The Virginia Department of Education paid a $60,000 membership fee in fiscal 2012 to the Council of Chief State School Officers.

“The CCSSO conferences provide an opportunity for American education policymakers to meet with their international counterparts,” Wright said in a statement released Monday. “The importance of these opportunities has increased with the growing focus on the international benchmarking of standards and the recognition that our students must be able to compete in today’s global economy.”

Pearson has three contracts with the state Education Department — nearly $110 million for the SOL testing contract over three years, $3.2 million for the development and maintenance of the Virginia Student Longitudinal Data System, and for lead turnaround partner services, which has no cost to the department.

The testing cost can vary depending on the number of tests taken each year, Pyle said.

Florida Virtual School, which formed a private-public partnership with Pearson last year, was one of 13 virtual-school programs approved by the Education Department this year.

In the spring the department dropped Pearson as the vendor for reading assessments used in the licensure of elementary teachers, reading specialists and special-education teachers. These assessments are now provided by Education Testing Service.

“We trust that the department bases all contract decisions solely on what is best for Virginia’s students, teachers, parents and taxpayers,” said Tucker Martin, spokesman for Gov. Bob McDonnell.

Local school districts and school boards can choose to enter a contract with Florida Virtual School or Pearson K-12 Solutions — the turnaround partner — for services.

Pyle said Wright was not part of the procurement process that led to Pearson’s selection to offer educational services to Virginia schoolchildren.

For the rest of the article, go to Va. education chief’s foreign trips defended

Another of the honorees was the Virginia Department of Education (DOE). The department took home the top prize in the category of “Innovation in K-12 Education,” for its Interactive Chinese Language/Culture Game Module.

The course, developed by the DOE’s online virtual school program Virtual Virginia and Alelo Inc., involves using “virtual humans” that interact with a learner using automated speech recognition and multimedia content. Students learn numbers, dates and times in the abbreviated course.

Tammy McGraw, director of educational technology at the DOE, told Government Technology in an e-mail that the department was excited to receive the award, particularly given the number of technology projects going on in Virginia.

She said one of the biggest challenges Alelo had in developing the Interactive Chinese Language/Culture Game Module was designing virtual humans to behave in a culturally appropriate way.

To solve the issue, the company created automated speech recognition technology that’s optimized for how learners speak Chinese, instead of native speakers.

“This takes into account not only the learner audience, cultural and linguistic norms of the target culture, but also best practice drawing from theories in the learning, socio-behavioral and computer sciences,” McGraw explained.

She also said the Department of Education has submitted a proposal requesting funding to complete the entire course; if successful, the department would like to implement it next year.

A full list of award program categories and the winners is available on the COVITS website. Entries were evaluated by an independent group of government executives from Virginia, including representatives from the state executive branch, localities and higher education.

For the rest of the article, go to Virginia Government Agencies and Schools Honored with Technology Awards

Total revenues for the year ended June 30, 2011 are expected to increase to between approximately $515 million and $520 million, consistent with prior guidance and representing a significant increase compared to revenues of $384.5 million for the year ended June 30, 2010. The Company’s financial position is strong as evidenced by a cash balance of approximately $190 million at June 30, 2011. Furthermore, the Company had no bank debt other than notes payable and capital lease obligations for computers totaling approximately $25 million. This has also been a strong business development year with regard to the opening of new states and the removal or expansion of enrollment caps in several existing states that will impact future results.

The Company has cancelled its conference call scheduled for September 14, 2011. Management will present at the BMO Back-to-School conference on September 15th, at 1:15 PM ET. A webcast of this presentation will be available at the Investor Relations section of our website, www.k12.com .

Forward Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities regulations. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “predict,” “project,” “will,” “continue” and other similar terms and phrases, including references to assumptions and forecasts of future results. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to differ materially from those anticipated at the time the forward-looking statements are made. These risks include, but are not limited to: the reduction of per pupil funding amounts at the schools we serve; reputation harm resulting from poor performance or misconduct of other virtual school operators; challenges from virtual public school opponents; failure of the schools we serve to comply with regulations resulting in a loss of funding; discrepancies in interpretation of legislation by regulatory agencies that may lead to payment or funding disputes; termination of our contracts with schools due to a loss of authorizing charter; failure to renew existing contracts with schools; increased competition; and other risks and uncertainties associated with our business described in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although the Company believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that the expectations will be attained or that any deviation will not be material. All information in this release is as of September 12, 2011, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in the Company’s expectations.

For the rest of the article, go to K12 Inc. Releases Selected Preliminary FY 2011 Financial Data and Announces Delay in Filing Annual Report on Form 10-K

EdOptions™ is an award-winning education technology firm located in Falls Church, Virginia. Its premier product, Stars Suite®, has served more than one million students nationwide and features 49 middle school and high school courses as well as Web-based solutions for state test preparation, high school preparation, and GED® study. EdOptions Online Academy™, the virtual school division of EdOptions, is a fully accredited online high school designed to support both public and non-traditional educational institutions with rigorous curriculum, powerful Web-based technology, and certified-teacher support. Orchard Software™, the elementary division of EdOptions, provides targeted state standards-based instruction, assessment and data management for grades pre-K-9 in Reading, Language Arts, Math, and Science. For more information, visit www.edoptions.com or email info@edoptions.com.

For the rest of the article, go to Orchard NowTM Releases Math Concepts for Grades 4-6 Instruction