!

Thank you.Thank you.