Louisiana’s Rapides Parish School District Deepens Ongoing Partnership with Discovery Education to Further “SCALE Up” District Initiative Stephen Wakefield, Discovery Education240-662-5563, Stephen_Wakefield@discovery.com Maria José Sanabria, Discovery Education240-662-2550, Maria_Sanabria@Discovery.com Silver Spring, MD. (November 16, 2017) – Louisiana’s Rapides Parish School District (RPSD) announced today an expansion of their ongoing partnership with Discovery Education, the leading provider of digital content and professional development for K-12 classrooms. In the latest phase of this collaboration, Discovery Education will provide ongoing professional development to educators in 28 district schools through a customized initiative that supports the growth of teacher-leaders as they become change agents powering the district's transition to student-centered learning environments. The deepening of RPSD’s collaboration with Discovery Education supports the district’s efforts to constantly improve instruction and provide every child in the district an excellent education that nurtures the development of the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in any professional career. Specifically, the decision to use Discovery Education’s model of professional development will aid efforts to transition to student-centered academic learning environments envisioned by RPSD’s SCALE Up initiative. Already, RPSD’s K-12 educators are using Discovery Education’s Science Techbooks™ to create engaging student-focused learning environments. Discovery Education’s award-winning Techbooks are breakthrough digital textbooks that are aligned to rigorous standards, support a comprehensive curriculum, and are updated regularly at no cost. The series encourages all learners through interactive features that change the reading level of text and enable text to be read aloud. The Techbook series saves teachers’ time with a comprehensive design that places model lessons, student activities and assessments at their fingertips. Techbooks are platform neutral and can be used in one-to-one or one-to-many configurations and in any instructional environment. Discovery Education’s customized professional development model will help RPSD’s educators combine proven instructional approaches with using dynamic resources to create modern, student-centered academic learning environments. These instructional approaches are first practiced in educator created, student-centered Learning Labs. In these labs, teachers adapt their new skills in a classroom setting before sharing their successes broadly with their colleagues. The custom professional development model deployed in RPSD will provide teachers with continuous, job-embedded consultation, on-going modeling, and coaching, as well as feedback from Discovery Education experts in the pre-planning, stakeholder communications, and implementation phases. “At the Rapides Parish School District, we believe the successful creation of engaging, student-centered learning environments is incredibly dependent on the classroom teacher,” said Rapides Parish School District Superintendent Nason "Tony" Authement. “That belief drives our dedication to provide district educators the combination of sustained professional development and the content they need to create the exciting classrooms we know today’s students desire. We are very pleased to continue partnering with our colleagues at Discovery Education on this project and are excited to have this new phase of our relationship underway.” The Discovery Education Community will continue supporting RPSD’s educators’ efforts to transform students’ learning experiences with dynamic digital media. A global community of education professionals, the Discovery Education Community connects members across school systems and around the world through social media, virtual conferences, and in-person events, fostering valuable networking, idea sharing and inspiration. “Discovery Education is honored to support Rapides Parish School District’s SCALE Up initiative,” said Jason Sinquefield, Discovery Education Director of Education Partnerships. “Superintendent Authement and his incredibly talented team have an exciting vision for the future of education in Rapides Parish and are dedicated to constantly improving instruction and providing every child in the district with an excellent education. We look forward to continuing to work together to help all district children reach their highest potential.” For more information about Discovery Education’s Professional Development initiatives, and other services, visit www.discoveryeducation.com, and stay connected with Discovery Education on social media through Facebook, follow us on Twitter at @DiscoveryEd, or find us on Instagram and Pinterest. ### About Discovery EducationDiscovery Education is the global leader in standards-based digital content for K-12, transforming teaching and learning with award-winning digital textbooks, multimedia content, professional development, and the largest professional learning community of its kind. Serving 4.5 million educators and over 50 million students, Discovery Education’s services are in half of U.S. classrooms, 50 percent of all primary schools in the UK, and more than 50 countries. Discovery Education partners with districts, states, and like-minded organizations to captivate students, empower teachers, and transform classrooms with customized solutions that increase academic achievement. Discovery Education is powered by Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK), the number one nonfiction media company in the world. Explore the future of education at www.discoveryeducation.com.