Santa Rosa County School District Further Integrates Digital Content into Curriculum Through Expanded Partnership with Discovery Education FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contacts: Stephen Wakefield, Discovery Education240-662-2893stephen_wakefield@discovery.com Emily Embury, C. Blohm & Associates608-839-9806emily@cblohm.com –Florida district combines digital content, professional development, assessments, and curriculum alignment from Discovery Education to create digital learning environments– Silver Spring, Md. (March 23, 2011) – Building on the successful implementation of digital resources and assessment services, Florida’s Santa Rosa County School District is deepening its partnership with Discovery Education to further integrate digital content into the curriculum.To achieve this goal, the district is working with Discovery Education to augment their robust use of Discovery Education’s digital content and assessment services with customized professional development and curriculum alignment services. Over the past five years, Santa Rosa County School District and Discovery Education have successfully partnered to provide educators with the digital resources and assessment services they need to engage students in learning and drive academic achievement. Discovery Education is the leading provider of high-quality curriculum-based digital content and professional development resources. Available in more than half of U.S. schools, Discovery Education’s services support educators nationwide as they transition to using dynamic digital media as their core instructional resource. “All children deserve an education that will prepare them for the 21st century, and to become productive members of our community,” said Tim Wyrosdick, superintendent of Santa Rosa County School District. “The new services Discovery Education is providing deepen an already comprehensive relationship. In addition to outstanding digital content, Discovery Education is equipping teachers with even more tools and resources and helping to evolve our curriculum to meet the changing needs of 21st century learners.” At the foundation of the expanded relationship is digital content from Discovery Education streaming PLUS and Discovery Education Science. Aligned to Florida academic standards and assessments, Discovery Education streaming PLUS content is searchable by keyword, content area and grade level. Empowering educators to quickly locate and employ a variety of dynamic multimedia resources to engage students in science, Discovery Education Science propels the district’s science curriculum with standards-based virtual labs, simulations, video clips, and reading passages, and encourages student exploration and stimulates critical thinking. In addition, for three years the district has been employing Discovery Education Assessment services to monitor progress toward academic goals and inform instruction. To further leverage these digital resources, Santa Rosa County School District is turning to Discovery Education for curriculum alignment services. During the next four years, Discovery Education will work with the district to embed digital content from Discovery Education streaming Plus and Discovery Education Science into curriculum guides for math, science, English-Language Arts, and the Common Core State Standards. By embedding Discovery Education content directly into curriculum guides, educators will be able to click and launch digital assets aligned to Florida’s standards as well as Common Core State Standards to differentiate instruction and engage students with different learning styles. “By aligning digital content to their curriculum, Santa Rosa County School District is positioning itself as a leader in the creation of world-class digital learning environments for students,” said Coni Rechner, Discovery Education vice president. “District educators and administrators are dedicated to improving student engagement through the integration of the latest educational technology and digital content, and we look forward to supporting them in this endeavor.” In addition to providing digital content, assessment and curriculum alignment services, Discovery Education will implement a professional development program that will teach Santa Rosa County School District educators how to integrate digital media effectively into their everyday teaching. The professional development program will be jump-started with immersive sessions to provide participants with necessary technical skills to use the digital resources and corresponding technologies in their classroom instruction. Follow-up professional development will support and mentor educators from Santa Rosa County School District as they continue to develop cross-curricular lessons that include digital content for use in large groups and differentiated instruction. Throughout the implementation, Discovery Education will provide consistent evaluation of the program, which will both shape the continued implementation of the program as well as the next steps for the district. Discovery Education will continue to support educators from Santa Rosa County School District with one of the nation’s largest professional learning communities, the Discovery Educator Network (DEN). Through the DEN, educators have access to a wide range of technology training as well as a resource library of teacher-generated projects and tools. For more information about Discovery Education, visit www.discoveryeducation.com. About Discovery EducationDiscovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) revolutionized television with Discovery Channel and is now transforming classrooms through Discovery Education. Powered by the number one nonfiction media company in the world, Discovery Education combines scientifically proven, standards-based digital media and a dynamic user community in order to empower teachers to improve student achievement. Already, more than half of all U.S. schools access Discovery Education digital services. Explore the future of education at www.discoveryeducation.com. ###