ALBANY - The State Education Department announced the selection of four vendors to provide products and services to implement an Education Data Portal (EDP) that will provide teachers with access to an array of high-quality educational materials and teaching tools. The EDP will bring these resources together into one site that can be enhanced with additional local school and district data and instructional materials that support improvements in teaching and learning.

"The Education Data Portal is an integral element of the Regents reform agenda and was an essential component of New York’s Race to the Top application," said Education Commissioner John B. King, Jr. "Teachers, parents and administrators will have a timely gauge of student achievement and access to standards-aligned curriculum resources.  Instruction can be tailored to meet students’ individual needs. Educators and parents will have better data and instructional resources, and that means more students will graduate from high school ready for college and careers."

The EDP will help educators, students, and their families improve student outcomes by:

• Providing tools to accurately monitor academic progress and other indicators, such as attendance.
• Providing access to curriculum and instructional resources aligned with standards, including curriculum modules and teacher practice videos.
• Bringing all of these resources together on one site that can be enriched with additional local school and district data and curriculum resources to support data driven improvement to practice.

The contracts announced today will be funded by SED’s $50 million Race to the Top (RTTT) data system award.